Fall 2009 (Issue No. 45)

1962 SKEE CRAFT CABIN CRUISER 18'

PHOTOS W/BORDERS CAN BE ENLARGED BY CLICKING

1962 SKEE CRAFT CABIN CRUISER 18'. Owner says, "Fully restored 18 ft, 1962 Skee Craft cabin cruiser with 145 hp Volvo-Penta I/O. Heated cabin with stove top, hot/cold water and toilet; sleeps 2 adults and one child. Full instrumentation including GPS, air horn and spotlight. The aft section is protected by an easily removable canvas with large windows. The flying bridge folds down for improved trailering. Tandem trailer includes power winch. Engine rebuild-1992; used very few hours since inherited in 1996. The boat has been owned by only one family... stored indoors." Contact DW at xxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx or xxx-xxx-xxxx. Asking: $8000. St. Paul, MN

[BYB:  Boat Sold.  Owner contact info removed 7/17/2010]

The 1962 Skee Craft 18' owner's story:

"My father purchased this Ski Craft boat new in 1962. The Amish had built it in Pennsylvania. My father spent the next few years adding accessories such as a stove, hot and cold running water, flushing toilet, cabin heater, air horn, all kinds of instrumentation, and a power winch for the trailer.

"The first year we mostly used the boat to explore the major rivers that were easily accessible from our home in Minneapolis. We spent the Memorial Day weekend traveling the Minnesota River between Minneapolis and Mankato, which is 60 miles. Along the way we stopped frequently to hike and explore the unspoiled river valley. At night we would tie the boat to any to the many large trees that were leaning out over the water, and camp on the boat; my parents would sleep in the cabin and my brother and I would sleep put sleeping bags on the back deck, which can be mosquito proofed by a canvas awning with side curtains. The Minnesota River trip was so much fun that we repeated it every Memorial Day weekend for several years.

"We spent many summer weekends boating the St Croix River, often spending our afternoons relaxing and swimming on the sandy beaches that line its shores. As we got older my brother and I would pitch a tent and sleep on the beach at night, while our parents camped on the boat. We also took many trips on the Mississippi River, boating south from Minneapolis to Lake Pepin on Saturday and boating back on Sunday. Later, while I was attending college, my father and my brother spent a summer exploring the entire Mississippi River north of Minneapolis up to Red Lake. Because the Mississippi does not have locks on the dams north of Minneapolis, my father and brother had to explore a different section each weekend; on Saturday they would drive just north of where they had stopped the previous week, launch the boat, fish, explore, and relax. The next weekend they would explore the next section to the north. I accompanied them on one of these explorations, and I had a wonderful time -- we saw just one other boat the entire weekend.

"For our summer vacations, we towed the boat to a lot of different locations. The first few years, we went to the lakes in Northern Minnesota, such as Lake of the Woods, Rainy Lake and a series of interconnected lakes that are now part of Voyagers National Park. Lake of the Woods was my favorite. We would fish all day, camp on a different island each night, and eat our freshly caught fish for supper -- all the while enjoying the peace and quiet of the beautiful lake. Over the years, we ventured further and further away from home for our summer vacations. At different times, we vacationed on Fort Peck Reservoir in Montana, Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone Park, the Green River in Wyoming, and Lake Powell in Arizona & Utah.

"Lake Powell was my favorite! It is in Glen Canyon, north of the Grand Canyon. We boated up many of its side canyons, each strikingly beautiful and different. The rock walls of these canyons would go straight up a hundred feet or more above our boat. We saw the abandoned villages of ancient Indians, and boated underneath a natural bridge. At the end of one side canyon, my father stepped off the boat and climbed up the wall of the canyon to take a top-down picture of our boat. When he got to the top of the canyon and looked back down he panicked. He had not realized how far up he had climbed. My father called me to climb up to him, bringing along our anchor rope and the largest screwdriver in our tool kit. He forced the screwdriver into a large crack on the top of the canyon and tied our anchor rope to the screwdriver. We climbed back down without any mishap, holding onto the anchor rope as a safety line all the way down. I wonder if that rope is still hanging there! Lake Powell was the perfect lake for a family vacation, and our boat was the perfect boat."

[ BYB: Okay, family boat stories don't get much better than that! ]

[THIS BOAT LISTING IS OVER A YEAR OLD AND HAS "AGED" INTO BYB'S PUBLIC ARCHIVES AREA. OWNER CONTACT INFO HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THIS PUBLICLY AVAILABLE BOAT PROFILE. THE ORIGINAL BOAT LISTING STILL EXISTS IN THE "WHEELHOUSE" AREA OF THE BONE YARD BOATS WEBSITE UNDER THIS SAME NEWSLETTER ISSUE.]

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