Sorry for taking this discussion back a little, but the coaster 23's, besides serving as pleasure boats, were also doing duty as small commercial fishing trollers. I have a shot of one with fishing gear, that was located up in Prince Rupert, B.C., I believe.
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It is true that they do seem to ride down by the bow a little. I have observed this myself, (since there are a couple that I have seen operating around here), exactly as a fishing boat will look, putting out to sea, without a full load of fish. They have a big `behind' to carry all that fish, when coming home! So, if one is not into commercial fishing, and most of us aren't, for these particular boats, a lot of the heavy weight as was previously pointed out must be put in the stern area, to balance things out.
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This is a semi-displacement design, so, with enough power, they will get up on a semi-plane, so too much weight aft, for that purpose, probably wouldn't be too good, but that would likely use the hp on the top end, and use a lot of fuel. For those of us who like to eco-boat and are fuel misers, a smaller engine at displacement speeds is the best way to use this great little troller design. (Note, troller, not trawler.)
-- Edited by Dabnis on Friday 17th of June 2011 07:45:31 PM
-- Edited by Dabnis on Friday 17th of June 2011 07:55:33 PM