04/05/2014
This boat was given to me for my 16th birthday by my father. In leu of a car I might add, which was definitely in my better interests unbeknownst to me at the time. Timmy Butler glassed the outside of the boat, but inadvertently glassed in a pretty serious sag, meaning the bow and stern are higher than the middle, the opposite of a hog. This shape made the boat "porpoise" terribly with the original 25 hp outboard, so we switched to 15 and that's how shes been outfitted since. Every year or two I've done the wooden boat thing and sanded between every frame and given her some fresh paint. Over the years, the transom got progressively worse until it couldn't hold the outboard safely and she sat in my yard since then. Last fall, I found myself eyeballing a 13' Whaler to use for a dinghy in Bass Harbor and as a small boat for my kids in the fairly near future. I realized that if I bought the Whaler, my beloved skiff's next ride would be to the dump. Having some time on my hands this winter, I decided to get her right. I cut the glass off of the sagged area on the bottom, flattened her out with pressure from above and reglassed the new shape. I then replaced the transom and stripped the rails, frames and interior paint. Other repairs were made, and then I glassed the inside and put her together to last a long, long time to come. Enjoy!
