Who make's this skiff

I've been wondering the history of the skiff i got off of craiglist, a few years ago. I know it's made in Wisconsin. Anyone Know who is the maker and how old it is. Plus any ideas for making a blind for it ?


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Hm, looks to be a snow boat..........but as it appears to be wood........I'm not sure. The Snow Boats were built here in Michigan and we were a dealer for them at one time. They were all fiberglass.
Lou
 
Matthew,

I don't know but Mike Trudel might as he is near the area where many old Wisconsin skiffs were made. Let's hope he sees this post.
 
Fiberdome? I know they make fiberglass boats now but this looks like one of their old boats. Could be way wrong on this however.

Mark W
 
Lou what is the other boat in front of the car and the van.
Eddie.
 
Lou what is the other boat in front of the car and the van.
Eddie.

Hi Eddie,
That's one of our South Bay Scooters (there's a page for that on our website) & this was one of the years we were set up at the Pointe Mouillee Show.
Lou
 
Thanks Lou that is one nice boat, its a shame its in fiberglass and not in wood, I would,nt mind the plans for it. What size engine is it rated for.
Eddie.
 
Thanks Lou that is one nice boat, its a shame its in fiberglass and not in wood, I would,nt mind the plans for it. What size engine is it rated for.
Eddie.

:*) I'm much happier with a fiberglass boat. I spent many years working on wooden boats...up to 60 feet long. They are a wooden hole in the water that you throw all your money into. I will admit, there is a great deal to be said about a wooden boat and the "ambiance" of wood. Shoot, I fly fish with bamboo fly rods and it suits me just fine too. ;)
The thing with wooden boats is that, regardless of what you do, it's always going to need work. The good thing about a wooden boat is that once you do a full rebuild...it's back to new. When you build a fiberglass boat.....that's the best it will ever be. ;0
Later,
Lou
 
I've been wondering the history of the skiff i got off of craiglist, a few years ago. I know it's made in Wisconsin. Anyone Know who is the maker and how old it is. Plus any ideas for making a blind for it ?

Skiffs like this one were brought into Central Wisconsin by Milwaukee hunters, who didn't think the regional double ender would be stable enough.

They were usually strip built but some plywood models exist. Because so many skiffs were built by locals, I can't for sure attribute it to any builder or manufacturer.

Dan Kidney, out of Green Bay built a skiff in this style as did Thompson (this one is definitely not a Thompson). Speed Lemke, from Milwaukee, had a duck shack in Omro, made many skiffs like this one.

If you PM me, I can give you the name and number of a marina owner who collects wood Wisconsin duck skiffs. He can give you a better assessment then me.
 
I have seen similar old wooden skiffs in the Puckaway area when I was younger. One of the old timers from Milwaukee used his to spear crap and bluegill fish in the summer. Most of the ones we looked at were upside down behind old cottages, in a barn, or rotting away in the weeds.
 
Fiberdome never made a wood framed boat to my knowledge. Take a look at their boats, they really don't look like the one Matthew has. http://www.fiberdome.com/duckboats.html


I had thought I came across an old Fiberdome wooden boat at one of the collector shows here in the cities. Like I mentioned in the initil=al post, I could have been way off on the guess of Fiberdome.

I remember this because I was torn between the fiberdome and hoefgen boats back when I was looking for this type of boat. I recall seeing a wooden boat very similar to what was the intial request for an ID. I have to keep telling myself that I don't remember things as well as I did 10 years ago.

Mark W
 
Thanks for the help guys, very cool on how much knowledge is on this site. The man I bought this boat from use to sell boats in the Horicon Marsh area. I wish it were used on Lake Puckaway; my family has a rich history on hunting Puckaway since the 40's I think.
 
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I am looking to sell this skiff, what do you guys think would be a fair price? It has a little bit of rot near the transom and needs fiberglass work. Or how much would it take to repair it?
 
The brown camo painted boat is the Snow Boat that we carried for a while. I'm not sure of the origins of the boat though. Similar to yours with higher sides, but in fiberglass.
Lou

Lou, what I want to know is how you scanned the stone tablet that pictured was chiseled into... :-) Looks to be from the late 70's early 80's.
 
The brown camo painted boat is the Snow Boat that we carried for a while. I'm not sure of the origins of the boat though. Similar to yours with higher sides, but in fiberglass.
Lou

Lou, what I want to know is how you scanned the stone tablet that pictured was chiseled into... :-) Looks to be from the late 70's early 80's.

DeWayne,
It takes some real doing to get those stone tablets to scan in color but I have softward to "tweak" that. ;)
I think the pics was from the late 80's. I owned the company at this point (bought it in Dec.'86) and it was at the Pte. Mouillee Show and I'd figure somewhere around '88-'90 or so.
Lou
 
The brown camo painted boat is the Snow Boat that we carried for a while. I'm not sure of the origins of the boat though. Similar to yours with higher sides, but in fiberglass.
Lou

Lou, what I want to know is how you scanned the stone tablet that pictured was chiseled into... :-) Looks to be from the late 70's early 80's.

DeWayne,
It takes some real doing to get those stone tablets to scan in color but I have softward to "tweak" that. ;)
I think the pics was from the late 80's. I owned the company at this point (bought it in Dec.'86) and it was at the Pte. Mouillee Show and I'd figure somewhere around '88-'90 or so.
Lou

I attended the Pte. Mouillee show for a few years in that time frame as a vendor. I remember seeing your boats there. I was an Arthur Armstrong boat dealer at the time...those were to glory days of shows, weren't they?
 
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