[throwback]

A message for the uninformed. Uniflites are top top top quality hulls as good or better than Bertram or Hatteras. V20,s (nice boats I have one) are not in the same league. The hulls were all built to US govt specs. The navy liked them. This little guys big brothers the 28 and 31 were the boats that the navy used as river patrol boats in Nam. Were powered by twin 6v53 jimmies with jet drives. Uniflite hulls are just indestructable. Agreed they don't have the clean lines of Berts or v20's but tough they are. I run a charter boat business in Va and run a 28 sport fish. Been in 10 foot seas(not by choice) with her and she just just rode up and over. The only problem with the boats is that uniflite used a fire retardent --In fact I had a piece from a repair and it would not burn just charred-- resin in the hulls and in warm water they tend to blister. Looks like hell but not a structural problem. The blisters are caused by boron gas leaching out under the gel coat. They stopped using the resin in 1977 so hulls after that date are no problem. The bottom line is the guy who bought the boat for $500 got a bargin. Repower with a volvo duoprop and one hell of a package. Uniflite was sold to Chriscraft who folded it- competion- but as the post notes just about any part is available from sea tech. The boats have a cult following on the west coast and a lot of the guys who built them still work for Padden creek marine in Bellingham wash where many of the boats are restored.

Capt
Len Buchta