John,

Since you have asked and while I am waiting for delivery I figured I would weigh in on this subject, given the boat I have chosen was one of your contenders on OSJ.  I had given considerable thought to the choice of what boat to buy.  I was significantly constrained by size if I were to store it at my house.  I started by considering 18-20 ft boats.  Given the pressure by the spouse not to have a boat parked in the driveway I decided for off site storage.  This somewhat alleviated my size constraint.  Also given that I wanted a larger boat for offshore running, which my budget would allow.  I began looking at 22-24’ boats.  Used versus new.  Parker, Farallon, Radon, Edgewater, etc.  Many of my choices were ones you had on OSJ.

As I review my choices, I decide to go with a new boat.  I did not want to get into a project where I basically was re-powering, updating electronics and fixing old plumbing and wiring.  Not to mention some of the hidden issues with some older boats.  Want to see some eye opening stuff take a look at www.Classiscmako.com and some of the restorations on that site.  Some of those guys are really amazing.  However,  I have had enough of that with my house, and old cars.  I want to go fishing.

I narrowed my choices down to the Edgewater (local dealer) and the Pacific 23 WA5 (again local dealer Tradewinds Inflatables).  I went with the metal boat.  She is currently under construction.  One thing I will say about such a boat is how much it can be customized should you have the cash.  I ordered my with 9.5 ft gunnel trays for fly rod storage.  I also have a custom bow rail.  I know that on OSJ you had rejected Pacific for cost for feature reasons.  They definitely are a bare bones boat.  Down sides of this boat are not a lot of nooks and crannies for storage like the Edgewater, no head, and under-deck storage,  and concerns about electrolysis.  For me the upsides were strong material, that is 30% lighter than a FG boat, easily repaired, no spider cracking and no concerns about electrolysis if rigged right.  I got a walk around pilot house design and a more convenient stern entry for diving.  A local dealership that will service the boat and engine and will help me customize the boat even after it has left the factory. 

How she will be as a fly fishing platform is yet to be determined.  Given that all boats are a compromise I hope she will do well by me on runs to SCI.  She will be powered with the Honda 4S 225, and holds 114 gal of fuel.  Offshore bait system and Furuno Electronics (NavNet 3D), including radar, GPS, and the digital FF, and decklights, are all on the list.  Attached are some pictures of her in progress at the Pacific Factory in WA. 

Richard

Update on the link.  For those of you curious that link should be http://www.classicmako.com/projects.htm

Richard

That’s a great looking boat, Richard. I still like them! That pilot house ought to be awesome - a good place to warm up after a 2nd dive.

I think the other issue for me was that the next size under the 19’ was a narrow 17’ (which they since have discontinued), and I didn’t want to give up the extra foot of length, and 6” of beam. I’m still thinking about doing an article on them (after I get the OSJ Jones Bros. article out!). I’m really curious to find out what changes in technology or the marketplace have come about to make it possible for them to offer consumer boats with plate that thick. Computer-aided electron beam cutters? or ??

John,

They (Pacific) have to use some sort of CNC cutting table.  It is not clear if Pacific does the cutting on site or outsources it.  You certainly can call Pacific (www.pacificboats.com) and find out how they do it.  If you want a ride and take some photos of my boat for your article you are welcome.  I will trade you for some fishing lessons.  You may also want to talk with Kenny at Trade Wind Inflatables (www.twimarine.com) he is a great guy and knows a lot about the boats.  He is the dealer for the entire Western Region.  We are lucky to have him right here in Costa Mesa.  Pacific ships him the boats and he rigs them engines, bait systems, and electronics.  Gets trailers from Pacific Trailers.  He has a 20’ Hard Top in Stock and is getting a 23 Super Top for stock.  Pacific has probably gone through a lot of changes since you were originally interested in them.  They just came out with a Super Cab Sleeper.  It looks best on a 26’ hull it is an enclosed pilot house that can sleep 2 and has a head. 

Also If you are interested in alloy boats you need to check out www.aluminumalloyboats.com.  It is a new site setup by a Pacific Skiff owner.  There are some cool listings of alloy boat builders, on that site.  There are clearly a lot of good builders of plate alloy boats.  Pacific is certainly one of the top builders in their class.  I also think with their dealers that they have established in Costa Mesa and in the North East with BlackLab Marine, makes them more than just a regional builder.  For fun you might want to check out this builder www.stonecraftboats.com.  This builder makes a nice skiff that looks very reasonable in price and can be customized to make a perfect skiff for bays or short excursions. 

BTW I have included a 23WA5 that was sold by TWI about a year ago.  This boat is very similar what my boat will look like when finished.

Richard

my buddy Tre (there’s pic of him with nice PL Calico)  has an Invader 183 we have decked out pretty much for flyfishing.
He works in wood so he made a nice teak casting deck at the stern so line doesn’t get hung. He made custom stripping buckets from kitchen garbage cans w/ heavy 2” rubber bottoms. it has 4 flyrod rocket launchers mounted to the console (we need to add 2 more) and can hold more rods in the rails. We used a knife wall magnet as a fly drier/hold also mounted to the console.

We’ve mostly used it as a Bay Boat but she has gone on numerous offshore runs. Fished the kelp, the 9, etc…. as well as lotsa runs outside the tip.

hopefully we’ll do a buddy boat run to the Nados soon. We’ve never found the bottom of the fuel tank, you can fid no info about invader anymore but we are guessing the tank holds around 50-65 gallons

Richard, are those seats shock mounted? I’ve been looking around for some shock mount seats or the just the mounts themselves, can’t seem to find anything that’s not an arm and a leg.

John,

Those seats are not shock mounted.  They are actually on a track so that you can slide them forward and tilt them out of the way to open the lid to the storage box.  I believe they are made by Bentley Mfg.  (www.bentleysmfg.com). 

Richard

Richard your boat is tres cool. What a great thing to have the ability to get a boat exactly how you want it. I really like the metal

what did ya name it?

Matt,

Thanks,  No name yet.  Working on it. 

Richard

I think he’s going to call it “Shane’s Boat”

Shane