potter years ?

CBradC · #1 05-23-2009, 11:58 AM

From all I have read up till now I am sure that a Potter hull is the most dersirable of the seacrafts. Was Tracker the only other manufacturer of seacrafts or did someone else get in on these hulls ? I am looking at a 1985 23 cc, any thoughts on that year hull. Thanks alot for your opinions. Bradc

FINNERTY · #2 05-23-2009, 01:04 PM

My 1985 23 ft Superfisherman which is listed for sale on this site was built before Tracker started building Sea Crafts. It's a great hull that I've owned since it was new. Never a problem.

Snookerd · #3 05-23-2009, 01:40 PM

We have kicked that question around a few times. If you do a search you will find the time line and you will see all the info.. I believe the transition to Potter started in 1969 and it went until 1980. CSY built the 23's in the 80's and the others were Seacraft Industries until mid 1987 when Tracker took over. Comparing the 80's pretrackers, it is clear that those boats are rock solid slightly heavier with glass and core materials than any other era.

Bushwacker · #4 05-23-2009, 05:29 PM

The first SeaCrafts were built in the 60's by Carl Moesly, in relatively low volume production with very strict aircraft-type quality control. He used to check layup and glass/resin ratio at random on production boats by cutting plugs from them with a hole saw! I'd say the later 66-69 Moesly boats had the best quality, because of the lower production rates, and they also had thru-transom scuppers instead of the leak-prone straight-thru-the-bottom scuppers on the Potter 20's.

It appears that Potter maintained the Moesly build quality for the most part, but his boats were built in a different plant with much higher volume, and they evidently had a few rare lapses in quality control . . you'll find one or two examples of separated stringers in the repairs section on this site. At some point after the Potter era they apparently shifted from balsa core to plywood in the decks and soles, saving some $ but adding quite a bit of weight, so I would think those models are a little less desirable for that reason.

Snookerd · #5 05-24-2009, 09:20 PM

Denny-I agree, the 80's pretrackers were overbuilt. I owned an 1989 18SF and had no problems with it! My 18SF had way less glass than my dad's 1987. His is overbuilt. The tracker actually performed better than the pre-tracker because of weight!