You may not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but old boats can turn over new leaves.

The boat that is now Geffert's Burger Boat has done that several times over its 46-year life. Its latest reincarnation is as a floating chuck wagon.

The boat was built in 1963 for Bill Getz of Moline at Jeffboat in Jeffersonville, Ind., the largest inland shipbuilder in the country. It was a custom-built picnic boat with a large open aft deck, 40-by-12 foot, and Getz used it for years as a committee boat for sailboat races at the Davenport Sailing Club.

Then it was sold to Phil Trissel of Bettendorf, who made some modifications but continued using it as a committee boat. The aft deck with a picnic table and umbrella made it a great party boat, he said.

The next owner, the East Moline Fire Department, considered converting it into a fire and rescue boat but decided against it.

The fire department sold it to a private party, who used it very little. The boat sat on land, deteriorating for several years. It was pretty much in shambles when Walter "Wally" and Dana Geffert of Geneseo, Ill., bought it in 2004.

They were avid water-skiers who were usually hungry when they anchored in the LeClaire Canal after skiing. They always joked about trying to buy a burger from one of the larger boats.

"My husband comes up with wild and crazy ideas," Dana says, "and I say no to most." But his idea of converting the old boat to a floating restaurant interested her.

The biggest challenge to turning the idea into a workable operation was making sure they contacted any agency who might have jurisdiction and finding out what the rules, regulations and codes would be. They did this before they made any other moves. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told them where they couldn't operate, like directly on Princeton Beach, but there was nothing wrong with setting up shop in the "Quiet Waters."

Meeting all the health codes required them to essentially gut the interior in order to install all the equipment necessary to pass inspections.

The plan was to make it a fun, family business and so their son, Sean, and daughters, Leslie and Rebekah, pitch in when they anchor in the canal on the weekends.

Their menu consists of half-pound burgers; hot dogs; pineapple brats; grilled chicken, one called Island Chicken with Mango salsa; and several options of butterfly pork chops, including a hot and spicy "slough-style." Everything is cooked on a large grill on the aft deck.

They also offer a number of ice cream novelties kept in freezers chilled by the generator.

They are open for business most weekends from Memorial to Labor Day, from late in the morning to dark. Then they motor back to Island Marina.

On Labor Day weekend, however, they added a new twist by showing movies on a large screen attached to the rear of the pilot house. An array of boats rafted up and enjoyed the shows until the early-morning hours.

"We don't get wound up about the business," Wally says. "This is fun."

It's nothing to give up their day jobs for, Dana adds. But it is a good deal, they both say, when "some water-skiers that got hungry" can start a business that lets them be with their kids all weekend.

"How great is that?" Dana wonders.