Deck Height

[JohnC]

I have read here that some models - I think late 70's - have a higher deck than earlier models. Can anyone tell me if this is accurate and what year it changed?
Also, the box stringers are really uneven on the top where they are notched for the fuel filler tube, about 5-6 feet forward of the transom. Is that something to be concerned about? Are they usually flat across the top?
Thanks for any help with this.

[Bushwacker]

A good friend of mine bought a brand new Seafari in 1976. I think it's deck was about 2" higher than mine, based on the depth of the wells above the scupper tubes. They're about an inch deep on my '72 model, but it seems like they were about 3" deep on his boat. Potter also changed the top cap and inner liner on the '76 Seafari to install a bigger gas tank, smaller cabin step down and the windshield was moved forward about 12", so it makes sense that he would have also raised the deck at the same time. I don't know exactly when he would have raised the deck on the CC models. I think the heavier V-6 outboards came out around '75 or '76, and that would have provided rationale for raising the decks on all models.

I know the '72 and earlier Seafaris were the original 4 stringer Moesly configuration. I think Potter changed to the 2 stringer design about '73 or 74 because I have seen a '73 Seafari that some dufus was butchering to convert to a CC model, and it was a 2 stringer design. Don't know for sure when he changed the hulls on the CC models, which have a different gas filler location. Seems like he would have wanted a common stringer configuration on all models, but if he also had to change inner liner at the same time, that would require many mold and tooling changes all at once, so it's conceivable that stringer and deck height changes may have been phased in over some period of time. The logistics involved with many tooling changes might have prevented all models from being changed at the same time!

[JohnC]

Thanks Denny, that is what I was looking for. I just bought a 77 MA and I don't know if it is necessary to raise the deck or not. After looking at the stringers I think I will lift it an inch or so just to even things out. The stringers seem anything but flat across the top - is this normal? I laid a shovel across the top and there is around an inch of slant/gap as you can see in the picture.

[JohnC]

Eventually I will get it right!

[JohnC]

Had trouble getting the pic to post

[WaveWalker]

I would use a board or something with a straight edge to check that, even better a level, shovel's not straight.