the boat review

[tomc]

i will be posting boat review,once a week,ifyou own,did own,know someone that owns,or just rode in a boat that being reviewed feel free to post comments,good or bad i am looking for straight honest opinions;if you have a boat that you want to review freel free to post a review.this is for our members and guests,that are planning to buy a boat and get some inside facts before they spnd money
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[tomc]

black lab marine
plate alloy boats

to me this is the tank of the water,these boats are made of all plate alloy,and by constuction will weigh 33%-50% lessthan the well made heavily laid-up fiberglass boat.
these boats are popular with the u.s.coast guard,mainly with the 47' motor life boat,and with the us navy
construction methods

the alloy plates are plasma cut to exact dimension and assembled in the state-of-the-art-factory.the team of expert craftsmen first spot-weld the plates together as the boat takes shape,it is then placed on a full scale jig where welding in earnest takes place

sides.bottom,gunwale,stringers,self-bailing deck,and gunwale-deck all are welded useing the best materials and technologies available.an aluminum internal fuel tank is placed beneath the self-bailing deck and acts as a double safty.should the hull be pierced act any time,your fuel cell well remain intact,both saveing the inviroment and enabling you to get home.

the boat is now 80% complete,is hung in an acid shower to remove all of the smoke and unsightly residue left during the welding process.out comes a beautiful and clean hull ready for final assembly

next place your optional components including;rodholders,coolers,leaning post,ect.

finally,they inject pressurized closed cell foam into the below deck cavities and the gunwale decks to ensure both unsinkability and upright flotaion.the non-skid coating to the deck complete the boat.

they have a wide range of sizes to chose from,starting at a 19' center console up to 26'. we are going to look at the pacific V23CC,V23CCTandV23HT
specifications

lenght 23'3"
beam 8'6"
draft 12"
weight 2600 lbs
load capacty 3800 lbs
max hp 275
min hp 150
transom 25" or 30"
deadrise 18 degrees
side height 38"
bottom plate 1/4"
side plate 3/16"
fuel capacity 114 gal.


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with 1/4" bottom plating,38" high sides,a two-ton load capacity and a top speed of 55 mph,this is the boat
the us navy buys these boats as dive support vessles,the us coast guard buys them as search-and-rescue boats,salmon fishermen in alaska have made this boat standard issue in waters where rough seas and plentiful fish coexist.

all boats have a chioce of a honda or suzuki outboad.

the boat site on trailers by shoreland'r,
there are also numerous options that can be added.

if interested in more info check them out at [url "http://www.blacklabmarine.com"]www.blacklabmarine.com[/url] tell them BFT sent you
one more thing,i e-mailed the company to get info for this review,within 20 min i had a respnce from the president of the company himself, Jay Perrotta,so if you have any questions,i am sure you will get a speedy responce
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[tomc]

PORTA-BOTE

porta-bote has been around since 1969,and has sold nearly 50,000 boats wordwide
this is truely a unique partable boat,its great for campers,fishermen,hunters,or anyone else who is limited in space,or transport and wants a "hard"boat,some of its features include
extremly portable
quik setup/disassembly
durable
10 year limited warranty
is virtually unsinkable

it can be rowed,sailed,or use with an outboard.real stable for fishermen or hunters with a beam of 5 feet,you can get this in 3 differant colors,pacific pearl,olive drab,or aluminum
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the 10 foot boat specifications

material buffered copolymer poly propylene
lenght 10'-8"
folding thickness 4"
beam 60"
draft 4"
depth (midship) 24"
weight 58 lbs
weight cap. 585lbs
person cap. 3
number of seats 3
engine cap 54 lbs
shaft leght 15" short shaft
features include bench seats,cup holders ,rear motor mount,rub rails
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if your interested,and want more info check them out at [url "http://www.porta-bote.com"]www.porta-bote.com[/url] tell them BFT sent you
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[gdn443]

I've seen these in the past. It would be interesting to see if any of members own one. Looks like it would be great for camping.
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[tomc]

LUND BOATS

made by the brunswick corp. ,which was founded in 1845 to make billiard tables,in 1906 brunswick provuced the first widley popular rubber bowling ball(the minerallite).

in 1986,under the leadership of highly respected Jack Reichert,brunswick moved quickly to become the undisputed leader in recreational boating when it acquired the worlds largest boat manufactures,bayliner marine corp.,and searay industries.

headquarterd in knoxville,tennessee,the brunswick boat group is the largest maker of pleasure boats in the world.2005 net sales were $2.8 billion.the boat group makes searay,bayliner,maxum,hatteras,meridian and sealine pleasure boats from 16-100 feet;baja high-performance boats from 20 feet to 44 feet;albemarle,boston whaler,cabo,palmetto,sea boss,sea pro and trophy offshore fishing boats from 11to52 feet;and creastliner,harriskayot,lowe,lund,princecraft,and trition fishing,deck,and pontoon boats from 10 to 35 feet;land'n'sea parts and accessories distribution,and attwood,marine parts and accessories.

in 2004 lund became a pround member of the brunswick family of boats.

i had the pleasure to go on the maiden voyage of a lund 1660 ss,owned by one of our members and our connecticut moderator,gdn443
his boat is powered by a mercury 40 hp.4-stroke.i found it to be quiet and moved his boat effertlesly.though we never go to plain,there were winds and stronge current that it had to contend with.

there was pleanty of room and storage on the 16 ft boat with 3 of us on board and all our gear.

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SPECIFICATIONS

ips chine 72.5"

length 16'-3" beam 84"

transom 20"

fuel 19 gal.built-in tank

max outboard rating 60hp
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[gdn443]

The only negative thing I can add is that you will want to upgrade the fish finder. Verrry basic. This boat was priced for the working mans entry level. Good buy for the money. Tomc brought good luck on the maiden voyage with a nice stripper.
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[chiefpanfish]

[cool] I always liked the Lund but found them a little pricie. As you know I bought the tracker 16' deepV at the time of purchase the package came with a 40HP Merc.ass well. But instead of an 84" beam as the Lund has the tracker has 92" beam. The 40HP would not bring the boat up on plane, even trying a different pitched prop. I was very unhappy with this and did some complaining and managed an upgrade to a Merc 60. This motor has plenty of power and get us up on plane real quick. The sixty also trolls good with a GPS checked low speed of 1.5MPH. My top speed with a full tank of fuel is 28MPH as I get down on fuel my speed gets up to about 33MPH. These speeds I am happy with and is still easy on the gas budget as well. Chief
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[tomc]

thanks chief,for your input,i am planning to do a review on tracker sometime in the near future.when we took greggs boat out,we never got going fast enough to get on plane,it a little late but did you play with the trim of the motor also?i have a an old 1968 sebre 15 ft trihull with a 70horse merc.when i put it on all i did was plow the water,could never get up.i played around with tilting the motor untill i found the "happy place" for the boat and motor.now when i open her up all the way the only thing in the water is the lower end,i will tell you i don't do that too often,but it sound like you happy with the 60,its always better to be a little over powered than under
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[tomc]

is she still in the boat?
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[tomc]

ZINI SPORT BOAT
[url "http://www.zinisportboat.com/"]www.zinisportboat.com[/url]
here is something a little differant for a compact boat,i hope i can get some info on this from some one that has used or own one.

now you can have easy access to ponds and small lakes.
the lightweight hull and quick assembly saves time and hasselof not having to pull a trailer and worry about loading and unloading it in the water.the zini 12.5 sport boat is U.S coastgaurd approved

the seats feature convenient cup holders with foam filling for level floatation,plus you can add up to a 3 hp motor to give you pleanty of power to get where you want to be



assembly length 12.5'
compact size 43"x53"x15"
bottom width 36.25"
beam 42.5"
transom width 42.5"
max person cap. 3
total weight cap. 410 lbs
approximate weight 85 lbs
max hp cap. 3 hp
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]Hey gdn443,[/size][/black]
[black][size 3][/size][/black]
[black][size 3]Kenofnsl over on the Utah board has one of those Port'a'boats. I have not actually seen it, but, he has taken it out and posted about it. I think he still has it.[/size][/black]
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[gdn443]

I saw one on the water this year Fishhound. Seemed to work fine for the two fellas. That little green rig looks like a good one for one guy to haul and put togeather. Cost anyone? Sorry tubedude, can't see me in a tube, yak maybe.
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[jtderr]

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