Looky what I found...

[McGillicuddy]

Well - Sandy, (et. al.),
Google earth is a cool tool, and I use it a lot (I wish they would have live updates as satellite passes allow). It did play a role in this sordid boat search. I figured If I could see my boat using it why not another model.

Like many of our fellow misfit SeaCraft enthusiasts, I've been scouring the listings in logical places looking for anything 15 inboard or 21 saying Seacraft, Starcraft, Searay, etc roughly once a week. For about 2 years, heh, heh... I found this boat in S.E. MI, in a rural community between Detroit and Toledo, OH. West end of Lake Erie. I think I found the listing in July. I sent at least a half dozen emails and never got replies. I had saved an MS Word copy of the Maybee MI CL ad and a month or so later I found it in my files. A combination of phone number, and aerial photography gave me evidence of what it was and I kept calling the guy until he finally answered in Sept. He didn't have a digital camera but said he lived in a rural area outside of Maybee, about 20 mins S of Detroit Metro Airport. I told him I was in San Diego so I wouldn't be able to just drive over but told him I'd call him back. I found the area on Google Earth and was pretty sure I had the right place. I've done a lot of research using satellite imagery and was pretty sure of what I was seeing. I got a hold of him again and asked if he had a cell phone that had a camera. He said it did but wasn't sure how to send the pics but said he'd get his kid to help send to my phone like a text. When finally he sent it I was at work and could hardly stay focused on the job.

I called him and asked if he'd hold it until I could get out to see it. He said if I was pretty sure I wanted it he would hold it for a bit. The following weekend I called and he said a local fellow had come by to haggle over the boat but he said it was spoken for. What and honorable man! A couple of days later I wired him the agreed price and the follwing day the title came by Express Mail.

A month after I got the key and title and the guy asked me to send him the key and he'd winterize it for me in case I couldn't move it until spring. Wow! What a cool guy. So I did. Offered to pay him storage and for the work, and he said he just wanted me to get the boat in the condition he advertised.

I finally got the boat delivered using uship.com and it arrived this past week. I fired it up and it ran just fine. I was going to splash it this past weekend but the best laid plans went astray and I started fixing things - the trim tabs weren't responding, so I tried to find the reservoir and upon removing the transom plate, I found a proverbial can of worms. Nothing major. Check out the half hitches supporting some of the transom wiring in the last picture. I thought that was pretty cool...

[uncleboo]

What a find and what a story! Hope you share lots of memories you'll be creating with us. Congrats!

[65Bowrider]

Gillie,
A lot of work in locating her and then persistence for the contact, but it paid off in the end ... congrats!

She looks incredible for a 45+ year old lady and so much still original ...
I'll be watching your progress to splash-day and then eager to hear about the result of your ride on the 21 !!! Make sure you have 6' seas that day for an incredible ride!!!

[Tarpun]

Great Find!! Great job of sleuthing. The boat looks in remarkedly good condition. You should contact the CIA. they could use your help to find Bin Laden. Good luck with her.

[thehermit]

wow...what a bad a** boat. Nice find. Look at all those neat storage cut outs. Please post some more pix of this original beauty

awesome rig

[Blue_Heron]

Nice find, Gillie. Looks very original. Congratulations. Is that the first Moesley out there on the left coast?
Dave

[Tiny]

Nice find!

[Bushwacker]

wow... Look at all those neat storage cut outs.

When you consider all that storage space (NO foam below deck in these boats!) AND the 7' bunks, it's clear that this boat is undoubtedly the WORLDS BIGGEST 21 footer!

[McGillicuddy]

Hermit, It really is a Bad A$$ boat. I couldn't believe how big it really was when it rolled down my street. I'm really glad I didn't try to tow it from Detroit to SD. The wind that hull catches would probably have flipped my little truck on some canyon bridge.

Parked in front of the Seafari, it reminds me of your picture of your blue 23 next to the red 20. Serious contrast.

I posted this link at the bottom of the first post but it was easily missed so here you go:
http://s1011.photobucket.com/albums/...Seacraft%2021/

I'm not sure if its the only one on the left coast. It's my understanding that Fluke took the St Augustine boat to Hawaii.

Aside from its storied sea-keeping abilities, the 21 is a very clever design with an amazing amount of storage that doesn't clutter up space. I found 4 props in the cubbyholes, 2 classic electric down riggers, a vintage JRC fishfinder with a carton of paper rolls for it, a Hummingbird LCR, a ship to shore radio a regular marine radio, 4 life vests, a life ring, a 4 hp Evinrude trolling motor, a bunch of rope, 4 spring-lines, three anchors, 2 side planing boards, some anodized tubing that might be part of the trolling system or maybe even outriggers which I haven't pulled out yet, and a couple of boxes with a bunch of maintenance items including, plugs, points, filters, carb kits, etc. And I haven't even tallied what is in the in the floor hatches yet. The removable storage under the aft seats were empty...smelled like fish and there was a 12 v aerator in the top seat cubbyhole that plugs in at the outdoor sockets on the transom board/plate. Thought I had AC when I first saw that... Dude wired his downriggers with A/V plugs for simplicity...Won' fly in the salt environment but they work great right now.

It's like freakin' Christmas every time I board her.

Cant' wait to splash her but my I'm hesitant to dip her with my T100 lest my first memory be sinking my truck at the ramp. She's easily 1200-1500 lbs more than the Seafari, and I slip on the ramps with that... Looking for a bigger truck or maybe something more elegant like a 63 Lincoln Continental to tow my new girl around with

[Fr. Frank]

Absolutely amazing!!! Gillie, keep the original engine configuration, but you should know that Mercruiser used that same 250 ci. inline 6 GM motor to push out up to 250 hp. So if you ever need to rebuild, it's a really strong motor, and can be easily done. Most of those 250 ci motors were either 165 or 185 hp after 1967. (The 250/250 motor had twin 600 cfm 4bbl carbs, and a high-lift long-duration camshaft and required high-test gas [img]/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img])