26' Skiff Craft Runabout (1986)

This 1986 Skiff Craft 26′ Runabout was purchased new right here on Lake Minnetonka 35 years ago and has remained with the original owner all these years. It has been lift-kept under canopy and indoor winter stored every year since new. This boat has been back to its birth home (Skiff Craft’s production site) twice since new as the owner always wanted the original people to handle any re-painting or hull work. It currently is repowered with a much newer Mercruiser 5.0 MPI/260 Hp engine linked to a Mercruiser Bravo III sterndrive, the meter only reads 145.1 hours since the repower. At that time Skiff Craft also made an upgraded mahogany helm console and installed all new gauges. The brightwork is all in excellent condition, the transom is so smooth it picks up reflections of whatever is behind the boat, and the bottom paint looks like it was freshly applied. All upholstery and vinyl decking/flooring are in perfect condition as well.

Skiff Craft has been building solid, quality boats since 1905, originally for fishermen on Lake Erie. The boats evolved into pleasure craft in the 1950s and really developed a strong following beginning in the mid to late 1960s which drove production numbers to about 100 boats built per year through the mid 1990s. Skiff Craft has transitioned to a custom builder and more importantly, a factory restoration shop for customers to bring their beloved Skiff Craft when time comes to either restore, redesign the seating layout, or upgrade to a mahogany windshield frame and add teak decks or cockpit soles. Skiff Craft Boats restores a host of other wood boats built by companies no longer building wood boats such as Chris Craft, Lyman, Thompson, and Oconto/Cruisers Boats to name a few.