Testimony of the old SeaCrafts from a Cuttyhunker I know...

[John R]

This is an excerpt from a post on my NE fishing site. Chet aka "Nor-easter" is a long time guide around Buzzards Bay & Cuttyhunk. He is just an incredible fountain of old-time Cuttyhunk knowledge and a great guy to boot... He now runs a Crosby Hawk 29 (not to be confused with C-Hawk) rigged with twin Yammi 200s on a bracket - another beautifull boat. But he tells me that he still misses the Seacraft a little.

John
To answer your question from another thread.
We had a 22' Mako CC w/125 Mercury o/b and I thought it was a really good boat for Buzzards Bay.
I was fishing at Cuttyhunk and carried my Parties from the Outdoorsman Dock in New Bedford.
The first year I owned the Mako 22, in October when we hauled at the end of the season, we found cracks in the bottom!
The Dealer called the Factory Rep. and he sent us a new boat, something about a bad batch of resin and weather conditions when molded up down south.
Next year, September and I am headed back to the Island, alone, after dropping a party off in New Bedford. I get out just beyond Great Ledge and notice the boat is acting strange. No lift to hull. Suddenly I am into a wave, not over it, and the boat is doing a submerge act. I back off the throttle and she slowly comes up to the surface, bow high but I am in water to my waist at the console. Rescue is a story for another day.
This time the Factory Rep. says Sorry, no warrantee, I heard about how you go back and forth to Cuttyhunk and you have abused the hull.
I trade the hull to the Dealer for a 23' SeaCraft.
Now, here is a boat for Buzzards Bay. That 23 Footer with the 354 Ford and Mercrusier Outdrive was the absolute berries for my type of work. As we got into it we learned to do preventive maintenance like replacing the coupling to the outdrive on a 400 hour cycle and swapping heads in liew of a valve job every 500 hours. We had that engine tuned to turn 325 RPM on the troll and max out at 5000 on top. We ran at 4000 when steaming and got 24 knots with no problem. FAC, 6 foot swells howling 40 knot winds, rain, you name it. That machine would just answer up and do her job.
I have been in the newer models but the builders have done their work in the wrong direction, IMHO, because the newer ones are light and jump all over the ocean. Find an older hull and recondition it if needed. You will be happy with the results.
If you want me to run it for you we can maybe work out a deal!

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This was too good of a salute to the old 23s that I just had to post it here... (and if any of you want a top-notch charter on Sow & Pigs reef, I'll put you in touch with Chet).