Seafari Stern

[gaulois]

Im sorry to beat to death the "stern seaworthiness" of the Seafari. My 23CC was virgin, and had the well around the outbord. This was very effective if a wave washed over the stern. The 20seafari does not have such a well designed stern protection. I think I want to build something to minimize this problem. Any suggestions?
I inherited my dads 18 foot 1964 Imperial a long time ago. This is pretty much an unknown boat, but it was extremely well built. Actually built in Hollywood FL.
There was no bilge, a totally sealed deck. But there was an upwardly angled cover where the motor was mounted with outlets so that if a wave did wash over, most of the water would hit the transom and wash off and what was left would drain out.
I took this boat in heavy seas, and since the bow was covered, and it had a "step v" it took on 4-6 relatively well. If for some reason my engine had stalled, and I had trouble putting out a "sea anchor", I would have been ok for a little while had my stern turned toward the oncoming sea.....
This probably all sounds stupid, but I do plan on crossing to the BS, and Dry Tortugas, and in my dreams Cay Sal. I have done it before in the 23 (not Cay Sal), and the 20seafari seems very sea worthy aside from the stern problem.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
By the way, whoever sent me to info on the 140 4 Johnson- thank you- that is a great price.

[cSickNick]

If you look at these specs on this site(link below), there is a splashwell made for the 20' Seafari outboard;
web page

Mine has one and decided to leave it off for now. I have yet to see a wave crash through the well area.

Last Sat was a good test heading in from Stellwagen with the NE blow right on my a$$. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

- Nick

[oldbluesplayer]

G -

I agree with CSN - I hadn't had an outboard since 1988, been I/O ever since, till now with my Seafari, and I was worried about the OB cutout, and apparent lack of freeboard back there - mine is still cut for a 20" shaft motor.

But, I've been out trolling in what became 4-6's, including stern to, and quartering on the stern, and have yet to take on water (knock on wood). When I did my rebuild of the transom, I thought alot of building an inner splashwell wall, and may still do it, but after a number of outings, I'm much less convinced I that even need one.

Of course, I have a V4-115 hp Johnson, lighter than your 235 - didn't get a chance to reply to your other post before, but yes, I can hit 30 mph (gps measured) easily in smooth water, with me, my 240 lb son, and a full tank of gas, the battery is in the starboard rear compartment, the port rear compartment is a built in fishwell, not removable, and was full of water and fish (blues), so some extra weight in the back as well.

Bill

[cSickNick]

Bill/G,

Mine is a 25" shaft Zuki DF140 at ~420lbs. The previous motor was a Yami V4 115HP (looks the same as the 115HP Johnson, was there a lawsuit, cant recall)which moved it along nicely.

Anyhow, i need to think about it more this winter, but i may raise the rear boxes to the gunnel height and make a folding splash well door or close in the transom/bracket idea.

In my opinion, these boats needs some work in the rear more to keep people in the boat [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img], rather than seas out.

- Nick

[oldbluesplayer]

CSN - where do you boat out of? keep it in the Saugus River? - how long a run out to Stellwagon ? I assume you were out chasing little tunny? I have, so far, mostly launched out of Hampton, NH, but have also come down to Gloucester and launched from there.

this whole Seafari stern topic is certainly interesting = wonder if we can get Don/ Hermco to get some direct insight from Bill Potter on the performance of his bracketed Seafari?

Those half height seat boxes in the stern do present some interesting thoughts, if one really wanted to get into some major redesign/ rebuild. Mine has an integral fishbox on the port side, when I redid my transom, I thought about cutting that out, as it slopes inward, inside of the port stringer, and has a drain out thru the transom, near the center. removed, I could have put a second battery on the port side, balancing the one in the starboard side, and then also had a clear shot at putting two knees in, off the stringers, up to the outboard notch - that would have been the ultimate stiffening redesign, but I wanted to preserve the fishbox and the original design - but in use I find those rear seats just about useless, nobody likes sitting back there with the engine noise right next to you.

I really like what Peter Alari did with his 20 CC, and now I'm brewing a thought, along the lines of, raising the height of those seat boxes by about 6 - 8 inches, maybe a little more, but not to full gunnel height, still low enough to be able to reach down in to the hull to work on stuff, and then building a wall across between them, to increase the splashwell height. A lot of cogitating yet to do on this.

Love to hear thoughts from other Seafari owners.

Bill

[cSickNick]

Hey Bill,

I boat out of my driveway, then Saugus River [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]. It is ~25nm to NW corner of Stellwagen.

My opinion is that the low stern seats need to be raised. If full gunnel height, access doors can be built so reach down would not be an issue.

I am not sure if all 20 Master Anglers are the same, but they seem to have full height transom boxes. Add a splash board for the motor well, done. Check them out.

For me it is about landing the "big one" on this boat. I need to work off one of the aft corners to have something to lean against and the extra storage space would help!

Let see what others think ....

- Nick

[oldbluesplayer]

Nick -

take a look in the For Sale page - the 18' CC - good pix of the stern layout... that what you're talking about ?

More food for thought !!!

got a long/lat for the NW corner of Stellwagon ? found it on the charts, but hard to tell what you mean by NW corner - I see that referred to frequently in ReelTime ecellant fishing site - looks like an easy run from Gloucester.

Bill

[cSickNick]

Yeah,

That 18' transom is what i am talking about!
What do you think? Or other Seafari guys think?
Don't be shy ... [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

NW corner is roughly 42 23.790 N 70 28.015 W
Out of Gloucester is ~12 miles.

Good spot to troll around for tuna during the season along with a good whale show! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

- Nick

[gaulois]

Thank you everybody for your input.
I see a few of you go out into the Gulf of Maine/ out of MA.
So, apparently the Seafaris handle the ocean well. I think I told you guys that I live in Maine, but I am moving back down to Miami. With my 23CC I used to fish a great deal, but, now I'm more concerned about making the boat seaworthy.
I plan on going offshore/Bahamas/Dry Tortugas etc. (not that the two are mutually exclusive) I will mostly be diving.
So some of you mentioned that the 115 was sufficient? (as I said, I do not care about speed, but reliability, and economy) So, I think then I will consider the V4 130. That sounds like plenty. Do any of you have a 4 stroke V4? Are they truly more reliable than the 2s? These all seem like idiotic questions but I have been in Maine for 5yrs now, and have not even thought about all this since. I'm totally psyched to restore my boat. Since everyone has said that the 235 is relatively light, Im trying to figure out why the guy filled in the scuppers.
Thanks everyone

[ScottM]

Good spot to troll around for tuna during the season along with a good whale show! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Just don't troll your expensive tuna gear on top of the bank, the blues will have a field day. [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]