The little runabout was so perfect, Roy Keck couldn’t help himself.

When the like-new 1962 Dorsett El Dorado the color of harvest gold came up at auction, the boating enthusiast had to have her.

The 15-foot fiberglass beauty had fewer than 90 hours on its Mercury 50 engine. The original owner garaged it in the Yakima area for decades. It only hit the auction block when the owner’s heirs settled his estate.

Keck, a retired Energy Northwest executive who serves on the Port of Benton Commission, is a boat lover who has held every position there is at the Richland Yacht Club.

He was captivated by the boat.

“I bought this boat about five years ago because it was in pristine condition,” he said. “The last thing I needed was another boat. But I couldn’t pass it up.”

He bought it and hauled it to his machine shop/man cave at the Richland Airport.

He’d developed an industrial shop at the airport with his son after he retired about 13 years ago. Most space is leased to tenants but the Kecks retained room for a personal shop where they restore old cars and spend time with friends.

The boat lingered for several years. But in time, the Kecks dove in and retooled it as a tribute to Roy Keck’s wife following her illness and death several years ago. They sliced a bartender-sized hole in the center, installed counters and legs and turned it into a service bar.

On a Saturday in June, they hauled it to the Richland Yacht Club, where the boat, now named Lil’ Miss Becky Lee after his wife, occupies pride of place in the club’s $1.7 million clubhouse.

Dorsetts were widely produced in the 1960s and played an outsized role in the booming recreational boating market.

Their swoopy stylings and company logo were right at home in an era that birthed the original Star Trek television series and the Sean Connery-era James Bond films.

Surviving Dorsetts tend to be run-down and unseaworthy. YouTube has many videos highlighting old boats and restoration efforts. But the one from Yakima was almost flawless.

“It was a perfect barn find,” Keck said.

Lil’ Miss Becky Lee rests on legs instead of a hull, but her key features are all there. The Mercury is perched on the transom. The lights and fixtures work. The distinctive Dorsett windshield, designed to pivot so passengers could scramble onto the deck, is in place too.

The boat is on loan to the yacht club at 350 Columbia Point Drive.

The club is dedicated to the enjoyment of boating and safety education. It boasts a 176-slip marina at Columbia Point and has about 400 members.

With the boat now resting comfortably near the river, the Kecks are teeing up another project. They’re restoring a 1935 Hudson Terraplane – an old school gangster car they plan to power with a Corvette engine and drive train.