Lone Star Skipper

[tgs]

I just recently acquired this Lone Star Skipper, my 2nd one. The bill of sale says everything is 1958, boat, motor, trailer. The old reg. for the trailer also says 1958, the boat registrations says 1964? I am the 3rd owner and the original owner has since passed away. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[DaleH]

That must look nice 'down Maine'! Ideas for what?

Why the year might be earlier than the reg date?

My guess would be that the State couldn't recognize earlier dates ... or something weird like that ...

 

[tgs]

Yes, curious about the different manufacturing year. But also in the vin tag, seems to be missing a number up front, which would be the last digit of the year, could be why they went with 64. Everything I can find calls for 8 digits, Ex. 12345678, 1 (is last number of year produced) 234 (is model number) 5678 (is the unit number produced that year). Mine only has 7 numbers?

 

[tgs]

Here's the first one I did over.

 

[DaleH]

Did you look up Lone Star here?

https://forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?t=47496

 

[tgs]

I did. Thanks.

 

[Jim]

Welcome! That's a great little boat.

 

[PlanoSkipper]

The completed red Skipper looks awesome.

I have a 1970 Chrysler Skipper, and it had the same color as your green Skipper, before I repainted it. Chrysler Marine bought Lone Star in 1965, and as far as I know barely changed the Skipper, Commander, and other fishing boats.

My 1970 Skipper does not have the steering wheel or windshield. I have seen the steering wheel as an option in Lone Star brochures. The hull of your Skipper and inside looks identical.

I renovated mine in 1997 and have been using it for 25 years.

 

[Jim]

Great looking boat PlanoSkipper!

 

[Charlie-Smith]

I have the same boat albeit the steering module set back a little more for the driver to steer from the second seat. Mine had a windshield but didn’t come with it. I am glad you posted these pictures of an original example. I believe this to be a ‘59. I don’t have any of the badges on mine to prove it nor have I been able to find any stamped number in the hull. I also believe these were a special order boat. Mine has a live well in the middle forward of the aft bench. You may want to jump on the Facebook group “Lone Star Boats” and see what you come with. I’m on there and there is a huge patronage and a wealth of information from a lot of people.

 

[mbullen]

It seems to me that the Lone Star serial format changed every dang year. lol So frustrating.
For what it's worth, the following two pics are from the Fiberglassics library.
On the left is from 1958 and on the right is from 1963. There wasn't a 1964 brochure posted, but using factory paint schemes, I would wager the 1964 production date being correct. And it coincides with the first serial digit being the last year digit format (ignoring the total number of digits)