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.