American International / North American 22 and 26

[MarkG]

A friend of mine is buying a 22 foot North America or American International (same company??) and I am trying to convince him out of it to buy a 23 Seacraft (and hopefully bring two back to the westcoast to reduce the trucking from florida).

The 22 is located here on the westcoast - so he is keen to buy it. He claims that American or North America built two models a 22 and a 26 and they were affiliated with Trojan.

I have seen a picture and it looks OK but does anyone have any other information on these boats?

Were they built well? Do they ride OK? I want to convince him of Seacraft's qualities but at the same time want to pass on some feedback from people who know the boats - I have never seen one and cannot comment other than the lines look OK and the hull looks like it would handle the heavy stuff reasonably well.

Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks.

Rgds

[Briguy]

I recently re-read an article from Boating magazine in 1981 called the "Center Console Shootout" The comments on the Trojan were pretty poor. It is a pretty good looking boat but was built cheeply and the editor thought the hull felt "loose" That's not what I want 40 miles from shore.

[MarkG]

figured out who the builder is - it is North American Fiberglass - no that it helps me very much as I know absolutely nothing about them!

Any one heard of North American??

Rgds

[Marc Googer]

There is a 22 around the corner that the guy has had for more than 15 years. The boat has lines near a Mako. I have never been in the boat but have noticed that it sits stern low at the dock.

Marc

[oneshot]

asa to the gentleman asking about Norht american hulls, they were made by a division of trojan. They later were built by Larson manufactors. The boats are very low in the ass and tend to be wet also. They are nothing near the quality of a mako, so we all know that a seacraft can't even be compared here. The boats are very common in the keys. They were built well in thge first two years of production, then were sold to larson who really chinced on the materials. They were made in I/o and outboard only. The I/os are offten converted to bracket boats and then they are not to bad. Hope that helps.

[Tom]

they have a very, very flat back end, they powered a lot with small I/O's (penta outdrive) and the flat deadrise did OK on flat water and the bays. Good when drifting, but this is a totally different animal when compared to a 23 SC. The hulls were very similar to the early 70's and 80's robalos. (variable deadrise, flat end). Hull/deck joint screwed together, the "windshield" model had very little support in the way of bulkheads and the deck tended to "float" when going through waves.

[BJGreen]

Mark... I'm going to give you the breakdown on the 22' in case you are still looking/ debating The actual hull is very similar to the seacraft in design as it is a stepped hull with a bit of flair in the bow- very soft riding and fast too. The hull is extremely beefy and great in a sea. I own a 1974 S-22 built by the original North American Corporation located in florida. I tore the boat apart to a bare hull and rebuilt the whole beast. The hull is layed up really heavily with 24 oz woven roving and 1.5oz chopped strand mat(sandwiched throughout), and is about 1/2 inch thick at any given point except the transom which is about 1 and 1/2 inches thick(also layed up heavy with roving). As the last post noted, the existing cabin did infact have some flex to it, but i was making it a center console, so i sawzalled it out after laying out for a coaming in the bow as i wanted to open it right up for fishing. I ripped up the decks which were soft and took out around 400 pounds of wet flotation foam (from the stern) and replaced two of the four existing stringers which were rotted. Next, I fiberglassed the old outdrive hole closed and backed the transom with four pieces of 3/4 plywood; each lamination with resin and all encased in new roving and mat. I affixed a Gil Bracket and added a 140 horse evinrude outboard and a 110 gallon tank, next i built a pilot house (dog house) and put in new decks, raising the original deck height 4" for self-bailing. The boat is incredible-i have fished on a few seacrafts: 20'and 23'(very frequently on the 23' owned by my brother in law) and this boat is pretty close in sea performance, (it doesnt sit very low in the ass end with all that wet foam removed) and I'm planning on fishing it commercially for tuna. This boat is great and it would be hard to talk me into trading for a seacraft as the north american is a much thicker hull and doesnt rattle and twist slightly like the seacrafts do when in a big sea- it lacks the weight too- it does 22 cruise, 30 knots top with the 140 horse outboard (pretty economical compared to a v8 I/O). The later models were made by another company as i understand it (larson?) i'm not sure, but the construction changed after later in the 1970's as did the design slightly, which is the same deal with seacrafts- the good ones were potter builts through the 60's and 70's. Hope i gave you more than a little insight- although I no nothing of the 26' model. Here's a link to some pics to show you the finished product... http://bjgreen9517.friendpages.com/ (click on the photos bar) (P.S. the seacraft is one of the best small boats out there, so no hate replies please, just be advised that other nice boats in the same size range do exist, I own one...) BJGreen

[Briguy]

No need to worry about being "FLAMED" on this board. We appreciate everyone. I'm glad you like your boat.

[BJGreen]

Thanks, you guys have alot of really worthwhile info on the site, i just wanted to inform you that the 22' north american hull is just as worhty a building platform as the SF 23'...
Fish On everyone. BJGreen.

[MarkG]

Thank you very much for the responses on the North American 22

Very helpful and provided me with the info I needed to pass on.

Rgds