Today it stopped raining and was blowing sufficiently hard and was sunny enough to take the newest Pilothouse Boat on the Wefings Marine block out for a spin .Webmaster Mike had the cameras ready and I was looking forward to seeing what the new boat could do in the intense chop of the cold norther .I had planned to run the boat by myself . Charlie was at the store and had a customer come in to look for pilothouse boats . After the initial discussions about what type of boat , primary use and such Charlie quickly figured out that he ought to send this fellow down to 10 foot hole [Apalachicola City Marina] to jump on board with me . I normally do a first run on a boat with staff or by myself , but I could tell it was a potential right time, right boat, right customer situation . So forgoing my usual maiden voyage guidelines ,off we went .
My customer got a little insight about what we deal with in the boat industry. There were a few things that did not work . After I considered what they were and determined we would not be in danger, we left the dock . This is the human side of boating . You count on manufacturers to build systems that work and service people to test those systems to make sure everything is right before you hook up and go to the water with a customer .
Well Defiance by Shamrock is a new brand for us and it has some very different [and I must say intelligent] differences from other boat in its class. There are standard “pilothouse boats ” that most folks recognize and that we have sold in the past or other dealers sell close by . They are steeped in tradition but in no way innovative .Neither design, materials , warranty ,or features or value can compare to what we experienced today.
The first thing I noticed was the balance . I had about 15 gallons of fuel [ it holds 77] in the boat and other than that the boat was very light . With the fuel economy situation as it is [and with no sign of improvement in the near future] ,the boat seemed bow down in attitude . It caused me to think about how it would run with a load of fuel a hundred pounds of ice and maybe 6 dive tanks and fishing gear plus an anchor and chain ,safety gear etc… What my thoughts were is most of that weight would go towards the stern with the fuel in the middle. The regular load would have balanced the boat very well . It also seemed to leave the option of the heavier V6 motor viable as the stern weight was very light . The thing I like about this boat is that the 150 H.P. size powerplant is perfect for cruising at 25-30 MPH on a loaded 22 foot boat with great economy and a far better than expected ride .The hull bottom sort of reminds me of the old classic Seacraft [Bill Potter] hulls that have a very loyal following to this day.
Its hard to make a boat that you sit up front on be soft riding in a chop. None are perfect .The Catamaran is the best. Some are horrible pounding torture devices that make it hard to enjoy the ride. Some of those have very expensive sounding names.
The Defiance was one of the best I have experienced . I didn’t have a long ride through 4-6 foot seas , but I suspect you could find comfortable speed if you did get caught and have some good things to say about the boat . You may of course cuss the Captain.
Look for some still photos and video soon in the new Wefings Video library.
Better yet come down on a windy day and see how she does in some seas .
Marc
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