The Sea Class 17 build as requested

[Gary Tanner]

Tony, my knowledge of fiberglass is 40 years old, talk about LOL! I do go to a couple boatbuilding forums, and gleaned some knowledge there, as well as here. And I have to laugh about wanting to build a duckboat...I have a set of Arthur Anderson Broadbill plans that I bought 30+ years ago! Someday... And I'm sensitive as well to your well-placed comment about health risks. We never wore masks back then, and the air was full of 'glass and bondo dust. I worked two summers in a plant that used a lot of asbestos, and I have a spot that is being monitored on a lung because of it. Enough of that...I have the best masks I can buy now!

I'm enjoying watching your work!
Gary

 

[Tony H]

Tony, my knowledge of fiberglass is 40 years old, talk about LOL! I do go to a couple boatbuilding forums, and gleaned some knowledge there, as well as here. And I have to laugh about wanting to build a duckboat...I have a set of Arthur Anderson Broadbill plans that I bought 30+ years ago! Someday... And I'm sensitive as well to your well-placed comment about health risks. We never wore masks back then, and the air was full of 'glass and bondo dust. I worked two summers in a plant that used a lot of asbestos, and I have a spot that is being monitored on a lung because of it. Enough of that...I have the best masks I can buy now!

I'm enjoying watching your work!
Gary

Thanks Gary, the bigger boats are new for us but the technology is the same. Quite frankly with a couple new pieces of equipment for moving the big molds and parts around I enjoy building them. Believe it or not I get a rush when we pop the part and everything went as planned and worked perfectly. Build that boat Gary you will get so much time and enjoyment out of it.

 

[Tony H]

As we progress, the Liner is now installed with plexus and we took the time to also glass the sides of the liner to the hull for a very important reason. The old Sea Class 17's were known for the decoy lines etc getting caught between the liner and hull so we have wrapped that edge in glass to prevent anything from getting hung up in that area. Also you can see the plexus seal in the rear bilge area and the same seal is in the front bow area. Now we are installing the 7 interior LED lights, 3 down each side and one in the bow storage area. then the switch panel goes in along with the small round storage hatch. Getting closer everyday fella's. Our west coast dealer is here and helping/learning so he will have the knowledge and experience to provide you with the right information. Hope you enjoy the photos and the little changes being made that are so very important.
We plan for the Sea Class TDB's to be the BEST duck boat in the country once again real soon.

BTW a Sea Class 17 package that includes blind, decoy curtains, led lighting, navigation lighting, locking cover in solid grey or Olive is $14000.00 Add your trailer and motor and hit the water. Or we can get you a very nice trailer for under 1500 that will fit the boat properly and is rated for 2k lbs. Motors call to discuss. Now the good stuff the photos.

And the deck sitting here waiting.

 

[Tony H]

apologies to everyone for my slacking in updates on the Sea Class 17. This past week we have had our West coast Dealer here working on another project and learning how we build the duck boats and also Jayson Wilt has been here for a couple... days seeing how we do things as well. As of today most of the hardware is installed, electrical ran and interior almost complete. Today we hope to install the deck and grass rails. And the new trailer arrives.

Here is a teaser to get the blood flowing again.

 

[Tony H]

As promised. the first sea class 17 is now resting on a properly sized trailer, hardware installed and now waiting to be dressed up all sexy so she can take her madien voyage real soon. Then she gets a bath and some final trimming and such.

Who wants one

 

[David Robinson]

Tony,

I can only imagine how good it must feel to look at that beauty and know that you build her with your own hands. She is an amazing boat that needs to spend some time at my house Nice build!

 

[Bill Clark]

Tony,
Nice job,looks good.
Looking at your pictures the bottom of the hull looks very similar to my 17' classic ,how do they differ?
Thanks,Bill.

 

[Tony H]

David very kind words and we had a little help from our West Coast dealer and my wife the other half of this company who does here fair share. When your ready for one we would love to put one in your driveway. :0)


Bill From what I have been told and comparing it to the 17 classic I have here the hulls are the same other than the sea class is slightly taller on the sides. And only slightly.

 

[Tony H]

I must say when we bought the company and the molds we were quite overwhelmed with the size etc and not ever building a larger boat we had to resort to my great friend who has been working for formula boats for over 25 years and trust me these are babies compared to what he builds every week at work. With out him we would have been lost. But with his great knowledge and ability to offer his services and knowledge we are now more than ready to build these boats better than ever before. We welcome anyone to come look at them and judge them and will even put you up for a night in our very own office, lodge for our customers.

More to come everyone were not quite done with this one yet. Stick around. Thoughts and comments are welcome.

 

[Tony H]

Tomorrow we may try to get this on the scale and see what it weighs. I am very curious to see how close we are. Something to note. look at how the boat sits on the trailer and that its nicely leveled and fits properly. The wheels are NOT under the boat but out side the chines where they should be.

 

[Paul W]

Clean as a whistle.

 

[RLLigman]

Tony, I am pretty sure you may want to consider adding a trailer roller and bracket under the keel about three to four feet back from the bow on the trailer tongue section. This boat won't slide readily off the carpeted bunks and will need to be backed-in pretty deep, particularly when fully loaded beyond batteries, motor, and fuel. With a battery or two, motor and one or more full tanks of gas on board, the keel section up by the bow will scrape the trailer when the boat is launched, particularly on a steep ramp.

Here is a reference photo of another Sea Class 17. No, I would not recommend a roller trailer, other than an in-line roller trailer for a foam cored boat like the Sea Class or a Bankes-these maximize the liklihood of "dimpling" the hull at the rollers on the type of trailer rollers pictured.

View attachment TDB 17SC3.jpg

 

[Tony H]

Tony, I am pretty sure you may want to consider adding a trailer roller and bracket under the keel about three to four feet back from the bow on the trailer tongue section. This boat won't slide readily off the carpeted bunks and will need to be backed-in pretty deep, particularly when fully loaded beyond batteries, motor, and fuel. With a battery or two, motor and one or more full tanks of gas on board, the keel section up by the bow will scrape the trailer when the boat is launched, particularly on a steep ramp.

Here is a reference photo of another Sea Class 17. No, I would not recommend a roller trailer, other than an in-line roller trailer for a foam cored boat like the Sea Class or a Bankes-these maximize the liklihood of "dimpling" the hull at the rollers on the type of trailer rollers pictured.

Funny you should say that and I was wondering if anyone would notice. We have a roller on the way from Loadrite. That was the first thing I noticed. Good Eye!

 

[Tony H]

Picked up the blind today and I must say I am impressed. We made a couple changes to it and have a couple others in store. The top cover piece now has a zipper on both sides so that it can be completely removed when not in use and be stored out of the way. and each of the zippers have rain guards as well. Keep in mind these blinds are professionally done and designed and you will not find another blind that compares to the quality and workmanship of these. Stay tuned for close ups of the design and work.

We are going to be adding a couple options to the blinds. we will be adding an extension to the back to allow you to raise the roof a foot and be able to shoot out of 3 sides while covered overhead and be seated. All a simple featuer that will take only a minute or 2 to install and remove from the stock blind set up. And in the future we plan to add the option to allow you to to allow the full run of the cockpit area as well when you need it and to remove when you dont. Again some simple add on options that only take minutes to install and or remove. But we understand the need for that extra 3ft of room inside so we are working on a option extention kit to allow just that on all our new model blinds. These WILL NOT WORK with older blinds. But will be a simple snap in option for the new ones. And as from day one we want your opinions and are working extremely hard to find a way to make everyone happy and I am confident that the blind changes and options we are moving forward with in the near future will allow just that. Not much taking place right at this moment. The boat is done and waiting on power and the dressings. We got the blind, decoy curtains etc in today and have started to install them and are going to hang a 50hp 4 stroke on her and try to do some water trials later this week. We hope everyone is enjoying the thread and I hate to say but were just about done with this one and it will be time to move on to next one.

 

[Tony H]

And the power has been added to this one. Note the wiring hole is cut waiting on the boot to arrive to route everything through the well. Drain tubes go in for the splash well next and then off to the water for a test run. All interior is wired and working. The LED lights look great! The Motor cover fits very nice as well.

 

[GregL]

What great thread, very nice build!

Can I order that motor cover for a 75 Yamaha 4 stroke?

 

[Tony H]

We here she is all dressed up. We have decided to use the same style mount as previously and a few snaps on the blind edges just to keep things taught and tight and with clean lines. I think it turned out wonderful. Installing the decoy curtains now and she will be all done.

We will be adding a 12" section to the roof which now zips on and off for storage and with the 12" zip in section you can create a covered roof that will allow open sides and front as well. This will be an option package for the blind during purchase. The sewing lady is working on that now. It will also be adaptable to all our blinds. I also believe we gained about 12" more room inside the boat with the way we have done the blinds yet kept the angles and shapes to prevent shadows as designed.

 

[Tony H]

Well the time has come to put an end to this long windy details thread of the Sea Class 17 build. It is complete. A few things worthy of notation. The blind fits perfectly all snaps and buckles create a nice snug fit and the roof is zippered so it can easily be removed when not needed. Also the roof fits over the top properly and snug as a bug. Another big feature is we use the exact same 4 angled uprights on all 4 posts so no more fighting to make sure you have the right one in the right place. We did find one small glitch in the blind and that is we need to change the placement of the straps to roll the blind up and store on the sides of the deck. and add a 4th strap. Also this blind is green all future blinds will be a kahki tan color on this color or camo boats. We will offer a grey blind for the open water version. As for the boat itself it couldn't have came out better. All the molds and build schedules were perfect and the results speak for themselves. When we first saw these molds we were indeed concerned about how this would end up and I am proud to say its been a blast and we cannot wait to start the next one. So thank you to everyone following and commenting on the thread and we hope you have enjoyed it as well as we have. Have a great summer.
Enjoy the photos.

 

[David Robinson]

Great looking boat, Tony. Thanks for sharing the journey with all of us. It was really cool seeing the entire boat come together.

 

[Phil Nowack]

Are you going to offer a camo gel coat, or only the olive drab?