Two Whidbey Island veterans have launched a new venture they hope will stay afloat.

Mike Mayes and Ralph Brotherton are the founders of Fishing Access Network and their goal is to provide anyone with disabilities the opportunity to go fishing.

“My dad was an amputee and my brother-in-law is a paraplegic,” said Mike Mayes, Freeland. “I just remember how difficult it was to go fishing with either one of them.”

With them in mind,  Mayes wondered if anyone was building handicap-accessible boats and started looking into it.

“I know they sell a $7,000 hoist to put someone in a boat,” he said. But Mayes was right. No one was building boats specifically designed for handicapped access. Expensive modifications can be made or lifts and hoists can be added, but as far as the two men could find, no boats were being constructed with built-in access. Until now.

Mayes and Brotherton made a scale model and have nearly completed their first boat, the Accessible, appropriately enough. She made her debut at the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend in September, where it passed a cursory inspection. The unique vessel sparked a lot of interest, said Mayes.

“It was really good, positive feedback all the time,” he said.

The Accessible is 15-feet long, 6-and-a-half feet wide. It is a pontoon-style craft for stability, and features a wooden deck, metal stanchions to hold the rail and an aluminum ramp donated by Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in Freeland. (Who also donated the metal stanchions.)

“She is non-sinkable,” Brotherton said with pride.

“The only way to keep this boat down is to park a big truck on it,” agreed Mayes. They will put this to the test in just a week or two, when they’ll begin water-trials with the vessel.

It took the men just over two months to build the Accessible, working on it in their spare time. Mayes figures they spent about 20 hours a week on the project, some of that time being spent raising money, which has been the biggest challenge.

They have also teamed up with the nonprofit group Fishing Has No Boundaries, becoming a chapter of the group which helps people with various disabilities get out on the water.

Kathy Overman, the business manager for Fishing Has no Boundaries, said there is a good reason the two men couldn’t find another product like the Accessible.

“It’s a limited market,” she said. “That’s one of the issues when it comes to adaptive equipment. We’re another resource, kind of a network of information.”

Overman said she is impressed with the vision Mayes and Brotherton have shared with her.

“It’s a real plan,” she said. “It’s not something so big it will take forever to happen. That’s exciting. Sometimes dreams take forever.”

The ultimate goal of the Fishing Access Network is just that — providing access to various lakes in the region.

“This is just a vehicle for what we’re really trying to do, which is getting them out on the water to fish, a little recreational therapy,” said Mayes.

“We’re looking forward to getting on the water, finalizing the design and making any adjustments and scaring up the money.”

“We want to have the appropriate number of boats (based on the size of the lake) on lakes that can be used at any time,” Mayes explained. “A host property can moor the boats, providing easy access for anyone with disabilities and we would have people volunteer to take folks out.”

The men have already secured a host property at Lone Lake, so the first group of boats will go there. There are also plans to place boats at Goss Lake and Deer Lake. They hope to have the four first boats on Lone Lake by April, in time for trout season.Another option is to provide people the ability to build the boats themselves.

“We’d like to be able to build kits, so high school classes or Boy Scout troops could build it,” Mayes said.

Since the project is still so new and in it’s beginning phase, Mayes and Brotherton aren’t quite sure which direction they will turn.

“We’ve kind of been taking all the hurdles as they come,” Brotherton said. “But it’s been a real positive experience.”

Brotherton, who served two years in the Army, is a building contractor. The stalled economy has been bad for business and he has welcomed the Fishing Access Network and the project.

“It’s helped our attitudes, he said. “It’s given us something to do again. We’re both productive people.”

“Building things has always been part of my life,” said Mayes. “We’re having a good time.”