Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating - View Single Post

numbskull · 07-09-2012, 08:07 PM

I had a 20 ft 1986 vintage seacraft that fell apart (ran out of spots to hold down the console even with toggles and the cockpit deck eventually separated from the gunnel) and eventually sank. The old ones and new ones may be OK, but there were a lot of duds in the middle. There is also a lot of wood in them that goes to punk so the best used ones are old boats that have been competently rebuilt. I enjoyed the boat a lot, but the regulator is way more solid and rides better, of that I am certain.

As for the regulator, the 20 degree is no issue (it worried me as well but I drove the boat I wanted to buy through the worst stuff I'd be out in and it performed much better than my seacraft with its deeper V). I've had it for 8 years now and it has gotten me home through very nasty stuff (as in 35-40 kts NW against a big tide off WH). The advantage of the regulator is its weight. It is about 700 lbs heavier than my seacraft was and weight is huge determinant of seakeeping ability in a small boat. I looked at contenders as well. They are lighter, faster, and more fuel efficient, but get air born too easily for my taste. I don't run offshore so perhaps the contender is better for that. The contender is not as solidly built as the regulator, which is why it is lighter.

The real problems with the regulator are power related. Most of them out there are powered with Yami 200 HPDI's. These are fussy engines in the gasahol era. Although when running right they are great, keeping them running right is difficult and expensive. They were designed before gasahol and depend on critically clean fuel. They have multiple filters deep in the engine that are hard and expensive to change (there is a high pressure pump filter that is a 400+ job and six injector filters that are about 100 each). If you don't clean these before they plug, which means every three years, and they absolutely will plug because the alcohol carries dissolved material that bypasses the 10 micron filter, the VST filter, and the medium pressure fuel line filter (itself a $180 item), at best the engine will run like crap and at worst you will stop oiling a cylinder and seize the engine (learned both the hard way). At very least if you get a used HPDI plan on spending $1200-1500 bucks to clean all the filters BEFORE the first season you use it.

At the end of the 21 regulator run they churned out some reconfigured for 4 stroke engines (the FS models). My boat was stern heavy with the HPDI. I repowered with a 225 Yami offshore series (that was lighter than the old 200 4 stroke series but heavier than the HPDI). It doesn't quite fit the engine well (but is passable) and makes the boat even more stern heavy even after moving the batteries. The boat is definitely overpowered but performs better than with the HPDI so so far I'm happy (but 23,000 bucks poorer..... 8000 more than a new HPDI which goes to show how much I didn't want to go there again). Storage in the boat is also disappointing.

As for the 23 Regulator, these are under powered with the old 4 stoke Yamis. Find one without an engine and put a new 300hp offshore on it and you'd be in business.

Don't buy a 20 foot boat with a T-top.

07-09-2012, 08:07 PM	#13
numbskull Oblivious // Grunt, Grunt Master iTrader: (0) Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: over the hill Posts: 6,682	I had a 20 ft 1986 vintage seacraft that fell apart (ran out of spots to hold down the console even with toggles and the cockpit deck eventually separated from the gunnel) and eventually sank. The old ones and new ones may be OK, but there were a lot of duds in the middle. There is also a lot of wood in them that goes to punk so the best used ones are old boats that have been competently rebuilt. I enjoyed the boat a lot, but the regulator is way more solid and rides better, of that I am certain. As for the regulator, the 20 degree is no issue (it worried me as well but I drove the boat I wanted to buy through the worst stuff I'd be out in and it performed much better than my seacraft with its deeper V). I've had it for 8 years now and it has gotten me home through very nasty stuff (as in 35-40 kts NW against a big tide off WH). The advantage of the regulator is its weight. It is about 700 lbs heavier than my seacraft was and weight is huge determinant of seakeeping ability in a small boat. I looked at contenders as well. They are lighter, faster, and more fuel efficient, but get air born too easily for my taste. I don't run offshore so perhaps the contender is better for that. The contender is not as solidly built as the regulator, which is why it is lighter. The real problems with the regulator are power related. Most of them out there are powered with Yami 200 HPDI's. These are fussy engines in the gasahol era. Although when running right they are great, keeping them running right is difficult and expensive. They were designed before gasahol and depend on critically clean fuel. They have multiple filters deep in the engine that are hard and expensive to change (there is a high pressure pump filter that is a 400+ job and six injector filters that are about 100 each). If you don't clean these before they plug, which means every three years, and they absolutely will plug because the alcohol carries dissolved material that bypasses the 10 micron filter, the VST filter, and the medium pressure fuel line filter (itself a $180 item), at best the engine will run like crap and at worst you will stop oiling a cylinder and seize the engine (learned both the hard way). At very least if you get a used HPDI plan on spending $1200-1500 bucks to clean all the filters BEFORE the first season you use it. At the end of the 21 regulator run they churned out some reconfigured for 4 stroke engines (the FS models). My boat was stern heavy with the HPDI. I repowered with a 225 Yami offshore series (that was lighter than the old 200 4 stroke series but heavier than the HPDI). It doesn't quite fit the engine well (but is passable) and makes the boat even more stern heavy even after moving the batteries. The boat is definitely overpowered but performs better than with the HPDI so so far I'm happy (but 23,000 bucks poorer..... 8000 more than a new HPDI which goes to show how much I didn't want to go there again). Storage in the boat is also disappointing. As for the 23 Regulator, these are under powered with the old 4 stoke Yamis. Find one without an engine and put a new 300hp offshore on it and you'd be in business. Don't buy a 20 foot boat with a T-top.