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Bow on view of the new 2012 center console fishing 50' boat

She is a center console fishing boat that is 50 feet long and goes 60 MPH with twin engines. That is different. Now, part of the speed comes from the racing heritage of her boat builder. Some speed comes from their Nor Step ventilated hull bottom. The final component of this performance center console fish boat is the high tech hand laid fiberglass construction using tri directional and bi directional fiberglass materials.

Nor Tech Hi Performance Boats uses only 960 total horsepower (twin 480 Hp. diesels) to get the sixty mph top speed. That kind of performance in a full fifty foot boat that weights in at seven and a half tons and in a fully found luxury boat is amazing! Yes, the beam is narrow (9’) for good offshore rough water performance at speed, but the speed numbers verses the size and weight numbers speak for themselves.

Is more speed possible? Yes. Add more horsepower. Heck, even add another engine. Nor-Tech Hi Performance Boats has done this hull with triples. They can do it with outboards. They are a custom boat builder. Name it and they can do it, and will do it with a routine that will startle you on how easy it is during the boat build with them. Just ask that they use their Nor Tech vented boat bottom. The proper coring and reinforcement is an important part of the culture of their Hi-Performance boat building.

Is this one too big of a center console fish boat for you? Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats builds center consoles in many other boat lengths. Call them.

Looking back at the Center Console of the 60 MPH Nor Tech 50' boat

This boat was a futuristic new boat design back in the early 1980s

These wild looking designs were sold to the boating public back in the early 1980s. They reflect the imagination and design execution talent of a southern Californian boat designer. Art was an independent boat builder and racer going back to the 1960s. He made race and pleasure boat versions of his race boat designs first in in his boat building plant in Garden Grove and then Anaheim, CA.

Early Carlson High Performance Boat Company were the 18’ inboard, C-100 outboard, Carlson Challenger outboard, 141/2’ Carlson Contender, Cyclone, Charger, and CT-15. The most popular model was the Challenger as a 16’ boat with a 6’ 9” beam and it weighted about 750 lbs. without an engine. A far smaller model was the C-100 at a 12’ 10” length and a 5’ 6” beam and a weight of around 350 lbs.

By 1969, Carlson merged his boat company into a division of the Glastron boats and they called the boating result Glastron/Carlson. By 1980, Glastron/Carlson made a boat that was named by Powerboat magazine its “Boat of the Year”. That was the Scimitar, pictured here. These boats were 23’ inboard outboard boats powered by small block Chevy engines from Mercury Marine Mercruiser using their Alpha outdrive.

This was a boat that was a ½” over 23 feet in length with a just over 91” beam. They say the boats were light weight, about 1,850 lbs., and fast as the top speed was in the 55-60 mph range. Some say that they got as high as 62-63 mph with their boat with the standard 260 Horsepower rated Mercury Marine power package. One wonders what the shallow or semi vee hull would do with a “Hot Rod” version of a Chevy engine. The Glastron Carlson Scimitar was sold from 1980 to 1984. About 300 boats were produced for the US and another 200 or so were sold outside the country.

This is a 1982 Glastron Carlson with standard Hard top

at cruising speed in the 2013 Zeelander 44 luxury sport yacht

A designed and made in Europe boat is now being made in Holland, MI after a multi-month long move of the boat tooling and parts from its prior European boat builder. This 2013 mini yacht is going to be shown by Bob Fritsky at some Marine Max locations. It would be best to contact him for more detailed information.

Set to sell for roughly 1.2 million with twin Volvo-Penta IPS 600 diesels for power, she is a stunner. The IPS 600 model name for the Volvo diesels relates to the speed they provide with the Volvo-Penta IPS system pod drive rather than a typical horsepower rating. Since the drive system is so efficient, a yachtsman uses less HP to save fuel while still getting the performance that she or he want in their boat. Volvo Penta does not hide the horsepower rating for these engines. They publish in their literature that these engines are 435 Horsepower each, or 870 combined in this boat model.

To get excellent performance, Franck Mulder, the naval architect for the Z 44 hull shape for Zeelander, chose a slightly narrow beam and Hi-Tec, light weight construction specification sheet to keep the boat light on the water. The balance of the design was done by Cor D. Rover.

S2 yachts (S2 = stands for Slikkers second company) is now the very capable boat builder for this yacht. S2 is better known as Tiara boats to most boaters and is still a privately held business within the founding Slikkers family. MarineMax is the retail sales dealer and Bob Fritsky is the contact person.

This boat is a four person sleeper in two berths mini-yacht originally conceived in 2005 and in production since the 2009 model year.

Check out boarding/accessibility from the float it is tied to and the garage storage for a dingy when you inspect this 2013 model year boat.

Cockpit of Zeelander 44 mini yacht 44 luxury boat sold at Marine Max

this Classic wood Riva Aquarama runabout boat sold for $975,000

This was the price paid at auction for a very original boat. She was a single cockpit Riva Aquarama first sold on December 23, 1998 as a new boat. This boat number 774 was presented as the last Riva wood Aquarama Special as sold by Cantieri Riva as they made their final step in boat building into fiberglass boats from wood hulls.

It is said to be a low engine hour (less than 20 total engine in operation hours) boat. This classic is a twin engine boat that had a speed “approaching 55 mph or 90 kmh” according to the sales information. She is powered by her original big block 454 Chevy engines made to Riva specs by Crusader engines in the USA.

She still had her original varnish as done by the Riva factory. Her chrome bright work was original. The original owners and sellers of this boat at this $975,000 sale price, the founding family of Sony Electronics, said it came with full documentation paperwork to support the boat’s history. A very special one owner boat. You can see from the Mecum Auction supplied photos that the boat was properly stored, serviced, and maintained over her lifetime.

Roberto Franzoni authored a great boat about Riva; the family, the shipyard, and the boats as well as the yachts. His book called Riva was published in Italy in 1986 and is an out-of-print collector type book. ISBN 88-85058-48-5. Naturally copies are hard to come by now in 2012. They do not come around often, so any pricing is not related to the original price. Just like this number 774 Riva Aquarama. If you want one of these books, get it when one comes up for sale on sites like Amazon.com as a copy of a hard back book.

Mecum Auction supplied these photos of the wood Riva Aquarama boat

This is a 29" model of a real wood Century Arabian classic inboard boat

She is a classic v-drive (some say vee drive) inboard with one bigger center cockpit wood runabout. But the boat in the photos is a model!

This built from scratch 29” long boat is modeled from a privately owned version of a real boat and is shown here for its outstanding workmanship and attention to detail. John Into, a boat modeler for 50 years and a published author on boat modeling, even discussed this boat model with the real boat’s naval architect, a designer named Robert Rioux, who designed all of the Century Boat Company’s boat models at the time this boat was conceived.

One interesting fact to seabuddy is that the full-size runabout’s windshield was from the rear window glass used in a car. I knew the steering wheel was from an auto, but the windshield information is new to me. This boat that was modeled by John was a wood classic utility runabout, it is one of the last wood ones, as Century Boat Co. was using this and other boat design models as the ones that they would craft in fiberglass, too.

One thing to note, the photos here do not show the colors as well as an in person review will. Let me tell you, Into got those color shades right as a match to the real boat he was modeling.

John is a long time vendor / displayer at the Tavares, FL Classic Boat Show on March 23-25, 2012. Look for him and his models very near the entrance to the vendor area of this big show. If you like his work and want to better understand boat modeling for yourself, ask him to autograph a copy of his book for your home boating library.

note the background to understand that this is a scratch built model

Fun in the sun on a 2012 Chaparral 226 bow rider

Here is a family boat that is the answer to the tale of pleasing two performance boating goals. One or more of the family goes after a thrill pleasing boat. The other one or group want comfortable seating, a place to catch some sun, easy cockpit entrance from a float or pier, and a roomy, feature-filled cockpit. This second want is just as much a performance boat goal as top speed or turning ability.

The 2012 Chaparral 226 easily does speeds in the 53-55 MPH range when you put the throttle down on a Mercury Marine Mercruiser 300 horsepower marine engine.  This is a marine chevy engine based Mercury engine coupled to either a Mercury Marine Alpha stern drive or a Mercury Marine Bravo I out drive. Go with an Alpha drive if real smooth shifting is not that important to you and you know you will not be jumping a lot of wakes, trying to fly the boat. It is a faster top speed I/O and a cheaper power package to purchase. A Bravo I will bring more money back upon resale, but this boat really satisfies so that may be a long time away.

Well designed and correctly powered for a runabout boat, she gives an excellent all-day cruising fuel economy in the 2,500 rpm (20-22 MPH) to 3,000 rpm (26-28 MPH) range. Move up to 4,000 rpms (right at say, 40 MPH) and gas mileage suffers. I like the feel of the boat responding to the drive trim by lighting up and adding more speed to the boat without adding more gas.

Chaparral fashions a different bow shape at the deck line to give a roomier than most bow and main cockpit interior. The walk thru makes boarding this boat easy. And seabuddy gives Chaparral supplied photos showing the adjustable sun lounge positions of the padded aft area.

Recessed cleats shown are optional, but worth it. 2012 Chaparral 226

deck house side of the wood boat 1964 Chris craft Constellation

Chris Craft boats made this one in its similar series of 30 foot wood cabin cruisers from 1963-1968 which they named as a Constellation model. Constellation is a storied Chris Craft model name first used in the 1954 model year as the name for the 53’ flagship model of the Chris Craft cruiser fleet. This name has the prestige and respect that fans of the brand love. It seemingly stands for all that a wood cabin cruiser should be in most folk’s minds.

These wood boats were built by a publicly held Chris Craft Corporation. The various members of the Smith family had sold their holdings in the family business on February 7, 1960. The sales price of the company was about one year’s sales volume and roughly 16 times the profit. They were building about 8,000 boats then with their 3,500 employees.  At the time of the sale, the first non-family person became responsible to run the Chris Craft boat building business.

Starting in 1963, “Connies” came in 27’ to 57’ sizes. By 1964, the Chris Craft Connies range expanded to be as long as a 65’ diesel yacht. This and other 30 footers were somewhat re-styled over the years that they were in production and had good sales success. Chris Craft made 160 examples of this 1964 wood boat. The 30’ boats had a beam of 10’ 8” and weighted 8,920 lbs. dry. They carried a fuel capacity of 100 gallons. The keel, chines, frames, stringers, ribs, and planking were made of oak, fir, and Philippine Mahogany. The inner bottom planking was marine grade plywood. All of the side and the bottom outer planking was made out of Philippine Mahogany wood.

These photos were taken by seabuddy at the Wooden Boat Restoration, LLC boat shop. Call George Hazzard at 410.928.5500 or please see http://www.mywbr.com/ or www.woodenboatrestorationllc.com for more information.

reworking chine 1964 Chris Craft Constellation 30' wood boat photo

note the really nice refinish work on this classic fiberglass Bertram 20

looking at the stern of the Bertram 20 classic fiberglass boat photo

Remember the 20 foot version of the classic fiberglass Bertram? It came in several versions, including a boat model called the Moppie, the Bahia Mar, and the Baron, among others. These 20’ boats tended to weight in at around 2,300 LBS. Here seabuddy talks about and shows boat photos of a center console 20’ 6” model.

Bertram started with a wood prototype 30 footer in 1959. That boat was turned upside down to use as a form to make a mold and became the classic fiberglass Bertram 31 in 1960. She was introduced at the New York Boat Show in 1961. That boat model started the Bertram Yacht boat building business.

In 1962 Bertram made their second length in a production boat model. It was the 25 footer. By 1963, this boat builder then made a 38’ sport fishing boat.  It was 1964 when they introduced their 20 foot boat series. By 1965, reports say that they made one of these a day in their Miami boat building plant.

I have seen restored and updated 20’ Bertram boats that are powered by a stern drive V-8 and also by outboards. The one in the photos has been repowered with a V-6 Mercruiser and has an Mercury Marine Alpha out drive.

There was a Dick Bertram. Dick founded and originally owned Bertram Yachts. He passed away at age 84 on 4/28/2000. He successfully raced sail boats and then power boats. In 1956 he won a famous offshore race in a 34’ wood Chris Craft powered by twin 215 Hp. Cadillac Crusader engines. While Doodles II won, it was pretty much destroyed as a usable boat by the beating it took in the race. Dick again won the same Miami to Nassau race in 1958 in a 35’ wood Enterprise brand boat. He won the 1960 race in the wood prototype Bertram. In 1961 he won again, this time in a fiberglass Bertram 31’.

More on Bertrams here

http://www.wortoncreek.com/

another photo shot the Restored classic fiberglass Bertram 20

WOW! classic wood / fiberglass helm station on Bertram 20

Top Fish a 2012 center console 39 Cigarette Racing outboard boat

The open edition of this sport fishing center console offers more fish fighting space while still offering a head compartment that has over 6 feet of headroom. Seating for a bunch of family and fishing friends are standard with both cockpit layouts. The Console is also the same for both.

She comes with 900 horsepower as standard equipment with 1,050 horsepower as an optional choice. Both of these three engines on-the-transom packages are with Mercury Marine Verado or Mercury Racing Verado outboard engines.

This Top Fish fishing boat is a 39 foot by 10 foot high performance son of a offshore racing boat that weights 12,600 lbs. She carries 418 gallons in her gas fuel tanks.

This is the company that built boats for Billy Martin, Betty Cook, Bob Norskog, Tom
Gentry, and Rocky Aoki on Thunderboat Row.

Cigarette Racing has moved from their combined 30,000 square foot buildings on NE 188^th Street in North Miami, Fl to a purpose built 150,000 square foot building in Opa Locka, FL several years ago. That new building allowed Skip Braver, owner of Cigarette Racing, to really do up his plans for research and development in addition to offshore racing as well as do terrific paint jobs, cockpit treatments, and interior work on his boats. The company has moved ahead in its product line-up since then and this is one of the boats that is the result. It has proved to be a smash hit. Enough of a hit that it birthed a big sister in 2012 now. That boat requires an inspection, too if a fast and fun fishing is what you had in mind.

note the cockpit seating in the 2012 Cigarette Racing Top Fish

running to the fish Edgewater outboard center console 228 CC boat

Does a center console fiberglass boat work better than other boats for fishing? How about doing well in people carrying and just plain cruising? Getting from the pier and into the boat?

A fish boat like the 228 CC can really work well for fishermen. She has a higher freeboard than most boats. That works well in rougher open waters. This model also has a notch transom that should be inspected. Other features can be found throughout this fishing boat model that give a real positive impact on your ability to chase and catch fish. This is a good selling, single engine center console.

Rated for up to 250 horsepower, most of these boats go fishing with a Yamaha 225 horsepower outboard. That outboard gives almost 3 MPG at 3,500 RPM and 21 MPH. Speed up to 4,500 RPM and the speed numbers go up to 33-34 MPH. Mileage is still good. Top speed, if you ever use it, is around 46-47 MPH with the 225 horsepower Yamaha outboard motor. Yamaha along with Honda was an early four stroke outboard engine manufacturer.

Edgewater also just now makes this boat model with a center mounted diesel engine for even better mileage. Seabuddy looks forward to doing a boat test on of those. Edgewater calls that model a 228CCD.

Pretty much all of these 228 Edgewater center console boats are used with a T-top. Look for boat test numbers for a center console equipped with one, as it can affect your complete boat test performance numbers.

aft cockpit of Yamaha / Edgewater 228 CC center console fishing boat

first photo of the new diesel Edgewater center console boat