Thompson/Chris-Craft Sea Skiff On Ebay. I Am So Confused?
You could win Best Chris Craft and best Thompson at the same show!
Today on ebay is a cool time capsule 1962 Thompson Chris Craft SeaSkiff. That sure is a whole lotta branding going on. To be fair, Thompsons name is not on the eboat, but looks like it could have been and Chris Craft just changed a couple things and stuck a HUGE Chris Craft logo on the dash so you would be reminded that you indeed bought a Chris Craft.
This boat claims-ish that it may have been one of the true transition boats of the day, which kind of makes it a cool boat and priced around $4,500 is a fair price for alotta boat. I would have the engine looked at, since a new engine right off the bat would make it a 12K boat worth around $5K . But still a very cool little boat
YOU CAN SEE THE EBAY LISTING HERE
That is quite a combination.
I found this Carlson yesterday for Chad, but he went silent when I told him they were putting it up for sale. Would be a GREAT boat for his boy to learn in.
Another view.
This is when Chris Craft purchased Thompson out of Cortland New York and began production of the Corsair Division Sportboats. Think Sunloungers and Lancers among others. There were Thomsons in the pipeline that became Thompson/Chris Crafts after the buyout. Chris Craft referred to the plant as Thompson Chris Craft for many years as is shown on this hull card which is for a very early Chris Craft Corsair Lancer. There’s a lot more to the story but that’s the very basic idea.
Chris-Craft purchased Thompson of NY in 1962 and may have tagged some of the boats with the Chris-Craft Sea Skiff emblems for a short period. The original company built lapstrake boats both before and after the purchase. The factory was eventually used for producing the Chris-Craft Corsair.
For a time “rebadged” Thompsons carried a decorative “T” on the bow that emulated the Trumpy T and scroll without the scroll.
that is a cool story and a really nice boat for the money.
John in Va
By the way, todays header shot is great!! you guys have a super eye for finding just the right pics for your headers. Really nice!
JAG
John,
That header shot is of Art Armstrong’s ‘Molly O ‘ taken on the North Channel last Fall. No wonder you like it!
The Thompson Bros boats had a very good reputation and were built extremely well. There is no doubt that many Thompson built boats were badged as Chris Crafts after they were purchased in ’62, even though Chris Craft had nothing to do with their design or manufacture. Here is the “same” boat in Thompson 1963 advertising.
And the “same” boat after rebadging in ’64
Here’s a photo of the “missing link” from a few years ago. No badging on the stern at all but it has the Chris Craft script on the dashboard.
Thompson of NY had established their own network of dealers before Chris-Craft purchased this Thompson company (only one of four Thompson boat builders). Possibly those sold by existing Chris-Craft dealers at the time received the aft Chris-Craft logo by the dealers. Don’t know that records were kept that would confirm that.
CC purchased Thompson Boat Company of New York Inc in January 1962. It became a wholly owned subsidiary. For a short time period some of the lapstrake wooden Thompson vessels were sold by the SeaSkiff division and badged as Sea Skiff. They were the exact same boats as the Thompson. And CC never had any connection with Thompson Bros Boat Mfg Co
Straight from Wikipedia: Early years[edit]
The Thompson family came from Denmark and settled at Racine, Wisconsin. About 1899 they moved to undeveloped farmland near Peshtigo.
The Thompson Brothers firm started operations at Peshtigo in the early months of 1904. Peter and Christian (Christ) Thompson, the elder brothers of a large family, made their first wooden boat in the hayloft of the family barn in early 1904. Local lumber was used, harvested along the banks of the Peshtigo River. The first product was a modified lapstrake canoe, dubbed the “Anti-Leak” canoe by the brothers.
Straight from Wikipedia: The transition from wood to fiberglass at all the Thompson operated boat firms was difficult. The family resisted the switch and felt that any high quality wooden boat could outperform, outlast, and outsell fiberglass; however, the 1960’s consumer shied away from wood and purchased fiberglass or aluminum pleasure boats, and sales plummeted.
…
Thompson Boat Company of New York, Inc. of Cortland, New York was purchased by Chris-Craft Industries in January 1962 and it became a wholly owned subsidiary. An immediate program of fiberglass boat development began. This initiative created the Corsair fiberglass division of Chris-Craft. The Corsair boats were made by Thompson Boat Company of New York in Cortland.