Its a bit complicated but L&H designed that boat to be a small production skiff and built 20 something of them. But L&H is really a custom shop and having a custom mentality, they really couldn't make the 17 as a production boat and come out financially. At the time, while the Roberts molds were in different hands, L&H were building some Roberts boats on a contract basis (to be finished off by the owner at the time and I can't recall who that was). So....L&H made a deal to sell the 17 to the Roberts owners at the time and build a few under contract. So those folks integrated the 17 as a Roberts, but Roberts himself never built that boat, just the 15 and 20. But the 17 looked comparable to those designs so it was easy to integrate it as part of the Roberts line.
So maybe a stepchild, regardless I think the lines are beautiful and the current builders have some of the most gorgeous builds out there and are totally overlooked in the custom skiff market.
This information came directly from L&H years ago as they were built not too far from my house at the time and I was in discussions to purchase the 17 molds but......
Mel
