This Seacruiser 8000 build marked a new chapter in Seacruiser's history; with the development of a new pilot house cabin design with a forward raking windscreen. We redeveloped the entire hull to accommodate, added lots of goodies; and the end product was an absolute fishing weapon!
The cabin is the largest point of difference. The forward raking windscreen design has become quite popular with other aluminium boat brands, and the demand was there for a Seacruiser with a pilot house design. The cabin is huge, very spacious with a massive front bunk; ideal for the buyer as he had room for all his kids to relax up on the front cabin lounges. The drivers seat sat atop boxes containing sealed hatches to hold tackle boxes in a neat and convenient location. The passenger seat box held a custom built fridge slide (with an Anderson plug for the fridge), with a cushion and a hinged lid. Both seats were luxury leather Relaxn Cruiser seats; finished in black to complement the dark trimming of the cabin, and each had fabricated foor rests underneath. Sliding windows were fitted both side for breeze on those hot summer days. The whole cabin was lined and wrapped for a neat and clean finish. On the dash we had a GME GX750 radio, a Fusion RA60 stereo with 6.5" speakers (and 2.4m aerials for both on the roof), voltmeter, cig lighter and USB sockets, displays for each motor and the autopilot system, Ritchie compass, and a Scanstrut wireless phone charger.
There was plenty of our favourite Garmin gear on this boat! The huge dash held two 16" Garmin 8416 units, running Navionics Vision+ charts. These units, through a Garmin GSD28 sonar module, ran two thru hull transducers; a SS175HW and SS175L. There was also an MSC10 satellite compass on the roof for accurate positioning, and a Garmin Fantom 24x radar also up there. In addition, we fitted the Garmin Reactor 40 hydraulic corepack with the GHC 50 autopilot.
On the transom we had twin 250hp fly-by-wire Suzuki outboards, controlled by Seastar hydraulic steering. The ride is precisely adjusted by our preferred Lectrotab trim tabs. The deck featured a side door, and the whole boat was covered top to bottom in beautiful custom DECKD flooring. Up on the bow was a Lone Star GX3 anchor winch, a bulletproof unit made down in Melbourne. This held 300m of 5mm hi spec rope. We had two Stedi cube lights up on top of the cabin for deck lighting, as well as additional lights inside the cabin and v-berth areas. Also on the roof was a Stedi 22" double row lightbar, and Hella red/white under gunnel lights for side pocket lighting. There was a Travel Buddy marine oven fitted under the dash to keep the boys fed with pies on the water, maybe some nuggets and chips when the kids are out!
When the tuna are running, outriggers are an essential; we fitted 'That's Fishing' Swingers outrigger bases with 15 foot Precision Rods poles onto the roof. There was a bit of custom work on the fabrication side; six cupholders along the gunnels and bait board, a handrail on the live bait tank, and transom storage for wet items such as a sea anchor. The side pockets were well equipped, with Plaztek gaff holders, U-Dek flooring underneath, and Hella lighting. On the rear floor we had a massive 300L Icey Tek esky, a popular option on these Seacruisers; which both doubles as fish storage but also a seat. On the gunnels we also fitted two anderson plugs for electric reels, no messy cables and batteries on the floor.
Electrical wise, we had our twin battery system on the transom with two M31 Delkor marine batteries, and an Allion 105ah lithium which ran the fridge under the passenger seat. Of course, we had this one on a custom Easytow alloy trailer, with some massive 16" alloy wheels, a Boat Catch and Boat Buckles.
This boat has been much loved by the owner and his family, catching some great fish from in close out to the continental shelf. Great to see it go to a good home, and we loved building it!