 30 Bertram Moppie, 29 Searay Amberjack, 25 Seacat
Since I have sold our 25 Seacat, I have had the opportunity to run a couple other boats to the florida middle grounds, the first was a Bertram Moppie which got sold and now I'am running a Searay Amberjack 29 out there. This is my take so far. The 30 moppie had a nice ride in 2-3's, cruising speed was 21-23 knots, not bad at all. The cabin was great, seemed big for a 30 footer, and the beam in the cockpit made the boat nicely fishable overall for bottom digging, the only dislike was the overall cockpit got eaten up by the express design leaving little room to roam freely on the cockpit. I liked the Moppie, it had twin diesels and was a true middle grounds type boat. It had a bigger boat feel overall compared to the Seacat, and the big cabin simply made the overnighter more enjoyable and hospitable. The Searay Amberjack 29 is another type of hybrid fishing boat, it has a fairly large cabin despite the smaller beam. The amenities are nice and the interior is quite nice, the AC system works extremely well, you need covers on at night and it will sleep 4 comfortably below! The cockpit is small though, and we strap a big cooler on the swim platform to carry extra ice, it does work well but you have to fish around that big swim platform. There is the option to fish right from the platform and use the cooler as a seat, this is of course strictly at anchor on a bottom digging event. The platform does have night lights that helps attract bait etc and adds a nice element to the night fishing experience, and there is functional access to get on the platform or drag in a big fish via a small tuna door. Searay seems to have joined the crowd with a poor electrical installation though, the fuel guages never work right and the rpm guages are finicky. The ride is also marginal, in 2 ft or under it does fine, true 2-3's and you will yearn for the Seacat or Moppie which can eat 2-4's for lunch, anything bigger and it's time to troll home at 8knots = 11 hour trip home. It gets 0.9 mpg with the 5 liter merc gassers, not too great. The transom fish box works excellent, and it has lights, we put a big king, AJ, then 46 snappers in it last trip plus 120# of ice in stages to keep our catch fresh. If it weren't for the ride or the smallish cockpit, or the electrical issues right out of the factory, I would recommend this boat to someone looking for a cruiser/fisher. Right now we are looking into a Bertram 42 or Hatteras. | 
