Back in 1972, the boat was brought to Seattle from the Great Lakes and the Sunshine Special got her name and her first yellow stripe and she has had the yellow stripe ever since. She’s a recognizable fixture in the San Juan and Gulf Islands. 18 years ago on our maiden cruise with the boat, we ran into 2 different boaters who knew the boat from way back, including a previous owner who gifted us a bright yellow cooler with the boat’s name painted on it. He had sold the boat, but kept the cooler for 27 years until he passed it on to us. We proudly keep the cooler in our salon. At that point, we knew we would never change the name or the yellow stripe.
Sunshine Special is mostly original, although a prior owner put in a custom dinette. We have stripped and painted the entire exterior and stripped and varnished the helm. We’ve added new electronics, radar, canvas, repowered with new Crusader motors, installed house batteries, a Magnum inverter, and refastened the bottom. She is one solid boat and we have cruised her over 5,000 miles. We usually spend 5-6 weeks a year cruising each summer. We are also recent members of the Classic Yacht Association and have been in the Victoria Classic Boat Festival twice. She’s the best family cruising boat and has spent the last 52 years cruising the Salish Sea.