I say this is “almost” a Commander jokingly, because it’s out there on the extended Commander family tree, way out on the end of a branch.
It’s actually more of a Thompson than a Chris Craft, but with updates and some mods by Chris Craft after they acquired Thompson Boat Company of New York, in order to launch Chris Craft into the fiberglass boat business (and kill their competition in New York).
Thompson was building a “dead ringer” for a wood Chris Craft lapstrake Sea Skiff and Lyman was too, Century had one called the Raven, and I’m sure there are others that look similar too, including Hutchinson. The only problem with everyone else, is the fact that they were not building a good fiberglass boat like Thompson was, so Chris decided to acquire them instead. Had Lyman been building fiberglass boats, they would have been in the crosshairs too.
In any case, for two short years this boat was built under the Chris Craft Sea Skiff Sportsman name. 70 in 1966, 10 in 1967, and then the model turned into the Chris Craft Corsair Sea V Inboard (and a transdrive model too).
I say this is “almost a Commander” due to the fact that it was built at the Cortland New York (Thompson) boat factory, which is under the same roof where the 23’ Commander and the Commander Super Sport (and XK-19 and Xk-22 and all of the Lancers) were built. Therefore, all these boats shared the same fiberglass and gelcoat quality, and same level of construction integrity, all under the same quality control foreman on the floor of the plant.
We have plans for our “almost a Commander” to service the needs of a tender for our 38’ Commander, and to serve as a fast conveyance for up to 10 people for that breakfast run down Old Hickory Lake to Gallatin Marina! The 38 will remain our mainstay, and it will also make those runs under different circumstances. When we take people to dinner with an evening return, we’ll always be on the Commander, and of course, it’s fitted with all the nice features like a toilet, fully stocked bar, warm cabin, beds, hot water, microwave, inverter, etc,.!!
This boat just arrived from the south shore of Lake Ontario, Medina New York to be exact, and we understand it spent most of it’s life running on the Mohawk River. The bottom is original non-painted gelcoat, and the boat is in remarkable good condition regarding what we have to start with and build upon for a restoration project.
Here are some scans, followed by links to real photos.
Links to “The new boat is here” (with the “first look inside” photos)
http://www.network54.com/Forum/424840/message/1161783129
The beginning of the restoration process, inside the temporary shelter erected in honor of this particular project.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/424840/message/1162683753
NOte: The photo on top shows front clamshells mounted on each side of the front seats. The drawing (and my realtime photos on the bottom) shows an integral cast-into-the-fiberglass vent that replaced the clamshell. Strange !
In closing, look how similar the windshield looks, how similar the top deck looks, on this photo of the 23' Commander, and the 20' Sea Skiff Sportsman! They look similar because they "are" similar, built along side one another!
ABOVE: 23' Commander, built at Thompson/Chris Craft Corsair, Cortland, NY.
The Skiff has the traditional pointed hull design, while the Commander has that more modern looking speed hull look. The Commander is a more luxurious speedster, and the Sportsman is more of a Utility design, both nice, too bad I don't have one of each!
Regards, Paul