Sea Skiff Bottom Question

[Oberon01]

I am looking for another Skiff, and have looked at many, many ads. When did these become available with "no soak" bottoms? My '65 24' does not need to be soaked at all and the bottom is completely original. My understanding was that in the late '50's or early '60's Skiffs became no soak because of adhesive and some sort or fastener change, but really I have no idea.

I have been looking at another '65 and the guy says it is "soak" bottom but my original '65 is not a soak bottom. What is the bottom line on soaking Sea Skiff bottoms? And Lymans for that matter - I would certainly consider one of them instead of a Skiff it the right one came along. But, only if they are no-soak. Perhaps they all were no soak? I would certainly appreciate help in sorting this out.

[Don Ayers]

Paul;

In a couple of the CC books it talks about the development of the "glue" called Thiokol (sp?) and the general time frame. My 1961 with original bottom had it I'm pretty sure.

[Wood Commander]

Sea Skiffs and Cavaliers were relatively new models introduced in the mid to late 1950's. They were of a different type of construction than the traditional Chris Craft boats, with the Sea Skiffs in particular being both soft chined or round bilged, and plywood lapstrake as well. As far as I know they used the Thyokol glue from the beginning.

To me, a Skiff or Cavalier never was a "soak" bottom, that being a later situation in older, aged hulls of the traditional double bottom mahogany planked boats (solid mahogany planks, not plywood planks) with the middle layer of linseed oil and white lead paste soaked canvas in between the inner diagonal and the outer layers of planking.
The traditonal hulls never had any glue or caulking between the bottom planks and were never designed to have the bottom plank seams caulked (the hullside batten seam planking was a different story). So in their old age swelling to tighten up seam gaps becomes a reality.

Plywood, in sheets on Cavaliers and in lapstrake planks on Sea Skiffs, does not swell very much dimensionally if at all, especially when compared to the solid mahogany planks of traditionally built Chris Craft hulls. To me at least, they are like apples and oranges, both Chris Craft boats, but from a totally different trees or branchs.

Plywood by it's very nature is more stable than a solid plank due to it's having the grain running in alternate directions in every layer of the composite.
Plywood has some advantages in certain ways, and some liabilities on other ways. It has good strength, but it also always has nearly 50 percent of any edge with exposed end grain. This makes it more prone to moisture intrusion due to capillary action, and it is harder to drive screws into the edges and have them hold and not split and delaminate the sheet.

So to me at least, a Sea Skiff or Cavalier probably shouldn't be considered a "soak" bottom even in old age.

[Bill Basler]

Everything I have read noted that Chris-Craft used Thoikol during WWII and started using it in construction post war. I was always under the impression that Sea Skiffs were always sealed on the strake laps, from the very beginning of the Division.

[Oberon01]

Thanks Bret - you articulated pretty much what I thought. I knew the Skiffs were totally different in construction from the planked bottoms found on most other CC's. I could not figure out why soaking would be required or even how it would work when the plywood was glued together with thiokol. Now I know -it never was required and whatever swelling occurs is sort of incidental, rather than a prescribed process for making the hulls tight.

[57 chris]

Indeed,
Anything with a plywood bottom/hull was never meant to be a "soak" type hull. If you have a plywood hull that needs to soak to seal-up you're looking at repairs.

Craig

[mfine]

If you have a boat, you're looking at repairs!

[57 chris]

That's for sure,
I just finished my "freshen up" coat of varnish on all the brightwork. It's a long way around a boat with a 3" brush!