80 plus feet.....

[gcarter]

Just received my new copy of Southern Boating and am amazed at the number of 80' plus new FBSF on the market.
I can remember when fish boats that size were almost nonexistant.
The economy must be doing pretty good.

Also there's an ad for Cummins "C" engines of 480 HP!!!!:eek!:
That's pretty stout! Does anyone know anything about them?
Just curious.

[VetteLT193]

In the 80's the small convertible for the popular manufacturers:
Ocean = 29'
Viking = 35'
Hatteras = 36'

Today the small boats are:
Ocean = 42'
Viking = 45'
Hatteras = 50'

Everything seems to have gotten plus sized, from the smallest to the biggest.

[gcarter]

Back in about '90, Monterrey in Stuart, FL built an 80'er FBSF for a guy from Texas. It had two huge MTU's and with a full tower (how high do you think that was?) and was clocked at over 60 MPH on its trials. About six months later it was on the market.
Maybe the owner decided it was expensive to operate.
My point is that just a few years ago fish boats that big were definately the exception and you could probably count all of them on one hand.
Now several MFG'ers have them in production.

[VetteLT193]

Back in about '90, Monterrey in Stuart, FL built an 80'er FBSF for a guy from Texas. It had two huge MTU's and with a full tower (how high do you think that was?) and was clocked at over 60 MPH on its trials. About six months later it was on the market.
Maybe the owner decided it was expensive to operate.
My point is that just a few years ago fish boats that big were definately the exception and you could probably count all of them on one hand.
Now several MFG'ers have them in production.

Definitely oddballs back in the day, and common now... Although it seems like late 90's is when things started to change. I'll never forget cruising into Boat Harbor in the Bahamas on the 45 Viking. We'd turn heads 360 degrees around with that boat in the Melbourne FL area. In boat harbor we were the smallest boat there.

BTW I've been on that Monterey:) I didn't get a ride, but not sure If I'd want one anyway! I took a trip on a 63' Merritt from Lauderdale to NJ and the captain of that boat was raving about the Monterey. He took me over to Sailfish Marina where that boat was docked at the time... He was friends with the captain and I got a tour. Un-friggin-believable. The boat was pretty new at the time. It must have been spring of 1991.

[zelatore]

Granted, I'm not a fisherman, but I really don't see the usefulness of an 80+ sport fisher except as a mother ship. Too big to chase a fish with, although I guess you could do some extended trips and have room for all your friends.

Here in NorCal, we don't often see many big sport fishers. It's more common for a hot fish boat to be a smaller pilothouse rig here. SoCal is different, and you'll find guys there fishing Mexico from big convertibles, but they favor range over speed (Mikelson anybody?) compared to the Florida boats.

I haven't used the new 480 hp Cummins - isn't it an updated common rail version of the old 450C 'Diamond Edition'? We used to use that motor a lot before Carver go so tight in bed with Volvo.

[VetteLT193]

Granted, I'm not a fisherman, but I really don't see the usefulness of an 80+ sport fisher except as a mother ship. Too big to chase a fish with, although I guess you could do some extended trips and have room for all your friends.
Here in NorCal, we don't often see many big sport fishers. It's more common for a hot fish boat to be a smaller pilothouse rig here. SoCal is different, and you'll find guys there fishing Mexico from big convertibles, but they favor range over speed (Mikelson anybody?) compared to the Florida boats.
I haven't used the new 480 hp Cummins - isn't it an updated common rail version of the old 450C 'Diamond Edition'? We used to use that motor a lot before Carver go so tight in bed with Volvo.

You are right about the mother ship. A lot of the big boys tow a fish rig behind them. Many of the fish rigs were awesome. Fountain, Contender, Scarab Sport, etc. The owners would do it for many reasons... The wives didn't want to fish, the big boat is a PITA to deal with for a half day fishing trip, etc. Plus with a smaller outboard boat you could get into a lot of smaller islands.