Question:
Skip..you ought to cruise on over to Serbia, believe in the Slob, wear a
paper target and sit on a bridge. You're that stupid and you seem to
have great difficulty dealing with factual data.
There is no reason for me to "defend" our boat the way you defend
Bayliners. Our boat is exactly what it is, a small Bay and Coastal
fishing boat. That is how the manufacturer describes it and that is how
we use it. We have no pretentions of it being an offshore cruiser or a
boat on which we'd want to spend days. It is a fishing boat, bought for
fishing.
While it isn't the least expensive boat of its type around, it is still
a relatively inexpensive boat. I make no claims it is "as good as" a
Whaler, a Grady or any of the other top lines. But, inexpensive as it
is, it is built of better materials than your Baitliner, and virtually
everything on it is of higher quality than the corresponding pieces and
parts on your boat. There is no crappy plywood, cheap carpet, zinc deck
hardware or untinned wiring on my boat, and, unlike yours, it floats if
it is swamped. The boat floats and runs in very shallow water. Yours
does not. On the right day, I feel confident taking it offshore fishing
off the east coast of Florida, and possible off Ocean City or Virginia
Beach, too.
You need to not only look at the SeaPro site again, you need to be able
to understand what you see.
As examples,
You state the boat is 18' long. In reality, it is 18'6" long, on the
centerline.
The boat is 93" wide at the outside top of the gunnels, where boats
typically are measured for width. The boat has a full liner, 3" thick on
each side. The boat has a lot of flare, so, naturally, it is narrower at
the floor than it is at the gunnels. Unlike your boat, which is slab
sided.
The 20" gunnel height is perfectly appropriate for a Bay and Coastal
fishing boat. The boat does have a 25" transom. You obviously have never
seen a flats skiff, which typically has less than a foot of gunnel
height. Duh.
We have a 1998 edition of the boat. It has a 38-gallon gas tank.
Apparently SeaPro changed tanks to a smaller one. Or maybe they made a
mistake on their web page. It isn't a big company and probably uses an
outsider to maintain the page. There have been web page errors before,
but who cares? In any event, I can get 200-300 miles a tank at a nice,
comfortable cruising speed, which is really all that matters. On those
good days I might go offshore, that's 50 miles out, 50 miles back and
another 100 miles of trolling, *far more* than I would ever do. No need
to carry jerry cans, either.
The real difference in our boats is this, Skippy. I wanted a small,
shallow draft fishing boat I could use on bays, on the coast within
reason and on lakes. We do not use our small boat for any reason other
than fishing and on rare occasions, the towing of a water skier. We
ended up with a no-compromise boat that serves our purpose.
You, on the other hand, bought an ugly bubble boat that pretends to be a
jack of all trades, but, in reality, is simply a floating compromise.
It's lousy for fishing. You yourself admitted you had to spend megabucks
to make it even slightly more suitable for fishing. There is no factory
plumbed and pumped livewell. If you converted that sandwich tray on the
stern into one, you must use goldfish for bait. You claim to have a
cruiser, but your builder only included a 55 gallon fuel tank, which
lasts only a few hours when you cruise. I'll bet you burn 15-18 gph at
any sort of decent cruise speed. Your range at decent cruise speed is
probably 100-130 miles or less. Your boat has crappy zinc hardware. It
uses untreated plywood. It has cheap upholstery, crappy untinned wiring
and trashy hinges. It has no flotation. I've seen your model boat in the
water. I've been ON your model boat. It is ass-heavy and needs tabs to
get up on plane, and even with tabs, takes forever to break over onto
that plane. The gunnels are so far above the water, you have to tie your
feet to the deck to lean over the water and grab a fish. You can't walk
a fish to the bow. You have to climb up through a hatch cover to fiddle
with the anchor. Your engine sits in the bottom of the bilge, where all
the water that seeps through the hull/deck joint (riveted, and
apparently with no waterproof goop as a seal) runs into it and rusts it
out. Your model boat wallows in a seaway and offers such a slab-sided
view to the wind that it is hard to control in a tight, boat filled
anchorage. ]
Remember, Skippy. I've *been on* your model boat. I know what it is and
what it is like.
But, what the hell. It's your boat and you love it. It would be
refreshing to read you finally admit, however, that what you own is a
small day cruiser with a portipotty in the cabin. It has an
uncomfortable vee berth and a little storage area. You do not own a boat
in which most other buyers of that model would want to take 1000 mile
cruises. Or 500 mile cruises. Or even 200 mile cruises.
Now, is there anything *specific* you'd like to discuss about boats?
Answer:
Six inches? What the hell, if it means that much to you, 18'6".
Sheesh! Still pretty small for a bluewater ol' salt such as yourself.
Still, 6 ½' doesn't seem very wide for serious offshore fishing where
the real men go. Would seem that you'd be tripping over your fishing
companions. You really should take a closer look at that 2052.
38 gallons, really? Quite impressive. It must make all the difference
in the world to have such a massive tank. However, if you boat in the
Cortez, those jerry cans might just come in handy. Does your boat have
a safe place to store these cans if required?
We will never agree on your definition of no-compromise boats. I
believe all boats are a compromise of choices. We both have boats
applicable for our very different boating requirements. You like to
bash others boating choices. I don't think that is right. So we
continue to argue and insult.
I have a boat that serves its intended purposes well. Sure I've made
some modifications and enjoyed doing so. Those mods were really not
that expensive. I consider boat mods to be part of the fun of boating.
That is total bull sh*t, Harry. The tabs do *not* effect time to plane
with my current configuration. I've told you this many times. What
does it take, a grenade?
To my knowledge, the 2252 has the largest vee berth of any 22 footer and
is very comfortable. Would you care to identify a 22 footer with a
larger berth?
