The Sporty Days was a double deck, combination ferry and packet boat. She was built on the river bank at New Madrid, Missouri, in 1927 by Dick Richardson for John Kirtz, her owner and operator. The dimensions of her wood hull, with a scow bow, were 60 x 26 x 4 feet. Width overall, 30 feet; draught about two feet. She had but one stack and one tubular boiler about 12 feet long and 36 inches in
