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Hi to all at Seahunter Boats:
I wanted to thank all of you at Seahunter Boats for the beautiful Seahunter 35’ you built for my son and me. There is not another center console on the market which combines the speed, offshore ride, build quality, efficiency, range and value of the Seahunter 35’. I could not be more pleased with any product or purchase. For the price (or less) of a production boat you get a hand built boat of the finest materials, as custom as you want it. The complete experience working with Charlie and Ralph from the boat specifications to delivery and maintenance has been fantastic.
Last June my son and I spent three weeks in the Bahamas on the Seahunter, traveling from Naples to Bimini in one easy day. Day two was lunch in the Exumas and we continued on by adventuring thru the Exumas, Long Island, Conception Island, Rum Cay and Andros. All but one week was spent anchoring out, sleeping on the deck. We have traveled for years in the Bahamas on an old Hatteras, but the freedom you have on a big, fast center console is a far better experience. You can fish one area, swim or dive in another, run to a great spot for dinner and run back to your favorite anchorage to sleep. The evenings are cool and bugs are no problem. We had a backpacking tent in case of rain, a collapsible sunshade for the cockpit, two beanbag chairs, an Engel 12 volt freezer for bait, campstove and a good cooler. It is the only way to travel. Get yourself a 35’ or 40’ Seahunter and we will hope to see you this summer in Rum Cay looking for big fish. I welcome any inquiries about Seahunters, or light, fast travel in the Islands. Ciao.
John and Kyle O’Connell
Naples, Florida |
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Hi Charlie,
My SeaHunter 18 has been just great to fish from this past year and I wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed it. Barnegat Bay’s 1 to 2-foot short chop is no match for the SeaHunter! Winter fishing was good in for us in Stuart and Jupiter, and then spring and early summer back home in New Jersey with striped bass and bluefish on light tackle and fly was exceptionally good. I have really appreciated the SeaHunter’s deck layout, running performance and fishability. It’s a terrific boat! I have to fight my wife to get the helm – she likes running it as much as I do. If you need a New Jersey recommendation, I’d be happy to tell a prospective buyer about how the SeaHunter handles “up north.”
Question for you, I understand you rigged another SeaHunter 18 with an Evinrude E-Tec 90, same as mine. I’m curious about the prop you eventually selected. I’m running an Evinrude Viper, 3-blade, 13.88 X 15” stainless steel wheel, topping out at 33 knots at 5400 rpm, full fuel, just me on board, engine tilted up slightly and no tab. How does this compare with the new boat? Do you recommend a 4-blade wheel – if so, what specs.
Thanks for your help – please say “Hi” to Mickey Brelsford.
Catch ‘em up!
Pete Barrett
Freelance Writer: Marlin, Game & Fish, FlyFishing in Saltwaters, Eastern Fly Fishing
Editor At Large: The Fisherman
Author: Trolling for Striped Bass & Bluefish, Fishing for Tuna & Marlin, Fishing for Sharks, Saltwater Fishing Guide
IGFA Representative: New Jersey |
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Charlie,
I would like to thank you for all your efforts regarding the purchase of "Pitiann" the 2004, Seahunter 35' I purchased last week. You will be pleased to know Charlie Carricarte is doing an excellent job representing your brand in the after sales market. But, I am sure you already know this to be a fact. You can recommend him, with confidence, to anyone considering listing a Seahunter for resale.
Your team did a superb job detailing and reconditioning my 35. As you know I am a yacht broker in Ft. Lauderdale and have sold many lines of new sail and power yachts in the last 15 years. I'm ashamed to admit I have never experienced such great service from any yacht manufactures I have represented. I appreciated your quick response to my questions. Your after sales support is top notch.
The tour of your factory was very impressive. But, what was really convincing was my maiden voyage from south Miami to Ft. Lauderdale. I ran offshore with 20kts of wind from the north east at 30 mph staying very dry while enjoying a smooth ride. Wow, what a ride offshore!
We fished the Pompano Beach Fishing Rodeo last weekend. As you may have heard the fish didn't cooperate although, my 35 did and ran great making daily runs north of Boca.
I look forward to visiting your new facility when it is completed.
STALEY WEIDMAN III (CPYB), YACHT OWNERSHIP
2003, 2004 & 2005 LAGOON BROKER OF THE YEAR
Licensed Yacht and Ship Broker, Lic #4235
THE CATAMARAN COMPANY & Esserman Yacht Sales
4005 N. Federal Highway
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308 |
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 Last year I was in the market for a new boat, one that would take me anywhere out to sea and back with a smooth and fast ride. I was looking for strength and reliability in the design and construction and a product that would stand out from the rest. I thought I had found my boat and was in the process of reviewing my sales contract with a major competing company when I heard about this new boat and company called Seahunter. Curiosity got the best of me and I had to see it before I went through with the deal.
I headed down to the Seahunter factory and met with Ralph Montalvo, SeaHunter’s owner and he introduced me to his boats and more importantly his Seahunter family. After seeing the Tournament 35’ for the first time there was only one thing left to do for me and that was to see it in action. I was treated to a test run on a 35’ that had been purchased a year before. I was blown away; by far the best ride and feel of any of the competing boats that I had been on in my long and tedious search. The boat sold itself in its performance on the water, and I said, “That’s my boat.” I pulled back the contract I had on the table with the other company and immediately signed with Seahunter.
Upon receiving my completed boat I was not disappointed in the least bit, all my expectations were met and fully exceeded and the boat has preformed amazingly. All requests and services to the boat have been met with no hassle and I have been treated to work with them on a first name bases. Not only does Seahunter make the best boats, it’s the people who stand behind them are truly the best. Thanks Ralph and company for making such a great product!
Ron Marrocco
Captain of the Lady Blue
Seahunter owner since 2005 |
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Ralph,
Your new website looks great, really polished. I was impressed with your 35
Tournament, the "Money Shot". I fished with Manny for 2 day around
thanksgiving and I couldn't believe the ride. Being out 50 miles I was
getting ready to be beaten the whole way back and what a surprise the best
ride I have ever had in a boat any boat.
Your company looks like its doing well, I hope you and your whole family are
doing just as well.
If I can help you with anything up here in the panhandle let me know.
Paul Myrtetus |
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2002 Grand Champion, WWIFC Tarpon Series
2001 Grand Champion, Golden Fly Tarpon Tournament
2000 Miami Met Tarpon Master |
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| I have fished with Capt Traad for 8 years. The SeaHunter 18 has a
smooth dry ride. We fished 7 tarpon tournaments in the last 4 years
and fished the last two in the SeaHunter. You can't pick your
weather when fishing tournaments and the runs to where the fish are
can be really long. It was a pleasure to ride in and fish from the
SeaHunter last
year. |
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In the year after Captain Tony Traad bought his new Sea Hunter 18, I fished with him in excess of forty days. On those trips, we fished in calm, shallow water for tailing bonefish; we fished for permit with huge runouts clashing with twenty-knot wind; we sight-fished tarpon; we dredged them in channels and creeks; and we stalked them laid up on glass-calm flats.
Tonyâs Sea Hunter, as a fishing platform, did all that we asked. However, that is not what really got me thinking seriously about purchasing a Sea Hunter. Where, in my mind, this boat left its competitors behind was when we rounded the East Cape on afternoons with a twenty-knot northeast wind pushing a two-foot chop in our faces. Sea Hunter got up on top of the chop and rode them like a dream, and we never got wet once in that year. When other captains and sports were forced by the weather to stay in port, Tony and I were out fishing. I had been considering buying a flats skiff for the last year, but since I live in the San Francisco Bay area, I was reluctant to buy a boat just to use a few months a year in the Keys. Once I saw what he-man seas the Sea Hunter could tame, I knew that it could double for my West-Coast application of fishing the San Francisco Bay and San Joaquin/Sacramento River Deltas for striped bass. I am sure Iâll be the only flats skiff out there, but there are guides using them in New England for stripers. Who knows, I may start a fad? But whether or not I will ever be poling the flats of San Francisco Bay sight-fishing stripers, I do know that my new Sea Hunter will be able to handle any conditions my home water may dish out |
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Fishing is my lifelong passion. Being born and raised in Miami I began fishing in the canals and lakes of Miami as a kid in 1967. My first boat was a ten foot Sears jon boat with a 6hp Johnson. By 1994, after twenty sevens years of marriage and two kids, I graduated to an eighteen-foot top of the line backcountry skiff. That skiff did the job but was lacking at times in performance, quality, and greater multifunctional capabilities. 
About six months ago, I saw an advertisement for SeaHunter boats in a local fishing publication. The hull design caught my interest. So, on a whim I ran by the factory on a Saturday morning. Well, after two or three hours of detailed questions by me, and those same detailed answers by Captain Greg Lynch, I knew I found something that would deliver all my needs. Over the next few weeks, I did a bit more research, stopped by the factory a few more times, watched several boats under construction, and decided all I needed was a wet test.
The boat performed to my expectations and on top of that, the crew at SeaHunter was a joy to work with. Joey was great with the rigging; Jodi and Ralph were always very pleasant and helpful, and Greg was very patient and very open to new ideas, and very detailed with my technical questions. I have owned the SeaHunter 18 now for more than four months and it is a joy to take out. The boat handles and rides so much better then my previous boat. In many ways, it is superior. The customer service at SeaHunter is just as superior as the boat they made for me. I glad to be a member of the SeaHunter team and to say that I can call Greg, Joey, Jodi, Ralph, Tony and Charlie friends.
Michael Cugno,
Princeton, Florida |
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Recently, I've had the pleasure of fishing off of the Sea Hunter 18'4 with Tony and Charlie of Sea Hunter Boats. She is simply a well designed, well laid out fishing machine.
She's light & quite enough to deem it a true Skinny Water Poling Skiff. With a 150 Merc, she flew at 55+ MPH and poled in 8" of water, and that's with three grown men! Unlike many of the other "Poling Skiffs" on the market, she endured the open waters of Charlotte Harbor without soaking us with spray and breaking our backs, not to mention, her fit, finish and quality of craftsmanship surpasses any Maverick/Hewes/Pathfinder or Action Craft I've ever owned or fished in!
My next Boat will most certainly be a new Sea Hunter!
Capt. Allan Beraquit
http://www.floridalighttacklecharters.com/ |
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Michael S. Cugno, Jr.