Jeff Reardon
Well-known member
It's been a long summer, but I've finally had some chances to play with the Grumman Sportboat after a repaint and powering with a 6 HP Suzuki 4 stroke.
First--the paint. Not much to say. Lou's FME in dead grass green is still good stuff. Took two coats to cover, after a lot of sanding and self-etching rattle can aluminum primer. No photos--it's a sanding and paint job, you all have seen before.
My original plan was to cartop this, and that will still be plan when I have a strong partner and am using it in remote spots where a trailer won't work. But the combination of my growing age, 120+ pounds of boat, and no center thwart to help with car-topping convinced me to stick it on a trailer for most use. Much less work!
My early forays with it were all to small and fairly protected waters, and it is, with one exception, a very seaworthy boat for a low-freeboard, short, square stern canoe. Actually the design is more boat like than that, which adds a lot more function than another 15' square stern would have. But it is really sensitive to balance. A 55 pound motor and my bulk on the stern seat is badly unbalanced. Runs much better with a partner in the bow. When solo, I've added a 5 gallon bucket of road sand in the bow and that seems to balance it well.
I sure would not want to run this with a larger motor as many recommend. With the 6 hp, it is very much a displacement hull, hitting about 8.5 mph at half throttle and with favorable wind or tide up to 10.5 mph at WOT. For my uses, that's just fine and there is no need for more.
After getting used to it in small freshwater ponds, I've given it some maiden voyages in protected salty spots, all in search of stripers. First was a small protected salt marsh river, where it proved its mettle running with the motor tilted up in as little as a foot of water, and with motor lifted poling across a shallow flat in 8" of water to beat the falling tide back to the launch, all with two adults in the boat. Very pleased with that.
More recently I decided that the combination of a gloriously good tide for stripers, nice warm water, a flat calm windless forecast, and a season with lots of other boats on the water were perfect for a shakedown cruise in Casco Bay--a pretty protected part of the Bay, but still, bigger water than I'd originally intended to use it in.
It worked just fine.
Here's just under WOT.
Dee Dee liked the ride so much the first time she came out with on a dawn patrol trip.
That was an epic morning for stripers. Nobody else on the water, and stripers feeding on the surface on small bait that was perfect for matching with flies. We had actively feeding fish for over 3 hours. They ranged from small schoolies in the 12-15" range (which are good to see after a few years of pretty poor spawning success) up to the mid-20's.
I had so much fun I went back out a few days later for a solo trip where the fish were not as visible or in such numbers, but some larger fish were around. I landed fish up to about 28". I broke off one striper that seemed to be a lot bigger, but all the lost ones seem that way.
Next steps. (1) Add a stick on ruler to that seat. (Done!)
(2) Need to find a way to mount bow and stern lights. I've always used clamp on lights, and that will work for the stern, but that high bow has nothing to clamp to that will be visible. Thoughts from the hive will be welcome. (
3) Need to add a bow eye for proper position on the trailer. I am not relishing this, as it will mean opening up the bow compartment, pulled out the floating foam, and trying to figure out how to replace it and re-seal. Neither cutting into the aluminum nor removing the rivets is attractive. Again, thoughts welcome.
(4) Would really love an extended tiller so I can operate from the center seat and ditch the ~60 pounds of sand in the bow when solo. But even if that works for the throttle, I'll be too far forward to reach the gear shift. Surely there are possible solutions for this?
In the meantime, more stripers, and perhaps some early season duck trips, are in the works.
First--the paint. Not much to say. Lou's FME in dead grass green is still good stuff. Took two coats to cover, after a lot of sanding and self-etching rattle can aluminum primer. No photos--it's a sanding and paint job, you all have seen before.
My original plan was to cartop this, and that will still be plan when I have a strong partner and am using it in remote spots where a trailer won't work. But the combination of my growing age, 120+ pounds of boat, and no center thwart to help with car-topping convinced me to stick it on a trailer for most use. Much less work!
My early forays with it were all to small and fairly protected waters, and it is, with one exception, a very seaworthy boat for a low-freeboard, short, square stern canoe. Actually the design is more boat like than that, which adds a lot more function than another 15' square stern would have. But it is really sensitive to balance. A 55 pound motor and my bulk on the stern seat is badly unbalanced. Runs much better with a partner in the bow. When solo, I've added a 5 gallon bucket of road sand in the bow and that seems to balance it well.
I sure would not want to run this with a larger motor as many recommend. With the 6 hp, it is very much a displacement hull, hitting about 8.5 mph at half throttle and with favorable wind or tide up to 10.5 mph at WOT. For my uses, that's just fine and there is no need for more.
After getting used to it in small freshwater ponds, I've given it some maiden voyages in protected salty spots, all in search of stripers. First was a small protected salt marsh river, where it proved its mettle running with the motor tilted up in as little as a foot of water, and with motor lifted poling across a shallow flat in 8" of water to beat the falling tide back to the launch, all with two adults in the boat. Very pleased with that.
More recently I decided that the combination of a gloriously good tide for stripers, nice warm water, a flat calm windless forecast, and a season with lots of other boats on the water were perfect for a shakedown cruise in Casco Bay--a pretty protected part of the Bay, but still, bigger water than I'd originally intended to use it in.
It worked just fine.
Here's just under WOT.
Dee Dee liked the ride so much the first time she came out with on a dawn patrol trip.
That was an epic morning for stripers. Nobody else on the water, and stripers feeding on the surface on small bait that was perfect for matching with flies. We had actively feeding fish for over 3 hours. They ranged from small schoolies in the 12-15" range (which are good to see after a few years of pretty poor spawning success) up to the mid-20's.
I had so much fun I went back out a few days later for a solo trip where the fish were not as visible or in such numbers, but some larger fish were around. I landed fish up to about 28". I broke off one striper that seemed to be a lot bigger, but all the lost ones seem that way.
Next steps. (1) Add a stick on ruler to that seat. (Done!)
(2) Need to find a way to mount bow and stern lights. I've always used clamp on lights, and that will work for the stern, but that high bow has nothing to clamp to that will be visible. Thoughts from the hive will be welcome. (
3) Need to add a bow eye for proper position on the trailer. I am not relishing this, as it will mean opening up the bow compartment, pulled out the floating foam, and trying to figure out how to replace it and re-seal. Neither cutting into the aluminum nor removing the rivets is attractive. Again, thoughts welcome.
(4) Would really love an extended tiller so I can operate from the center seat and ditch the ~60 pounds of sand in the bow when solo. But even if that works for the throttle, I'll be too far forward to reach the gear shift. Surely there are possible solutions for this?
In the meantime, more stripers, and perhaps some early season duck trips, are in the works.
