[Bushwacker]

Fr. Frank is right - the 20' hull is very efficient and does not need lot's of power to be a very nice riding boat. I ran a 1975 115 V-4 (90 hp at prop!) for 31 years on my Seafari and never had any complaints or durability problems. 115 hp at the prop would be even better! Ran it fairly hard with a very heavy load, cruising at ~4500 rpm/20kts on 6 crossings to the Abacos, a trip of about 165 nm, averaging about 2.8 nmpg. (The 140 I/O Seafari's averaged about 5 mpg on this same trip!) These boats were designed in the mid-60's for motors of that size, so they're very well balanced with them (not stern-heavy, so they'll ride well and plane at 12-13 mph!). I bought the boat & motor before the V-6's came out, so I used to actually hope the seas would kick up a bit so the guys with V-6's would have to slow down so I could keep up with them! The 20' Seafari can generally keep up with most 23-24' non-SeaCraft boats in 2-3' seas; the SeaCraft 21 is another story, however! I could never keep up with that boat if he did not also want to cruise at about 20 kts; same with the 23 to a lesser extent. Would highly recommend trim tabs, even on a 20 with a light motor - they'll make your boat think it's about 3' longer!