Smallest Trawler owned by Forum member?

Greetings,
I have promised Eric that I would post photos of our converted Polsbo Skiff. This is my first effort so to wet the appetite and see if I can link photos we will try one.

This rig is shy of 18 feet in length. Originally constructed to the normal size of 16 feet. More detail and history with photos if this works. Al

That is so cool! Looking forward to the rest!
Thank you!

She's beautiful. I love the wood planking. Gorgeous! (more pictures please, including interior)

A Trawlette if I ever saw one.

Willy had more wood on her when we bought her.
Had to take it off when we went to Alaska.
I've never seen a Polsbo Boat as anything other than an open boat.

Love some info on the mechanics, engine, draft, tankage.

Marty

Love it!

This Netherlands craft looks a bit more practical:

Well again I have to prefers this being my first effort to post photos.

Now that I have Eric's attention. Eric, this is one of the early model of Young's Polsobo Skiff. It was built in 1936 as a 16 footer. It was used as a charter boat on near Neah Bay, Washington and this as well as other charter camps, dropped them when the newer outboard boats appeared. Polsobo's all had Briggs and Straton one cylinder engines with an "in and out" clutch. Most had an adapted old office chair with arms mounted up front with the guide running the engine and steering aft.
This particular boat ended up as a trade in and purchased by a young fellow, who's day was a commercial fisherman in this area of Alaska. The lad desired to be a 'Hand Troller" commercial fishing for salmon.
After many years as such, the boat was abandoned on the beach in Meyers Chuck, Alaska. After several years on beating about on the beach, a Polsobo officiantio (sp)
found it and had it brought to Ketchikan. After much work at a local shipyard, the owner became disenchanted and I was the lucky person who obtained the boat.
One of the last things the boat yard shipwright suggested to the previous owner was to fiberglass the hull as the age of the planking and ribs was such that any serious wood work investment would be out right a waste, hence the transfer to myself.
After much fiber glassing by one who had no idea of how much is enough, completed a battleship thickness to the hull.
After several years of what to do beyond that, we purchased a Yanmar 6.5 single cyl. engine and had two young shipwrights working out of their backyard, extend the hull to approximaly 18 feet. (Eric, that is why the narrowness of the stern) Then they proceeded to construct a deck that was reminiscent of the old steam launch. Our intention was to in fact construct a "Surrey with the Fringe on top" cover with brass post and such.
During the construction of the deck, the thought of all the rain in our area (150 inches average, 210 inches two years ago) cause us to reconsider and we asked to have a small pilot house constructed. We desired a house top that had a "50 mission crush" appearance, (For those old WW11 air force buffs, you will recall the appearance of the pilots hats after wearing the ear phones, it crushed the edges down, and that is what we wanted people to see in this cabin top. Too, we asked that the leading edge of the cabin top to have a Canadian gill netter leading edge which extends out beyond the windows in appearance, Both were accomplished.
We can steer the boat from the tiller, or place an extension on the tiller and stand on the engine box with our chest head and shoulders above the cabin top, or connect the tiller with the steering wheel and be in total comfort. We have a 12 volt electric truck heater in the pilot house.
We have constructed two portable bunk platforms, one incorporates the engine box and tiller area, the other inserted within the floor area of the pilot house.

The engine uses 1/2 quart per hour and at 1000 RPM we produce 5 knots up hill and down hill. Any more 'Umph" and the boat squats. Yes, at the WOT it will do about 7 knots, but what a fuss and not worth the noise and such.

This is one of the most seaworthy little hulls about. For a fact I have traveled some 20 miles plus on a single outing where the seas developed into 4 or 5 footers with comers on top and the little dream just putted like a duck.
I hope you all enjoy the photos and understand that if I had to choose of all the boats we have owned and our larger Marben, this is the choice!

Happy to answer any questions.
Al- Ketchikan (Bridge to Nowhere) Alaska



http://i1162.photobucket.com/albums/q528/aljohnson1


[URL=http://s1162.photobucket.com/user/aljohnson1/media/100_0570_zpsaba10e1e.jpg.html][IMG]http://www.trawlerforum.com/attachments/photobucket/img_188249_1_a4009e533c6c59da3e0a99707948209b.jpg

Woops!

Addition photo of the engine. To answer the question on tankage, It has a 7 gallon diesel tank under the pilot house seat.
By the way we have owned this boat for over 35 years and the engine alone is about 25/26 years old!




Al

Al, That is just stunning! The lines remind me of a boat I had in high school. It was an Abaco dinghy with a 1930's vintage Palmer gas engine in it. It was an open boat and tiller steered but the hull was very similar.

Al, an unbelievably cute boat. My first thoughts were steam engine, a friend has an open tiller steered launch of similar proportions he brought back from the UK. Then I saw reference to the B&S engine, and the steam launch design modifications.
How about the visible steering cable behind the remarkable brass (?) and timber wheel?
A piece of marine art. Any pics without the aft covers?

Al,
One boat in my life I failed to obtain .... Polsbo Boat. I did have (for a time) an 18' Muk Boat. Do you know what a Muk Boat is? An open boat like a very long Lobster boat hull. About 5' wide. Mukilteo Boat. They were made at the boat shop where the Kingston ferry lands on the east side just a stones throw north of the ferry. At the foot of the hill in Mukilteo. In the 40s and 50s sport fishermen used to but their 10 Johnson in the trunk of their car and rent a skiff w a launch. Some were elevator types and others were the typical railway (small of course) just for the fishing skiffs. Ray's boat house in Seattle had wood blocks underneath like bilge keels that had wheels. They could roll the skiffs around easily. Inside the boat house there were row after row of skiffs. The Muk boat was a very high end (strip built like the Poulsbo Boat) boat house boat as most were more typical hard chine boats like Reinell's, Birch Craft and several others. Mostly batten seam. I had a 25hp Suzuki OB on my Mukilteo Boat and it was too much power. It was designed for 10 or 15 mph and that much power would have been better. 10 or 12hp best but 6 or 8 would be good for 6 to 8 knots.

Funny you should mention Neah Bay. My dad always wanted me to charter there w a 10 Johnson and a Mukilteo Boat. Never did it though.

Al your PB is wonderful. All that FB is probably ballast. It's a shame you had to put a noisy stink'in diesel in her. Would'a been so much nicer/quieter w a 2 cyl gas engine but you can't find them anymore at WM. Bus heater ... great idea. And you messed w the most beautiful part of the boat ... the stern. What you did looks good though and rarely is lengthening a boat a mistake. She really is a FG boat now w a plug that nobody bothered to remove. As I remember most PBs were 14'. Some were 16s and very few were 18'.

I'll bet I know where you found the 4' seas. In the Ketchikan harbor. We ran from Dundas Is to Ketchikan (in Willy) w calm seas (fog over most of Dixon Ent) and running up Rivalagigado (I can pronounce it too) inlet the seas built until in town they were 4'. Blow'in 40. The only time I had real trouble making a landing w Willy. Hate to think of what it would have been like w a FB.

If I had seen your PB we would have met for sure Al. Keep her up.

I have the same sign in my boat. As well as I/O up?

Cool boat. I've only seen open Poulsbo boats. You might have the only one with a wheelhouse!

PS: I've got the same wheel, just bigger with more spokes in my boat.

Eric,

Found a last photo reflecting the stern as it is. Yes, when in original length the stern is wider by some inches. It did lose that aspect.
There are three completely rebuilt to original condition in Ketchikan other than ours. Each has the original Briggs and Stratton with "In and Out " clutch. Given an opportunity I will obtain photos and post.
For those who work with wood, one of the unique aspects of Roland Young's boat building process was to spiral ( I think that is the term) a plank thick enough to bandsaw into two planks there by doing both sides of the keel as he planked the boat. Young could construct a single boat in 5 days. He mass produced knees and such prior to building.
There is a complete 13 page booklet on this boat, history, offset lines and such at this address:

"The Poulsbo Boat," 13 pages, is an illustrated account of the history and construction details of a popular open fishing boat in Puget Sound. Roland Young, of Poulsbo, Wash., was the most noted builder of the sporty, stable, caravel planked, square transomed craft. Some 900 boats were built by Young from 1933 to 1965. Lengths varied from 14 to 22 feet and were usually powered by a single cylinder, air cooled engine. The 16 foot boat became the most popular (750 built) and is presented in the lines and offsets supplied with the book on a scale of one foot equaling one 'inch. Both books are for sale from The Center for Wooden Boats, 2770 Westlake Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109, for $4.50 each. Large scale lines , and offsets are also available. Anybody contemplating building a small boat in the 14 to . 16 foot size or those who just like to look at sweet lined boats would enjoy the books. M.L.

As I recall Young constructed about well over 100 of the 18 foot version along with one 20 foot boat and a 26 foot version. Neither of which have ever been noted in print.
Just think, these little boats would travel singularly or in a small fleet, out to Forester Island which is offshore of Prince of Wales Island in the open ocean, fishing in fog and ocean seas!

Enjoyed exposing these wonderful boats to the forum.
Al

Hummmmm, Well, Maybe not available at $4.50. Here is current posting at Amazon book.

A Jaunty Little Boat from Poulsbo.... Traditional Small Craft of the Northwest Volume One: Tom Beard: Amazon.com: Books

What a little doll. Thanks Al, this is one fine boat. I went out to find a picture of the setup for a Briggs engine in one of these, and the first thing I came to was one for sale. Very clean, no pilothouse or anything, 10 horse Briggs, $6K..


Poulsbo Fishing Skiff (no name)

Northren Spy,
I would have agreed with you however, a Guru on Roland Young boats, has one as well:

SALTY

Another posted wanted uncovered photos, I don't have any. We have no need to uncover the canvas as all the side and stern canvas/isenglass panels are so designed as to allow unzipping and either removal by section, or roll up in place, There is an adult opening size flap in the top over the engine box to allow standing and steering over the top of the house.
Looking for active photos from the Port Townsend wooden boat shows when I found this phot and will complete this thread with those if found.
Al

Okay- Folks, here is the best site for photos of Poulsbo skiffs in their original shape.
Enjoy! Al

https://www.google.com/search?q=pou...UFMqdjAKJpID4AQ&ved=0CCkQsAQ&biw=1067&bih=538

Not mine and I don't know if the owner is a forum member, but I suspect this would be the winner if he was.

Smallest Trawler?

Al Johnson, who posted photos of his great old Poulsbo Boat, made a brief reference to our vintage 16' Poulsbo Boat, SALTY (actually 15-1/2' overall), which may be the smallest trawler being enjoyed by a forum member.

I designed and built the troller-style cabin, and got the boat in the water this summer. Since the original little inboard gas engine lived right in the middle of where the wheelhouse needed to be, I decided to go with a quiet, clean-burning and fuel-efficient four-stroke outboard in a well I built forward of the transom...positioned so that the outboard's prop would be in almost exactly the same position as the original inboard propeller--just aft of the boat's substantial keel.

Even if our little Poulsbo Boat isn't literally the smallest trawler, I guess it might be the only 16-footer with dual steering stations. I like standing in the rear cockpit, steering with the outside wheel while looking over the cabintop, but when we get hit by bad weather it's nice to retreat into the wheelhouse, where we mounted a second cable-steering unit. (The outboard motor has controls inside the wheelhouse, and the motor remains in a fixed, straight-ahead position inside the well. Steering it done with a transom-hung bronze rudder.)

The boat has a surprisingly generous V-berth that occupies the entire bow area; when you're sitting inside the little wheelhouse, steering, your footrest is the aft edge of the forepeak berth...so everything's compact but functional. The boat cruises comfortably at its relaxed hull speed of 5.5 knots, with the 8-hp Yamaha running at about half throttle.

It's great to see Al's slightly bigger Poulsbo Boat, and to get reacquainted with his via the Trawler Forum. (We were in touch years ago, when I was involved in production of the Poulsbo Boat monograph published by The Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle.)

Attached are some photos of SALTY, our micro-trawler.

- Marty Loken, Nordland, WA (near Port Townsend)

Nice engine room.

Although bigger at 25', Sweet Pea is usually the smallest in the marina.

Norseboater said:

Al Johnson, who posted photos of his great old Poulsbo Boat, made a brief reference to our vintage 16' Poulsbo Boat, SALTY (actually 15-1/2' overall), which may be the smallest trawler being enjoyed by a forum member.

I designed and built the troller-style cabin, and got the boat in the water this summer. Since the original little inboard gas engine lived right in the middle of where the wheelhouse needed to be, I decided to go with a quiet, clean-burning and fuel-efficient four-stroke outboard in a well I built forward of the transom...positioned so that the outboard's prop would be in almost exactly the same position as the original inboard propeller--just aft of the boat's substantial keel.

Even if our little Poulsbo Boat isn't literally the smallest trawler, I guess it might be the only 16-footer with dual steering stations. I like standing in the rear cockpit, steering with the outside wheel while looking over the cabintop, but when we get hit by bad weather it's nice to retreat into the wheelhouse, where we mounted a second cable-steering unit. (The outboard motor has controls inside the wheelhouse, and the motor remains in a fixed, straight-ahead position inside the well. Steering it done with a transom-hung bronze rudder.)

The boat has a surprisingly generous V-berth that occupies the entire bow area; when you're sitting inside the little wheelhouse, steering, your footrest is the aft edge of the forepeak berth...so everything's compact but functional. The boat cruises comfortably at its relaxed hull speed of 5.5 knots, with the 8-hp Yamaha running at about half throttle.

It's great to see Al's slightly bigger Poulsbo Boat, and to get reacquainted with his via the Trawler Forum. (We were in touch years ago, when I was involved in production of the Poulsbo Boat monograph published by The Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle.)

Attached are some photos of SALTY, our micro-trawler.

- Marty Loken, Nordland, WA (near Port Townsend)

Click to expand...

Now, that is a cutie. Great proportions and color scheme. A real attention grabber.

Norseboater said:

controls inside the wheelhouse, and the motor remains in a fixed, straight-ahead position inside the well. Steering it done with a transom-hung bronze rudder.)

Click to expand...

Salty is gorgeous! I love the rope at the bow and for the life of me can't recall the term. Years ago when I made tourist bait (pen and ink drawings) my shrimp boats all had that but I'm drawing a complete blank. Could you help me out with that?

Her wheel is a miniature of the one we had aboard our boat. Very nice!

SaltyDog said:

Nice engine room.

Click to expand...

I'm looking at the marlinspike fender myself... pretty snazzy.

Nimble1 said:

Although bigger at 25', Sweet Pea is usually the smallest in the marina.

Click to expand...

She's stout... and as long as I'm not around, she will be the smallest girl in the marina. Nimble's do have a nice layout. She's a beauty. I'd looked at those and the Alaskan24's too back in the day....

janice142 said:

Salty is gorgeous! I love the rope at the bow and for the life of me can't recall the term. Years ago when I made tourist bait (pen and ink drawings) my shrimp boats all had that but I'm drawing a complete blank. Could you help me out with that?

Click to expand...

bow puddin' maybe?

Northern Spy said:

bow puddin' maybe?

Click to expand...

bow puddings , moustache fender, bow beard.

Thanks gents... I don't think that's the term I knew it by, at least on the Atlantic seaboard. Still, I do thank you for the replies. Took me a few days to get back here as I ended up using 3.983 gigs of my 4 gig allotment so I read for a couple days versus being online. Gosh, I love my Kindle!

Janice, just love your boat. The big Schuckers were make not too far from her in Cape Coral, I believe. Not sure if your boat was also. Yours is the first small Schucker I have ever seen! Looks like the perfect boat for you.
If you are ever our way, drop me a line.
Tom