CEDAR FALLS - The final version of the Sea Fever is now complete.

It took Donald Anderson about five years of painstaking work in his basement woodshop to complete the 36-inch boat. He used no kit or directions - just a picture in his mind of what a perfect boat should look like.

"A lot of models are just a block of wood, but I follow the real construction and that makes it harder," said Anderson, 86. "I think I came up with a pretty good design. I like the width of it. I describe it as being powerful."

And Anderson should know. He built his first hand-crafted model boat - also named Sea Fever - in 1937. He got the bug from a mechanical drawing teacher, who spent more time "talking about boating than drawing."

From there, his projects only got bigger and better.

"His first real boat was about 10 feet," said his wife, Elvira, 80. "His mom didn't want him out in it, so he told her it was a trailer for his bicycle. He used baby carriage wheels to take it down to the river behind his bicycle."

Anderson has crafted 10 other full-size boats for his family's use since that first one. The final one, launched in 1987, measured 34 feet.

The new Sea Fever - which Donald said will likely be his last - is a model in perfection. He built her from the ground up, just as he would have a real sea-faring vessel. The model cruiser includes everything from detailed sleeping quarters to a "ready box" complete with K rations, flares, water bottles and an emergency kit, all of which Anderson carved by hand.

"I tried to build it just like a real one," he said.

Elvira also gets in on the action, sewing miniature cushions and braiding the rope used on the life rings.

But Donald's passion has always been the big boats. Before building his own, Donald worked building boats in Maryland and at a Chris Craft production facility in Algonac, Mich. That work gave him all the training he needed to craft his own boats on a patch of land between his home and a neighbor's.

"What I look for and like to see in full-size boats is lines. The shape of some of those yachts are a work of art, really," he said.

As the vessels grew larger and larger Donald had to call in construction equipment to get them from between the homes and onto a trailer. And each time he finished a new boat they would sell off the old one. Elvira and Donald agreed they never minded selling his creations because they always knew the next was bigger and better.

It wasn't until the couple's health began faltering in 2000 that they decided to sell a boat without replacing it first. They still receive periodic updates from the new owners about how she runs and improvements they have made.

And now, Donald's boat-making career - large or small - has likely come to an end. Though he pushed himself in the last months to finish this boat he is unsure he could finish the job again. But he is leaving the possibility open.

"I have to have something to do," he said.

Contact Emily Christensen at (319) 291-1520 or emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.