Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Since it seems a rare beast I thought I'd gratify the need for some boat
porn with some shots of a 25 Seafari up the road from me.....it's quite
the hog. The hull is very deep, with high gunnels. Not much deck space with
the side to side engine cover. The scuppers are in the floor at the corners
at the front of the engine box, but they exit the hull through the side...you
can see them in the side shots. The VDH angles look like 25, 17, and 14 plus
or minus a degree. This thing would definitely slice the waves. The cabin
is large with a storage space in front of the helm and a recess for a head
in front of the passenger. Enjoy.....




Bow shot

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...uboy/zzbow.jpg

Stern shot

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...oy/zzstern.jpg

Deadrise angles look like 25, 17 and 13....

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...zzdeadrise.jpg

Starboard shots

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...oy/zzstarq.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...zzstarside.jpg

Port shots

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...oy/zzportq.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...zzportside.jpg

Helm, deck and engine cover

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...oy/zzhelm1.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...oy/zzhelm2.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...y/zzengbox.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...zengcover1.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...zengcover2.jpg

Cabin

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...oy/zzcabin.jpg

Bottom and blister closeup

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...y/zzbottom.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...zzblisters.jpg

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Looks like a good canidate for a bracket and twin 250's. I like the "flasher" depth finder.

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Not a beast at all, but a thing of rare beauty.

Does that have the twin 140's or 165's?

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

agree 1000%

surprised Strick has not picked it up yet.

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Darrel- Thanks for taking the time to do that. We don't have too many photos of that model SeaCraft on the site. BTW what did you do to your hand? looks like you shoved it into a meat grinder :eek:

MBO- one of these days :D

The engine box on that boat is interesting... I'm surprised that SeaCraft would even design something like that eating up most of the deck space.


Here are some photos that I found recently on Photobucket doing a search for seaCraft. I've left the pics large because I did not have time to down size them right now. I hate to see people treat a nice boat like this. I have no idea who took the photos or who owns the boat. Looks like S. Florida from the pics.


http://www.casdvm.com/photos/abandoned.jpg http://www.casdvm.com/photos/abandoned1.jpg http://www.casdvm.com/photos/abandoned2.jpg http://www.casdvm.com/photos/abandoned3.jpg http://www.casdvm.com/photos/abandoned4.jpg


strick

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Since it's rare I wanted to get some photos for everyone to check out... :D

For my hand, last month I got a 1/2 inch gash across the top of my left thumb....nothing much...3 stitches. But after getting the stitches removed it turned out I cut the extensor tendon.....so then surgery to fix it and now I'm in the contraption in the photo for another 5 weeks or more. It hindering my shrimping (with castnets here in Charleston) and boat projects in a big way. C'est la vie...at least everything is still attached.

Those are cool shots you posted....especially the side view on the blocks....you can really see the how sllek the hull looks. That engine box pretty much ate up all the space...I thought it was interesting that they'd do that.

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Comparing the 2 boats, it looks like the twin setup (yellow) had the full width engine box whereas a single (white) had a typical engine box.

I posted this before, but when I had the chance to meet Bill Potter a few years ago, he told me the 25 was his favorite SC. He said it rides like a dream but rolls something fierce with all that deadrise and narrow beam.

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Strick said I was wondering if that was the 1st 25' Seafari I ever saw. It was up on blocks with gil brackets all rusted out, but I don't remember the motors. Landscape looked just like that, too. Wasn't S. FL., though. It was New Providence Island, Bahamas, near the Royal Bahamian Defense Force base.

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

If you look real close at the bow shot you can just make out what was left of the FL numbers, maybe some one can
see them better then me.

See ya, Ken

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

And look at those fixtures on the console.....they look like one piece fuel tank bolt on plates with fill tube, vent tube, and dual pick-up tubes....

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Frank- That picture can be from anywhere. If you do a search on photobucket you can find the boat and the handle of the person who posted the pics. Maybe someone could try and e-mail the person just to find out were the boat is.

Strick

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Whoever took those pictures captured just the right angles to show off the hull's deadrise.

Look at the dead rise on the back of that boat and the gradual reverse chine on the front of the inner steps.
Wow . . . what a hull :)

Is the 27' a stretched version of this 25?

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

The spec sheet says 25.5 degrees.....the next panel out is around 17 and the next is around 14.....interesting...the 23' is 21, 13 and 10......so they differ by the same amount....8 degrees and 3 degrees. But at 25 degrees that
about as sharp as any boat I've ever heard about. Even the vaunted deep V CCs of today are generally "only" 24 degrees.

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

The only boat that I know of that's more than 25.5 degrees is the bertram barron 28 (28 degrees at the transom).

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

I don't know for sure, but I would say no. Looking at pix of the 27's, they don't appear to have nearly the same deadrise, plus the rake of the bow stem is much less on a 27.

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

"Is the 27' a stretched version of this 25?"

The 27' was built prior to the 25' being designed.

According to some documents I have, the original 27' was a SeaMaster, with test run documents dated early 1967. LOA 26'9", Beam 9'10"

The 25' was designed in 1968 or 1969. The original drawings indicate an LOA 25', Beam 8' and a deadrise 26 degrees. The 25' was not built until sometime in the 70's and can't speak as to whether or not the orginal design was modified prior to production.
Hope this helps ..."query minds want to know"
Carla

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Thanks Carla!! I was wondering about that.

I bet these two little mods in this picture make a big difference in knocking down spray.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1...y/zzbottom.jpg

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

I don't know about that Tim :D I remember a conversation ScottM and Myself had with Bill Potter at my house a few years ago. He said the 25' hull was a POS. They just could not get it to ride right.
Scott, do you remember this? I forget the reasons but maybe you can shed some insight. I think Rodney & Mark were there also...help me guys :rolleyes:

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Well.... Capt Chuck how was the west coast???

OK back on subject, the 25 Seafari is full of concrete
pig weights to keep the bow down. They never could get
the thing to ride right. Although a thing of beauty on the
outside the inner hull is a "PIG"
See ya, Ken

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

This boat is definitely in the Bahamas, check the front license plate on the car, plus the landscape (it looks like the Abacos to me). Imagine the hoops you would have to jump thru to get this boat retitled in the states :eek: Is the Bahamas Chapter of CSC ready to take on this project? ;)

Lloyd

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

No Bones - What do you mean by "The inner hull is a hog"? Please explain yourself :)

I've crawled all over one of these boats in Florida and I was amazed at how large they are . . . The dash is real tall and the top of the windshield was over my head . . . The inside transom box was also less than 1/2 the width of the boat.

I'm interested to hear about the weights and the light bow issues . . . The combo of at least one 454 and an outdrive with a 26 degree transom deadrise seems like there might be issues with weight distribution. It's hard for me to imagine that Mosley's last seacraft design, after years of building champion race boats would be a "Pig", "Hog", "cement truck", etc. Now I'm really curious what you guys heard.

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

BigShrimpin,

The 25' was designed to be built in conjunction with a new ballast sytem (patented). When Potter built the 25' in the 70's, there were issues understanding the design/ballast concept. Moesly flew in to explain it all. But it was not built with the new ballast system resulting in some issues with the boat's performance. I understand, subsequently, concrete blocks were positioned in the boat to try and balance it out. Moesly's designs were highly technical and when changes are made, it impacts the end result. This is what happened to the 25'.

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

For a boat you guys probably never rode in, you sure are spreading some disparaging remarks. :mad:
Any boat with a radical deep V and narrow beam such as this is prone to listing, either by weight distribution or wind load. That is what trim tabs are for.
The narrow beam & deep V is precisly why they are offshore boats.
Just look at the video of the monohull racers posted on this site.
As far as weights, I have never come across any & I have been thru my boat pretty thoroughly.
Even if there was, so what?
As far as wind spray, I picked my boat up in Martha's Vinyard in early May. The wind was blowing a solid 20 mph w/
4' rolling in. - no water over the bow or side.
Nice easy ride over to the mainland - That sold me on the boat.
It is MUCH MORE than just a pretty face - the 25' Seafari is a solid performer - whether you know it or not!

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Thanks Carla - That's very interesting do you have a patent number? I had heard a rumor that Allan Vaitses had built a Hyliner 222 back in the 70's with water compartments for ballast, valves and pumps to distribute or shed the weight. It's an interesting idea. I'm curious how that system in the 25 seafari was designed to work.

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Doug by no means are we bashing your 25 Seafari, if that is what you own. It is just that the boat has ballast issues.
Known FACT !! I refer to ballast weights as Pig weights.
65 Bowrider knows what she is talking about, her dad is
Carl Moesly. I think she clearly stated what the problem is
with proper instructions and design that were not followed
during the building of the 25 Seafari.

The quality of the 25 is still "Classic SeaCraft" :)

See ya, Ken

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Oh . . . This thread is getting interesting!!

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

I'm still not sure of what is actually being called "ballast issues"
The boat has a fairly short fordeck w/ the helm bulkhead positioned well forward in the boat - if anything, I would think that would make the boat bow heavy - kinda like a Sceptre. However, it is not.
Maybe Carla could post some kind of tech info to shed light on this subject.
Again, the boat planes quickly w/ minimal trim and runs like a raped date thru the whitewater.
Any listing is exagerrated by the high freeboard and relatively high helm position. Nothing a few taps on the trim tabs quickly eliminates.
With these pictures posted, that is (3) different deck configuratons that I have seen so far.
It is intersting to note that even though it appears the yellow boat was trailered - no bottom paint - it has a blistered bottom.

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Carla - were the 25's ever built with the ballast design? The article from 1968 western boating news has nothing but glowing reveiews about the boat. Coincidentally the daughter of guy in that article Phil Greyshock (old distributor of seacraft) is a client of Strick's.

http://www.classicseacraft.com/broch...edium/0001.jpg

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

And so the plot thickens....






So how did Mr. Potter really feel about the boat fellas?


I want answers? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwyj78FpYt4

:D

strick

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Well said Strick :D.I never get tired of that movie scene. This is just gett'in better and better! :o

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Doug, this is an info sharing site and I'm glad you love your boat. THAT'S WHAT'S MOST IMPORTANT.
Trim tabs are commonly used today ... but back in the 60's? The water ballast system I spoke of was it's own kind of trim system. I THINK Moesly may have realized with the high dead rise, narrow beam, the boat would list ... so he devised a water ballast system to compensate for that. He only designed it for the 25'.

BigShimpin, I could not read the print of the article you referred to, but the bottom logo MAY indicate a 70's article by the SeaCraft font & address of Princeton. In 1960's SeaCraft's font was different and the address was Miami. (PM sent) The 25' Seafari was not built in the 60's.

"All SeaCrafts deserve to be loved, regardless of color, size or shape".

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Sorry Carla - I couldn't find a date on the article either . . . I was just going off the date that Jason posted on the site
http://www.classicseacraft.com/broch...cle/index.html

When you view the link and you double click on the article the page it gets bigger.

I dug up the patent online and posted it below for anyone who is interested. Looks like a neat design with 2 compartments on each side . . . looks like it holds a LOT of water.
3503358 Patent

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

I am sure to be sticking my neck out on this one - please feel fee to correct me. :o
Well, I can see why the ballast system was not implemented.
I doubt that the added weight in the bilge would add any lateral stability to the boat.
A boats lateral stability is mostly comprised of its horizontal sufaces, obviously, a boat with an 8 foot beam & 25 degree deadrise has a relatively small amount. Not to mention the lack of lifting strakes.
Sinking a boat further in the water does not change its footprint.
By effectively lowering the Center of Gravity of the boat by flooding the compartments, gains in stability, if any would be minimal.
How much would the boat actually lower?
2"-3"-4" tops?
Ever step in a swamped boat? - not to stable!
Yeah, I know, the water isn't contained, yada yada yada...
What happens to the self draining deck during this procedure?
How well is the boat going to plane off with, I don't know -1600 lbs.(200 gallons water) of dead weight added?
Certainly an outboard won't like it.
Even if the positives outweighed the negatives, there is simply no room available in our size boats for it to be practical.
Typically, where Ballast Tank B is located, there is a 100 gallon fuel tank. Not much room under the deck either side of it either.
Where Ballast Tank A is, the deck usually steps down in a cabin type boat - for increased head room. Again, lack of room.
Intake Scoop 19, even if minimized in size, would surely have an impact on speed.
I wouldn't want to depend on a valve/hose connection to stop water coming in when the boat is at speed and there is 40 psi pressure in the fill tube.
If you are really concerned about the boat rocking at rest, add a pair of mooring umrellas to slow it down, or get a flats boat!
Once again, I do not see the "Ballast Problem"
The boat is a deep V - meant for offshore, whitewater.
Roll is inherent in the design.
It is not meant for the back bays, if it was it surely wouldn't have a 25 degree bottom on it.
Thinking back to when I had my 1987(?) 23' WAC, it too, rolled quite a bit. I think that is basically the same bottom as all the other 23's running around?
Again, the problem exagerrated by the higher deck and helm.
The nicest riding offshore boat that I owned was my 24' Progression with 300 Merc. It gave the best of both worlds-
High speed and stability - I think that boat has a 22 degree bottom to it, along with lifting strakes.
I'd like to graft the Seafari's Cabin to that hull! :D
C'mon, lets here it from the nay sayers!
Funny thing how the picture on the patent design resembles a Seavette...LOL!

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Progression 24 and 22 are bad azz boats. It's kind of funny though that the progression hull is variable deadrise hull (with strakes). I like the idea of the patent, but I agree with doug that it'd be a hard sell to the public.
http://www.progressionboats.com/home...tom_detail.jpg

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

I vaguely remember the conversation Chuck mentions, so I'm at a loss. I do, however, recall Potter talking about the 25 and how much he liked it. Believe it or not I still have the email I sent him in 2004 with a picture of what would eventually become doug7488's boat. He responded that he would be interested in contacting the owner at the time to ask some questions.

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Boy, I was not trying to start a debate but I was referring to the 25' hull as a CC production line that never transpired. Not that Mr P didn't like the boat but only they could not get it's ride "up-to-snuff".

Doug
I meant NO Offense to your boat nor the intent of posting of disparaging remarks http://floridasportsman.com/art/blush2.gif I'm sure the weight and design of the "SeaFari" was a different animal or they would not have made over 75 of them.

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

This is like beating a dead horse!!!!!!
The bottom line is, Doug enjoy your SeaCraft as we
we do ours....... End of story! :)
See ya, Ken

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

My company has used a 25' Seafari for very deep-v planing hull and propulsion research for the past 4 years. The discussion in this thread has been helpful to understand the boats general performance. When I bought the boat in Florida the engines and drives were shot so I never ran the boat in its original configuration. The discussion about Moesley's plan to have an integral ballast system in this boat makes a lot of sense based on our findings that the boat was more seakindly and we could eliminate the chine walking, heeling and porpoising by a more forward lcg and other tricks. In fact our testing at 4800 lbs, through 7400 lbs was done by installing ballast to achieve a 0 degree static trim which equates to a 37% lcg.

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

BigFluke - Welcome! what kind of speed did you see from the hull before it started to chine walk and what type of ballast did you use? were you testing other hulls or just the 25 seafari?

Re: Boat porn of a 25 Seafari beasty
 

Bigfluke- Ditto's on the welcome. However I was a little disappointed I did not see the 25 seafari in any of the boat pictures on your company's web site :D

http://www.navatekltd.com/index.html


Chuck and Scott thanks for clarifying.

strick