Thanks all for the kind words- I'm excited to have these vintage images of my ol' skiff in her native surroundings...that first picture still amazes me each time I see it... paradise! SteveH: when I showed my local restorer the pictures, he said the wooden object on the dock was a sailboat mast (the...

Truenorth- When I bought DENBY, I quizzed the owner about her history with his family; they bought her very slightly used in 1955; her hull card notes that she was originally delivered to Gregory Boat Co. in Detroit for sale. She found her way to Eagle River, WI within a year where she was sold to t...

Happy 2015, Sea-Skiffers! I was lucky and blessed today to have my boat's original owner share some great family snapshots showing DENBY docked outside her boathouse on Denby Island back in the early summer of 1956 with her freshly black -painted hull. These recently-found old photos are so evocativ...

I've seen the steering columns both in black or painted ivory to match the wheel (strip the column down and find the lowest color to see what it was originally; the side-step boxes had a mahogany lid but were painted the floor and bilge color (which was a sandy beige); the fuel tanks I've seen have ...

New:

Cavalier = smooth plywood bottom & hullsides Cavalier 'Seastrake' = smooth plywood bottom; lapstrake hullsides Sea Skiff = lapstrake bottom & hullsides Sea Skiff 'Corinthian'= lapstrake bottom; carvel-planked hullsides I think both the Seastrake and Corinthian variants were developed to give the po...

Well, well, well... Look who's back on the market! My recently-sold previous boat, an early 1955 18' Chris*Craft Sea Skiff originally from Lake Minnetonka and previously sold from the giant 'Warner Collection' classic boat auction, is once again for sale on Craigslist, along with another 18' Sea Ski...

Here are some gorgeous Sea Skiff cruisers, too! Love them, just can't bring one home or I'd have to sleep on it every night

OOPS...lots of pictures of Sea Skiffs to share- here's 'part deux' for your viewing pleasure: IMG_1269.JPG IMG_1266.JPG IMG_1270.JPG IMG_1282.JPG IMG_1279.JPG IMG_1285.JPG IMG_1242.JPG IMG_1338.JPG IMG_1321.JPG IMG_1323.JPG IMG_1336.JPG IMG_1337.JPG IMG_1344.JPG IMG_1346.JPG IMG_1348.JPG IMG_1349.JPG

Hello, fellow Sea Skiffers- It's been a quiet summer on the topic of Sea Skiffs (I guess everybody is too busy boating) so I'm throwing a number of recent Sea Skiff images (taken at the Green Lake, WI and Hessel, MI classic boat shows) out into the water to get this party started. Show me more!! IMG...

Hi, 57 Skiff- I have no idea what the casting number is, but this is the bow light I've noticed on most every 1st-Gen. open skiff I've ever seen. This one is original to my early 1954 22' Sea Skiff- it is two-piece, with glass lenses and a nifty forced-air "fo'c'sl. ventilator" built in. There is a ...

Happy 1st Anniversary, DENBY! Our new 1954 22' Sea Skiff DENBY came home from Three Lakes, WI to Green Lake, WI 1 year ago today; a long but very pleasant and memorable day! Denby Island aerial map.jpg Denby 27.JPG IMG_0002.JPG I'm also including an interesting period ad from the 12/55 issue of Mot...

Happy boating season, Sea Skiffers! For those of you with an interest in Sea Skiff history, the original 1954 22' Sea Skiffs are having 60th birthdays as we speak: my own DENBY (SK-22-169) was completed June 4, 1954 in Cadillac, Michigan (all the earliest 22's were built here; the prototypes were ha...

Paul-

Mine are quite dim; a warm glow should be enough to read them at night. LEDs do have some amazing applications on boats (like invisible ambient mood lighting in the cockpit or underwater lights), but I'd keep them away from your original dash.

Hi, Paul- That's a great hull card! It's fun to read examples where the boat has been heavily 'pimped' with lots of extra personal flourishes and custom treatments for the original owner. The bright-finished mahogany cabin sides (normally all painted on a standard skiff) really stand out (I think sh...

A big 'Thank You' to both David Konick and Joe Carlson-

The 'Sea Skiff' decals are great...you both did a nice job on these, and they'll look fantastic mounted up!

Keep those early Skiffs sailin'..!

Hi, Paul- I agree- go get that one in Westbrook, CT- it's true-blue CC issue and looks to be about the right length for your 30' Sea Skiff (she's unbelievably beautiful, Paul)! Here's my shorter 6-step CC mahogany boarding ladder for my 22 Sea Skiff: IMG_0654.JPG Mine's going on the transom, but the...

Hi, PaulK! WOW, WOW, WOWWWWWWWW !!!! I'm really excited to see your new project boat; she's absolutely GORGEOUS! What I believe you have here is a VERY early and VERY rare 1955-only 30' Sea Skiff open express. Take very good care of her, you may never see another just like it! I recently owned a 195...

...Saw this picture and thought you'd enjoy it- Roamers can take all seasons!

PeeJay-

Found a bit more info from RC scratch-builders discussing this model:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/thumbgal ... starter=no

Here are a couple more neat images of the Dumas kit that was offered:

PeeJay- This is one of my favorite CC models ever, and I'd love to know more about them, too! I believe the 35' Sport Fisherman/Sports Cruiser was only offered for the 1954 model year; consult the Essential Chris-Craft Guide for production totals, but I'm guessing only a handful were ever built. I h...

Do it ORIGINAL- Chris-Craft knew how to properly play up the styling. Use the ink blue for the hull, the light blue for the cabintops, and pay attention to the contrasting colors in the roof contours. A lot of Chris-Craft's original styling vision can be lost when 'whitewashing' an older cruiser to ...

Steve- Your skiff looks great- does she have a name yet? Here is a picture of the ladder in question- It is listed in the approved accessories for the skiffs as a 'transom-mount swimming ladder' and they were available in different sizes but the 3-to-6 step model will fit the 22' Sea Skiff's transom...

Howdy Steve! -Hope your off-season is going well- spring will be here before we know it! I'm not doing much currently to DENBY; other than the new bow-eye fitting, she's received a new toilet (the old 'direct-dump' toilet installation was made illegal years ago) and I've fitted life ring, boat hook ...

Happy winter, Sea Skiffers!

Here's a nice one with NO RESERVE: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1954-Chris-Craf ... 2518.l4276

SOLD- Thank you.

Hi- The 1st-generation Sea Skiffs were offered with their lapstrake hulls painted in standard white, as well as black, grey, yellow, green, blue and buff at no charge if specified before the hull was initially painted. In general, the grey and the colors closely approximated the pastel hues popular ...

Here are a few from the 2013 Green Lake, WI classic boat show...

What a loss- very sad! My new boat "DENBY" is a rare first-year 1954 Chris-Craft 22' Sea Skiff (SK-22-169) that was built in the Cadillac, MI plant before the Salisbury, MD Sea Skiff Division plant was opened for business in late 1954. I had found a couple photos of the Cadillac Chris-Craft plant on...

Welcome and good luck with your Sea Skiff project! NONE of the Sea Skiff hulls were ever stained and varnished; they are fir marine-plywood hulls and would not look well varnished. The attractive selling points of a Sea Skiff included durable, painted finishes in a variety of no-charge colors. The d...