Skagit 15 with four-cylinder Evinrude?

[DMCI]

Today I met a gentleman named Dave, who has what appeared to be a 1960 Skagit 15. The boat has a Evinrude four-cylinder motor with electric shift. The motor didn't have any horsepower indications on the case of the engine.

I was hoping somebody could identify the motor for me. I have a 55 and a 70 hp Evinrude. Those two engines are roughly 1984 vintage. The report I have is that the 55 is a particularly cherry motor. I will go over to the place where the boat is and see if he will allow me to take a few pictures of it and the motor. Will report back here with the pictures if I get them.

He expressed some interest in the club, and I think he would make a fine member. while he himself is fairly sophisticated and erudite, he is fairly unsophisticated regarding our particular art. I think with that sized boat, he would benefit from cruising in company and from the advice that could be gained here.

Could this be an 85 Evinrude? The boat has a 0+ XXXX serial number. From my limited experience could it be a 1960 15 footer? I see elsewhere on the site that the motor has a questionable history regarding fuel consumption and the applicability to the Skagit, if that is the motor.

[DMCI]

Pictures of Evinrude outboard

Here are a couple pictures of the above described outboard. Wondering if any that he knows anything about it. It has three button electric shift and a single lever control. Ignition switch is separate on the dashboard.

[bruceb]

Dave-
The motor appears to be a 1964 or 65 Erude. The size and shape of the gearcase indicates the year/years as in 66 they went to a more bulbous gearcase that allowed a more efficient flow of water past the prop, which allowed a larger prop diameter.
Noticed that there's no number to indicate the horsepower on it, but since OMC didn't make an 85, the shape of the cowl tells me it is either a 75 or 90.
And, as you indicated with the controls, it's an electric shift. Long shaft-20'.That's a small problem, as some folks try to stay away from electric. If you know the history of the motor and it's users, that may not be a problem. More to come !
bruceb

[DMCI]

Thanks Bruce.


It appears that the V-4 was made for several years in this configuration in several output formulations on the order of 75-85 hp and larger in an effort to provide motors for the growing weight of runabouts and express cruisers.

I know for a fact that by the time the Skagit 24 Express rolled around, they used a twin Johnson 100 HP installation on our company's boat.

In addition to your input, which now seems to be right on the mark I've come up with the following:

[bruceb]

Dave-
Wow, don't you love those vintage ads !
Clint S. has a 66 or 67 ( help me Clint !) and by then OMC made Johnsons and Erudes in 100 hp, thanks to re-working of the reed plates. From 64-68 Johnson had a simple lever controller for the electric shift where Evinrude utilized your mentioned push button shifting.
The weak point in the systems was intrusion of the gearcase by water, the worse case scenario being......salt water. OR....deterioration of the wiring, chafing, etc.
An owner aware of this regularly checked/s the gear lube for water, sometimes changing the gear lube multiple times a season to prevent damage to parts/gears in lu. Small pain to go through to avoid paying for a new motor..
On another subject, that's cool, twin 100 v4s on a Skagit 24. Nice hole shot ! Have you been able to trace the boat at all ? Are there any pics of it, that you know ?
Thanks for your post and ads !
bruceb

[DMCI]

More recollections of the late 60s.

My recollection of that boat (the 24 Skagit) and I only took it out once, was that it had a definite lean to port. You couldn't straighten up or you end up running into the rocks instead of Rosario. I recall it was fast and I recommended that it needed trim tabs. Of course, it didn't need trim tabs at all what it needed was a counterrotating outboard on the starboard side. Neither of those 100s was that.

Mostly, that boat was run by the marketing department to take various moguls from timber company's to Rosario to play golf. Mr. John Goodall, marketing VP ran it. I recall that the best thing the about the boat was it had a charge account at Rosario.

I knew from the literature that they had a bigger boat but it was too large for the company's requirements. About 1967, at some point the boat was traded in for a 36 Uniflite Express Cruiser with a flying bridge.

At that time, after being taken on a check ride to make sure I could handle the boat, I was appointed skipper. I remember the marketing guys would come and get me out of the transmission department, Hal Snow's toolmaker department, or John Stendal's Mill department, or wherever I happened a be working at the time and tell me to get the boat ready as Mr. Goodall, needed to go on a cruise at 10:37 AM the next morning. (His joke, was that that if he scheduled departure on the odd minute that everybody would be on time. It rarely worked.)

Once, when I worked in the Crane repair department that literally meant handing a 30 pound sledge the one of the guys in that department, and going boating. That was such a relief; well you just can't believe it! While I did get paid for cleaning the boat, they wouldn't pay me for running the boat as I didn't have a license. I didn't care.

So I think, the Skagit disappeared when the Uniflite came, probably while I was at school at Oregon State University. Those were happy days, but most of those great people are now sadly deceased.

[bruceb]

Dave-
That's a very interesting story of the twin V4 24 Skagit. Sure would have been a handful without counter-rotating props ! The 24 being a very flat bottom design makes the thrust issue amplified.
So, was it white with red trim, white/turquoise, white/black maybe ?
There was a pic of a white/burgundy one in the 59 brochure, but I recall it looked to be an inboard. There's very little to indicate exactly how many 24s were built. The group's only found about 10, with speculation that 20 or so were made.
A current list of found boats includes one in Arizona, one in Gray's Harbor, Karl's boat also in Gray's, one in Everett, "Aurthur" in Portland, one in Sidney, B.C., one rescued sinker in Quadra Isl., B.C., and a rumored boat in Nova Scotia.
I recall only one outboard that I've seen personally, and it had a cool bubble shaped removable fiberglass cowl that covered the conventional Skagit style transom of the day, to muffle the engine noise. John in Everett knows this story !!! The view of the stern was unique, to say the least, as the hull and freeboard are so deep, with a longshaft (20") outboard cut out.
Anyhow, thanks for the story, happy boating,
bruceb

[DMCI]

Bruce,

My extremely hazy recollection is that the thing is green and white. I only took the thing out once. Tried to get management to put a trim tab system in the thing, which they didn't do. In retrospect it was not the solution in any event.

They must have adjusted the trim tabs on the motor or something, because I don't recall the thing was over burdensome in the steering. I recall the summer after the 24 went bye-bye, they charted for a month or so a 21 foot UNIFLITE express cruiser, perhaps as a test. Because my sisters weren't along, I actually got to fight that 24 pound king myself. In those days, our expert Mr. Ralph Miller, who bent up all the Les Davis Dodgers said that the expectation was that you had to fish 100 hours on average to get one.

I don't remember ever seeing it again, especially after the newer boat was acquired.