Well, It’s finally splashed!

[dcobbett]

The 1976 SeaCraft 20SF that I bought from someone on the Mako site in November of ’05. The boat's hull is in great condition. What you see in the photos has only been washed with water and Simple Green; no compounds/buffing or polishing, etc. Also, the decks are in excellant condition.

However, it did need work. Over the last several months, I’ve re-cored the tank coffin cover, installed a new tank with all new hoses, wires and related fittings, replaced and raised the transom to 25” using Penske Board, alternating layers of 1708 and 1808 with MAS epoxy. Also reworked and patched the gunnels and redid the non skid using Griptex, installed pop-up chocks, bow light , bow, stern and spring cleats, new carpet in the rod holder areas, patched-up and redid the console, including all new wiring, battery and cables, installed a new NFB Teleflex steering system, and new Yamaha gauges and controls. I plugged the fish box drain, an old transducer hole and the through-the- bottom scuppers which I replaced them with pipes through the transom pipes capped with ping pong ball scuppers. Finally, I installed Bennett tabs that were given to me by another forum member (thanks Roger), hung and rigged a new, 2003 crate Yamaha 2S that I bought in AL and painted the transom, gunnels and console with Interux’s 2 part Perfection paint, patched the dings and holes in the bottom and painted it with anti-fouling.

Except for the coffin cover and the cutting and patching of the console, everything was done outdoors under a variety of tarps over an A frame structure and I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone, at least where I live, which is on the coast, about 12 miles north of Boston.

















How does the boat ride and how do I like it? It's on rails, doesn't sink in too much when you give it the gas, gets up on plane pretty quickly and the nose comes down with just a little touch to the
engine trim. 27mph+/- at 4K, 30-31mph @4.5K, 38-39 mph @ 5.3K, and a little
over that @5.5K with a 13x19 aluminum prop (speeds from my Garmin GPS).

The first day, we had a 2'-3' soft swell with a 1'-2' chop on top. Ate it right up. Little too much gas and it wants to get up in the air going into something like that, but it just settles back in; no feeling of crashing back at all. Great down wind in that stuff, both directly and on the quarter. Quartering up wind, it gets wet and seems to want to dig the up wind chine in a little, but I'll get used to that. Maybe that's where tabs might come in handy.

I have Bennett taps on the hull, but the pump has died, it’s not an inexpensive replacement, and I don't think I'll do anything about that until next season. Actually, based on limited time in the boat so far (< 10 hours), it seems to level off so easily and well with just the engine trim, I'm not sure they are needed except for correcting side to side weight and balance conditions.

All in all, it's clearly the best hull I've owned to-date and I can't imagine a better a better engine for that hull, given where I live and the waters I fish in.

[Old'sCool]

Great post!!! If you get this story to "Tabman" I bet he would help with the trim tab pump. He's the guru at Bennett and probably the best customer service around...Bar None!! I know he's on THT.

[strick]

Dan-

Looks great!! Glad to hear that engine works good for you. I have the same engine and have been worried that it may be slightly under powered but your #'s seem good. How do you like that steering system?

Refer to pages 36-39 in the seacraft owners manual for driving and trimming techniques

http://www.classicseacraft.com/broch...975/index.html

strick

[muddywater]

YAY!! It is always great to see one splashed. It keeps me going (and I am just getting started). The boat looks good and the power looks good from the numbers. Btw, how is the Teleflex NFB steering? I gotta get one soon - still debating between NFB 4.2 and a rack system... probably not much difference. I see you got the tilt version. Do you find it helps having the tilt? Congrats again!!

-Muddy

[thehermit]

Dan,
Way to go! The boat looks awesome. Thanks for sharing all of your experiences along the way. Now go out and put some fish on that thing....there still is time left! NICE!!

[bottsicus]

Hey, Congrats! How is fishing up on the North Shore? Still holding up? How did you feel about the Perfection? I will (Hopefully) be painting my boat with Perfection soon. What method did you use for applying? Roll and tip? And is there anything I should be aware of going in?

[dcobbett]

Thanks for the compliments and comments.

I agree about Tabman. They have been more than helpful in the past. The pump cover was cracked and I needed some fittings for the hoses and some other small parts. Bennett sent them along without any hesitation or cost.

I went looking for a 130’cause I thought it was a great combination of weight and power, and several people had said they thought it was a real good choice for the 20SF. My performance numbers are should be considered as preliminary, but they are very close to what Alerie gets with his 20SF, but off from a post I saw by EBEACH. Anyway, mine are with 2 people, 45-50 gallons in the main tank and 6 gallons in a portable located up against the splash well. The boat was probably a little light with respect to gear and I only have one battery, which is located under the back edge of the console seat. I’ll post more accurate numbers plus some fuel consumption figures after I shake a few more bugs out.

I have pictures of the boat in the water before I bought it and they show a LWL at the top of the upper tape boot strip where it meets the transom. I applied anti fouling on the transom up to that level and only up to the chine along the sides of the hull, figuring I’d let a scum line develop, then beach the boat and add paint up to that level. When I floated the boat, I was surprised to see it riding 1”+ above the anti fouling along the transom.

So far, I really like the NFB 4.2 (especially the tilt helm), but, up until a couple of years ago, I’d always had tillers. I went with that system ‘cause I couldn’t fit a rack under the console where I wanted the wheel to be. Right now, the NFB is hard to the left and I need to adjust the zinc with the fin on the bottom of the cav plate.

The boat had a 175 Mariner with a Merc’s version of cable steering. I patched all the holes in the splash well are and when it came time to install the new steering, I just re-drilled the hole where the old cable came through. That was a mistake (the thermos cork stopper in the pic’s). My transom is 25” and the engine is up three holes, with the top ones drilled using a Yamaha jig. I think that puts them 2” blow the top of the transom. The Teleflex would not make the bend up to the steering tube and I had to cut a slot in the fiberglass apron behind the starboard side rear hatch cover. It’s taped over for the time being and I need to fabricate a permanent, watertight solution.



Except for the cost and the smell (solvent washes, etc.) I liked the perfection, although I never did figure out how to tint it. Gel coat coloring seemed to work the best, but I chickened out and ended up using the stuff right out of the can. BTW, once you open than can of paint additive, you own it and need to be prepared to pour it off into another container if you are not mixing a full batch.

I rolled and tipped using short, solvent resistant foam rollers from HD, and solvent resistant foam that I got from Jamestown Distributors. No problems at all, they worked very well. I used Interlux’s primer + 3 thinned, topcoats, block sanding with 320 as required and cleaning with their solvent wash and Isopropyl (sp) alcohol. I had filled holes, chased gel coat cracks, etc. with a 2:1 mixture of Phenolic Microballons and Cabosil. The color was dark brown and the 4 coats barely covered in some places.







I did have some issues with Perfection when I did the non-skid. In places, the first overcoat seemed to create dark spots, and I have no idea what caused them.



From what I’ve heard, I don’t think this was a very good fishing year, although the bait guys say they have had a few good days lately and internet chatter says Boston Harbor has come alive over the last couple of days. Casting to surface feeding tuna (the real reason for this boat) has not really materialized north of Boston, but I hear it’s been very good in CC Bay and east of Chatham.

[Bigshrimpin]

Dan - Your boat looks great!! It's primetime COD fishing season and mako shark season.

Use these maps and fish the tip of tillies and further east
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2000/of00-410/