Hull number

[Karl]

Ok you Skagit guys. A little help here.
Here is a picture of my hull number for Arthur. Any ideas on date, position in the production run or anything else of interest. How many 25's were built?

[Helmar]

Ok you Skagit guys. A little help here.
Here is a picture of my hull number for Arthur. Any ideas on date, position in the production run or anything else of interest. How many 25's were built?

Here is a bummer part. Bill Roberts knows all of this stuff.
The only way I can think to get a hold of him is via his website or over at Fiberglassics in the Bearcat section. You would be able to get his email address from there.

Bill had or has all this information and knew more about Skagits than anyone that I know of. Bill is the Master..


The only other person that is pretty sharp on the Skagits is Tim Jones. I would not be surprised that he might know how many was built.

[bruceb]

Hi Karl-
Super cool you've got Aurthur back to covered storage and you're keeping the name!!!!
The Skagit mfg plates are pretty straightforward, with a little twist. So yours looks like "0 25X 9024".
The "0" is production year, minus the 195, or 196. Since Skagit only made boats in years 1955-1961, yours is a 1960.
The "25" is length. On my plate , it's just a "2" (for 20').
The "X" is for the model type, express cruiser.
The last set of numbers is the most confusing, the twist ! So the best guess of total # of boats made by Skagit doesn't come anywhere near 9,024, I have no reference as to what this means. On my plate, it's 109, which makes some sense that in the production year of my 1958, it could have been #109. In the case of your boat, makes more sense that the hull number was a slight blunder, more likely #0024, of that year.

BTW, the 24/25 boats only number at most, 20, as we've only found 6-8 or so. One as far away as Brunswick, Newfoundland, one submerged at Quadra Island, B.

So, hope that clears up some of the mystery, but leaves a question- that last #.
You're lucky to be the conservator of such a unique cruiser in original condition !

[bruceb]

The Skagit 24/25's
I refer to them this way because they're the same boat, just marketed as 24 in 1959, their first year, then 25 in 60,61. The hull accent stripe was changed when they changed the length "designation". All of the Skagit boats in 1960 "stretched a foot " in 60, apparently to follow an industry trend.....
The 24/25's were a departure for Skagit as they had designed boats up to that point in-house. Howard Roberts first penned ( or was it penciled back then ?) the 20 express, then the 14 Sportster, Tyee, then 17 express. The 16 Ski master was the creation of Lloyd Lindberry, familiar to some of the early club members.
So back to the 24/25 creation- Skagit saw this part of the market as a natural area of expansion, and engaged the ferry/ naval design firm of Phillip Spaulding to formalize their ideas for the new line.
Spaulding merged with competitor Nickum design in 1971, but is best noted for their work on the Evergreen State Class ferries for Washington. Nickum Spaulding was based in Seattle and had significant ferry contracts with Wash, B.C. and Alaska. They were sold to a partnership now known as Elliot Bay Design Group in 1987.
So the reason for going into such a story is that attempts were made to find the Skagit 24/25 blueprints in 2002 and the answer was that they were lost/destroyed in the 1987 transition of ownership.
Oddly enough, in 2002, in snooping around the Everett waterfront , I came across an owner of the last known Skagit 20 hull mold. None of us had space to store (or even move, lift) such a monster. The owner then chain sawed up the mold, dumped it.

[Kelly]

Bruce that is some excellent history of not only the Skagit 24/25 but Skagit in general. This info is great for those of us that are new to the Skagit world.

[bruceb]

Kelly and all-
The story of Skagit Plastics has many twists and turns, leading observers to see a company/ownership using a lot of creativity to develop it's niche.
Much like Tim Jones, my brothers and I saw Skagits from the day our dad brought the boat home to Spokane from an overnight drive from La Conner.
Tim's family saw Skagits and the 31 Saratogan at the Seattle Boat Show after already knowing of the brand's reputation.
As little kids, we were amazed one day (1960 ?) when a milk truck delivering in our neighborhood had a chrome Skagit emblem forward of the driver's door. It was a Chevy chassis with a fiberglass box instead of a steel one. Found one a few years ago in Bothell- known as a Skagit Chief Body, the company branched out in off-season years to keep its fiberglass employees busy. Apparently, Darigold, with a production facility in Mount Vernon, purchased 50 of these bodies.
Skagit had the benefit of Cole Cummings as their public relations manager, who went on road trips to California semi-yearly, to show the boats (taking two at a time-towing a 20 and hauling a smaller model perched on a rack on his truck to the boat shows in San Francisco and L.A. Cole was effective in getting the 57 20 express model in a Perry Mason episode, one of the most popular shows of the era. Factory workers were on cloud 9 for weeks with the fame.... he also got a 59 20 express on an episode of Sea Hunt. Cool.
Unfortunately the meteoric rise of Skagit couldn't overcome an economic recession around 1960. As the word from Jim Dunlop, owner of Skagit Plastics, the company never made a profit from the boats. That coupled with an aging hull design ( little more "V" was already being used by other builders) and Howard Roberts insistence to "custom build" every boat conspired to force the company into bankruptcy.
history2lg.jpgMany boat builders have come and gone, Skagit's a uniquely Northwest story, as the workers from Skagit, after it's demise, went on to NW legends -Tollycraft,Bell Boy, Uniflite, Reinell, SabreCraft, Bayliner, and added to the spectacular boatbuilding industry in the Anacortes, La Conner that survives today.

[GregJ]

Bruce, I knew a little of the Skagits history but nothing like you have written. Thanks man.

[Helmar]

I think I like Bruce's story best.
Like Bruce said, many twists and turns.
One I heard was that Skagit was in trouble and the factory mysteriously caught fire and burned down for insurance purposes too.
With Bruce's story, sounds more like what really happened.

Anyway, with Marty, I had been in Plenty of the Skagits and well, I feel they were built much better than Bell Boys, Uniflites and all the others. Well, except for the Fiberform boats that as rumor has it, took about 2 bayliners to create on Fiberform.

I think it was Tim Jones that was telling me that a few 1967? Skagits were built as some did not burn in the fire. I don't remember who, but someone got a hold of them and finished 5 or more Skagits.

For some that do not know this. The Express and Offshore boat difference was, more cabin space in the Express.
The Offshore the moved out the toilet to the center and moved the bulkhead up so no dash space. More cockpit room in offshores.

[Stan D]

Kelly and all-
Cole Cummings as their public relations manager, who went on road trips to California semi-yearly, to show the boats (taking two at a time-towing a 20 and hauling a smaller model perched on a rack on his truck to the boat shows in San Francisco and L.A. Cole was effective in getting the 57 20 express model in a Perry Mason episode, one of the most popular shows of the era. Factory workers were on cloud 9 for weeks with the fame.... he also got a 59 20 express on an episode of Sea Hunt. Cool..

I've posted most of these before, but here are some frame grabs of the Skagit that was on Sea Hunt. I wonder if the 9 in the serial number indicates the year that the hull was formed. Even though it's a 1960 model, it may have been made in 1959. I think I noticed the same thing in Arthur's S/N.

[bruceb]

Stan, Joe, Greg-
Wow, Stan, great frame grabs. It struck me as great marketing to see the close-ups of the Skagit 20 emblem on that Sea Hunt episode, cool for sure.
Yes, Joe, rather sure the fire was disruptive when it happened, and think it slowed or stopped production for a while. I had a chance to talk with an employee (Brad) of the Howard Roberts Company, which was started up in the wake of Skagit's closing (about 1963) and ran until 1967. The Roberts Company was definitely closed due to a catastrophic fire. And as many of you may have made the pilgrimage to the factory slab, where Roberts built boats mostly for the fishing industry, there's very little to see, just concrete...an old deck mold for a 16'. Boats were finished with ply bulkheads, floors, deck hardware in the big gray building just south of downtown La C known as the Moore Clark bldg.
I think some of this fire situation might be cleared up by Marty, from his research.
Greg, the memory is a quirky thing, I guess moments come with great detail, in my case, BS is a degree I may have earned, or is it learned ? HA.

[Kelly]

Great shots from Sea Hunt. Bruce, any more pics from the factory? Early factory photos are some of the coolest, no matter the subject.

[Helmar]

Yep, looks like a 59 or 60...Can't say as I have ever really seen a 60 or newer Skagit cross my path.

I heard some place that the First Big Boats (Saratogan) ever built from Fiberglass.

I also heard that the PBR's Hull used in Vietnams mekong delta's had something to do with Skagit. Could that be true ?
Like maybe Skagit paved the way with the larger Glass hulls?

[bruceb]

Believe the boat in Sea Hunt to be a 59 or first half of 60 production. Have one other , see if I can find it. The gentleman in glasses in the one posted we think to be Cole Cummings, Skagit PR man. His Son Cole Jr., still resides in Anacortes.
Tim Jones is the expert for large Skagits, and has the magazine page of the resin supplier to Skagit touting the 31 Saratogan as the largest fiberglass pleasure cruiser made at the time, 1957. Shortly after, Chris Craft would buy Roamer Mfg, who was # 2 on the scene to make a larger (glass) boat than Skagit.
Skagit built a few , maybe 3, larger glass hulls, at least one was for U.S. Navy. We have a photo of a glass barge attributed to Skagit, next to the factory with Tim's Saratogan on other side of dock.
Somewhere there are photos from Jack Henriot that show the large Navy hulls Skagit made 1958-1960 ?
The connection to the PBRs used in Viet Nam is quite direct w/ Skagit. Lloyd Lindberry, designer for Skagit was later employed by Uniflite to work on the PBRs and then by the Dept. of Defense/Navy to inspect and certify all hulls leaving the factory in Fairhaven/Bellingham. He was sent to Wash D.C. to receive an award from then President Carter at his retirement for his service to the DOD. The photo of the presentation was very proudly displayed on the wall of his home. There's a restored PBR in Whatcom County Museum in Bellingham. I know some club members have visited that- chime in !
brucebhistory6lg.jpg