Skagit 20 Offshore Restoration

TACKLING THE TRANSOM, Part 1 Obviously, a sound transom is a good feature in an outboard motorboat! Even well cared-for boats can have transom issues. Considering that Skagit boats are about 60 years old, I'm guessing that most of them either need or have had a transom replacement. During manufacture, the 1-1/8" fir plywood that made up the structure of the transom was bonded to the fiberglass shell before the deck was installed, using chopped strand mat saturated with polyester resin. I don't know how the top was sealed; I assume with fiberglass cloth, but there is no remnant of that on my boat. Removing the Rot The previous owner had begun removing the plywood from the fiberglass shell before I bought it, so I removed the rest by cutting through it with a circular saw where I could, then chiseling the rest off. The previously mentioned mat between the plywood and molded transom was not well-bonded in some areas, so I tediously removed that with a chisel...

COMING HOME Our seven acres on Fidalgo Island sounds spacious, but it only has two fairly level areas with the rest being steep and cliffy. It took some effort to prepare a pad for the Offshore, and I took the opportunity to also re-gravel and grade our 1/4-mile driveway. Here is where she sits now. I've added extensions to the stock Costco enclosure so the windshield would clear, and installed the side curtains after this picture was taken. There's an electrical drop nearby, as well as water, so although it's in the woods we have all the amenities (the toilet is out the back). A big drawback is that I have to back up our steep driveway, which we call the Long and Winding Road (the Beatles last #1 hit, for those of you who are not Baby Boomers). During the summer it will probably stay at a nearby storage yard, or maybe the dry storage facility on the Swinomish Channel. Once we got it in, I elevated the trailer tongue to get as much water as possible out of the h...