Dive Boat suggestions

[Chuck Tribolet]

A couple more brands to look at are Radon and Farallon..

 

[dab]

My boat is made in Bellingham Washington. This is the only place that they are made. I mentioned to you in an earlier post that there is another seasport out there, so when you look on boat trader, you will not be confused. They are different, open cockpit style.

The Shamrock my friend has is a diesel and an inboard, so the slow speed maneuvering is a pain. His is a walkaround. I have a 5.7L gas I/O with a Volvo Penta duoprop so I don't get any torque or prop walking. Pretty quick too..... Also, the Shamrock sits higher in the back, I like it lower. I can take water over the front and not get wet either. He cannot. I carry 80 gal. of fuel 20 gal. F/W for the sink and it has a stove too. Defrosters and cabin heat. (That makes a nice warm ride home) I also have an engine cover that is great for sitting on when gearing up. Don't get me wrong, the Shamrock is a great boat, I like the SeaSport configuration better.

If you find one for sale (they are grabbed up quick) check out how heavy duty it is compared to a bayliner etc. No comparison. You see a lot of them in Alaska too. I can carry an inflatable in the roof under the arch. It is handy sometimes.

It trailers well too. Heavy but no problems.

Thanks for the additional info. I will take a harder look at the seasport.

 

[dab]

A c0uple more brands to look at is Radon and Farallon..

Thanks. I will check them out.

 

[H2O lover]

I think that you should look at the Paker also Steigercraft http://www.steigercraft.com/ is also a nice boat and has a bit of a narrower beam. I think you would do well with a 23' boat. The Parkers come with a bracket ready for a nice dive ladder.
The Shamrocks are keel drive boats so trailering may be more of an issue. Also backing down in a single engine inboard is very difficult.

It's good that your doing your hpomework but until you own a boat and use it,you will never totally know what you want.

Good luck,
John

 

[lamont]

I would scrap the fill station idea. For the investment, the payout would take forever, and, at least around here, the technical charters are generally one dive.

the fill station idea has a lot to do with the fact that i don't own a garage and want a fill station.

 

[dab]

I think that you should look at the Paker also Steigercraft http://www.steigercraft.com/ is also a nice boat and has a bit of a narrower beam. I think you would do well with a 23' boat. The Parkers come with a bracket ready for a nice dive ladder.
The Shamrocks are keel drive boats so trailering may be more of an issue. Also backing down in a single engine inboard is very difficult.

It's good that your doing your hpomework but until you own a boat and use it,you will never totally know what you want.

Good luck,
John

Thanks for the input. I would appreciate it if you could expound on the issues with trailering a keel drive boat as well as the difficulty in backing down in a single engine inboard. These are new issues to me and your help in understanding them further would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[mike_s]

Thanks for the input. I would appreciate it if you could expound on the issues with trailering a keel drive boat as well as the difficulty in backing down in a single engine inboard. These are new issues to me and your help in understanding them further would be appreciated. Thanks.

On a boat with a true inboard engine (not an outdrive), when you put it in reverse the water somewow does not pull very well across the rudder of the boat. you basically cannot steer a single engine inboard while it's in reverse. The rudder is useless. You have no reverse movement steering.

you can steer a two engine inboard because the engines are offset the centerline of the boat and will pull to one side and you can also put one engine in reverse and the other in forward and turn the boat while going backwards.


Trailering Keel boats are difficult because they have a deeper keel and ride very high on the trailer and they are a real pain in the butt to get the boat on/off the trailer.

hope that helps.

-mike

 

[dab]

On a boat with a true inboard engine (not an outdrive), when you put it in reverse the water somewow does not pull very well across the rudder of the boat. you basically cannot steer a single engine inboard while it's in reverse. The rudder is useless. You have no reverse movement steering.

you can steer a two engine inboard because the engines are offset the centerline of the boat and will pull to one side and you can also put one engine in reverse and the other in forward and turn the boat while going backwards.


Trailering Keel boats are difficult because they have a deeper keel and ride very high on the trailer and they are a real pain in the butt to get the boat on/off the trailer.

hope that helps.

-mike

Thanks. That helps a lot and give me something else to consider. None of them (boats)are perfect, and it seems to be a matter of what comprimises one wants to make and what items are most important on an individuals priority list. My mind is getting a bit boggled! Thanks again.

 

[Tom Winters]

Radon's a pretty kickass boats. I saw two that were awesome in Hawaii - the first was a 22' with a 200 Volvo I/O duoprop. My friend trolled and burned a gallon an hour with that baby. The freeboard was pretty low - he fished alone, way out in the Pacific without a kill switch attached to him.
The other Radon was a big one - must have been around 28' on a trailer and it had a 10' beam. The hull fely like a supertanker - absolutely rock-solid. It was powered by a pair of twin open-faced surface drives - no platform - just huge props looking up at you from the transom. The guys used it for netting and long offshore runs, although handling nets around those props must have been an event every time. God help you if you ever fell into those props though. The most honest working boat hull I ever saw under 30'.

 

[H2O lover]

Radon is awest coast boat i don't think I have ever seen one on the east coast. But I have heard they are good boats.
I think you might want to rethink having a low freebaord. If you have kids or are going to use the boat for other things making sure that your guests or kids don't fall over board. Also should you ( it will happen if you boat enough) get caught in some real foul weather with a beam or following sea and your boat is loaded with alot of heavy dive gear it will be easy to take on water. Trust me water usually comes over faster than you can pump it out.

Mike S did a good job of explaning the difficulties of an inboard boat. Just to add when you try back down a single inboard the stern will swing to port because of the rotation of the prop. The solution is to have a bow truster which will allow you to "steer" the bow of the boat.

Like I said before untill you own a boat you will never really know exactly what you need in a boat. But I suggest you look and seatrail as many boats as possible.

Good luck

John
aka H2O lover