Ride comparison....23' Formula to 23' Sceptre

[bgreene]

Moose - some conversation on this site about Sceptre model tendency to list - port / starboard.
What's the story - all I've heard from enthusiastic owners to date is how great these boats ride, so much better than Wellcraft V20 , and other similar rigs........

[Bigshrimpin]

Originally Posted by bgreene

Moose - some conversation on this site about Sceptre model tendency to list - port / starboard.
What's the story - all I've heard from enthusiastic owners to date is how great these boats ride, so much better than Wellcraft V20 , and other similar rigs........

BG - Search the site for "hook" and you'll find the story about a retired 23 seacraft mold ( that had developed a "hook" when potter sold the company). The story goes that the mold was put back into service when Tracker took over. There were a few 23 seacraft hulls that supposedly came with a factory hook.


Hmmmm . . . looks like you already know the story. Bennett are you trolling again?

http://www.classicseacraft.com/commu...ad.php?t=28314

[bgreene]

Not trolling Shrimp - the poster reports an issue with boat performance that would be important to current / future Sceptre owners.

I don't know that the hook would cause the boat to list........I've thought a hooked hull is just slower, with associated drag and also reduced fuel economy.

I'm aware of the general correction - to fill the curve to flatten out the hull.
Aside from top side weight distribution, I can't think of other reason for the list, and curious if it's part of the common hull performance or unique .

[kmoose]

Originally Posted by bgreene

Moose - some conversation on this site about Sceptre model tendency to list - port / starboard.
What's the story - all I've heard from enthusiastic owners to date is how great these boats ride, so much better than Wellcraft V20 , and other similar rigs........

The story is there is something wrong... Tanks not baffled, improper tab placement, engine height, prop, captain.... This list goes on. I have many years on various Tsunami/Scepters rigged in every form and the listing described by a couple of folks is an anomaly with a cause, not a characteristic of the hull design or base layout.

[Bigshrimpin]

This handling issue sounds like too much weight forward (extra large fuel tank), compounded by a heavy top, and potentially incorrect trim tab placement. This issue is not from the "infamous hook"

[whistler]

Originally Posted by bgreene

how great these boats ride, so much better than Wellcraft V20 , and other similar rigs........

I don't have experience with the 23 formula hull, but I owned 2 Wellcraft V20's before the 23 Sceptre. The 2 boats are not comparable in terms of ride. I am sure the 3 extra feet has much to do with it, but the Seacraft can take bigger seas at much higher speed while still being comfortable. It just lands so soft! In the V20, I had to slow down to barely on plane in anything over 2' to keep it from pounding, while the same chop in the Seacraft is comfortable at 25MPH +. This is for similarly setup boats, both cuddy with outboard on factory transom and no tabs.

[cdavisdb]

Moose's Fleetcraft is one of the hulls I was looking for when I bought my old Seabird. Did not realize it was a formula clone.

My 25 Seafari will also land very hard quartering into a chop, but it only takes a few trips to learn how drive the boat so that it doesn't land hard in those conditions.

[kmoose]

Originally Posted by cdavisdb

Moose's Fleetcraft is one of the hulls I was looking for when I bought my old Seabird. Did not realize it was a formula clone.

My 25 Seafari will also land very hard quartering into a chop, but it only takes a few trips to learn how drive the boat so that it doesn't land hard in those conditions.

It was a good boat and was fully restored when I bought it with a new 2004 DF 250 for $10k on a trailer. It was an offer I couldn't refuse and certainly played well for me as a capable dive and family boat.

When I first took it home it had a full transom with a 30 inch bracket. It was fast but in my younger days of wave jumping I broke the bracket and ended up notching the transom and mounting the motor on a 10" jackplate. The handling of the boat greatly improved with the motor closer to the transom. It was a rare boat and I wish I would have kept it for a different project. Have never seen one since.

[Capt Terry]

Originally Posted by whistler

I don't have experience with the 23 formula hull, but I owned 2 Wellcraft V20's before the 23 Sceptre. The 2 boats are not comparable in terms of ride. I am sure the 3 extra feet has much to do with it, but the Seacraft can take bigger seas at much higher speed while still being comfortable. It just lands so soft! In the V20, I had to slow down to barely on plane in anything over 2' to keep it from pounding, while the same chop in the Seacraft is comfortable at 25MPH +. This is for similarly setup boats, both cuddy with outboard on factory transom and no tabs.

If you do a search you may find a Bushwacker story of returning from the Bahamas with Reiland in his 21' Unoho and one of my best friends in his Wellcraft V20, which I had been in many times. They ran into big seas. Both the 20' and 21' SeaCrafts did fine. But the V20 was built and rode so badly it had cracks in it nearly 6' long. I helped my friend pull/reinsert the inner liner so he could repair it. I was appalled by the contruction under the deck. As I recall the stringers appeared to be 5/8" with one layer of roving up and over them. The glass was cracked where the stringer met the hull. He added much glass to it, filled in between the stringers with foam which then was glassed over. It was a much "quieter" boat going through the rough stuff thereafter. ironically to this thread, he replaced it with a 23' Formula which I also traveled in comfortably a few times, but never in any rough stuff.

[Bigshrimpin]

I used to fish Wildcat area (50 mile run east of Boston) in my v20. Conditions that literally beat me up in the v20 don't slow me down in the 23. One of the best qualities of the seacraft is that is tracks straight in a following sea at speed. Following seas in the v20 are dangerous. Once you cleared the top of the wave in a following sea, your knuckles turned white. The bow digs in and send the boat shooting off to the side. It's not predictable.