Uh oh. 1958 Skagit 20 Hardtop

[Kelly]

Oh and thanks Helmar and John for the postings and compliments.

[Kelly]

PAPERWORK! I finally received the signed paperwork I need to get the title in my name! I know, most people probably wouldn't purchase a boat w/o a title, but I took a leap of faith and it has paid off. This was one of the reasons I haven't really done anything major to the boat yet. Now though, well let's just say I hope to be cruising the lake (at a minimum) by late winter.

Lot's to do. Once I have the actual title in my mitts, the major work will begin to bring back the 1958 Skagit glory this boat once had!

[Helmar]

So sometimes I do things the hard way, but in the end it tends to work out somehow. I bought another galvanized trailer that was the same size as the one I already have, but it was a bunk trailer. Well, the trailer had a blemish that I didn't like, so I swapped the rollers and bunks around and now have the boat sitting on bunks on my $100 galvanized trailer. Crazy.
I also swapped the winch tower. Now both of my Skagit boats have trailers that nearly look identical, though one is a surge brake 6 lug trailer and the other is a 5 lug no brake trailer.
The good part now is I will no longer have roller marks all over the hull...that just drives me nuts.
Pics...
(the duck pic is actually my helper, she follows me from my dock to the boat ramp all of the time, I know I'm crazy right)

Looks good. I don't care for the marks on my hull either but to many other things going on around here.
Like your little buddy too ;-)

[John Nelson]

I miss the home made trailers some of our boats had, 200' 1 1/2 galvanized water pipe bunks and rollers, tilt system that didn't work, a drop axle with spindles welded clearly out of line, plastic pipe vertical in the back to help align boat and tail lights with one stop wired into the markers. Your boat and trailer look good.

[Kelly]

So sometimes I do things the hard way, but in the end it tends to work out somehow. I bought another galvanized trailer that was the same size as the one I already have, but it was a bunk trailer. Well, the trailer had a blemish that I didn't like, so I swapped the rollers and bunks around and now have the boat sitting on bunks on my $100 galvanized trailer. Crazy.
I also swapped the winch tower. Now both of my Skagit boats have trailers that nearly look identical, though one is a surge brake 6 lug trailer and the other is a 5 lug no brake trailer.
The good part now is I will no longer have roller marks all over the hull...that just drives me nuts.
Pics...
(the duck pic is actually my helper, she follows me from my dock to the boat ramp all of the time, I know I'm crazy right)

[Kelly]

Yesterday I completely rewired the trailer. I now have nice bright LEDs for the rear and I might end up adding a few more marker/running lights in the future, but for now it's legal.

[Kelly]

The blue boat has a more normal transom width in my just completed viewing of numerous 1957-58 20 footers. However, the notch downs are not factory, meaning done by marinas/previous owners. The hardtop boat transom is different, don't know if I've seen one that narrow, but had to come from the factory like that. As a general set-up, these were powered by the twin longshaft versions of OMC motors which were 22 inches.

Just going back over this...I like this kind of stuff and since I don't have an ID plate it's like solving a mystery..

My guess is this hull is a late '57 build but a '58 model. If you look at all of the factory photos from '57, the transom width was narrower on those models, much like my hardtop. The gelcoat finish was in a different pattern on the bottom half of the boats in '57, but it is feasible the factory used remaining '57 top halfs and retrofitted them with the aluminum windows for the new look of '58. This would have saved resources and used up remaining inventory as the year was coming to a close.

Just my theory.

[Kelly]

I washed the boat too and waxed a few sections of it. I'm not entirely ready to dive into the whole boat with the detail work but I couldn't resist some small areas. I also removed the toilet and gagged and nearly puked a few times. Pictures will indicate why...
20160906_140042.jpg 20160906_140052.jpg

Some detail work, not much but it's a start:
20160906_190845.jpg 20160906_205123.jpg 20160901_140030.jpg 20160908_173640.jpg

Also I couldn't figure out what these metal brackets were until I found the old cup holders/beer bottle holders buried in the cabin, two of them...kinda cool!
20160907_161114.jpg

[Kelly]

Oh and yes, I got rid of the other boat in less than 24hrs by giving it away even though I put a little money into the old trailer...I don't consider that a loss.

[Kelly]

Been busy the past few days/weeks trying to get things in order on this boat. It started with getting another boat to get the trailer it was sitting on which means at one point I had 4 boats!!??!! I'm certifiably insane. The good thing is I'm an optimist for the most part and knew I could get rid of the other boat via CL. My father-in-law and I towed the other boat and this boat to the lake to do the trailer swap (that's a whole other story!) and was for the most part successful.
I'd say the cool part about the whole trailer bit is the person I was buying it from told me to just take it. Take it? The whole boat and galvanized trailer? I couldn't do that as she was a recently divorced school teacher, so I gave her some cash and told her I would return the next day to retrieve it.
So after a little elbow grease and some new wheels/tires and bearings/bearing buddys here's my nearly free trailer:
20160908_173949.jpg
20160908_174008.jpg
oh and I swapped out the winch stand. I picked one up on CL for $20 that was the exact height I wanted as the one that came with the trailer was way too low for my liking. I'll clean it up some more, I just wanted to make sure it all lined up how I wanted it to.
20160908_174114.jpg
Eventually I'll convert this trailer into a bunk trailer as I most definitely dislike roller trailers.

[Kelly]

Thanks John, I'll take a look!

[John Nelson]

There is a white 800 {merc} in c list Bellingham boat parts. I wouldn't bet its any good but if that's what you want to get into its worth a look.

[Kelly]

So after spending some time under the boat <putting the new trailer under it...making sure nothing got damaged> I noted the keel does go almost all the way to the stern, stopping short by a few inches.

I forgot to snap a few pics of the boat on the "new" trailer but will post up when I can. For now, here's a quick shot of it dipping it's keel in the water for the first time since at least 2001 but perhaps maybe even 1999.

20160831_174642.jpg

[Kelly]

Sorry, yes both outboard models. The "plan" is to give one some Honda power while the other may get an older tower of power.

[Karl]

I assume that they are both outboards?