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Here's a builder we get a lot of requests about,
which we don't see often, and as luck would have it, we ran across
one recently. Please note that those of you who e-mail requests
for information about buying specific boats, we are unable to answer.
With over 20,000 different model boats out there, rest assured we've
not even familiar with 10% of them.
This 1988 model with a single Mercury 250 hp outboard
is old enough that its had a lot of use, so we generally get to
see how well its held up over time. Its an example of an older style,
walk-around outboard boat of the type that has no motor well and
an open transom. Personally, I'm not much of a fan of the walk-around
style because of the way it cramps the forward end of the cockpit.
In this case, the smallish pedestal helm chairs had only 14"
of space between them, making it very difficult for two people to
be up front. And if you've got any kind of wide beam yourself, you're
not going to be very happy about trying to squeeze between those
chairs all the time.
Yes, its got a positively huge cockpit area, but
the trade-off for the walk around ability comes at a pretty steep
price of convenience in operating the boat. The one place where
this design might be an advantage is to the bottom fisherman who's
not foolish enough to throw anchors over the stern out in the ocean.
More about that in a moment. If you're moving around from one spot
to another a lot, the ability to easily get up forward is a definite
plus, especially for skinny folks who'll have less of a problem
with those chairs. The walk-around style is still being marketed
by various builders, so the pros and cons of this feature is something
you might want to consider carefully. If you're only going to be
throwing an anchor off the bow infrequently, it may not be worth
the constant cramping of the helm area just to avoid having to climb
over the windshield occasionally. Another viable option is to rig
your anchor so that you can control it from the cockpit. so you
don't have to go up there at all, unless the anchor gets stuck.
Going around and kicking the tires, so to speak,
the hull of this boat seems pretty solid. The hull sides don't flutter
when you bang on them with your fist. The rub rails weren't loose
and there were no cracks along the deck joint. There were few stress
cracks on the decks. Looking down in the bilge, we see a lot of
framing down there and things look pretty solid, although the glass
work is rather rough. Even so, we found some stress cracking up
forward on the bottom, located under the berth liner where we couldn't
see it from the inside. There was an area of apparent panel deflection
around 18" in length that appeared to be causing the
stress cracks, although there was no indication of immanent failure,
but the exact reason for their being there wasn't determined. Possibly
a one-time hit on something, plus the boat seems to have had some
pretty heavy trailer use.
Our main concern was the open transom with no motor
well. We measured the cockpit deck at 5-1/2" above the water
line with a 4" deep well and open scuppers. It has a removable
plastic panel across the back which isn't going to do much for security.
Any wave crashing over the stern is going to bend and force that
unsupported panel out of its side mounting channels. And because
its easily removable, chances are that you will remove it in order
to gain the extra space. After all, that's why its there. Apparently
the idea is that if you are dumb enough to remove it, they'll let
you do that. In addition, there were two leaky plastic inspection
ports at the bottom of the well, and the hole in the side of the
liner for the engine controls (bottom right photo) is cut below
the level of the transom cut-down.
Since I've done a bit of night-time snapper fishing
out on the reefs, drifting along in the dark, I know what a big
wave over the transom can mean. You tend to forget what the 3 foot
wake of a passing ship miles away can do to the boat. It comes along
completely unexpected and catches you off-guard. To suddenly have
a couple of feet of water crashing into the cockpit, in the dark,
out on the ocean, late at night, when you know that the deck is
not watertight, is a terrifying experience. If you survive it. Ever
have a boat go out from under you? I have, and I can tell
you that what you start thinking about is floating over a reef with
your feet dangling down. Suddenly the idea of becoming fishbait
bait yourself becomes very real. Take a close look at the
photo below right and you'll see why.
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The
trade-off for the walk-around capability is the cramped
helm area. |
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The completely open
transom only 5-1/2" above the water line. It would be
less dangerous with the partition in place, but if you remove
it you could be headed for trouble. |
Personally, I would recommend against buying
ANY boat designed like this. In my view, its just plain dangerous.
Even if you can make the cockpit 100% water tight, remember that
water is very heavy. It weights 64 lbs per cubic foot. And when
you end up with a thousand pounds or more of water back there, all
that light-weight plastic may not hold together so well. They do
call it an "offshore", but this is not the kind of boat
that I'd want for going out on any large body of water.
Of course, the boat had only one bilge pump in
it. Bilge pumps never fail, right? This degree of disregard for
safety really gets exasperating after a while.
Over all, this is a pretty utilitarian boat, which
is appropriate for a fisherman, with the exception of a lot of teak
trim that wasn't being cared for and tended to make the interior
look rather shabby. There are four integral boxes that can be used
can be used as bait, fish or live wells, taking care of those needs
pretty well. But the small stack of tackle drawers on the inside
face of the port side passenger seat base was ill thought out since
the door clashes with the drawers, and everyone has to be out of
the way to open it.
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Plastic
inspection ports with snap-in covers. The flimsy plastic
frame distorts and is allowing water to leak onto
the aluminum fuel tank. Tests also show that the covers
often leak badly. |
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The cut out for the
engine cables at upper right is below the level of the transom.
When the well fills up with water, it partially drains into
the hull. Many people make the mistake of thinking that the
rubber boot around the cables keep the water out. It doesn't.
And the well drain holes often plug up with debris like leaves
and pieces of paper. |
Oh, those wonderful cheap, flimsy, plastic inspection
ports. Like most boats this size, the deck is full of them, and
the deck flexes, meaning that the inspection ports bend, distort,
and do not seal. They're not even the screw-in kind, but the snap-in
type. Unfortunately, the aluminum fuel tank is under one of
them, and of course water was leaking onto the fuel tank. But since
we couldn't see the tank, we have no idea of what is happening to
it. All we know is that it is getting wet, and what happens to aluminum
tanks if they are foamed in place. We couldn't even tell if it was.
At least there is a large, removable deck plate over the tank so
you don't have to cut the deck up to take the tank out if it has
to be replaced.
The cabin door is easy to get into, but right inside
the door where you want to step when entering is a porta potty!
Attempting to use it would be, well . . . . difficult to say the
least. Color that one useless. Even the ladies would have to use
the leeward rail. Might as well toss it and make better use of the
space.
Overall, this boat seems to have held up fairly
well over the years, but the variety of design and layout flaws
are likely to turn away the more discriminating buyer. I could live
with the cramped helm area, but there's no way I'm going out to
sea in a boat with an open transom like that. A small lake would
be more suitable.
The good news is that later model transom designs
with the integral platforms provide a much higher degree of safety,
which is particularly important to the fisherman. Boat designs have
come a long way since 1988, but so have the prices. If you're not
in that price category, and are seriously considering this boat,
we suggest you find a way to make the transom arrangement and the
decks a bit safer. Otherwise, you might want to look for something
a little better.
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| These are
"reviews", not surveys, and bear no resemblance to our survey
reports. We do not publish
the results of the surveys that we perform. Please note that the purpose
of these reviews is educational, to help you discern the differences in
quality among boats generally. They are not offered as a means to help
you evaluate any particular boat builder. We have no other reviews than
those posted. |
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