S.S. MINNOW found in Vancouver B.C. Canada

[silverghost]

I was surfing the web very late Sat. night when I spotted this
wooden boat link ~
I guess I have way to much spare time on my hands ?

The S.S. MINNOW from the iconic 1960s TV show "Gilligan's Island" has been found in Vancouvr B.C. Canada , of all places, and has been restored .

Here is the web link~

http://www.gilligansisle.com/minnow.html

Have any of our Vancouver B.C. Canada Donzi forum members ever seen the S.S. Minnow while out and about on local waters ?

Ginger or Mary Ann ?

I will vote for Mary Ann !
Dawn Wells (Mary Ann) is now 72y/o
Russell Johnson (the "Professor") is now 86 y/o
Tina lousie (Ginger) is now 77y/o
All other cast members have now sadly passed-away.

WOW~~~ I must be getting old myself now too ?
I remember when this show was first run on network TV in 1964-67 !

[silverghost]

Here is an updated link to the S.S. MINNOW today~
Great new Photos !

Anyone want to take a 3 Hour Tour ?

http://www.gilligansisle.com/minnowtour.html

[yeller]

Not really in Vancouver, BC. It's in Parksville, BC on Vancouver Island. Close, but a few hours driving and ferry ride from Vancouver.

I've never seen it, but Fogducker might have. It's not too far from where he lives.

[silverghost]

Thank's Yeller ~

These wooden New York built Wheeler Express Cruisers were fine boats in their day.
They were not very fast.
Depending on twin gas or diesel power & gen-set options & mahogany brightwork they cost just under $30 K when new in early 1960s money .
You could have bought a new ultra-modern 3000 Sq/Ft suburban house on a one acre lot for this money then.
Wooden boats were very expensive in their day when new.
My Dad bought a new 1963 Lyman 21' X 8' beam open runabout with a cuddy cabin & head , Graymarine FWC 238 HP Fireball V-8, mahogany decks & interior.
Convertible top & full camping & mooring covers.
3/8 " mahogany faced marine plywood hull with white oak keel & frames.
Front deck hatch with chromed skylight.
opening winshields, full mahogany cockpit liner.
Shipping & storage cradle.
She did just under 40 MPH.
Eectronics extra.
Cost approx $9k in 1963 money.
WOW!~.

There was an exact Wheeler-built early 1960s copy of the S.S. Minnow in Ocean City NJ near our shore vacation home for several decades until approx 1980.
It was named Ariel .

The old mahogany "T" shaped yard-arm on the old photos of the S.S, Minnow just in front of the flying bridge was actually functional as an AM or AM Single Side Band marine full-wave Radiotelephone antennae.
These yard-arm full-wave AM band antennaes had a large series of copper coil wire loops wrapped around the tips of their arms.
This was used long before the fiberglass pole style Shakespere AM antennaes.
VHF radiotelephones were not yet in widespread use.
We had an vacuum tube type AM Radiotelephone that was 150 watts and could transmit 300 + miles on a good day .
It also needed a 50 Sq/Ft water contact ground plate to work properly.
We also had vacuum tube type LORAN -C for radio navigation & a vacuum tube style flasher "Sonar" dephsounder/fishfinder with a thermal paper plotter.
We went trough miles of very costly thermal plotter paper each summer season looking for fish offshore.
Fish would show-up as inverted "V marks"
The bigger the mark~
The bigger the fish.
We caught lots of big fish in those days.

[Carl C]

http://www.donzi.net/forums/showthread.php?t=64748