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A center console, narrow beam (8'6") open fisherman
deep vee hull. We surveyed a 1992 model (in mid '97) fitted with
a full tower, dual controls and twin Evinrude 200's mounted on an
aluminum transom bracket bolted to the hull. It had an extensive
electronics package, including autopilot, Furuno CVS, Trimble NavTrac
and many others. The boat had spent its entire life in the Cayman
Islands and was kept on davits. The 203 gallon fuel tank gives it
fairly good range.
Without a tower, there is nothing impressive looking
about this one. The hull style is rather plane-Jane and looks like
a mold that's been kicking around south Florida for quite a while.
One feature is that it has recessed trim tab pockets. Cockpit has
built in rod racks each side, two fish wells, bait well aft, anchor
locker in vee up forward and storage under open bow seating forward.
I wasn't particularly impressed with the center
console layout which has Morse shift and throttle controls mounted
down low at just above knee level, on an angled forward face. It
was okay for the shifters, but having to lift the throttles up to
accelerate was awkward and difficult, a major design flaw. Steering
and engine instrument placement was generally good.
With a 14' tower (above W/L) I expected this boat
to be a bit tender and roll excessively, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The real strong suit of this boat is, in a word, performance. Flying
along at around 40 MPH in a narrow section of the Intra coastal,
crowded with other boats and lots of big wakes, the motion in the
tower was surprisingly smooth. No heavy bucking, pitching or rolling.
She is a heavy boat with a very nice ride, as well it should be
with such a narrow beam and deep vee. When hull slams, there are
not a lot of loose parts rattling and making noise, common to so
many other boats. It actually felt better running from the tower
than the lower station, which is unusual. For an outboard, she would
pivot on a loose axis and backed down reasonably well. During docking,
I could crab her sideways toward the dock very nicely.
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The helm layout
can only be described as poor, with engine controls poorly
placed down low, electronics cabinets that leak badly, and
a plastic instrument panel that deteriorated after only
4 years. |
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More cheap plastic
parts. There are 7 of these on this boat with the plastic
badly mildewed (permanent) and they all look like this. Also
note the bad gelcoat blending (molding defect repairs) which
ages to a discolored state like this. |
Originally she had a middling price and overall
quality is about the same. The decks are plywood cored; the console
is screwed to the deck and it looks like water got into the core
on one side as evidenced by a soft spot. There was virtually no
access to the internal hull, not on the sides or the bottom, all
of which seems to be filled with foam for positive floatation. Tower
was bolted screwed to deck but there weren't any significant stress
cracks anywhere. Hull had no blisters. Here are a few of our gripes:
- Red rubber rub rail with insert is sun damaged, checked, badly
discolored and very ugly.
- I have nightmares about foamed in aluminum fuel tanks and
this boat has one. It has one of those lovely plastic access
ports above the fuel gauge and valves that doesn't seal and
leaks water onto the tank top. The problem with foamed tanks
is that water collects on the bottom side of the tank (no, the
foam doesn't prevent water from contacting it because aluminum
tanks expand and contract) and there is no way to determine
the condition short of tearing it out.
- Same goes for red molded plastic instrument panel which was
very badly faded.
- Console front seat has open gap at top which allows water
inside of console; battery boxes were full of water and batteries
dead.
- Morse control heads leaked water onto wiring under console.
- Batteries are mounted in those hideous, el cheapo plastic
battery boxes with the belt-buckle straps. The "d"
brackets holding the straps cut through them and batteries were
sliding around, working all the terminal connections loose.
- Transom is marginally reinforced for tremendous leverage created
by the motor bracket. The transom laminate immediately below
the bracket was delaminated.
- Holes cut for engine controls cut through plywood cored transom
were not beveled or sealed with stress cracks developing and
possible water into core.
- Cheap plastic access ports (7 of them) - plastic chalky and
very badly mildewed, very unsightly.
- Only one bilge pump with no space to add another.
- Plumbing for bait wells and drains uses all plastic parts
and plumbing is rather sloppy.
- Navigation lights didn't meet U.S.C.G. requirements.
- Stress cracking occurred along chines in after half, and on
boat in forward section but not sufficient to indicate potential
structural failure, but does indicate some weakness.
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Pay $80k for a
boat and you hope to get something a little better than
this mess. Shoddy wiring and batteries in el cheapo plastic
boxes held with belt buckles. |
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The aft bilge is a
rat's nest hoses, wires and cables and very difficult to reach. |
This boat had been sitting out in the Caribbean
sun for 4 years uncovered and looks ten years old. With a sale price
of around $25k, the seller lost about 60% of his investment in just
four years. This was partly due to over investment in extra equipment,
but also poor maintenance. But a few design flaws and a lot of plastic
didn't help.
| These are
"reviews", not surveys, and bear no resemblance to our survey
reports. We do not publish
the results of the surveys that we perform. Please note that the purpose
of these reviews is educational, to help you discern the differences in
quality among boats generally. They are not offered as a means to help
you evaluate any particular boat builder. We have no other reviews than
those posted. |
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