Larger boat discussion

[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by Blue_Runner

What do ya'll think of the 22/23ft cat hulls? Sea Cat, Prokat, World Cat, Glacier Bay? My old sore back likes what I've read about em, even with the handling differences b/t cat vs. mono. I've never ridden on one. Also really like the thought of twin 140 or 150 4 strokes on the back.

I've always heard going into it or with it cats are great, but the 1st time you have one hook in crossing a sea, you'll never ride in one again. I know my dad grew to hate them when on his 3rd trip on one, he lost all his deep sea rods because they had a small cross wave hit them on plane, one side hooked, and THREW them all for a wild ride. Ended the trip because it threw every rod in a rocket launcher out of the boat.

[bgreene]

Go with the 90' Viking. I can guarantee it will ride better than any of the recommended boats so far.

And if the 90 is too cramped, look for a used oil tanker......LOTS of storage space, and when loaded, about the most stable ride you'll find, plus a big open deck for fishing.

[randlemanboater]

Originally Posted by bgreene

Go with the 90' Viking. I can guarantee it will ride better than any of the recommended boats so far.

And if the 90 is too cramped, look for a used oil tanker......LOTS of storage space, and when loaded, about the most stable ride you'll find, plus a big open deck for fishing.

I will go get a lottery ticket...sounds like the best option.

[SkunkBoat]

so I'll throw a few questions out there since I am on top of the fence and dangling one foot into a bigger boat. The idea is to buy a decent hull that has worthless outboards and repower

I was looking for an outboard 24 North Coast late 80s...Capt Pete snagged a good fixer upper before I could get a leg up on the fence.

Also staring at quite a few Carolina Classic/Albemarle 25s but rather have outboards. Don't really want a bracket project...

Then I saw a few Grady 265 Expresses and now I'm thinking bigger is better. But Gradys ain't no bargain.

I have been shying away from walk-arounds with eurotransoms but stumbled across the Pro-Line 27 walk (2000-2002).Looks like a decent fishing machine. These newer ones have no wood. Might be able to get a decent one for $20k, sell the original Merc 225s for what I can get?

So now that opens me up to Cobia/Hydrasports/Aquasport walk-arounds of the same vintage?

Anybody ride in one? They always looked ungainly to me especially the smaller 23s and 25s.

[BillTex]

Originally Posted by SkunkBoat

so I'll throw a few questions out there since I am on top of the fence and dangling one foot into a bigger boat. The idea is to buy a decent hull that has worthless outboards and repower

I was looking for an outboard 24 North Coast late 80s...Capt Pete snagged a good fixer upper before I could get a leg up on the fence.

Also staring at quite a few Carolina Classic/Albemarle 25s but rather have outboards. Don't really want a bracket project...

Then I saw a few Grady 265 Expresses and now I'm thinking bigger is better. But Gradys ain't no bargain.

I have been shying away from walk-arounds with eurotransoms but stumbled across the Pro-Line 27 walk (2000-2002).Looks like a decent fishing machine. These newer ones have no wood. Might be able to get a decent one for $20k, sell the original Merc 225s for what I can get?

So now that opens me up to Cobia/Hydrasports/Aquasport walk-arounds of the same vintage?

Anybody ride in one? They always looked ungainly to me especially the smaller 23s and 25s.

skunk...you sound like me! I am eyeing the 265 Express as our next hull...
Our previous Grady was a great boat that caught MANY tuna.

I fished with a friend in his PL of that vintage...it was brand new then...nice boat.
You don't see a lot of older ones around though. Not sure I would consider a PL one for the long haul...
The NC is nice...and I hear you on the Carolina/Albies...just can't get myself to buy another I/O.
OB's are so sweet nowadays.

Good luck, keep us posted.
Bill

[THEFERMANATOR]

I would not reccomend a proline for somebody on the atlantic side. Prolines were designed and built here in Homosassa Florida to be used in the Gulf Of Mexico. We have mostly short tight chop over here, so the hulls were designed to deal with it VS large rolling swells like the Atlantic side gets. We had a 231 MANY years back, and it did pretty good in the Gulf, but that sucker scared us a few times in the Keys on the Atlantic side. It always wanted to hold on the top of the chop, then nose dive off hard when it came across instead of ride it down. That ride works very well for the Gulf as it keeps you from slamming on a tight chop, but in swells it resulted in alot of the falling feeling on any larger swells. Just my $.02 based off of the one we had.

[SkunkBoat]

Here are some things I'm looking at. The Nrth Coast is just a google pic but the others are for sale locally. All of these boats are canyon range boats if 4 stroke motors.

The Blackwatch guy must be high cuz he's asking $28K for an 89 with 92 motors.
Don't care for the bracket. They did make a notched transom version. Almost identical to the North Coast. Not sure if BlackWatch used a core instead of solid glass hull?
There is a BlackFIN 27 out there that is also very similar but outboard version hard to find.

The Proline is a decent looking boat priced at $20K with 2000 Merc 2 strokes (basically no engines...). Its in the water, might take a spin. It is in the wheelhouse for a brand new repower twin zuki 200s.... Hate the transom. Needs to be rigged for fishing with new elctronics and riggers.

The Grady 265 is absolutely beautiful and ready right now with uptodate electronics, big outriggers. Love the drop transom. has Yami 2003 4stroke 225s that had exhaust problem fixed. 1100 hrs... He wants $65k which is out of my range for 14 year old motors. Probly take this one for a test. I see some of these have gone for under $40k

Do people actually buy old outboards for money? Dunno what I could get for them and what a pita it would be..

[bradford]

Skunk the only ones id go for out of those are the Northcoast followed by the Blackwatch. Had a Blackwatch here for sale a short while back and also a couple of Blackfins, I like the Blackfins, but to me they look like they sit lower in the water, less freeboard between the rubrail and waterline. They were for sale for high teens and low 20s.

[bradford]

According to my 1997 edition of Powerboat Guide the Blackwatch has a balsa cored hull.

[THEFERMANATOR]

The blackwatch's will bring $$$$$. It's a VERY desireable hull built DIRECTLY off of BERTRAM molds from when BERTRAM sold the molds to there 20, 23, 25, 26, 28, and 30's(not sure if BLACKWATCH got a 31 mold or not, thought those stayed with a boat builder in Sarasota). And I know many dislike 2 strokes, but yes, there is STILL a market out there for them if they're not rotted. Theres still ALOT of people out there who like being able to work on there own outboards WITHOUT a laptop, like the simplicity of 2 strokes, and the weight savings is worth it to them to offset the difference in fuel economy running(It is no where near as big of a difference cruising as many like to think it is, the big difference is trolling and slow speed running where DFI's and 4 strokes shine, but DFI's still win in almost ALL scenarios for economy). GOOD 2 stroke outboards in the 200-250HP size can fetch $2-5K down here a piece, and surprisingly the prices just seem to keep climbing for them(most likely for people with older hulls where 4 strokes weight the transom down to the point the boat's ride goes to crap ruining the boat).

I don't know anything about the north coast. I do know the blackwatch is a deep V hull built off of the old BERTRAM molds, and is known to be a soft riding hull, but likes to rock and roll on the drift, and is a bit power hungry with the deep V(not a good starting point if you're concerned with MPG's). PROLINE has had some very hit or miss hulls. Later boats were a real tossup after the plant got bought out, and they started shifting production all over the place. I believe the buyout was around 04 or 05, and shortly there after the name was gone. I was never a fan of there later model euro styled hulls. Grady's fetch big money just because it's a Grady. I would be looking at a PARKER if you could swing the money, or even a HYDRA-SPORTS in that size range if range is a concern. Theres alot of good boats out there, just need a solid game plan in mind of what you want.