This is the part of the article that talkes about Jason. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]
Capt. Brian
Remember that old shampoo TV
commercial where images of a
beautiful model’s face multiply as
she explains “And I told two
friends, and she told two friends,
and so on …” ? That’s what it has
been like for the membership list
over at
www.classicseacraft.com.
Rhode Islander Jason Goldfarb
launched the site while restoring
a 1968 20’ SeaCraft.
“One e-mail led me to five
[used SeaCraft] owners, then 10. I
was talking to them all, but my fingers
got tired, so I created a
website.”
The membership now bulges at
250 with SeaCraft enthusiasts from
all over the country—even the
world (homeports include France,
Bermuda and Cabo San Lucas).
Most of the boats were built in the
70s or 80s. The oldest: a 1967 19-
footer, which Goldfarb writes “is
the most impressive boat on the
site, hands down.” The owner
“has taken great care of his 19, and
has all the original documentation,
warranty cards, and articles about
his boat. His boat is an I/O with a
160-hp Chevy inline six with a
MerCruiser outdrive.”
Goldfarb writes a sizeable portion
of the descriptions accompanying
the before-and-after photographs.
But the site very much belongs
to the owners, most of whom
could never afford a new SeaCraft
(a 23 retails for a whopping $58,000).
“There was a lot of talk about
how great these boats are, but not
having deep pockets I thought I
would never find out how good,”
Website Helps Owners
Revive Old SeaCrafts
writes Steve Syler in his dramatic
buildup to his discovering of a 1979
23-footer for $7,000. He worked for
an entire winter—nights and weekends
—stripping and then refurbishing
the boat.
One of the most common old
SeaCraft repairs has been the replacement
of wet transoms, which
were built with wood and encapsulated
in fiberglass. Goldfarb says
a project like this might seem overwhelming
at first but is quite doable
with the help of an ever-growing
group of SeaCraft owners to fall
back on.
Yes, bringing an old SeaCraft
back from the dead is hard work,
but guys like Syler have no regrets,
especially once they feel that
smoothing-riding, variable deadrise
hull beneath them.
Contact—
www.classicseacraft.com;
Jason Goldfarb: 508/295-9700.
Above: In addition to before-and-after
photos of refurbished SeaCrafts,
the website gives you a little history:
SeaCraft’s founder, Carl Moesly, designed
and built the first SeaCraft, a
21-footer, to race offshore.