If you build boats, and want to persuade people of their seaworthiness, I suppose one thing you can do is drive one around after lopping a big piece off. Apparently that's what Boston Whaler has taken to doing again, 40-odd years after its founder first tried the gimmick.

We met captains Maria and Dave Russell as they made a stop in Jack London Square for last weekend's powerboat show in their 18- ... er, make that 12-foot vessel.

Evidently it was among the first of many waypoints on a planned West Coast tour. www.whaler.com offers a short movie (no sound, apparently) of a similar, slightly smaller boat being cut in half and piloted away. Dave and Maria are planning to blog their journey as it progresses.