Best riding SeaCraft model ?

[Bushwacker]

Originally Posted by red20

All depends on the conditions but I guess longer, more beam and weight will always win unless you are looking to go fast and shallow.

More length and weight always help, but LESS beam (= less lift) and more deadrise (= less lift) will always create a softer ride, although a deep narrow hull will tend to be a bit tipsy at rest as Connor mentions. (Connor has accumulated a lot of "seat time" from years of dive trips in rough seas on many different boats, so his comments about a boats ride and handling are well founded and worth listening to!)

The first picture below is that "knife edge" view of Island Trader's 21 that Don sees in Skip & Carla's boat! Easy to see why that hull rides so well in a chop or steep head seas!

The next picture is a neat comparison of the Moesly 21 and Seafari 25 hulls that that CSC member Big Fluke put together. Notice how similar the deadrise is up forward, between stations 14 and 18! He hasn't posted much but he's a naval architect that owns both a Moesly 21 and 3 Seafari 25's, one of which has been converted to a CC. His company has done many studies and tests of small boat performance in rough seas for the US Navy, and he said the Seafari 25 is the most sea-kindly hull they have ever tested!

The last pic is a bow shot of a 23 Sceptre. Not quite the same angle as that 21 shot, but I see a lot of flat surfaces that aren't there on either the 21 or 25. It's undoubtedly a drier riding boat than the 21, but those flat surfaces will create more lift that definitely won't help the ride. That may explain why my friend that ran his 21 to the Bahamas for 27 years said that the many 23's that crossed with him always had trouble keeping up with him whenever the seas got over 3-4'!