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Old 27-11-2007, 18:24   #16
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Celestial

I read your post out loud, and my wife burst into laughter. We have both concluded that sailboats are dangerous to work on. When we are at the boat doing our re-fit, we average 10 hours a day of work, camp on the boat, and generally work 7 days a week. You get so used to running up and down ladders and steps that sometimes you take them for granted. Not a good idea. We both are still hurting a bit from "un-expected" events on the boat over the last 3 years. However, we have evolved some of our own safety rules. My favorite is that gratings over the fish hold bilge will only keep you from falling into the bildge if you leave the grating where its supposed to be. Have fun with your re-fit.
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Old 27-11-2007, 18:50   #17
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I once took out my companionway steps and did one small step for man and one giant crash for mankind. Last April while working on her in California, I went to move the dinghy off my deck to start the hard dodger project. I pulled and pulled. Having concluded it needed a jerk to break it loose from what ever evils held it tight, I felt a snap in my arm. I had partially snapped the lower dorsal tender connecting the bicep to the elbow. That killed Mexico for this year and have decided to sail her to Hawaii (my home) to complete the interior. Hopefully off to the South Pacifc a year later...Aloha
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Old 04-05-2008, 13:00   #18
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Hi Bill R.

Have Skookum 53 motorboat with outriggers and F/S. One of only a handful made as far as I can tell. We keep her on the East Coast and live aboard May-December, then haul and fly to Trinidad where we have a Westsail 43. Currently aboard the W43 and are hauling Wednesday and flying "home." I'd be happy to compare notes etc or chat about any peculiarities. How are you coming along?
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Old 04-05-2008, 23:25   #19
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John C,
We are headed up to the boat for a few weeks of work at the end of May, then back to AZ until Aug when we will go back to the boat (Washington) thru Sept for more work. When we bought the boat there were more things in it that had problems than those that did not. Wouldn't have bought it if we hadn't liked it so much. We spent 10 days on the sister boat (they were built side by side) in Sitka before we bought ours. The boat was built with a pilot house over the engine room, with a 12000 lb fishhold aft of the engine room. Aft of that is the lazarrete and the fishing cockpit. The engine is a Gardner 6LXB, with a dry stack and Walter keel cooler. The steering is a Wagner hydraulic, and we have replaced the heavily corroded T4 ram on it (that project is still underway). There is a helm in the pilot house and one in the fishing cockpit, but I plan to put another helm on the outside aft wall of the pilot house. The boat was fished as a troller for 20 years, and still has the fittings for the outriggers, but the previous owner had sold off most of the boat's gear before we bought it. So many projects; would like to compare notes with you. I'll send you more later on.
Bill R.
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Old 25-05-2008, 06:26   #20
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Skookum 53

Bill R,

Will look forward to sharing some info and photos. Our master stateroom is abaft the ER and a "gaff pit" abaft that. Originally had a 4-71 but was re-engined with a Lugger 130HP by TBM in Pt. Townsend in 2002. Gardner is a great power plant! We also have same steering as you.

John
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Old 02-06-2008, 16:06   #21
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John C,
I am currently at the boatyard, but kind of buried in the work I brought along from my real job. Its a bit frustrating to have to waste time on that when I have some much to do on the boat.
We had a lot less water in the bildge when we arrived than we have run into the last 3 years. We fixed a lot of leaks in the companion way door last year, so that likely helped. But I think the biggest result was from that darn flush Warner hatch on the back deck. Last fall I did a lot of work resurfacing the seals, alignment of the dogs, then put grease on the seal surfaces, and finally put a piece of plastic over the hatch. It seems like the combination of all these finally worked. I have tried all of those before, except for the grease. That hatch is over the lazarette, which drains through tubing under the fishold and into the engine room bildge.
Bill
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Old 27-08-2008, 19:25   #22
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where can a person see your boat? I am looking for a sailboat that has a pilot house and has tons of room. I haven't seen any skookums.. I live in Anacortes and live on a 36 willard vega pilot house motor sailer.
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Old 28-08-2008, 09:32   #23
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delayed response

Moby,
At the moment, I am buried in high priority, high stress, work type work until Sept 19. Send me your phone number and we can get together after mid-September.
By the way, if I can make good progress on my work by then I plan on going over to the La Connor Classic Boat Show on Saturday (about Sept 14). I still like to look at wood boats, but I am much happier owning a fiberglass one. Don't know if the boat show was in your plans as well.
Bill
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Old 29-08-2008, 16:42   #24
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hey having trouble using boards so far am searching for an allied mistress what do yall think of them for toughness and seaworthyness
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Old 06-11-2008, 19:15   #25
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Skookum "Crescent"

Hi Bill. My name is Jock. About 18 months ago my wife and bought a Skookum 53 in Thailand. She was built in 1978 and was called Crescent when we bought her. Originally fitted with a Detroit 671 which I threw out and then fitted a Gardner 6lxb. The boat was in such a state of disrepair and totally infested with termites that we had to do a complete rebuild. The hull is good and we managed to save the prop, shaft, main mast and gearbox (Twin Disc 509) the gearbox had to be rebuilt thanks to saltwater damage somewhere along the line. We are about 50% along with the rebuild and have had to mothball her for now as we need to work in order to carry on. It will be interesting to find out more about your project.
Regards.
Jock
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Old 06-11-2008, 19:47   #26
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Hay Neighbor...Im in LaConner
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Old 07-11-2008, 08:33   #27
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Crescent and Bill R. - Skookum 53 news

We are in New Bern, NC awaiting Hurricane Paloma to decide where to go, after which we will make a beeline to St. John from Morehead City - about 7 days. We have been waiting for 10 days now for good wx.

There's a beautiful 53 sailboat here, Sheba Moon, and we hope to get a tour before we depart.

Is there any interest in a Skookum Owner's site or loose association? I'd be willing to do that. I already have a database of all the 53s I could find that are documented. If you would send me the data you have such as boat name and hull number I would add yours to it and email you a copy.

Another question, do either of you have a builder's plate or plaque? We don't, and I'd like to have one made.

Our boat is a motorboat, one of only a few made. You can see her here:
Trawler M/V


Best regards,

John
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Old 07-11-2008, 12:08   #28
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Cresent, John C, Stillraining

Stillraining - I'm out of La Connor till spring, working "the job" in Arizona.

John C. - I like the idea of a Skookum group. I can also see if Ted Mattson (Skookumchuck in Sitka) is interested, though he has the boat for sale. As for hull number of Skookum John, its 613482, and the boat was completed in 1979, though the original owner said he didn't launch it until spring 1980. So it looks like Seahorse, Cresent, Skookum John, and Skookumchuck (sister boat to Skookum John) may have pieces of them that were all at Skookum Marine's yard at the same time in 1978. What a coincidence!
As for a builder's plaque, I have never found one on my boat. But, Ted Mattson said he found a small red plastic "plaque" attached just under the outside rail in the middle of the stern. Since my boat and his were built side-by-side, I checked for one, but there was no evidence that it was ever there.
I checked you Seahorse website - nice boat. Your deck structure is larger than mine, but I have the deck-stepped masts to contend with.

Jock -- It looks like you've really got a project going. I'll send you some comments from my last 4 years of "adventures in skookum maintenance" on the next post.

Bill
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Old 08-11-2008, 17:35   #29
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Billr & John C

I think that a Skookum site with a database of what you guys have found out already is a great idea. We have spent hours on brokers websites looking for more information on Skookums. Once managed to get an email address for Ed Monk jnr but got no reply. When we bought Crescent we had no idea of the Skookum reputation.
We have not found a hull number or builders plate. Aslo not sure if she was named "Crescent" from the start. We have a website that will be published shortly showing our progress. Our email address is ruptoo@agnet.co.za.

Jock
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Old 12-11-2008, 13:51   #30
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Jock, John C,
I had put together about a page of learning experiences we have had, but the internet server ate it. One item that took us 2 years to figure out was how to successfully remove the original thru-hulls (we had one that was substantially corroded). We now have it down to a science ( and 2 hours), since that is what it took. We found that both the mushroom flange and the threaded sections of the thru-hull had been completely bonded into the hole through the hull with one-part polysulfide. The same was true for the sea valve (made by Algonquin-Buck). The only way to remove those without damaging the surrounding hull was to get the polysulfide up to about 150 degrees C with a heat gun. That will cause the polysulfide to lose its strength, but not damage the surrounding fiberglass. If you want all the details sometme, let me know. There is quite a story that goes with it.
Bill
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