1935: Built by Neil Banks, at the Kruse & Banks Shipyard in North Bend, OR.  Neil’s brother Robert was half owner of the yard.  Neil was a shipwright who worked in the yard doing interior woodwork on big ships by day.  I spoke and met with his niece, Mary Granger, in 2013.  She says that over the course of his life Neil built himself three small cruisers.  The first one, the Heather II, was built in the late 20’s or early 30’s.  She does not know what became of her, but gave me a picture.  Afton (we don’t know for sure if this was what Neil called her originally) was Neil’s second boat, completed in 1935.  She has photos of the boat nearing completion in the boat yard, sitting at the dock in the yard, and at anchor on a river with Neil and his wife Rhoda in the cockpit.  In ~1939 Neil completed his third and final boat, the Aurora. Mary also has pictures of that boat both under construction and after completion.