PNW - Skookum 53 Re-Fit

[John C.]

Bill R and Jock –

Sorry to be so tardy in responding. We made one departure on Sunday and my granddaughter got very seasick so we returned and are now awaiting another weather window – not likely until Wednesday.

Bill R – Below are the hull numbers of our boats plus Skookumchuck. The hull number is molded into the transom on the upper right side. It starts with SKK00 followed by the hull number, then the last 2 digits of the year and a letter indicating the month it was molded. Crescent and Seahorse are listed as being 1978 boats; Skookumjohn as 1979 and Skookumchuck as 1980. Seahorse, hull 160M78K was originally named Brendan and was documented as a recreational vessel. The others were originally documented as Commercial Fishing Vessels. Skookumjohn was originally named Demijohn and her service later changed to a Passenger Vessel. Crescent’s hull No. is 162M78L; Skookumjohn 164M78B and Skookumchuck 174M79K. I cannot account for the fact that some hull numbers are lower but have a later month than those of another boat. All mu information was taken from USCG documentation data. Atr any rate, our three boats were all molded in 1978 and so were a-building at the same time. I know our boat wasn’t finished until after 1985. Interestingly, Crescent is listed by USCG as “out-of-service” (meaning out of US documentation) and documented in the UK.

Interesting info on the thru-hulls and thanks for looking for the builder’s plate.

John C.

[billr]

John C.
Thats interesting information.
I changed the USCG registration from Fishing to Coastwise when we bought it.
I suspect that the difference between the 1979 date for Skookum John and the 1980 date for Skookumchuck was that the yard finished the work on Skookum John earlier. The original owner said he had put about $270K in the vessel during the build and was running out of money, so he cut back on some of the planned items. Examples: the stateroom has no drawers, and the pilot house helm is quite spartan.
Bill

[Crescent]

John C & Bill R

Thanks John C, that's very interesting information. What a coincidence that 3 boats out of the same yard at the same time is now being worked on again. Crescent has been registered in Hong Kong for a number of years now. Not sure when she was taken of the USCG register. Do you perhaps have any information on past owners?

The guys we bought from did charter work in Indonesia, Andamans, Thailand, Burma and Borneo. Worked really hard and did not get much attention. Crescent got run down by a tanker in the Mallaca straits, very little damage to the hull but broke the mizzen mast and caved in part of the pilot house. Not many boats out there that can withstand getting T-boned by a tanker. Do you guys have some photos of interior work done? Cabin layouts? This link http://www.seal-asia.com/diving/vessels/crescent.htm is to a page when Crescent was still doing charters.

Regards
Jock

[John C.]

Bill R and Jock

I agree that the "year" is usually the year the boat received her first document by USCG. Too bad about the limited funds of the 1st owner. There are some exquisite interiors on some of the Skookum yachts, but not so on the FVs that I have seen. Ours is kind of in the middle, I'd say - not varnished wood everywhere inside but a combination of mahogany and formica and the galley /saloon overhead has been painted nicely. Soles are Iroko in PH and saloon/galley and teak and holly everywhere else except engineroom.

Jock - Interesting photos of your boat - thanks.
I don't have any other info on her. Interesting story about the collision. Yikes!

Regarding photos, I do have a collection of photos I got off the Web, some of which show interiors of the sailing yachts. Their layouts are much different than ours. Let me know what areas you are looking for and I will forward copies to you and Bill if he wants them too. Send your email address to Tropicsailor33@aol.com

John

[billr]

John, Jock,
I have many pictures, and will send you some emails with them. The latest camera we got seems to use about 3 Mb per picture, so I guess that is about one per email. Maybe some day I will figure out how to post them on this site.
Looking at this thread, I assume then that Jock's email address is still ruptoo@agnet.co.za, and John's email is Tropicsailor33@aol.com. Mine is brollins@theriver.com
Jock, I looked at the Cresent site. I had never seen a Skookum with a red stripe around the bulwarks. All the ones I have seen in the Washington / Alaska areas have a black stripe. Personally, I am planning to change Skookum John's to navy blue. Also, your pilot house configuration is different from what I have seen before.
John, I assume that you are on the move again headed north for the haul-out.

Bill

[entropy]

Hello
I'm a commercial fisherman in Alaska looking to buy a 53 Skookum that still has a fishold. I realize they came in numerous configurations. I'd like to find a pilothouse aft version with the amidships fishold. I can pay cash and am willing to do quite a bit of conversion/repowering etc. if needed. Feel free to email directly to jgmac@ptialaska.net

Thanks in advance,
Joe

[billr]

Joe,
When I was looking in 2005, there was one for sale in Seattle (kind of like the Rose in Sitka). But I have lost track since then. Ted Mattson in Sitka has the Skookumchuck for sale. It has an aft fishold, but it has been used for charter for a number of years. Just do an internet search for Skookumchuck and his contact information will show up. He may know of other Skookums for sale as well.
Bill

[Demijohn]

Hey Bill, I wondered where you and my old boat were at these days. When are we going to make that trip up the inside passage? Have you taken her out yet?
Paul

[captain58sailin]

Hi Bill,
My Wife and I purchased a 53' a couple of years ago out of Sitka, she is fitted out as a troller as well. I have always had a thing for Skookums, since I spent a year sailing, the south pacific on a 47' back in 1976. We are intending to keep her refrigerated fish hold intact, and continue trolling SE Alaska in the summers. However ours needs a thorough refit as well starting with the fuel system. Anyway we love her and perhaps we can compare notes along the way, I figure we have at least 2 years more of a work in progress.
Brad

[Mikey Bamboo]

Aye fellow Skookum owners. Been a looky loo to this thread, finally signed up on this forum. Thought I would give it some life as it is one of the more informative sources for Skookum owners on the web (if that says much).

I have a Skookum 47 from 1972; most of you here have the 53's. Mine, S/V Bamboo, is hull #3 as I found from the titling company. Some of you were wondering what the original plate looks like ....look at my profile for a pic. You can also go here for a bigger version (http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn316/skookum47/?action=view&current=plate.jpg). One of the most interesting things I got out of this thread was the comment about the hull ballast. I have been digging deeper into my 18 month so far project and finally took at look at the mid tank that is glassed in which is supposed to be 150 gallons and for water. I uncapped it last week thinking it was empty and found that it was full to the brim with diesel ...score! Looks like it is in good shape but I am no longer likely to go cutting an access panel to inspect what is deeper down unfortunately. Forward tank is sourced for water and is 125 gallons. Aft diesel tank is 83 gallons.

This one is a center cockpit, has a large flush foredeck that you could play football on with a raised aft cabin. Lots of projects completed, more that a lot to go. It really is easier to take stuff out, than it is to put it back. Having said that, the forward 2/3rds of the vessel is bare hull on the inside. Makes it look like a friggin condo. She has a Ford Lehman 80 with now under 500 hrs, a 5k yanmar genset with 115 hrs and my favorite thing is the above deck hydraulic anchor windlass (roller) running off the engine pump. I keep thinking about other toys I can use those hydraulic lines for ...bow thrusters, a picker crane for a large tender that sits on chocks on the bow ...? For now, toys are a dream and a long ways away.

Anyway, I absolutely love the hell out of this boat/ship and I take it out all the time by myself. It is very easy to manage solo and I don’t even have mainsail lines running aft or lazy jacks setup yet. The hull design is beautiful and efficient. For a big cruising/fishing vessel, this one glides through the water with amazing speed. I am actually going to race it again on opening day. A Local club (STYC) has an event called 'Race to the Straights' ...which is a race to Port Townsend from Seattle, then back the next day (single/double handed race). Will be moored at the Point Hudson Marina which is the one that has the lift and boat yard behind it ...which was the old Skookum yard.

The club did a cruise and snooze with a few other boats in February, first stop was Hidden Cove, Port Madison, north side of Bainbridge Island here in Puget Sound. A buddy on my boat and the captain of another mentioned that they grew up on the water right there. They had me look a little west and pointed out the house that Ed Monk lived in while they were growing up. I understand that he doesn't live there anymore but it certainly hit a soft spot.

Some of you have been looking to start consolidating a database or a collection of data on the Skookums. I am all for this and would be happy to host the site. I am not much of a content/web design dude but I am a network engineer and have ways to publish it publicly as well as the hardware and smarts to it. Drop me a line if you want to start a coordinated effort to collect all the available data and publish it for everyone. I have no diagrams or blueprints and would probably cry with happiness if someone told me they did and that I could have it digitally scanned. I might also buy that person a lot of good beer.

Cheers ...now back to work.

Mikey

[captain58sailin]

Hi Mikey,
Nice to meet you.
My first experience with a Skookum 47' is what set my sights from then on. Our family bought "Rodonis" in 1976, and sailed from Alaska down to the south pacific and all over there until we returned to Alaska, then my Mom took the vessel to Hawaii and chartered out of Molokai for 5 years or so, anyway ever since that trip, I have only had eyes for Skookum sailing vessels and a hankering to return to the south pacific. The only fault I could find with "Rodonis" was no fish hold! Even a small fish box would have been terrific, anyway Mom sold "Rodonis" a few years ago and I believe "Rodonis" is still in Washington state. My Wife and I bought "Rose" in Sitka, and she is a 53', with a 7 ton freezer hold. We have all roller furling and a pilot house. I was wondering if you could tell me where on the vessel one would look for the owner's plate? I would love to get my hands on ours if it is still on the vessel. So far all the sailing I have done with "Rose" was to bring her from Sitka to Homer, which was about 700 nm, I had the Genny up most of the time, but was under power the whole way due to time considerations. "Rose" has a 471 jimmy, that runs great. The previous owners had put a hospital silencer on the dry exhaust and she is pretty quiet. I can't wait to finish the refit and start fishing full time and taking my winters in the south pacific chasing the wily tuna.
"Rodonis" had a 45 hp. Lehman that was very easy on fuel, and the hull was very smooth in the water, she could run with the best of them, we had kind of a race from American Somoa back to Hawaii with a vessel that had come in 2nd in the BC to Hawaii race, and we beat them into Hawaii by 2 days. I don't know if it is the inertia or the design, but even in light airs we could out sail a 43' Morgan O/I that had buddied up with us.
I would be interested in joining up with a Skookum owners association or club or whatever, I am not big on joining things, but I would like to keep in touch with other Skookum owners. Sorry my computer skills are rather rudimentary so I would be much help with the web site I could send in photos and updates!

[Mikey Bamboo]

aye capn ...

Owners plate on mine was in plain view attached to the inside of the salon hatch. Not hidden at all. I was thinking of commissioning a native artist to make me a print of the whale. It is very unique. Being out here in the PNW there are numerous Indian artists and their work is displayed accross many retail shops in the region. I continue to look for an image that looks similar but haven't found anything even close. I don't think it is supposed to be an orca, but perhaps a bigger whale? The tail fin of it reminds me of my rudder. Anyone know?

original plate picture by skookum47 - Photobucket



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I am volunteering to start a Skookum owners site. A collection of data, pictures, documents, specifications, stories ...whatever, send it in. It is about time someone put it out there ...why not me. It may take a while, but I will get a site up and publish the link here.

<<<If anyone has any blueprints of a 47 ....PLEASE contact me>>>
---> I will pay you to have them reproduced/scanned<---

Perhaps after we get this started the Monk family will take notice of the effort and offer additional content.

************************************************** *******

Please limit each message to 5MB's each as the mailbox will only accept up to that much, but send as many as you want. Email address is:

skookum(-at-)fulcrum.net

[captain58sailin]

Hi Mikey,
I just got back to work, I did manage to get a bunch of photos of Rodonis, the only problem I had was getting enough time to scan them into the computer and sending them to you, we do not have any plans or blue prints, sorry, when I get home in July, I will try to make time to scan them in and send some of the better ones to you. Right now I have my hands full with work and getting my other boat ready for the commercial salmon season in Cook Inlet.
all the best,
Brad

[Randy]

I had some friends on a couple of Skookum 47's, I was wondering if anyone has heard of them. John Cahill with 'Odlye' Port Townsend & Ron & Dana with 'Dawntreader' last seen in San Diego '83. Odlye was the first boat I sailed on in '78 out of Maui.

[Mikey Bamboo]

Originally Posted by Randy

I had some friends on a couple of Skookum 47's, I was wondering if anyone has heard of them. John Cahill with 'Odlye' Port Townsend & Ron & Dana with 'Dawntreader' last seen in San Diego '83. Odlye was the first boat I sailed on in '78 out of Maui.

I know a John Cahill who owns a newer Ross 30 (s/v Goucho). Races it up here in Seattle with CYC. Nice guy.