27 Seamaster pilot house update

[KTC]

A SC gathering in San Diego would be great fun.

BFT season is here! This is from last Wednesday 5/17 around the 302.


We used gyros to find the birds and trolled 200gram Madmacs and caught this 140lber. This was on my slip neighbors boat. It is fun to meet new people at the marina!

If conditions are good I will take the Seamaster out Friday on it's maiden fishing trip if not then ASAP.

Great fish! That's a fun grade to catch and eat. I picked up some mad macs this year at the PCS show, hoping to see some success with them on the 25' Seafari. Glad to know there are other Seacraft enthusiasts active in SD

[OldButSlow]

The good parts do look like balsa. Do you think it was important to keep the gunnels light? The fiberglass planks I used were stupid heavy and if I were to do it again I would try to find some 3/4" Coosa without having to buy a full sheet. The size of the fiberglass planks fitted in are 63" long x 8" wide x 1/2" thick.

Looked like a great solution for the issue to me….a few pounds for that added strength… nice work

[OldButSlow]

Those new gunnels can handle the strength needed for BFT…update us on the catch.

one of my best fishing buds has the state of Florida all tackle record …Ricky Whitley ….Ohsnap Lures … facebook …826.5 lbs

[Fishingproblem]

Those new gunnels can handle the strength needed for BFT…update us on the catch.

one of my best fishing buds has the state of Florida all tackle record …Ricky Whitley ….Ohsnap Lures … facebook …826.5 lbs

What a monster! I wonder how they got it on board.

Giant BFT have only been showing on our USA west coast for about 6 years in a row now but not that size. Back more than 70 years they were present but not again until recently. We now see some 300 lbers and a few 400+ being caught. Ours was 140 lbs but one of my bucket list goals is to land one heavier then me at 180+.

I have seen some pictures of cantilever slides used on the east coast and that is something I may consider adding to the boat in hopes of actually needing it.

[OldButSlow]

Congratulations …nice fish….I did not know y'all had them…I knew they caught a lot of big Yellowfin's off the Baha

He was on a big sport fish with a transom door ….easy breezy……was on a shake down, pre marlin tournament fishing day with some friends…..live bait near a Gulf of Mexico oil rig , they were targeting blue marlin but snagged her…3 hours later, in the boat….since the boat departed a Florida port and returned to a Florida port …technically a Florida fish, but they were half way to Texas

We also have a BFT fishery 100+- miles off the east coast of FL, but that’s in Bahamian waters …it seems to be improving the last few years…these fish travel the Gulf Stream and end up off the northeast

I was at Walkers, Bahamas back in the late 90’s or early 2000”s when Frank Rodriguez’s Fa La Me caught the Bahamian BFT record during a Bahamas Billfish Championship tourney ..1058lb …incredibly big fish….I mated / worked Bahamas tournaments for 20 years , but we never caught one. They are hard to catch there with the water depths…can’t stop them …and you get spooled…i know of several instances where as the reel was fixing to run out of line, they would snap swivel on to new rod and reel …..lock the drag and toss the 1st rod over board….. works , several fish caught that way….and one was 12+ hours

[Fishingproblem]

Took her out on a maiden fishing trip but no fish to report. Lots of Blue Whales and dolphins sighted.



Fuel economy for the 454 carburetor crusader was averaging 1.1 gal/nm. The range with 2-57 gallon tanks is more limited than I would have liked but maybe a fuel bladder or a third tank is in the cards for the future. Speed at 3k RPM was 15.2 knots and WOT was 23 knots.



The ride exceeded my hopes. On plane at higher speed the ride was soft with an airgluide feeling to it. At drift it was stable too which was a concern provided that I will be fishing kelp paddies and plunker bites on occasion and the deep V boats often have snap roll issues, but none here. The 9'10" beam must help with stability at rest.

[SeacraftErik]

Nice stuff man!! glad to see you got the boat rigged up! We need to plan a buddy boat trip. I'm planning to head out tomorrow for half day. The bluefin seem like theyre just outside the 9mile bank.

[Old'sCool]

Are you able to pressurize that baitwell and get no leaks past the lid?

[Fishingproblem]

Are you able to pressurize that baitwell and get no leaks past the lid?

The bait system is a bait tank and it has a 1100gph pump feeding it with a 3/4" hose from about 14' from the intake scoop. The water falls out of a standpipe at either half height or up to about 10" from the top. Livewells are not used much here on the west coast. We get bait from a barge that usually sells sardines or sometime anchovies and they require a lot of fresh flowing seawater to survive.

[Fishingproblem]

Nice stuff man!! glad to see you got the boat rigged up! We need to plan a buddy boat trip. I'm planning to head out tomorrow for half day. The bluefin seem like they're just outside the 9mile bank.

I did fish on July 3rd with no bites at all to report. The catch numbers dropped off right after the numbers from the schools looked great for a couple of days. We hit the 9 and then down to the 101 and 425. How did you do?

The swells were 3-4' mixed and the hull powered through them without slamming or slowing down which made for a very pleasing test of it's abilities.

I would love to fish your SC and have you on board for a trip as well.

David

[SeacraftErik]

I did fish on July 3rd with no bites at all to report. The catch numbers dropped off right after the numbers from the schools looked great for a couple of days. We hit the 9 and then down to the 101 and 425. How did you do?

The swells were 3-4' mixed and the hull powered through them without slamming or slowing down which made for a very pleasing test of it's abilities.

I would love to fish your SC and have you on board for a trip as well.

David

How's fishing been David? Looking to get out tomorrow and it looks like the fish are a tiny bit closer. I haven't been out in about a month.

[Fishingproblem]

My fishing luck has been way down this season so I decided to upgrade the transducer and do a few other mods while on the hard.

The transducer is a Airmar B285HW which has a massive high speed fairing block. I have my fingers crossed that it does not affect steering or anything else related to handling.



A swimstep platform was custom made by Beachcomber Fiberglass Technology in Stuart, FL. https://beachfiber.com/ The folks there were wonderful to deal with at every step of the process and it arrived well packed. The Awlgrip color is matched to the pilot house color.


The old through hull inlet strainer was 3/4" which barely supplied the necessary flow to the bait tank so it was replaced with a 1" unit. I will drill two small holes in the back to relieve excess pressure to the pump while underway.


The final project during this haul out is the installation of a bow thruster. I was getting used to the boat in every direction except to port in reverse. I found a great deal on a complete Sleipner 4" thruster that I could not pass on. Safe Harbor is the yard doing this work.



These are sacrifices I have made to the fish gods that I pray will be merciful with me for the rest of the season.

[Fishingproblem]

The yard finished their part for the bow thruster install. They did a nice job on the flaring and forward bilge paint. I will have to finish the electrical wiring and joystick install later.


At 2pm on Friday the yard supervisor told me that I was not on the schedule for the hoist but he worked his magic and got it splashed in time for me to clean it up in preparation of fishing the next day.


And the fish gods blessed us with a nice bull Dorado that jumped and danced toward the boat.