Virginia Tuna

[mrobertson]

This past sunday, the weather cooperated and we were able to make our first offshore trip on our restored 23 Seacraft. Of all the hours we have logged offshore, this was the first trip we've ever made on our own boat. Althought the seas were calm, the boat handled very well. We now have just about 150 hours on it in about a year since the engine was installed.

[thedog]

what port did you run out of?

I tried to pull a trip off like that last year but the weather would not cooperate.

had to cancel three times and never made it. was going to run out of chicoteaque

[mrobertson]

We leave out of Chincoteague. I vacation there a week every summer and we spend a lot of time there in the spring for flatties.

We found those fish out between the 20 and 30 fathom lines, roughly 30 miles out.

[shine]

nice tuna, I wish we had them within 30 miles.

time for a new camera though

[mrobertson]

My poor attempt at some "artsy" type photography.................

[McGillicuddy]

Nice work, Mike. I thought the pics were artsy
Hope we get some little footballs within 30 miles or so in the next week or so...

Tell me about that t-top.. Like the "Hondo" fold on the fore end... Who made that?
Cheers,
McG

[mrobertson]

Hey Gilli -

That top is an Atlantic Towers. If you go on their web site it is the commercial duty fiberglass top. The top that i have is a few years old, so the current model is a little different. I was lucky to find my top when i was restoring the boat, a guy had bought it for a project like 7-8 years ago and never opened the box.

It's a very sturdy structure. Not sturdy enough to put a crows nest up there. I had to get some support welded in under the top for the radar dome.

Basically - the left and right side lefts are welded. You bolt them to the floor and run some stanchions to the console. Then, there is an all welded aluminum box frame that gets bolted to the top of the legs. Then finally, you set the glass top down on that frame and it gets bolted to it.

I wouldn't say it's quite as durable as a custom top, but what i paid for it i couldn't do any better.

-Mike