After having the World Cat 270TE for about a year it had become apparent that my wife was not as happy with the center console as I was and if I wanted her to spend more time on the boat I was going to have to find a better compromise. To satisfy Kelly's requirements we needed a boat where she could get out of the wind when cruising along at speed, had an enclosed head, had an area she could 'hide' in the event of a storm, and she wouldn't consider making the trip to the Bahamas in any thing less than 30 feet. With those requirements and my desire for a boat that could still be fished hard I started looking for walkarounds and expresses in the 30 foot range. I set a budget limit of $100K which eliminated the only catamarans (WC 320EC, GB 3480) that came close to meeting the other requirements.
After identifying as many candidates as possible I started taking a closer look at them and the one that quickly popped to the top of the list was the Pursuit 3070 Offshore CC. It's actually a walk-around but it has an interesting helm deck configuration with a centered helm that's positioned farther aft than most walk-arounds and seating in front of the helm area. There is enough seating for six people to be protected from the weather if needed. It has a small cabin with a V-birth, an enclosed head, and 'galley' with sink/refrigerator/microwave. The boat has a 10'6" beam, 32'8" LOA, 21 degree transom deadrise, carries 310 gallons of fuel, and ready-to-fish weighs in the area of 12,000-13,000 lbs. It has a spacious cockpit with a nice sized fishbox, transom livewell, and lockable storage for 12 rods under the helm deck.
After deciding that the 3070 Offshore CC was number one on the list I started studying the used boat market because Pursuit stopped building this model in the 2004 model year. Production of the model started in 1999 and up until model year 2002 all the boats were rigged with Yamaha 0x66 250s. After 2002 almost all the boats were rigged with Yamaha F225s. Since our World Cat has nice quiet 4-stroke F225s it was doubtful that we would be willing to go back to the loud, smokey, gas swilling 2 stroke engines.
I found a boat that was listed in Pompano Beach that was priced significantly below comparables so I gave them a call to get information on the boat. It turns out the boat had been traded in to Midnight Express and Ryan from ME was happy to show us the boat and let us take it for a ride. So Kelly and I took a day off work and drove down to Pompano Beach. We both really liked the way the boat was layed out and we also agreed that if we decided to buy the boat we would want to repower with 4-stroke engines immediately. We were able to agree on a (very low) price and Midnight Express agreed to handle the repower. We were able to buy the boat and repower it with new Yamaha F250s and stay well under the $100K budget (after we sold the old Yamaha 250s). We bought the new 2006 Yamaha F250s from Ed's Marine in VA and got the additional 3 year extended warranty on the engines for free. We also had to replace the tachs because the old tachs were not compatible with the new 4-stroke engines.
Feb 10, 2006 --- These pictures were taken on the first day we drove down to Pompano Beach to look at and take a ride on the 3070.
Feb 23, 2006 --- These pictures were taken on the day the boat was surveyed by Bill Potter of Potter Marine Services. Bill is also a Yamaha certified mechanic which was convenient. The engines checked out fine and the other significant issues Bill found with the boat were dealt with by Midnight Express.
April 14 --- It took Midnight Express 6 weeks to get the boat ready for delivery. Sheer agony. But I can understand that our 'beater' boat was not a high priority for them relative to their usual $300k-$400k center consoles. They did a great job on the engine rigging and other minor issues found during the survey.
This photo was taken in the slip in New Smyrna Beach on the first weekend after I drove the boat up from Pompano Beach. I left Pompano Beach at 9:45 AM (0 hours on the engines) and arrived at our friend's dock in New Smyrna Beach at 10:30PM. That was a long day. But it was great to finally have the boat 'home'.
And then I started the process of removing the old electronics and installing new electronics, outriggers, etc. New electronics == so much for the $100K budget. ;) We are installing a Furuno 1944C 6kw open array radar with BBFF1 black box sonar, and a Garmin 3010 with XM satellite weather/audio system. The Furuno will be used for sonar, radar, and backup navigation. The Garmin will be used for navigation and weather. The boat already has a nice Simrad AP21 autopilot which we are keeping. I also replaced the stereo head unit with one that has variable AUX input (needed for the XM audio) and it also plays MP3s. I also replaced the wired remote with one that has an LCD display which makes it much more user friendly. Finally I replaced the Icom m59 VHF/4' antenna with a new Icom 422 VHF and Shakespeare 5225xt 8' antenna.
Since the boat didn't have outriggers I installed Taco GS-250A bases with Lee 3718 18' poles.
Version 1.0 of the new dash panel.
One of the great features of the boat is the storage compartment under the helm. I can fit 12 fishing rigs (six TLD 25/30 trolling, six spinning) in there and it makes a great place for bulk storage when we make our annual 2 week trip to the Abacos.
Our first trip to "Disappearing Island" with the new boat and the dogs.
Originally I planned to mount the Furuno 10.4" display on the left, the Garmin 3010 in the middle, and leave the Simrad autopilot remote on the right. I wanted to mount them this way because the Furuno hotkeys are along the right side of the screen and the Garmin hotkeys are along the bottom of the screen and the steering wheel would slightly block the view of the Garmin hotkeys if it was mounted on the left. After removing the old electronic displays from the dash it looked like the compass base protruded too far down and the Furuno wouldn't fit on the left so I ended up mounting the Garmin on the left and the Furuno in the middle (Version 1.0). After replacing the very basic wired remote control for the Clarion stereo head unit with the newer version with an LCD display it became apparent that having the autopilot remote cord drape on top of the stereo remote was not going to work so I began working on dash panel version 2.0. While designing dash panel 2.0 I played around with the positioning of the Furuno and I discovered that it actually fit under the compass base so I swapped the positions of the Furuno and Garmin displays. I have had an opportunity to spend a lot of time in the garage working with starboard panels as I also made a new panel to mount the new VHF radio in.
Version 2.0 of the dash panel works much better than version 1.0.
June 2006 -- We took the Pursuit over to the Abacos for 11 days in late June/July. Here we are bringing down the property values at Finest Kind Marina in Stuart. Here is a link to a photo album from this trip.
April 2007 --- We finally got the name on the transom. In order to prepare (clean up) the transom we had the 2-stroke oil fills removed and the holes glassed and gelcoated. We also had the screw holes from the swim ladder brackets and cheesy plastic rod holders fixed as well. Kelly designed the name graphic with the help of ___ at the Palm Beach boat show. She did a great job. We got the name sticker in the mail about a week later and applied it to the transom ourselves.
One of my most recent projects was to replace the cockpit courtesy incandescent lights with red LEDs. Here's what the cockpit looks like with the red LED lights.
We had the cabin/berth cushions redone with Pursuit's current (2007) fabric which looks much better than the original ugly plaid fabric. We also had the cockpit bolsters and helm deck vinyl cushions redone as well.
June 2007 -- We took the Pursuit over to the Abacos for a 14 day vacation. Here's a link to a photo album for that trip.
May 2008 -- We took the Pursuit and the Tidewater up to Disappearing Island for Memorial Day weekend and we rafted up with our friends Mike and Judy for one night.
