Hawaiian SeaCraft

[glow]

Hi everyone. I am a new member from Hawaii. I have enjoyed finding out the heritage of SeaCraft boats here as well as the legacy of Carl Mosely and Bill Potter. Attached is a photo of my father's last "Hawaiian" SeaCraft. The hull is a stretched out 23' with the back flattened out to make it more stable for trolling and bottom fishing. The boat is powered by a 200 hP Volvo diesel with direct drive. Diesel is the choice of power here in Hawaii. I am interested in finding out if diesel power is a popular choice for SeaCraft owners in the 48 states. It doesn't seem very popular from what I can find on the net. The boat was sold over a yr. ago and we are in the process of rebuilding another one just like it. This time we'll probably be going with a Cummins 210 hP diesel and V-Drive. Thanks for the Awesome website! I'll be more than happy to share more photos with anyone interested. Aloha, Greg

[doug7488]

Nice looking Boat - gotta love those reverse chines!

[kerneltugboat]

Hi Greg,

The boat looks great, I was happy to see the flattened hull in the rear, my boat is flat as well (27' Seacraft), about 24" straight across the back and goes forward about 7' at an angle, then back to normal. It is like a big triangle. I was curious if the flattened rear end had any negative affects. In inboard form the boat was very stable, now I converted to diesel I/O and I figure it will be faster, than if I had a deep V in the back. Diesels are getting more and more popular here from what I can see.

Thanks,

Dan

[glow]

Dan,

The only negative affect is that with the direct drive the motor sits too far forward. This causes the boat to surf in big following seas. The deep v and aggresive entry of the SeaCraft cuts into the water and the back end being flat glides. As you know something with out traction (friction) wants to out run something with traction ie. the back end of a car coming around the front on a wet surface. The same hull with a Volvo DP stern drive or jack shaft does not have that problem as the weight causes the back to squat down in addition to the duo prop system having excellent "grab" in the water due to the push pull props. I would like very much to see up close pics of your hulls entry from the side, front and the transom profile from the back. Every 27' I find on the internet is either bottom painted black or is too dark to discern its shape. It looks like the bow entry of the 27' is not as aggressive as the 23', 25' and 32'. Thanks for the compliments and interest in my dad's former boat. I have also added 2 pics of a small striper we caught on November 05' on the last trip before the boat was sold. Aloha, Greg

[glow]

Thanks for the kind words Doug. The SeaCraft hull is a thing of fluid beauty. Over ten yrs. ago while my brother and I were fishing on his 26' yellowfin a tourist from the east coast saw us pulling the trailer up the boat ramp on our return. He came up to us and said, I know that hull is a SeaCraft. I've never saw one with all that stuff you have on yours.
The Royal blue trim is fashioned after a Japanese style Sampan. It's part of a sponson. I have never seen or heard of a sponson on a mainland boat. I feel kinda foolish asking but do boats in the states have sponsons also? I'd be very interested to find out and broaden my knowledge. Thanks, Greg

[kerneltugboat]

Greg,

Here are a few pics to show the hull, It may not be as sharp a V as my dad's 23, but it is close.

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...t/DSC00055.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...t/DSC00040.jpg


http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...t/DSC00051.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...t/DSC00049.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...DSC00002-1.jpg

[glow]

Doug,

Beautiful hull. I see the flat spot you mentioned very clearly. I saw your other post and the work looks great. If you look at the rear view of my dad's boat you will see what I meant by the back being flattened. The v is not as deep as a true SeaCraft. In the late 70's-early 80's when the Yellowfin 24' was designed they molded the SeaCraft hull and built the rest as you see on my dad's boat. SeaCraft somehow got word of it and a lawsuit was mentioned. The boat was originally referred to as a 24' SaltWater as the first local company was called SaltWater Specialties. In order to avert the law suit they had to change the hull design (as the story goes) by 15%. They hired someone from the mainland to make a new mold with the v flattened in the back for added stability. As a result the hull became much faster.

On my dad's 26' you can see that the variable deadrise doesn't come all the way back. It fades out about midway down the hull. I believe that is what lent to the back sliding around in big following seas on the 26' straight shaft boats. As time went on the local fishermen wanted a larger boat and the 26' SaltWater/Yellowfin was born. Same modified 23' SeaCraft but stretched to 26'. The newer hull my father and I are rebuilding was modified again in the early 90's. They remolded the original 26' hull and made the chines come all the way to the transom to hold the water better. I'll get some photos of that hull up as time allows. That project is under way now and the entire interior has been demo'd and the flybridge separated from the cabin. This hull has the sponson molded onto the hull. Earlier boats had a wooden sponson bent and glassed onto the hull like my dad's first 26'. Let me know if some mainland boats have a sponson as I am curious about that. Thanks, Greg

[ScottM]

I have also added 2 pics of a small striper we caught on November 05' on the last trip before the boat was sold.

That's certainly not the same type of "striper" we see here!! Nice fish. Regarding the "sponson", does it act as a spray rail? I typically think of sponsons as adding flotation. I'm guessing yours keeps the bow from burying in a wave, right?

[glow]

Hey Scott, nice to meet you. Yeah, in Hawaii a "striper" is a bit different than in the 48 states. We fish primarily for pelagics, Yellowfin tuna (Ahi), Marlin; Striped (Nairagi/ Nah-ee-rah-gee) and Blue (Kajiki/ Kah-jee-key), Wahoo (Ono/ O-know), Dolphin/Dorado (Mahimahi/ Mah-hee-mah-hee) and Bonito (Aku/ Ah-coo). During the winter season we deep sea bottom fish for Red, pink, striped snappers, and sea bass (groupers) primarily. My family is primarily into Big Game Trolling. I used to commercial fish (troll) with my brother primarily for tuna then any other pelagics.

In answer to your question re: the sponson it is like a spray rail. Water rushes up the bows curvature, hits the sponson travels sideways and back at an angle deflecting the water outward and back from the Flybridge. Do you folks do much deep sea trolling for pelagic game fish? If so what are typical game fish for you and approximate weights? I am very interested in the style of fishing you do in the 48 states. Also, why center counsels and BIIG outboards are so popular.

We started using direct drives, jackshafts and sterndriven diesels in the very early 80's. Mostly volvo 165 diesels, the 200's then 235's. Recently most have been going into the 260 diesel (all the motors mentioned are discontinued already). Some fishermen are going into the 4 cyl. Volvos, while many have already switched over to Cummins and Detroits in the 315+hP range. Volvo 200's i.e.AD41 and Kamd42 235's go into 24's and 26's while the larger engines go into the 26' like my fathers boat. We use twin aluminum saddle tanks usually 56 gal. ea. or just over 60 gal. ea. Living on an island in the middle of the Pacific gives us access to deep water relatively near shore.

Sometimes we travel from our island just off coast of a neighbor island (50+ miles one way) to chase the tuna schools. With the Volvo 200 we burn about a tank or a tad more (running the motors really hard). Ahi (yellowfin) is a 100+ lb. fish while anything under a 100 is called Shibi (She-be). Bonito under 20 lbs. are Aku (Ah-coo) and fish 20+ are Otaru (Oh-ta-roo with a rolling "r" sound). Thanks for the line and I hope to learn more about the topics I asked. Take it easy, Greg

[1bayouboy]

It's hard to believe thats started as a 23'??

The details vary in the states depending on where you're located....you could get lots of different replies. I'm in Charleston, SC and here to go for pelagics you have to get to the "ledge" where the water drops off to more than 100ft....go deep pretty quickly off the shelf. The usual suspects are wahoo, tuna (yellowfin and blackfin), dorado, billfish. In the winter it's snapper and grouper. The main dorado bite is april, may and june. To get there is about 50-60 miles one way. Fish aren't huge. Average dorado are probably in the teens with some into the thirties and the really lucky ones getting the 50lbers. The state record Blue Marlin was caught last year...881lbs.
The tuna are sub-100lbers....both YFT and BFT....at least on average.

In NC the huge blackfin tuna come near shor in the winter....those brutes get huge. In the northeast they go way offshore to the "canyons" for the usual suspects.

Off the east coast of Fl (Miami) you can catch billfish and
dolphin within site of land. And then there's the gulf of mexico with lots of artificial reefs and oil rigs.

Maybe someone else can comment on the left coast....