names or types of work skiffs ? (panga, downeast, chesapeake, seine, etc.)

Pretty basic conveyances, those ! Sounds like there have been a few losses. Can you tell me, with any accuracy, when power cats, called "ski boats" over there, first appeared on the scene ?

 

It would seem to me that a skiff would always be an open boat .. usually an OB. Calling a inboard lobster boat a skiff seems way off the mark.

 

Lots of (New) Jersey sea skiffs built in New Jersey had cabins and inboards. They evolved from an older open rowing and sailing type.

On the Great Lakes a 1000' long ore carrier is a "boat", not a "ship. A visiting ocean going vessel might be a "ship".

Boat type names are very much local. What may seem "way off the mark" in one area may be "right on the mark" in another. It's similar to accents - different depending on locale and group but not right or wrong.

".

 

Aluminum power skiff...

http://crboats-permits.com/newboatconstruction/newseineskiff.html

Herring skiffs

 

And not a work skiff, but still a skiff.....

 

When in Rome....etc. I have heard people having lively debates about the pronunciation of the names of cities, I say, I'd have to defer to the opinion of the people that actually live there. Which does not always solve the problem, in the state in which I live is a sizeable provincial centre called Mackay, most call it Mac-eye, but some say Mac-kay. I have asked people who live there what is the 'right' way, and I was told both are acceptable ! As for skiffs, in this country the term would only have currency to describe super-lightweight fast open sailing craft.

 

A skiff is a hull form, sea skiff, Jersey skiff, clamming skiff, etc. The accommodations and deck structure/cabin arrangement has nothing to do with it. Chris Craft would put a bunch of lipstick on it and call it a "connie" luxury yacht, but it was still a "utility" sea skiff hull.

 

& how about Pialba,

These are not work skiffs but the term seems to have lost usage on Ski/Speed boats here... were known as skiffs but oft had similar lines of building heritage to our sailing skiffs.. maybe we imported the use.....?

http://ozboatracers.myfreeforum.org/archive/skiff-s-past-and-present__o_t__t_3103.html

Some awesome shots included!

Jeff.

 

Yeah, surprised to see those old race boats from the 60's being called "skiffs", I would have thought "speedboat" would have been the common terminology of the time. They were certainly bold, now just old !

 

Late reply for Mr Efficiency - yes there are quite a few cat power boats out here in SA as fishing boats. I believe the local university spawned the research for many offshore (non-SA) developments of really big power casts and ferries but will need to do some homework. My fellow countryman are typically eccentrically innovative in bizarre areas of technology. Powercats not my area of expertise I am afraid. Never even been aboard one. But I know lots of fisherman who own cats so will ask. Give me some time (week or two) and I will PM you or open a new thread with what I can find, and what the university churned out back in the day (I went to the same one, but studied commerce and law).

Not sure if #32 was refering to the pics I put on - but our lobster boats (kreef bakkies) in the style shown are almost all open with outboards. Not the safest boats and usually run by local fishermen who are either very poor, or 'weekend' fishermen who only go out in fine weather. Though the latter group typically migrate to more expensive boats.

 

OK, thanks for the consideration of that reply.

 

Here's one that I'll bet few have heard of: bow-well jitney.

The first two pics are of an example of a bow-well jitney that I built for myself in 1988. I fished commercially in Alaska for over 25 years and this particular style of skiff was introduced to my area around the mid 70's, an import from the southern states where it was used mostly to set gill nets. In this case it is used for seining. The advantage is that the motive component is far away from the working of the gear, can be tilted out of the way and with a jack plate makes for a skiff that can work in very shallow water. The first pic shows the skiff making a 'hook' which is parlance for when the seine, which is attached to a smaller 'end skiff' and deposited close to shore, is then strung out in a hook shape by the jitney. This is the most common way to set a seine for salmon in Alaska. It uses the nature of the animal (to swim along the shore) in order to trap it.

The second pic is of the gear being worked. After a time, the net is 'closed up' by the jitney and end skiff motoring together and joining the two ends of the net. Then the end skiff attaches to the jitney and tows it around the gear, which is stacked on the aft deck assisted by a hydraulic power block.

These jitneys have become quite popular because they are relatively cheap to build and so simple that a chimp could make one. They also can be fast; this one would plane with all the gear, three people, 40 gals gas and towing the end skiff propelled by a 175HP Yamaha 2-stroke.

In Alaska, the evolution of every fishing boat no matter what stripe has been towards increased size. The third pic is of a 'super jitney' I built three years ago. It is 36' X 12' on the chines and is powered with two 150HP Yamaha 4-stroke engines. The owner reported 25 mph with full fuel and gear towing the end skiff. This picture shows her deck loaded with 32,000 lbs of pink salmon.

These are obviously not sea boats and only fish close waters. Like the previously described set net skiff, they ain't pretty but are economical and commensurately lethal. They mostly can only steer backwards without a load on the stern or when towing, so they are very specific in their utility. Some people build them with a tunnel. Of the five I've built I didn't employ one and by my experience of competing against them fishing, never would.