I've been thinking about how peopk go about buying boats, the people they buy them from, the place of the independent ,small boat builder in this game, and my Uncle Karl's passion for used cars. Let me explain.

Most people. don't have much luck with used cars, but he did. He had a system. He figured that you should get to know the owner. First, then you look at the car. He brought the same philosophy to his boat buying, too. But a boat wasn't like a car to him. It just wasn't something he'd buy used, and it surely wasn't something he'd buyout of a showroom either. He'd search around until he found a local builder with the same peculiar values as he had, and then took the time to sit down to get to know him. Finally, when it felt right, he'd buy one of the builder's stock models, or commission a custom job.

Uncle Karl bought his last boat in 1957. In those days he had a pretty good chance of finding just what he wanted because small, local builders were still pretty common. But today, only a generation or two later, the independent builder has become the exception. Now we buy our boats from dealers, who have in turn bought them from a manufacturer.

It's not a bad system either. You can get a good, safe boat at a reasonable price, with a fair chance of breaking even when you go to sell it, which is fine if you want a boat like everyone else's. But if you just don't fit the mold, then what?

Let's face it, the average guy is buying a fantasy, a dream, not a boat. Unfortunately, the only thing that binds the dream is money. Sure you'd love to. have a custom 30-foot mahogany runabout, but the $50,000 price tag brings the dream down to reality, and you wind up with a Banshee 29.95 by Ronco. It maybe a good boat, but probably not quite what you had hoped for.

This is where builders like Bill Menger fill a niche. It's guys like him who keep a lot of us out on the water. He's offering an affordable fantasy, and it's just what the doctor ordered. Take Menger's line of boats:

• 10' Oak lsland Skiff -_a basic flat-iron model that's beautifully finished and good under oars or sail.
• 14' Captree Dory. - an adaptation of a Swampscott dory that's nicely proportioned and very slippery for sailing or rowing. .
• 16' Seabright Skiff - a hefty Jersey shore surf boat for carrying a load with power or sail.
• 17' Menger Cat - a Cape Cod style cat boat also available as a cat ketch or sloop.
• 23' Oysterman which I've said enough about already.

And if you've got the design or imagination (plus some extra money) he'll custom,ize things to fit whatever your dream might be.

His customers seem to love him for it, too. On any given day, his shop is alive with old customers and potential buyers, all hanging out and picking up the energy that flows from places where boats are brought to life. Menger's no magician mind you, or some quaint character with an easy down east accept. He's just another water rat like you and me.

Menger grew up in and loved boats as a kid, but soon realized he had to make a living. So he got a degree in cival engineering, became a supervisor at a fiberglass fabricating operation, got married, and had same kids, just like everyone else. Except nine years ago he chucked the corporate world and went back to what .he started doing as a kid - messing around in boats.

He started to build boats, and not just any boats. He makes the. Ones that produce a smile from lovers of traditional craft, and turn the heads of those who buy me-too boats. Menger and his fellow independent small boat builders aren't all that special in the grand scheme of things. But to a man in search of a fantasy, with a 1985-size budget, they can create the stuff dreams are made. And my uncle? Well, if he were around today he probably still wouldn't buy a car from Lee lacocca, but he just might have bought a boat from Bill Menger.