1971 24 Seabird - "Yellow Bird"

[EricFos]

Will update this thread as progress comes to the boat...

Anyway, odd/cool setup:
It's a 1971 24 foot Seabird, hull is as solid as when it was new I would imagine, just rock solid all the way around. It has an original (I think?) 302 Ford/Mercruiser carb'ed V8 with ~470 hours on it. I think it's been a central FL lake boat its entire life and stored dry, used very sparingly.

Has a recent 80 gallon aluminum fuel tank, recent carb, etc etc. Runs pretty nicely.

I picked it up for a steal at $4000, and am going to start wet testing it in some of the rougher stuff winter can crank out in the next few months

Plans for the boat:
-half-tower and curtains
-budget sounder/chartplotter combo
-40 gallon round and 10 gallon oval livewells

It needs a good deal of re-wiring, new lighting, and I need to find someone who would even know where to begin with re-pitching the prop.

The important things are there though, and hopefully in the end I'll have a pretty serious and unique fishing machine without breaking the bank

Here are some pictures of the boat as it is, with a nice fresh coat of wax:






Haven't gotten to take it out in any sort of measurable seas yet, but it should be a pretty fast and soft ride in the rough stuff with that hull.

Anyway, will keep you guys updated as progress comes.

[mokaction]

Wow.. Nice boat.. Reminds me of a Wellcraft V21. I would be afraid to take it out in the salt water..

Larry

[mongo75]

Cool looking boat. Is that an Anerson surface drive? Either way, yeah, she'll be fast and dry with that huge flare. Good luck!

[rdrrm8e]

that looks like a Formula Thunderbird

[itisafish]

You will be happy when you finish her. I have a 20' center console 1972 Sea Bird. They are built in Hialeigha (or how ever you spell it) Florida. I have gone as far as 60 miles out from shore in mine. Rides great in rough water and you are right solid as a rock. The hull is at least 1 1/2 inches thick. It seemed like I was drilling forever to put the through hull fitting for the bait tank. Good Luck

[EricFos]

Originally Posted by mongo75

Cool looking boat. Is that an Anerson surface drive? Either way, yeah, she'll be fast and dry with that huge flare. Good luck!

Yep, it throws a cool rooster tail up. But between the prop being a bit overpitched, the characteristics of the drive itself, how deep of a V the hull is, and the fact it has no trim tabs and is maybe a little under-powered, you can almost read a novel waiting to get onto plane

Add the weight of the half-tower, a few bodies, and a couple livewells full of water and bait, and I might need some tabs eventually!

[Gil Marlin]

A friend was telling me stories of the one he used to own. He said it was a really soft ride in the rough stuff and he used to take it way offshore without a second thought. That's a crazy looking outdrive setup...

[IglooMan]

Arneson surface drives are awesome. I remember we used to see him running his raceboat in San Pablo Bay, I cant think of any other boat that throws such a badass rooster tail...

[saravonshep]

Ya, never seen an out drive quite like that, im sure you will have fun times.....

[EricFos]

Just an update to this thread.... The boat's been on ~10 trips so far, all full day affairs. I think roughest I've taken it out in has been 4-6s building to 5-7s by the end of the afternoon.

The ride is interesting, it does slam a bit due to those big chines, but it is incredibly solid and dry. The bow flare really kills spray about 95% of the time.

I have also been out a few times in 1-2s or less, and have gotten to really open up the boat and mess with trim on the arneson. It gets up to about 5000 RPM and up to the high 40s in MPH. Have gone airborne a couple of times, it lands nicely

I don't think it needs any more or less prop anymore, it's just all in adjusting the trim of the outdrive. Higher means less prop in the water, and the boat just keeps going faster and faster.

I've gotten a more modern nice grayscale Lowrance depthfinder on it now, and dual 26 gallon oval livewells, one on each side of the cockpit and each fed by an 800 gph rule pump. Last tournament we fished, we had 2 dozen goggle eyes in one, and 8 dozen pilchards in the other. Bait casualties for the day were minimal...

Just picked up a pair of 16 ft Lee's Miami outriggers second-handed ($85/pair!), and am about to call on a pair of electric downriggers. At that point it will be pretty fully tournament rigged and capable of dealing with any conditions and any offshore situation pretty handily.

We've put some rodholders on the bow deck, and run the kite spread from this area (have put down some deck tape for a little traction-- no one has gone overboard yet).

We fish a big deep spread off the transom, where the sea anchor is cleated off, to complement the kite spread. It's about a 10-12 rod spread when fully deployed. There are now 10 rodholders around the engine cover, and a couple on the transom. Fully loaded it looks like a pincushion or a rodholder station on a party boat.

Anyway, the boat has killed a lot of fish, and blood cleans off the deck very nicely. Here are some pictures.

The arneson drive's rooster tail:


Weigh-in dock:


Can kind of see the deck layout:


Kite spread:


Deep spread partially out:


Bag of fish after the tournament:


Couple shots of the tournament... Some in-water shots of the boat.
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[saravonshep]

Thats a big rooster tail, is that normal while underway?