Selkieboat.com
Dedicated to our 1981 38' Gulfstar Trawler
About Us
Welcome! We are the proud owners of ‘Selkie’, a 1981 38’ Gulfstar Trawler. Our boat was designed by famous boat designer Vince Lazzara. Her HIN is GFS03813M81. She is one of only 30 hulls made from 1980 until 1984. We are the 4th owner of her. Her previous owners took amazing care of her, and she is such a well made boat, you would easily think she was made recently – or perhaps not, since she is so well built even compared to today’s top boats. A great example is that she has 4” thick stringers! We took possession of her at the end of May 2013. Her previous name was ‘Legacy’, and before that ‘Kortship II’. She is powered by twin Perkins 4-236T Diesel engines. She holds 180gal of water, 50gal waste. She has a diesel generator for at-sea power, twin 16,000btu Air Conditioners, two state rooms, two heads with shower – one with full bathtub, and amazing woodwork throughout. Previously we owned a 1980 34' Silverton - also named Selkie, and a 21' Seaswirl Cuddy Cabin. We are thrilled to now how the boat of our dreams which we hope will take us to new as well as familiar places. We are about to embark on a new and wonderful journey, so please check back on our site periodically to see updates of our cruising blog, pictures, etc. See you on the water! -Tim and Doreen
Our 1981 38' Gulfstar - 'Selkie'
About Gulfstar
Gulfstar Yachts was a large manufacturer of fiberglass sailboats and powerboats built in the Tampa Bay, Florida area from 1970 until 1990 when the Viking Yachts purchased the company's assets. Vince Lazzara, one of pioneers of fiberglass sailboat construction, founded the company. Lazzara had previously been one of the founders of Columbia Yachts. They produced both power from 36 to 72 feet and sailboats from 36 to 63.
In 1970, Vince Lazzara emerged from a two-year non-compete clause which had prevented his building fiberglass monohull power and sailboats. He had signed this clause when he sold his share in Columbia Yachts and had been biding his time by building houseboats. Immediately after the non-compete cause expired, Lazzara founded Gulfstar Yachts in the Tampa Bay area. He began building low-priced, low-quality, beamy boats. The hulls were even interchangeable as sailboats or trawlers which minimized production costs. In the mid-1970s, Gulfstar was losing market share. Lazzara, not wanting to leave a legacy as a producer of poor quality yachts reorganized the company, contracted Ted Hood for a number of models and began to produce high-quality, performance yachts also updating and expanding its Sailmaster series. In 1984 Gulfstar began producing the Sailcruiser twin engine motorsailor series producing yachts rivaling that of the best production yachts of the late 70's and mid 80's. The early and mid 80's are now considered Gulfstar's 'Golden Era' of yacht production. By the mid-1980s, as sons Richard and Brad (powerboat fans) became more involved in Gulfstar, their production shifted towards powerboats and away from the performance sailboats. During the mid-1980s Gulfstar also produced a number of performance sailing yachts for the CSY charter boat fleet in the Caribbean.
In 1986, Gulfstar and Viking Yachts, a powerboat manufacturer, starting talking about a merger. In 1990, Viking purchased Gulfstar's assets