SOCKEYE
Photos by Riley Hall
At the Harbor History Museum in Gig Harbor, Washington, the largest exhibition space, the Maritime Gallery, houses SHENANDOAH, a 65' purse-seiner built in Gig Harbor in 1925. The ongoing restoration of the boat, led by shipwright Riley Hall, produces a lot of leftover plywood and offcuts of good lumber. To put them to good use, Riley designed the Salmon Skiff for the museum. As work on the 10' flat-bottomed rowing skiff progressed, Riley and volunteers Duane Huan, Ken Hoy, and Curtis Hall employed a “three-man rule”: whenever making any changes to the skiff’s shape and aesthetic characteristics, all had to agree. The boat was painted with the same colors used for SHENANDOAH; it was finished after three weeks of work and left to sit for a week while the paint cured. On August 28, 2025, the skiff was launched and christened SOCKEYE after the salmon SHENANDOAH fished for.