I’ve always enjoyed reading everyone else’s boat build threads on this forum. It has provided inspiration and insight into what I think want or don’t want on my future boat. I told myself if I was ever fortunate enough to go through the process, I would do the same to help inspire others who may build a boat in the future. I’ve learned a lot of what I think I do or don’t want from other build threads. I know for each person they may have a different set of requirements or preferences which pointed them to a certain boat or style, so I tried to spend some time up front figuring out what I think would work best for my application and family.
For context I had a Hewescraft 210 Searunner hard top prior, which was 23.5 LOA with a 8ft beam. Great boat for the river launching solo for salmon, but I would also use it to go out 50 miles of shore for tuna on occasion.
As I started fishing the ocean more and more, I really wanted a boat that I can trailer everywhere and continue to fish the river with, but had features that suited ocean fishing more than river fishing. For this period in my life I knew I will be a trailer sailor, so greater then 8.5 ft beam was unfortunately not in the cards.
For the new boat I had a few specific criteria in mind that I wanted to meet: (listed is in no particular order)
This build will be 28 x 8.5, with ¼ inch bottom plate and twin 150 Honda iST motors meaning the electronic control version. It will have a 9ft cabin which one can fully walk around. Two sliding doors, port and starboard. With an additional swing open door aft side of the cabin. This should allow for enough room for up to 6 in the cabin to get out of the rain or spray, but still enough of deck space to fish or hold crabbing/shrimping gear. Both seats up front will be mounted on shockwave suspension bases, with bench seating behind each seat for 2 on each side.
Other notable options that were selected was no in floor fish box, but an extended gas tank with a capacity of ~196 Gallons. This way I can do back to back offshore trips without having to fuel up. The estimate is for boat to get ~2 MPG so plenty of range, if I can get closer to ~2.2 - 2.3MPG even better! My thought is with a half tote on the deck and 2 large kill bags, I should be able to store as much tuna as I care to clean the following day.
Electronics are still getting sorted out, but when those are confirmed I’ll add that information.
The build is officially underway, and I plan to post updates as I visit the shop and/or get photos from the builder.
Attaching Basic line drawings and photo of the start of the Hull
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For context I had a Hewescraft 210 Searunner hard top prior, which was 23.5 LOA with a 8ft beam. Great boat for the river launching solo for salmon, but I would also use it to go out 50 miles of shore for tuna on occasion.
As I started fishing the ocean more and more, I really wanted a boat that I can trailer everywhere and continue to fish the river with, but had features that suited ocean fishing more than river fishing. For this period in my life I knew I will be a trailer sailor, so greater then 8.5 ft beam was unfortunately not in the cards.
For the new boat I had a few specific criteria in mind that I wanted to meet: (listed is in no particular order)
- True Self-draining deck (I want to avoid having a bathtub relying on bilge pumps)
- 8.5 beam to keep it easy and legal to tow without banners and oversize permits etc.
- Walk around cabin to have 360 degrees for bottom fishing and jigging for tuna
- Twin engines for redundancy
- No paint – Doing Shark hide on exterior hull and exterior cabin
- Room for 4-6 people in an enclosed cabin for PNW weather
- Option to stand up or sit at helm station when running the boat
This build will be 28 x 8.5, with ¼ inch bottom plate and twin 150 Honda iST motors meaning the electronic control version. It will have a 9ft cabin which one can fully walk around. Two sliding doors, port and starboard. With an additional swing open door aft side of the cabin. This should allow for enough room for up to 6 in the cabin to get out of the rain or spray, but still enough of deck space to fish or hold crabbing/shrimping gear. Both seats up front will be mounted on shockwave suspension bases, with bench seating behind each seat for 2 on each side.
Other notable options that were selected was no in floor fish box, but an extended gas tank with a capacity of ~196 Gallons. This way I can do back to back offshore trips without having to fuel up. The estimate is for boat to get ~2 MPG so plenty of range, if I can get closer to ~2.2 - 2.3MPG even better! My thought is with a half tote on the deck and 2 large kill bags, I should be able to store as much tuna as I care to clean the following day.
Electronics are still getting sorted out, but when those are confirmed I’ll add that information.
The build is officially underway, and I plan to post updates as I visit the shop and/or get photos from the builder.
Attaching Basic line drawings and photo of the start of the Hull
(all Jokes aside i think 28x8.5 is perfect for a do it all trailer boat in the PNW)
