'71 Seafari 20 Rebuild

[Bushwacker]

Originally Posted by Locke N Load

. . . I am looking forward to having space for bags and gear, changing clothes, going to the bathroom, napping, etc. plus the wind and water break. 360 degree fishability is nice in a CC so we will see how it compares having just the stern. Anchoring will take a little more effort too I guess.

Yes, you made a wise decision! There are many advantages to the Seafari & Sceptre layouts that many CC guys don’t seem to appreciate, including MUCH more DRY storage. That opening windshield (which I’ve never seen on newer boats!) provides great protection when it’s raining and/or cold, but plenty of breeze when it’s hot! And the large cockpit provides much more room for diving, offshore trolling and socializing! There a couple of simple things you can do to address the less convenient bow access with a cuddy cabin:

1. Rig permanently mounted lines to the bow cleats and run them back & tie off to the stern cleats. Rig up 20’ stern lines with a snap hook in one end and an eye spliced in the other end. Snap them to the towing eyes in the transom and then coil ‘em up and hang on stern cleats. That way one person can easily handle both bow & stern lines when you approach a dock. And if you ever have to tow someone, you can make a great towing bridle by just putting the two stern line eyes together and hooking the towee’s anchor line to them! I also suggest installing a midship cleat, the same size as stern & bow cleats, adjacent to the helm where you can just reach over the side windshield to attach spring lines or fenders. You can also run the bow line from the midship cleat to the dock for short time stops like refueling, etc.

2. Install one of the large (~6” long) oval hawse pipes directly above the CENTER of anchor locker. (I carried 600’ of line for anchoring in 60-90’ over deep reefs, & the line will pile up quickly under the hawse pipe if it’s not not centered.) Remove the bow light (replace w/red & green LED lights mounted forward of cabin windows) & mount a roller bracket on the bow and install at least a 6-8” cleat between the hawsepipe and bracket. Attach about 20’ of chain to the anchor and install one of these https://www.overtons.com/windline-an...B&gclsrc=aw.ds restraint hooks to secure anchor in bracket. You’ll need to reinforce the deck to handle loads the anchor line can put on the roller bracket and center cleat. I used a couple layers of 1/4” plywood which were flexible enough to conform to conform to the deck curvature when wedged from below. (Search my posts for a thread I started showing details of how I did this.) Then you’ll be able to quickly deploy your anchor, which I consider a safety consideration if you ever lose power in a busy channel or when running an inlet! I found that it was easy to handle the anchor from the front hatch with the roller bracket, which eliminated the need to walk around to the bow in rough conditions. Or you could install a windlass, but I never found that was necessary on a 20’ boat, although it’s MANDATORY on my 30 ton DeFever with the 65# anchor and 200+ lbs of 3/8” chain!

3. If you install a VHF radio, put the antenna on the PORT side! Then it won’t be in your way when you’re scrambling around the Stbd side to get to the anchor!