Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

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Crawfish
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Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by Crawfish »

Let's hear who has made the best sea boat 40' and under. Is it a heavy northern wood fan tail? Is it a double ender? Is it a modern wide down east lobster boat? Is it a monk style steel boat? Could it be a cold molded plywood hull ? Who makes the toughest most comfortable heavy sea boat around ? What design has proven to be the safest working platform? Who makes the all around best small boat?
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by SalmonSeeker »

I'll bite. How about the early FRP boats from VEGA Marine or Uniflite?
F/V Comanche
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by Crawfish »

Uniflite made the navy hulls that a lot of guys got surplus right? I think they were made in WA state. Don't they come in a few different sizes up to 50'.

Vega marine was out of Channel Islands or somewhere in Ca if I remember right? Weren't they a part of Willard Boats at one time?
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by Crawfish »

For little boats in a tight chop the 26' Radons the urchin diver's used to fly around in seemed to pound in and out to the grounds well. They would go out in 8x6 all the time with 20 plus knots of northwest. The tape around the cabins would always be cracking on them but man they just went. I think they told me they stayed on step most of the time.
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by SalmonSeeker »

Uniflite made some heavy hulls , but for a brief time, I think around 1978 to about 80?, they changed suppliers for the fire retardant used in their FRP formula and had blister problems. Well documented, so just avoid the affected years and you have a tank. Willard contracted with Vega for production for Willard designs. Those were mostly Pleasure trawler,s canoe-ended, based on NW salmon trollers and 6-8 commercial fishing boats based on the same design. Vega also designed their own commercial fishing boat. These are a square stern design. The 1976 Bluefin renamed Hunter Bay and my 1975 Comanche were two of those.
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by Threec's »

I am extremely Happy with my 76 Palmer.
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by Crawfish »

Threec's wrote:I am extremely Happy with my 76 Palmer.
Do you have any pictures?
What length/draw/beam?
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by Threec's »

I do not know how to add a photo here.
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by Salty »

I love my custom fiberglass. 37 overall.
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by Once and Future »

I am curious about these "Bluefin" boats. Can anybody direct me to a picture?
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by SalmonSeeker »

If your referring to my mention of the Bluefin in my last post, I was referring to the Vega troller F/V Bluefin. There is a similar boat listed right now on http://www.alaskaboat.com/boat.php?bid=ll056 . It is set up for pot cod and longlining.

My boat the F/V Comanche is the same registered Length and Beam but 2' deeper draft. The Comanche was most recently used as a lobster boat and is being refitted for trolling as we speak.
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by Once and Future »

@SalmonSeeker: Oh ok. Yes, an elusive memory for me is back around 1980 a very respected fisherman, who had just bought a brand new Sunnfjord, was heard (by me) to proclaim the only boats to buy were either a "Sunnfjord or a Bluefin". At this point, I cannot nail down what he meant by a "Bluefin", but it seems apparent he was referring to a hull prototype.
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by SalmonSeeker »

@Once and Future: There were only two Bluefin Boat MFG's that I an aware of. One is in AU and makes only aluminum boats, The other that I believe may have been the object of his comments was an East coast Mfg. in RI. The made a series of good sea boats starting in the 80's that were up to about 27ft. These were widely regarded as good sea boats by the sport fishing crowd that went after Tuna offshore. They were all center console boats , some with closed bows: not good for commercial fishing without major mods. I don't know of any that ever made it to commercial fishing.
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Once and Future
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by Once and Future »

Maybe I remembered it wrong after all these years. I'm sure he was talking about boats over 38' because he loved to go on the Fairweather Grounds. Somehow I also have the idea he may have been referring to those C&M "football" boats. (I don't know if their reputation at the time equalled Sunnfjord.) But there would be no way to justify calling them a "bluefin". Although some of the boats in that size had a blue tint to their gel coat. Guess I'll have to get over it, or die with it on my mind, because there's probably no closure on this one!
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by SalmonSeeker »

That's what's great about old memories; they are yours and nobody can dispute them.
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Crawfish
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by Crawfish »

We need photos.
How do we put photos up? I know the C and M's are longer than 40 but they have a stellar reputation for fishing albacore 1200 miles off shore and fishing some bad weather. Thats a long ways out in a 42 or 44 boat. I had the chance to buy one at a reasonable price ..... still kicking myself. I suppose they would be a fantastic coastal waters troller. Did I mention still kicking myself?
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by Once and Future »

I started a thread in the pictures section about how to post photos.
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by SalmonSeeker »

C & M 44' on Craigslist right now pics and all http://juneau.craigslist.org/boa/4899908412.html
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by Crawfish »

No trolling hatch? Well that takes the fun out of it.
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Re: Who makes or made the best sea boat under 40'

Post by SalmonSeeker »

Actually standing on the stern with no bulwarks could be a whole lot more fun (exciting).
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