Three-hour tours planned on S.S. Minnow off coast of B.C.

bhkad · #1 (**permalink**) 09-14-2008, 02:27 AM

Three-hour tours planned on S.S. Minnow off coast of B.C.

Quote:

NANAIMO, B.C.

September 13, 2008 at 10:15 PM EDT

Gilligan's Island fans looking for a piece of television nostalgia should look to get stranded on Vancouver Island, where they'll soon be able to take a three-hour tour on one of the boats featured in the iconic series.

“We're just trying to find a skipper and a helper,” laughs Ken Schley, co-owner of the restored S.S. Minnow.

He and partner John Briuolo bought one of four boats used in the show two years ago for $100,000.

Mr. Schley said the boat is the one seen leaving the harbour in the show's opening sequence just before, according to the theme song, “the weather started getting rough.”

Ken Schley, of Nanaimo, B.C., navigates the original S.S. Minnow of Gilligan's Island fame this
week in Nanaimo Harbour. (Jeremy Hainsworth/Canadian Press) The Globe and Mail

It even has an old life preserver with S.S. Minnow emblazoned across it, as featured in the closing credits.

According to the Gilligan's theme song, “the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost.”

And much the same could be said the B.C. pair who rescued the 46-year-old Wheeler Express Cruiser.

The 11-metre vessel was almost lost – but not on a South Pacific beach surrounded by palm trees, a millionaire and a professor making radios out of coconuts.

Rather, it was in Parksville, B.C., where former owner Scotty Taylor had kept it since restoring it after it set aground on a reef in northern B.C.'s Hecate Strait.

Its previous owner was taking the boat down the coast from Alaska when the mishap occurred in the stormy waters between the Queen Charlotte Islands and the B.C. mainland.

It was sold to Mr. Taylor with the promise he restore the boat.

Mr. Schley said Mr. Taylor had the boat moored next to his own vessel for years and Mr. Schley had his eye on it.

“I knew it was The Minnow. Everybody in the marina knew it was The Minnow but it didn't get any fanfare,” he said.

Now, more restoration work has been done.

“I had a professional boat craftsman do it,” Mr. Schley said. “It was definitely aged. There was a lot of wood rot.

“If we wanted to do tours or anything fun with it, it wouldn't have met any of the Coast Guard standards,” he said. “We took the boat right down to the gunnels.”

Mike Kent is that professional boat craftsman.

“We have gone through the boat from stem to stern and done everything that is necessary. The boat's had a rough life so there was a lot of deterioration.”

A photo of the show's cast hangs above the galley table.

Mr. Schley recently gave Gilligan's Island fan Todd Krainer a tour. The show had long finished production when Mr. Krainer was born but he's still a fan.

“It's amazing,” he said. “It's in way better condition than I ever thought it could be. It's just stunning actually the work they have put into this thing.

“You see all those reruns as a kid . . . and here it is in front of you. It kind of brings it all back at once.”

Mr. Schley and Mr. Briuolo spent about $200,000 on the restoration.

“It has definitely been a labour of love,” he said. “You know they say a boat is a hole in the water. This is a crater in the water.”

But he says the partners are now taking the boat to special events for fundraisers and will start tours soon.

The boat drew its TV name from a big fish in broadcasting, Newton Minnow, then-chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

Originally, the boat's name was The Blue Jacket.

“Just for the show, for a stage name, it was called the S.S. Minnow,” said boat broker George Schultz.

Unlike Mr. Schley, Mr. Taylor didn't know the boat's history when he bought it. He found out afterward, when the previous owner told him to look for the numbered Wheeler plaque above the door.

“He just liked the boat, he wanted to restore it, it was a nice looking boat, a wooden boat, a classic and he likes classic boats,” Mr. Schultz said.

The series, which featured the hapless Gilligan stranded on an island with Skipper, the Millionaire and his Wife, the Professor, Ginger and Mary Ann, stopped production in 1967.

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globeandmail.com: Three-hour tours planned on S.S. Minnow off coast of B.C.

What a fun idea!