1988 STRIKER Convertible Sport Fisher

Boarding ELSKA is over the wide teak coverboards into the large cockpit which is full of tournament ready features.  Up four centerline steps to the salon entered via twin air operated doors.

The salon features a unique main level day head with inside and outside access on the starboard side.  Going forward are (3) lower cabinets, the main electrical panel above and a curved dinette forward.  To port is an L-shaped settee.  Further forward is a two-level bar top with mounted bar stools.  The complete galley is next forward.  Centerline steps lead below to a bunk room to starboard with a private head and stall shower.  To port is a twin lower cabin with Pullmans above to accommodate (4) people in total.  A private head with a  stall shower is forward within the cabin.  All the way forward is a raised king-sized island berth on centerline, with plenty of storage and a large head with a stall shower.

The salon is entered via double opening pneumatic doors.  Immediately to port is a four-cushion off-white ultra leather sofa to seat four people.  Storage is available under the cushions.  Behind in the corner is a four-shelf lit display niche.  The house side windows have wide wood blinds to match the mahogany joinery.  Lying in front of the sofa is an upholstered footstool with a hinged top and storage inside.

Opposite to port is a day head with a Headhunter compact toilet and vanity with a china undermount sink under a marble top, storage below and a mirror and house side window.  The sole is marble tile.  A unique feature is the interior and exterior access to the day head.  Forward of the day head are (3) storage cabinets, the main electrical panel, a top loading storage area and a Lucite liquor bottle holder.

Next forward is an off-white ultra leather dining settee to seat four in a crescent shape with a granite topped oval table lying in front.  The table base has both a drawer and cabinet for extra storage.  Outboard of the dining settee are three house side windows with wood blinds.

Forward is a built in 50” Samsung TV and a locker below with a Sony AM/FM/AV receiver model STR-DH790 and a Samsung Blu-ray player.

The galley is open to the salon in the forward port side.  Fully open with below counter refrigeration and directly across from the dinette, it allows for easy access and use.

Features include:

• Granite countertops
• Cospolich stainless steel refrigerator with temperature gauge
• (2) Cospolich stainless steel freezers with a temperature gauge
• Broan stainless steel trash compactor
• Wood mini blinds
• (4) burner Dacor stovetop
• Frigidaire gallery microwave with work lights over stovetop
• Double basin stainless steel sink
• Removable spray faucet
• (6) cabinet doors
• (7) drawers
• Wood sole with granite border
• LED under cabinet lights
• (6) overhead LED lights
• Electrically operated storage cabinet rises from under the counter, aft
• Nutone in-counter blender

From the area between the galley and the dining settee, five carpeted steps lead to the lower deck.  The stairs also lift for interior access to the engine room. Immediately to starboard is a cabin with twin upper lower berths and a private head.  Forward to port is a larger cabin with (2) lower berths and (2) upper berths and a private head.  A locker just forward of the master cabin entrance has a new separate Whirlpool washer and dryer.  The master is fully forward and benefits from the Striker designed generous beam.

Entered via a hinged door from the centerline companionway is the upper/lower bunk cabin.  The berths are forward.  There are (2) drawers below the lower berth and an escape/ventilation hatch above the upper berth.  A full-size mirrored hanging locker with (2) drawers below are outboard and forward of the berths. Private head access is aft.

Also in the cabin there is a carpeted sole, (2) LED overhead lights and rope lighting below the lower berth and a 24” Vizio TV is at the foot of the upper berth. At the foot of the lower berth is an Alpine stereo and (2) speakers.

The twin cabin head is accessed through the aft end of the cabin and includes the following:

• Granite countertop with storage and (1) drawer below
• Brushed nickel faucet and sink fixtures
• Porcelain under mount sink
• (3) piece mirrored walls with center medicine cabinet
• GFCI
• Headhunter jet head
• Bi-fold glass and aluminum bi-fold shower door
• Brushed nickel shower head
• Tiled shower sole
• Mirrored ceiling with (5) mini sports
• Teak and holly sole
• Exhaust fan
• Brushed nickel towel racks
• (5) overhead lights
• Large 3-shelf storage cabinet outboard

Entered from the forward end is a cabin with twin lower berths and folding pullman berths able to sleep four when needed.  The lower berths have two drawers below with a two-drawer nightstand in between.  The area above the berths on the aft bulkhead is mirrored with a centered three-shelf storage cabinet above the nightstand.  A full-size hanging locker is at the forward end of the outboard berths with additional storage outboard under the upper berth via (3) cabinet doors.

Entered through the forward end of the cabin, this head includes:

• Granite countertop with (2) door cabinet below
• Undermount porcelain sink
• Brushed nickel faucet and fixtures
• Glass and aluminum bi-fold shower door
• Brushed nickel removable shower head
• (2) overhead shower lights
• Mirrored medicine cabinet
• Headhunter head
• GFCI
• Brushed nickel towel rack
• Teak and holly sole
• Mirrored ceiling
• (3) mini spots above
• Large outboard storage cabinet with (3) shelves
• Exhaust fan 

All the way forward is the master cabin with a king-sized berth on centerline, raised one step. There are two drawers in the riser and two in the base of the berth.  Modernized by upholstered panels around the forward bulkhead, they conceal the backlit etched glass with jumping marlin.  The panels are easily removed with that decor feature still aboard.

Built-in shelves serve as port and starboard nightstands.  Next aft on both the port and starboard sides are two door hanging lockers with (6) drawers within.

On the aft bulkhead is a 32” Samsung TV on an adjustable arm bracket. Below is a cabinet with a Pioneer AM/FM/AV receiver and a Samsung Blu-ray player and (3) drawers below.

The master head is accessed on the starboard aft corner of the master suite and includes the following:

• Colored stone tile countertops
• Hammered nickel undermount sink
• Brushed nickel faucet and sink fixtures
• Storage cabinet below countertop includes (2) mahogany drawers
• (3) door mirrored medicine cabinet
• Headhunter heads
• Bi-fold glass and aluminum shower doors with a rain pattern
• Brushed nickel shower fixtures with overhead showerhead
• Mirrored ceiling
• (7) overhead lights
• Exhaust fan
• Brushed nickel towel rack
• Wood sole
• Mahogany wood accents 

• Painted non-skid aluminum decks
• Striker 7’ signature bow pulpit with welded bow railing
• Welded aluminum bow rails, painted
• Ideal windlass with foot switches, motor recently rebuilt
• Polished 80lb stainless steel plow anchor
• Spare anchor, Fortress FX-55
• (2) rope deck pipes
• Bow cleats with gunwale hawse holes
• Dual spring line cleats with gunwale hawse holes
• Built-in bow seat with removable cushions and cover
• Davit, Marquipt, Hydraulic/Electric rebuilt in August 2025 at $25,000
• Foredeck aluminum dunnage boxes in seats
• International navigation lights
• (3) bow deck hatches
• Tender chocks
• Engine room air intakes

• 14’ Highfield Aluminum Hull RIB tender
• 30 HP Tohatsu Outboard
• 2 person folding bench seat aft
• Floating helm console
• Bimini top
• Bilge pump
• SeaDek decking
• Bow step with SeaDek
• Fold-up bow cleat
• Removable fuel tank
• 12V battery with switch
• Full cover
• Removable seat at center of tender
• Dolphin fins on outboard 

• Teak cover boards
• Padded vinyl bolsters
• Painted aluminum decking
• Large stainless steel lined cockpit bait freezer
• Bait prep station with hot and cold water
• Kenyon grill in cockpit
• Gin pole to starboard with block and tackle
• 1,000 lb. winch aligned with transom door for hauling in fish
• Walkthrough transom door with gate
• Rupp outriggers 30’, triple spreaders, recently re-rigged
• Twin center riggers
• (10) flush mount rod holders
• Blue Water offset fighting chair, recently refinished with cover
• New underwater lighting (3)
• Cockpit flood lights
• (2) built-in fish boxes in cockpit sole
• (2) electric reel outlets
• (3) access hatches to rudder area
• (2) portable fish chairs
• 6 position rocket launcher to port
• 7 position rocket launcher to starboard
• Transom live well with clear top
• Twin railings at salon steps
• Under gunwale rod/gaff storage
• 6’ teak rod locker to port behind hinged door at mezzanine level
• Portside under gunnel storage lockers
• Oversize cockpit deck drains
• (10) tackle drawers, starboard side under mezzanine
• (3) LED lights on aft brow just aft at salon
• Port and starboard plastic boarding steps
• Cockpit speakers
• Freshwater washdown
• Saltwater washdown

Cockpit station under hinged hatch with:

• Hynautic controls
• Emergency shut doors
• Standard Horizon Eclipse VHF
• Emergency fire pull
• Cockpit light switches
• Hydraulic hatch life to engine room

• Painted non-skid decking
• Chart locker
• Upholstered bench above chart locker
• Life rescue sling
• Life ring with retrieval line
• (7) place rocket launchers on aft bridge rail
• Stidd helm and companion chairs
• Portside seating for 6
• Center (2) door locker
• Starboard side seating for 4
• (3) side (7) panel enclosure for flybridge
• Bar with stainless steel sink, Subzero fridge and (2) storage lockers
• (2) stereo speakers
• Aft facing camera for docking, etc.
• Forward-facing camera 

• Simrad autopilot
• Fusion Bluetooth stereo head
• (2) ACR URP102 searchlight controls
• Jabsco searchlight control
• Hynautic clutches and throttles with gears to outboard
• SidePower bow thruster
• CAT analog engine gauges, 3 each engine
• 6” Danforth Magnetic Constellation compass
• (2) flow scan analog / digital fuel flow gauges
• EPIRB
• (2) storage cabinets under helm 

Overhead box with:

• Garmin 12” 861Z MFD
• Garmin 12” 861Z MFD
• Icom M510 VHF
• Icom M510 VHF

Switches:

• Anchor light switch
• Navigation light switch
• Instrument light controls
• Battery switch
• (3) bilge pump switches
• Windlass control
• Synchronizer control
• Power steering switch
• Engine start/stops
• Forward and aft flood switches
• Bilge light switch
• Dock light switch

• Starboard side breaker panel with (30) breaker protected circuits
• Key switches for engines

• 12-step tuna tower
• Starlink on hardtop
• 4’ Garmin open array radar antenna on hardtop
• Hynautic clutch and throttle with gears outboard
• 10” Garmin MFD
• Icom M424 VHF
• Helm wheel
• (3) person bench seat and buggy top
• (2) Quartz lights on tower deck
• Fusion stereo head
• (2) stereo speakers
• (2) USB outlets

• Twin 3412 CAT Diesels 1300 HP, rebuilt 1999
• 3” stainless steel prop shafts
• 5-blade Nibral propellers 36.5” x 38.5”
• SidePower 5-blade 24V bow thruster
• (2) sets of triple Racor engine fuel filters
• ZF BW 195 gears with 2 to 1 ratio
• Engine room blowers
• (3) Rule 3700 GPH bilge pumps
• Engine room repainted 2023
• Stainless steel 30-gallon water heater
• (2) Headhunter Mach 5 freshwater pumps
• Head system macerator
• (5) new Dometic A/C compressors – 10k, 10k, 12k, 16k, 16k
• (3) underwater lights (color)
• Kidde fire suppression system
• Fuel fill manifold for 3 tanks with only one dock fill
• Racor 500 for each generator
• Start/stop switches on engine
• Airsep crankcase ventilation system
• (2) engine room cameras
• (2) V1000 self-starts for engine room fans
• Water filtration systems
• (4) Sea chest style raw water intakes for each engine and (2) aft for generators, A/C and watermaker
• Remote mount fridge and freezer compressors
• Delta T engine room fans
• Holding tank vent filter
• Access from lower deck companionway through a watertight door
• (2) CAT coolant recovery bottles
• Headhunter composite freshwater storage tank
• Central vac
• Husky air compressor for air door
• Freshwater spigot
• Epoxy hard coat engine exhaust
• Engine block heaters
• 230V power steering pump
• Eskimo icemaker
• Village Marine Tech watermaker
• (5) fluorescent lights
• (4) incandescent lights 

• 115V/230V 60 Hz AC electrical system
• 12V/24V DC electrical system
• (2) 50-amp 230V shore cords
• Glendinning 50-amp 230V shore cord reel
• Galvanic isolator
• 27kW Phasor generator 1800 RPM in sound shield
• 27kW Phasor generator 1800 RPM in sound shield
• (6) 8D batteries
• (3) 24V 30-amp ProNautic battery charger
• (1) 12V 30-amp ProNautic battery charger
• (2) isolation transformers
• Bonding system

• USA added (4) 230V breaker protected circuits
• Delta T engine room fan controls
• (2) salon A/C thermostats with digital controls
• Headhunter tank sentry for waste tank
• VDO analog water tank gauge

115V/230V section includes the following:

• Shore 1, Shore 2, Buss 1, Buss 2, analog meter
• (4) 230V break protected circuits
• (16) 130V breaker protected circuits
• 24V section includes the following:
• (5) analog volt meters
• (16) DC breaker protected circuits

24V section includes the following:

• (5) analog volt meters
• (16) DC breaker protected circuits

It’s 1945, a world war is raging, and a mine just below the surface in Odessa Harbor on the Black Sea comes into contact with the bow of Herbert Phillips’s Liberty Ship and blows it off.  The boat survives, and after three months of in-water repairs, Phillips, who is just a year out of the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, notes how well this mass-produced, welded-together metal cargo ship handled the impact.  He is convinced that metal is the material of choice for building an oceangoing vessel, and upon his return from the war, he determines to build metal boats for recreational use.  He forms a company, Striker Yachts, that would eventually launch nearly 700 craft ranging from 33 to 70 feet and be talked about on the docks from Boston to Boca and beyond.

Phillips recently passed away, but his son Dick Phillips explains his father’s modest introduction into recreational boatbuilding.  “My dad hired Phil Bolger, who had designed U.S. Coast Guard cutters like the 41, to design him a 26-foot steel boat,” he recalls.  And then in 1951 a determined Herb Phillips lofted the lines of his first metal boat on his living room floor in Massapequa, Long Island.  He then rented a garage in nearby Amityville and made his dream a reality after adding a couple of Ford Lehman diesel inboards.

Steel was the material of the day, but Phillips had also been investigating using aluminum alloy, a light-weight option that had a lot of potential in the eyes of the young builder.  Dick says his dad tested strips of the new alloy by hanging them in brackish water nearby their home for varying periods of time, to see how they would resist corrosion.

By 1958, Phillips had left Long Island for Florida and enjoyed some success building his steel boats there.  But for his aluminum vessels, he decided Holland was the place to be due to that country’s extensive experience with shipbuilding.  In 1959, the first 35-foot Striker was completed in what is today the Heesen yard.  Another famous builder now known for its mega yachts, Hakvoort, also constructed numerous Striker yachts for Phillips, says Dick.

Once the ambitious young builder knew he could successfully produce a boat with aluminum, many more models followed: 34’s, 44’s, 54’s, 58’s, 62’s, and eventually some 70 footers. The last Striker, a 70 footer, launched in 1995.  All the boats featured Thomas De Groot hull designs, a modified-V shape that included inner and outer chines, and a box keel that reportedly also provided lift for planing.

Being mostly convertible sportfishermen (some motor yachts were also constructed), Strikers were assembled on a jig frame.  Aluminum sheet metal—the hull plating—was formed around the jig, which created the trademark angular lines that gained popularity among offshore anglers during the 1960’s, 70’s, and even into the 80’s, before speed became a must have.

Often times one build crew would complete the hull and deck, while another group worked on the superstructure.  Everything on the boat, from the cap rails to the handrails to the piping to the flying bridge was then welded together to make a Striker’s structure rigid and strong.

In addition, Phillips borrowed a page from commercial shipyards by building his vessels with multiple watertight bulkheads forward and aft of the engine room, plus a collision bulkhead in the bow (perhaps inspired from his experience in Odessa Harbor?).  Integral fuel tanks were welded into the hull providing Striker Yachts vessels with a double hull bottom, and both the water and fuel tanks featured manhole covers so they could be easily accessed, cleaned, and maintained.  “They were framed up like little ships,” says Dick, adding that compared to the same-size fiberglass vessels of the day, Strikers were about 30-percent lighter, too.  They did, however, require a more diligent maintenance schedule to prevent oxidation from forming and paint blisters from popping up around thru hulls and welds.

These “little ships” were promoted heavily by Striker’s advertising agency, which came up with an intriguing back story for the yachts.  The company’s ad copy stated that the name Striker was given to the harpoon man on a whaling boat who sat at the front of a double ended dory and was steadfast, dependent, and strong.  It provided a powerful image for the brand.  The real story, according to Dick, is that his mom saw the moniker on the back of a ship and thought it would be a nice name for the new company.

During its lifetime, Striker Yachts launched and sold around 700 aluminum vessels. The 70 foot convertible seen here was among the largest.

However the name came to be, the campaign worked and in its heyday the company was building 44 footers at a rate of about one every six weeks.  Dick says that from a price standpoint, his dad’s aluminum boats were on par with the fiberglass boats of the day (circa 1970’s).  But by the 1980’s, Strikers started to cost a bit more.  Dick adds that to build an aluminum boat of the same quality today would be impractical.  Taking into account the expense of materials and labor, he says “[an aluminum] boat under 100 feet is almost cost prohibitive,” and adds that a Striker client recently inquired about the possibility of building a new 70 footer. The original 70’ (mid-1990’s) came in right around $1 million. To build the same boat today, according to Dick, would run somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 million.

ELSKA is a rare find!  These 62’ Strikers were known as battleships.  Being built at Hakvoort in the Netherlands places ELSKA at the top of the Striker hierarchy. 

The massive master suite and generous accommodations are thanks to her wide beam. Nice little touches such as inlaid Mother of Pearl and contrasting inlaid banding in her mahogany joinery testify to her high-end build by a renowned Dutch shipyard. 

New electronics, a 3412 CAT repower, and a new tender add to the allure of ELSKA!