2004 Sea Pro

[JEBar]

since buying my first one in 1966, I've owned several boats .... as the saying goes, some what was nice, some that wasn't so nice .... the largest was a 28' Excell (been from the US to the Bahamas 2ce boat) with with a full service cabin, Volvo inboard and outdrive .... the smallest was an 8' Port-a-Bote with 6 hp Johnson .... back in 2004 we bought what has proven to be my favorite .... it is the Sea Pro (company no longer in business) shown below .... it is a 17' salt water boat (that has never been in salt water), aluminum trailer, 90 hp Johnson salt water outboard .... no carpet, no exposed wood .... deep-v hull with 2 live wells, considerable storage, walk through window, movable pedestal fishing seats, 50 gallon built in gas tank, separate 2 cycle oil tank .... my goal is to one-day tow it to Winona, MN, put in the Mississippi and travel about 100 miles down the river to Prairie du Chien, WI and later return back to Winona .... made that trip twice with our Excell and had a ball .... while in Winona use it to troll for walleye .... from there tow it to Eastern South Dakota where we would walleye fish in several lakes in my wife's home area .... don't know that we will ever get to actually do so

[CT_Shooter]

Sweet ride, JEBar. We've owned boats for the last fifty years, too. We'll be selling our current boat soon, I hope. My wife's health issues have made it impractical to consider keeping it anymore. It's a 2011 HydraSport DC202. A really nice boat, quite a bit like yours.

Our largest was a new 1999 SeaRay Sundancer, 26' with an additional two feet of swim platform. It took us on unforgettable weekend adventures to Watch Hill, RI; Coecles Harbor, NY; Fisher's Island, NY; and everywhere in the Long Island Sound, as well as our favorite waters, the lower CT River. We had some great times on that boat!

Our SeaRay

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Our HydraSport

[JEBar]

your SeaRay could have almost been a twin to our Excel .... and, you HydraSport does look similar to our Sea Pro .... the only type boat I've every wanted that I've never owned is a pontoon .... don't think at this stage, we will ever buy one ..... our youngest son and his family took the Sea Pro out yesterday and as he should have anticipated, there was a great deal of traffic on the lake .... we won't get out in it until we get back from South Dakota in August .... hope then to get in some fall fishing

[Deadwood Dutch]

You gentlemen have some nice looking boats. Thanks for the nice photos. I have never had the pleasure of owning one but I love to walk around in the marinas at the shore and in my wife's hometown of Cambridge Maryland which is on the Choptank River, and look at them. I have spent countless hours in the river, the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic, fishing off of a Grady White that a friend once owned.

[JEBar]

You gentlemen have some nice looking boats. Thanks for the nice photos. I have never had the pleasure of owning one but I love to walk around in the marinas at the shore and in my wife's hometown of Cambridge Maryland which is on the Choptank River, and look at them. I have spent countless hours in the river, the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic, fishing off of a Grady White that a friend once owned.

it has been long said that the definition of a boat is a hole in the water to throw money in ... from personal experience I can tell you that most certainly can be the case .... ours is now something over 12 years old and on the open market would be worth very little .... I learned long ago to never say never so all I'll say is we plan to keep it .... our hope is it will continue to run well for how ever many years we will be able to make use of a boat

[daytime dave]

My fiance has a 16 foot Lowe fish and ski. It has a Minn Kota on the front for fishing and a 75 Etec on the rear for skiing. It's nice enough and relatively trouble free. 25 gallon gas tank, onboard live well, bilge pump, stereo and a great platform for the Adirondacks. It's aluminium deep V hull works well in the big lakes there.

You all have some nice boats. Thanks for sharing them.

[RetiredSeabee]

Some fine looking boats gentlemen. I have never owned one, My folks had a few The last one was a pontoon when they lived just off of the Albemarle Sound in Hertford NC. My little brother has had several He started out with a John boat in high school that he traded a trail bike for then fixed up the boat and traded for a bigger one. And on and on from there.

[Squatch]

Nice boats fellows! Much nicer than my junk. But I'll post anyway. Like most my stuff it was bought as junk and rebuilt. Aluma-Weld 1750 pfc.(now called Xpress). I did this back in 2006. Sandblasted to bare hull and off to the welder to fix the cracks ect.


Some minor mods.


Carpet and electrical.




And on the Potomac at our usual campsite on an island. The engine has an Outboard jet lower unit. So no prop hanging down. It runs WOT in 12" of water.




I have used this from VT to NC and as far west as KY +TN. I knocked a hole in it last summer and sunk it in knee deep water. The hull has been repaired and I'm working on sprucing it up and getting it back on the water soon.

[JEBar]

Nice boats fellows! Much nicer than my junk. But I'll post anyway. Like most my stuff it was bought as junk and rebuilt. Aluma-Weld 1750 pfc.(now called Xpress). I did this back in 2006. Sandblasted to bare hull and off to the welder to fix the cracks ect.

really nice boat upgrade .... my first fishing boat was a Fisher Marine aluminum, flat bottom, John boat in which they installed remote steering and fishing seats .... used the heck out of it for several years and had to have numerous rivets welded to stop leaks .... finally was told to not use it on anything rougher than a farm pond because of metal fatigue .... I've never used an outboard with a jet lower unit .... they interest me, care to share any experiences/observations based on your use ?

[CT_Shooter]

Great job, Squatch. You have some awesome skills. Thanks for the cool pictures and the story.

[Squatch]

For what I do the jet is the only way to go. Same concept as a Jet Ski but outboard. Doesn't matter what brand engine you own. All the jet lowers are made by the same company. Main problem is the jet is not as efficient as a prop so you lose about 1/3 of your powerhead HP at the pump. So my 60 hp is essentially a 40hp at the pump. The factory units are sold like this. Labeled as a 60/40 or just 40. in my case no big deal it runs fine though not a rocket by any means. The other thing is if your boat is say rated for 70 hp like mine is. You can run a 90 hp powerhead legally to compensate. As that would be a 90/65. They are also loud. I call my boat "The Howler"! The exhaust is now above water. But I'm one of those perverse people that just loves the sound of a 3 cylinder 2 stroke screaming.

My boat has been tunneled to feed water into the jet and allow you to raise the jet level with the bottom. If the hull fits the motor fits.


I had a boat builder who builds custom river boats like these raise the transom and install the pump.


A couple of fun pics. I was fishing with a friend who is a photographer. We are running in less than 18" of water wide open. Front view.
It's a stick steer boat. The bridge in the distance is not a bridge. It's the largest aquaduct in the US. It used to carry the C+O canal over top of the Monocacy River.


He then turned around and shot a pic out the back.

[Catherine]

Nice thread and thank you!

My late husband and I had sail boats and power boats for a long, long time.

Cate

[JEBar]

really enjoy the interesting info and pictures .... thanks for taking the time to post them

[CT_Shooter]

really enjoy the interesting info and pictures .... thanks for taking the time to post them

x2

[daytime dave]

Squatch,

That is one interesting boat and motor. WOW

[Travlin]

Nice photos. That looks like a jet drive on that outboard. He must run where there are a lot of rocks.

[Squatch]

Nice photos. That looks like a jet drive on that outboard. He must run where there are a lot of rocks.

You gotta read the text and not just the pics!

Yep I run shallow rocky east coast rivers. The style is fairly common in this area. There are several custom builders out here that make boats specifically for these jets and waters. Mine is just a modded factory hull.

Thanks for the nice comments folks.

So post some more boats!

[Henry88]

all nice boats for their intended purpose.

The duel consoles are probably the most family friendly craft out there. The also give you a lot more cockpit area than the center consoles.

I still have my dad's boat in my yard, a 1966 SeaCraft bowrider, basically a duel console. That boat has been sitting for 15 years.

Right now, I got a Robalo bay boat whic is perfect for me, and will see if I can get a SeaCraft fan to take my dad's boat away this summer.

[JEBar]

well, it is finished .... we gave the boat to our youngest son a few years ago .... its still parked under our shed and we still pay the insurance and taxes .... he's taken care of everything else .... a few weeks ago he caught boat fever and made the decision to sell our Sea Pro and purchase 22' Sundance center console .... yesterday morning he listed it for sale on his wife's facebook account .... within minutes, his wife made a verbal agreement to sell it at the asking price .... late yesterday afternoon that fellow drove in from just over 90 miles southwest of our place, cash in hand, and drove out with the boat .... this is the first time in just under 50 years that we haven't owned a boat

[BigAl52]

I dont miss mine at all. There alot of work and with already owning an RV I have enough to take care of. Father time just somehow takes that extra energy out of ya. I do still love boats and would probably have one if I was closer to big bodies of water. I probably would not have the RV either