Need help identifying this boat please

[skallagrime]

Sorry if this isnt the right spot for this

Decoding the hull number I found:
kms003391175

Boat hull decoder comes up with it being a skipper 14 made in 1975, which may be true... except every skipper i see looks to be at least a foot or two of draft deeper, no tacking/hiking board,

and all that ive seen online in pictures have a straight slotted in daggerboard as opposed to the swingdown. It seems the skippers are considered dinghys but this hull design almost has more in common with a surfboard.

The sail and rigging seens to be right for the skipper 14, it is a gunter lug setup with jib (sorry no pic on that till weekend)
It comes in about 13.5 foot for the length (more exact on the weekend) and beam is also correct for the 14

Boat was my brother in laws grandfathers, who passed 10 years or so ago and it went to his father, and he just doesnt want to play with it anymore at age 80. So unfortunately i dont have anything to go on beyond the hull number (it does have an indiana registration number on the front) no title, no registration or paperwork aside from a bill of sale.

For 100$ for the boat, trailer and an everything, it seems a reasonable price, even if Ill need to jump through hoops for everything else.

Some fiberglass patching is in order and probably redoing all the rope rigging (which im not sure was correctly set up, that family is more hunters than sailors)

 

[Rick Webb]

For a $100 you have made many lasting memories.

Careful though it's a habit more addictive than crack.

Oh, I think you are going to need a larger truck too.

 

[rgranger]

Oh, I think you are going to need a larger truck too.

Seriously... hook that baby up to the big rig and post a photo to the funny friday thread...

 

[dLj]

That looks like a really fun boat to sail! $100? With trailer? You obviously bought it, no?

dj

 

[skallagrime]

Ah yes, i was not clear, i certainly did buy it, spent a few hours sun just cleaning up the trailer and painting it, looked up the new wheels i need to get etc etc.

As for hauling it, im almost worried pulling it with my f250, if i use the kenworths to pull it, it could go missing and i'd never even feel it

Not to mention i dont exactly have a ball pull for the semis, even if i did, a 1 5/8 ball is comically small, dont even have one that small, so that goes on the list to get as well as a hitch bolt-on for the small car

No guesses on what the boat ACTUALLY is? Or is there wide disparity depending on the exact manufacturer of the hull when it comes to older skippers?

 

[Rick Webb]

Just for trivia information

The bracket for the rudder looks like a Sunfish bracket. One of the idiosyncrasies with the Sunfish is it is easy to not have the spring loaded pintle seated on the top and bottom. This will resort in bending the pintle or the loss of the rudder. Some of the old wooden ones float but the new fiberglass one do not.

 

[rgranger]

I don't know what it is but the HIN you decoded is probably what it started out as... could have been modified over the years and Frankensteined as parts broke and needed replacing.

Now back to hauling... I think it would be just as fun to see it hooked up to a motorcycle ...

 

[skallagrime]

I don't know what it is but the HIN you decoded .... could have been modified over the years and Frankensteined as parts broke and needed replacing.

That seems reasonable... until you remember that the item broken and replaced is the hull... which doesnt resemble the hull of a skipper 14 whatsoever, as i understand it, the hull number tends to follow the hull yes?

So I have this

But the number says it should be like this

Thats just not fixing or frankensteining.

The draft of the actual skipper hull is 2.3 feet, if that happens to what i have, the entirety of the hull i have would be underwater over a foot

 

[rgranger]

Don't know... but what you got looks like fun. I think something is fishy with the HIN. You said you decoded it to be a skipper 14 but the first three digits of the HIN indicate it was made by Knoll Marine Services. The skipper was made by Richmond Marine ... so I think we need to go back to the HIN

I found a few threads on boats similar to sunfish... and in the first link are some pics. The closest to yours would be the FEVA. Maybe you have an earlier model.

An Easy Guide to the 8 Best (And Funnest) Small Sailboats — Saltwater Journal

Discover why bigger isn’t always better, with these 8 small sail boats — perfect for learning to sail, racing and getting your thrills on the water!

www.saltwaterjournal.life

https://www.reddit.com/r/sailing/comments/yrexbt

Sunfish Alternatives?

Howdy there, Every since I sailed my first sunfish a few years back I haven't been able to shake that feeling from my bones. I loved how close she let you get to the water and how I could bring her all the way to the edge, and even at a few points right on over, in such a light breeze...

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