23' Seabird
 

Hey Guy's,

Can anyone give me any info on the Seabird boats? To me it looks close to a seacraft.I'm about to purchase one{ a nice restorable 23' hull } I've been looking at Scott M's on the site, and it looks nice.I'm going to restore it or a 18' parker I picked up a few months ago. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Re: 23' Seabird
 

Scott M may disagree, but I wouldn't necessarily put the Seabird in same class as a SeaCraft. There are a lot of good looking deep V's out there really don't ride all that well. I believe it may have a balsa core hull; if so could be a ton of work to restore if core is wet. Shipshape TV did a big restoration on one a couple of years ago so you might search their site for info on it. I made a 150 mile Bahamas trip with a 23' Seabird years ago and my 20' Seafari w/115 O/B had no trouble staying up with this much bigger boat. I was surprised because it has a VERY deep V, like 25-30 degrees of deadrise with no lifting strakes. My friend that owned the SeaCraft 21 that also ran with us claims that they screwed up what would have otherwise been a good riding hull by putting a big wide flat chine on it, so it still had a large flat surface that could pound. It takes a lot of power and fuel to get that deep a V on plane, so maybe they had to add the wide chines to get some lift out of it. Maybe no better in that respect than the traditional Ray Hunt deep V with lifting strakes used by Bertram, Wellcraft and others.

Re: 23' Seabird
 

Denny's right. The Seabird rides very nicely in light to moderate chop, but requires you to slow more when seas get heavier because of the flat hard-chine. If your speed is such that the hard-chine is making significant downward motion at time of contact with the water it will slap and provide a jolt. And because of the 28 degree forward entry and 24 degree fixed angle vee hull, it takes more power to get on plane as well as staying there.

Still not as bad as the early 70's Wellcraft Nova 21', though, with it's 33 degree entry and 25 degree vee hull. It had 2 flat hard-chines forward to help it get on plane. They gave that boat an available 370 hp BB Chevy with the TRS drive. on a 21' boat!! It still only did 57 mph at WOT.

Re: 23' Seabird
 

"370 hp BB Chevy"- Ill bet the fuel bill left some empty wallets running that bad boy !

Re: 23' Seabird
 

Thanks Guys,

Great info on that hull. I'll probably just post it after I take delivery.I wonder if it will be hard to move? The deal is almost complete. . . . . .

Re: 23' Seabird
 

My dad has a 24 and loves it, however it's pretty light. He has a 200 Yamaha on it and it tops out at 45 MPH.

Re: 23' Seabird
 

Hey Frank is this you in the Nova?

http://www.wellcraftv20.com/gallery/...1975/cover.jpg

Re: 23' Seabird
 

I had a 25 nova in the mid 80's as a patrol boat with twin 260 mercruisers and loved it.

Re: 23' Seabird
 

Nope. That's not me. In 1975 I was 15/16 yrs old.

I did own a '77 25' Nova II for a short while in the late 80's. It had twin 260 Mercruisers when I got it, but it had "sunk" on the trailer, and then sat for several months before that fact was discovered. My partner and I purchased a couple of nearly new take-out 330 hp 454ci Mercruisers, with early Bravo CR drives.

Initially, we got a top speed of about 68 mph, at 66 gph. Changing props from Mirage to over-hub 32P Hustler cleaver props got us 76 mph at 62 gph, but with those props it would not get on plane without putting the K-planes all the way down. We sold the boat after about a month for a very nice profit.

Re: 23' Seabird
 

That's pretty impressive. I only get 35 knots/40mph with a 225 Johnson spinning a 15x17 aluminum prop.

Regarding the ride of the Seabird vs. SC, I have not found the differences that other members have posted about. Then again I haven't had my Seabird in seas rougher than 3-4' at speed. However, with the tabs down I can slice through 2-3 footers at 27 knots very comfortably.

Re: 23' Seabird
 

Scott, Have to agree about the ride,with that much deadrise that hull has to slice pretty good.

Re: 23' Seabird
 

:) Boy, That pic of the Wellcraft brings back a lot of good memeories... I had one the same color w/ single 350/260 Merc. - Lots of partying going on with that baby!!
Wish I still had it - great picknick boat.
Not the fastest boat in the bay, but did get good mileage.
I looked at several SeaBirds- all very nice looking. But I can say they all had a delaminated/rotten core. One even had 3/8" ply (all cut up scraps)for coring.
There is a website for these things - someone had success adding lifting chines to the bottom...