Seafari Semi Resto..continued

[Fr. Frank]

Put a bilge pump under the cabin floor.

Many years ago, I once forgot to put the drainplug in before I launched , and while idling down the intercoastal waterway discovered that I had water coming up through the drain holes in the cabin sole. My Seafari was sinking by the head, not the stern!

I already had too much weight to get on plane with my Chrysler 105, and as I was already quite a way down the waterway, I ran into a nearby dry-storage marina after calling them on the radio, and drove my boat right up onto the forks of the forklift. After the humiliating period of draining my boat in front of God and the world, I went into their marine store and bought an automatic bilge pump, which I put under the cabin floor, for the next time I happened to forget the drain plug. That was 8 years ago. It has never come on except when I test it by lifting the switch.

With the old Chrysler on the back, the Seafari floated slightly down at the head. The old Chrysler 105 only weighed 221 lbs. With the 390lb 150 Merc I later mounted on the back, it floated slightly down at the stern, as it also does now with the 375lb 90 Optimax.

With the current 90 Opti, if I send my 120 lb son up into the cabin to stand in the cabin doorway, I can put a level on the deck and it floats very, very close to level (with me out of the boat)