How did you come to learn about SeaCrafts?

[BigLew]

I may have started one other thread in the years I have said more things about more subjects than I can remember but I am not sure sure if I ever started a thread.

That said, I thought it might be both fun and interesting to hear how other members remember how they became a member of the knowledgeable few. (So I am being a bit provincial!) Live with it.

Let's hear from everyone. I think we will all learn a thing or three!

[basswacker]

I learned about SeaCraft through my dad when i was looking for boats. he used to always say how seaworthy it was, he talked more about the Seacraft then any other boat that he owned

[Blue197320]

i learned about seacrafts from my dad. i was looking for a smaller boat that i could afford. we went to look at a 20 mako and a 20 sportcraft with bracket. kept looking and looking and found a 20 seacraft. my dad said this is the boat to get and in the 70's if you had a seacraft that meant you were serious about fishing.

I learned about them from my fishing buddy, Charlie. He had bought a new 1969 20SF (I think he paid around $5000 for boat motor and trailer). I fished with him from 1970 and continue that today. He still has the same boat, with the same Seminole winch on, roller trailer, and I have a 1970 - both boats restored and running well. And - we currently both run a 150 ETEC. I also fished with my dad in his 1976 20SF he bought new with a gigantic Evinrude 175 on it. All of this out of Miami and the Florida Keys. Look for an all white 20SF out of Key Largo's Ocean Reef Club the last half of August. Charlie will be down there fishing. He will have his blue Bimini top and his bow dodger up, usually trolling off Carysfort or Molasses somewhere.

[uncleboo]

I grew up a bilge rat hanging around my uncle's marina, washing boats, fueling them up and basically anything that needed to be done. I've seen alot of different boats, but, when I first saw a SeaCraft, it was down in Morehead, NC. It was at a dealership and the minute I saw it, (drooling over it for about an hour), I knew it was the boat for me. Flash forward 15 years and my other uncle had one and allowed me to use it when I wanted. Finally aggravated him into selling it to me and ultimately fullfilled my dream. I won't say I'll never own another boat, but, I'll own this one until they dump my ashes off the stern!

[77SceptreOB]

Learned from my dad. In the early seventies my dad learned of SeaCrafts. He really admired them, and in 1977 he bought a 23' Sceptre after comparing and shopping other top brands. We have had that boat in our family since.

[Mikem8560]

Me om just a newby. I've owned a boat for 33 years but after kving I had to sell my boat at my new house so I saw this 20 sf forsale.
I ha e seem a few after ko ng to FL and loved the classic look.
Heck I havnt even ridden in t yet waiting on a motor. But i hear it's great

[Ben_Bay]

Well, I'm a newbie and also Pre-Seacraft,
It all started when my brother and I found an old leaky canoe in a neighborhood dump in the late 70s/early 80s. Oh, to be a kid again with the whole summer ahead of you and the greatest joys on earth revolving around a creek and a leaking canoe!
My next boat was a 12' aluminum rowboat that, incidentally, also leaked. I saw it advertised in the local paper for $100 and couldn't resist... I soon got rid of it. Next I got a small utility boat with a 5 hp. merc. The crazy thing wouldn't plane but plowed through the water like a bathtub. After a near death experience involving a flooded river in January I gladly unloaded the POS on an unsuspecting co-worker. (lesson learned)
After this my attention began to shift from the local creeks and rivers to the wide open expanses of the Chesapeake Bay, and I began my years long search for the "Perfect Bay Boat". I went to boat shows, talked to friends who had boats and spent countless hours reading anything I could about boats. Somehow through all the online chatter of "Mako vs Boston Whaler", "flats vs blue water", "bay chop vs off shore" "modified V vs deep V" "striper vs tuna" a name kept surfacing... SEACRAFT... What was a Seacraft?? Through my searching of Seacraft I stumbled upon this wonderful site and after months of lurking decided that my next boat will be an 18' or an sf20 classic Seacraft! So, I will continue to save my mullah and admire your transformed classics and hopefully, someday, I too can be a happy owner of a wonderful classic Seacraft!

[george90]

well i been on the water my hole life and when i was 18 went out a got a 18ft cc Answer had it for 2 week and cracked the hell out of the transoms, took the motor off 2001 yammi 115 2smoke trade it to a guy with a 1972 20seafari with a 175 johnson 1986. with me being so young i beat the hell out of the boat and it never let me down. now i got a 23 savage im building and i must say i love classic seacraft more than anything. i will never own another boat ever. these boat kick ass and where built right. i have read everything about these boat and im more then hooked.

[bigeasy1]

Ok This is going to be long and probably corny,so you've been warned.

I Bought my first boat when I was 19.No one in my family ever owned a boat or fished,but somehow i ended up loving the looks and adventure that a boat gave me.
After a long period of having mostly Aluminum ones,I got hooked on the Salmon fishing on the Great Lakes,and realized that i needed something bigger and heavier for the seemingly always ugly water conditions on them.

First "big" boat (to me)was a 22'Trophy hardtop and i fished it pretty hard for ten years,but the ride and handling in the rough stuff wasn't fun.
During that Time,a good friend in the fiberglass supply business,who had built a few downeast boats,and owned several other types would always tell me that I should find something like an old Seacraft or Formula,He'd say"You need to get an old Seacraft and restore it."
He would tell me how so many of his customers had converted the old seacraft hulls into cod fishing rod and reel boats for commercial type fishing.He'd say "The seacraft hull would be good in that crappy wave pattern on the Great lakes".He would tell me how well they were built for their day and how good the ride and sea handling caracteristics were.
He is extremely knowledgable on boats and I trusted his opinion without question.

I would see him about once a week at his shop and he would always bring up the Seacraft thing.Ocassionally he'd come accross one for sale but usually they were way out of my price range.

One day I happened to be walking around the backside of the boatyard where i kept my Trophy up in Niagara county,in western NY.
This part of the yard had mostly old junk boats that had been abandoned or left there after the customers stopped paying storage fees.
You know,the ones you see with weeds and trees growing out of the rotted cores on the decks,and wasp nests in all the crevices.
Anyway I see this red boat way in the back that had nice looking lines,so I took a walk over to it to check it out,and lo and behold if it's not a Seacraft Tsunami with a hull ID stating it's a 1974.
That was it,I had to have it.My buddy thought I was crazy.What the heck is so special about this thing,and look at it,it's a mess are you really serious about buying this? he asked.
Hell yeah I said,can't you picture how cool this would be brought back to it's glory days?

So now I go to the owner of the yard (a friend of mine)and ask him if it's for sale.He says to me "That's Snakes boat,he owes me storage but nobody knows where he is"
I found out that this Snake guy was kind of a crazy guy with a bizzare reputation that used to run and own the boat,and that he bought it from a guy who chartered it out who I know that we refer to as old jammer.
You'd have to see this place,it's just full of crazy guys,the kind that look like something out of the Ernest Hemmingway period.Most of them are nice guys, but rough and tough and tend to drink way too nuch.
Well I would go back there about once a month to fish out of the Trophy and each time,I'd ask Jim(the owner)if he found snake yet.
It was always nope,can't find him.(I don't think he was looking all that hard).
I don't think he cared about getting rid of it at all.He's like so many of the places you see in the country with junk all over the property,but they won't sell it.

For three solid years I drove him nuts pushing him to find this snake guy,or take a mechanics lean on it so he could get it and then sell it to me.
One day there was a guy from the campground accross the street who overheard the conversation,and said that he knew this Snake guy and where he was.

Well,he was right,he got me the old registration and got Snake to sign the boat over to Jim.I bought it from jim without even knowing what he wanted.I called him the week before Thanksgiving,told him to get it ready to tow as I was making the six hour ride to come and get it.
When I got there I asked him how much he wanted,and he hemd and hawed and finally said almost as a question how about $1000.00 I said sold.
I immediately went out and bought four new tires for the trailer,loaded the hubs with grease and towed her the 400 miles home.
I spent the next three years restoring it,paying as i went for mostly all new equipment and have never regretted it for a minute.

The fact that I've actually had people make special trips to the marina to say that they heard I fixed up Snake old boat and they couldn't believe it was the same boat.The fact that there is not one day when someone doesn't ask me what kind of boat it is,and is it new?even better when I tell them it's a 1974 they can't belive it.And all the old time local characters who have said,"I fished on that boat".
All those things and the awesome ride and performance it gives me,and along with the tons of knowledge and help that I've received from many of you on his site,make this more than just a boat to me.

When I go up to NY and have Jim say to me "everybody who comes in here always asks who owns that red boat and is it for sale".
All those words above are enough to know how special these old Seacrafts are.They are mor5e than just a piece of fiberglass.

My thanks to Joe Merton who started me off on this adventure,and to my buddy Bob who was a huge help in the resto,and to everyone else along the way who helped in various ways.