TOPIC: 1960 Wescraft Fish n Ski ??

Can anyone confirm if this is a 1960 Wescraft Fish 'n Ski? It was bought at a farm auction several years ago and there was no paperwork or any other identifying plates left on it. It received a crappy repair job at some time in the past and all identifying plates appear to have been removed.
Definitely interested in max load rating and max HP.

I am working to restore and hope to have it in the water this summer, but need info for the registration.

additional pictures

additional pictures

William -Don't know much about Wescraft but it reminds me of a 57 Skagit Sportster? Good luck-Mark

Welcome aboard!

Go to the "Classic Library" section on this site. Just a few days ago a bunch of WesCraft Boat stuff was posted. I happen to be researching the company history right now for an article I am writing. Last Wednesday I spent about 5-6 hours at the farm were the boats were built near Bazine, KS and I borrowed the "archive." I am scanning the stuff right now.

It looks like a Skagit for a reason. That's the boat that WesCraft used to pop a mold from which to base their hull in 1957!

Your boat has the "Fish-N-Ski" seating arrangement.

Is there a serial number on the boat?

The 15 foot boats could handle up to 60 HP according to the 1960 brochure.

GO Canada! Actually I am a fan of Norway's Olympic team!

Andreas

Picture from the WesCraft archive. Probably one of the early boats built.

Andreas

Andreas: Thank you very much for having those documents uploaded. That is where I first tentatively identified it. Must be karma, because I just started researching the hull this week and found this website.

Judging by the picture provided, that is definitely the make and model of mine.

All ID plates seem to have been removed at some time. Judging by the condition of the interior, someone with less than mediocre skills attempted a repair and change to the seating arrangement. I am certainly having fun cleaning it up.

Again, thank you very much for the info.

Bill

WOW,
Wes Craft must have bought the rights to use the Skagit mold, as your boat is a Skagit 14 from 56/57/58.
Skagit used that sponsoned hull during those years, I had a 56 SKagit Sportster 14, same boat.
THey were also made by Guy Lombardo out in NJ, and Thermolite up in BC Canada.
So, not sure which of those outfits made your boat but the initial design was by Skagit Plastics of La COnner WA.
I'll get some pics of mine off my other computer tomorrow.

Just look up three spots in this thread and you will read the reason it looks like a Skagit. WesCraft popped a mold from a Skagit to make their first boat design. They modified it slightly. WesCraft did not have permission to do this, they just did it. This was very common in the boating industry.

So the first several years' WesCraft models had a hull very similar to a Skagit.

Andreas

And the plot thickens.....

Andreas, BillR:
Thank you both for the information. However, I need to add a few points which may help the identification.

First, as a new owner of a fiber glassic, I really need to learn about some of the finer points of these boats. I had no idea that one company would copy another and that seat placement might be critical in trying to ID a boat. The pictures that I posted may have been misleading on the placement of the rear seat.(oops!) The cushions were just loose in the rear when I took the pictures and I just stacked them.

There is a seat support on either side of the hull near the stern which matches the config of the Skagit Sportster and there was no indication of any rear facing seat arrangement when I started the repairs.

Look forward to seeing the pictures that BillR has.

Until then, I may just have to call it a Wesgit

Well, I have to admit that I am leaning more toward a Skagit than a Wescraft right now for several reasons. The seat cushions measure out quite nicely for the Skagit config but don't for the Wescraft. Placement of seat support also indicates Skagit, unless Wescraft produced a model with the rear seat close to the transom.

I also noticed in the Wescraft photo tagged above that it has three transom supports while mine only has one.

Stringers are fibreglass which was an advertised Skagit feature, however I don't know whether Wescraft used fibreglass or wood.

Does anyone know of any unique construction method/feature used by either of these companies that might help clinch this?

(I really hate the person that removed all the identification plates)

There are a bunch of brochures in the Library section here for WesCraft. Check 'em out.

Copying of boats was was very common from one builder to another. It wasn't ethical, but many, many boat builders did it. It's still done today.

I have never seen an early WesCraft boat in person (nor a Skagit). I have seen a 1973 and a 1974 WesCraft tri-hull stern drive boats. Therefore I cannot tell you what the details were. Yes, WesCraft's early boats used fiberglass stringers and structural items under the floor (no wood), according to their brochures.

WesCraft had a seating configuration with forward facing rear seats.



Andreas

The keel, bottom hull, and stringer design is different from the Skagit, but, man is it close!!

William--- If the boat has been painted and you are going to refinish anyway maybe sand a little to see if the original gelcoat pattern is like any of those in BillR's post. If it is a Skagit my bet would be the pattern is like that of the top illustration although I am not 100% sure that they didn't make one color hulls. You might post it on Northwest Classic Boat Club forum.Lots of Skagit owners there. Have fun with it

---

Mark

Thanks Mark.

Took a look with the sun shining on it today and you can see a faint line which follows the Skagit color scheme shown in the brochures. Unfortunately, all the info so far leads in both directions, so I am still not sure what it is.

I was looking at a photo of a '56 Skagit Cohoe which looks to have the same hull and it didn't look like there were any drain holes. Took a look at other Skagits, and drain holes weren't obvious. Is this something that Skagit didn't install, or am I just missing them in the pictures?

Oh, well I will just have to keep digging and hope to come up with something before I do the registration. Would be nice to know for sure.

A couple more pictures of WesCraft boats that may be helpful:

1960 boat and 1960 Johnson 75 HP and Ranchero truck


1960 boat


Andreas