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Well i know this is going to get bashed, but I have been playing the boat search game for awhile now. The current economy leaves me a little leary of going $40K into the hole on a used Parker. Most days I feel lucky that i still have a job....I am moving into becoming a capt and want to start running fishing charters...I am currently 25 years old and know i have the rest of my life to get the boat of my dreams, but an upgrade would be nice over the 88 Trophy i am running around in these days.
Anyways I am looking to upgrade to a bigger boat and am considering a used 2000 272 Sportcraft with 7.4L EFI. Its alot of boat for $25-30K I know they have gone out of business 100 times and know that their quality is not up to the standard of a contender or grady white, but it is a large platform with alot of room to fish.
We fish the great lakes both trolling and drifting and having outboards is not always ideal with the spread of rods and downriggers we like to use. Baha Cruisers and Sportcrafts are the standard on the great lakes for 90% of the captains. Cheap and big i guess...but ive seen alot of boats that look like they have been run through the ringer and they are still in use.
I can find absolutly no information on how the Sportcrafts are built as far as their general construction and that kind of scares me. I know the Baha Cruisers moved to no rot stingers in 97, but am very unsure of the Sportcrafts. Any thoughts?
CB - I have a buddy who used to run a 272 - Lady Bridge is his screen name on here and a few other sites. If you have over to educated angler dot com you will be able to find him. I used to fish on his 272 a few times a year. Overall for what they are it was a good boat. Not real fast, stable on the drift, and trolled well. For charter use they are a good choice I would imagine.
JD
__________________ Contender 25 - Twin 200 HPDI's - Fishing for Steelies on the north shore of Erie
I have owned two sport-craft's. I currently own it's smaller brother the 242. I can tell you they are built like tanks, Very thick glass in hull and transom. They are cored with plywood, Like many other boats. If care has been taken. and screw holes sealed in transom, stringers, You got one of the toughest platforms made. That being said, It has an eighteen degree dead rise and will pound. If your not in a hurry in the tough days, you'll be fine, trim motor down, Tab's are a MUST! The boat can take more that you can, or anyone else on board can. Survey is a must though. I really like my 242, just re powered with new Suzuki 4 strokes on an Armstrong bracket.
I have a 272 Sportcraft I bought new in 2002. I have been running charters the last couple years. Found plenty of things wrong with it I have fixed myself. 30 thousand for a 2000 272 is a good price,but I would get a survey.
Is this boat a IO or inboard? Mine is a 6.2 mpi, when it wears out going with the big block. Most of the problems I have had were minor except with the motor.They must use the cheapest material they can buy when they put these together.Replaced most all of the hinges and now I need to rewire it.
Can't beat the ride of the 272 on lake Erie. Buddy has a 27ft Baha no comparison he even admits that.
tamos, you'r correct about fit and finish ,as the years progressed, from the late 90's up until they closed shop, they used wharever stuff was laying around for hardware, sometimes it didn't match, But that was ok!, to them! Theyonce made up for it in the early years by overbuilding the boat, They started cutting down in the build part too as they came closer to the grave.
I have been wanting a 2510 parker with a duo-prop I/O, but its a hard find.
272 Sportcraft is a pretty large vessel....Wouldnt be a bad trade off, but its not exactly what i want. Tamos do you troll your 272? or do you drift fish?
Carpetbagger, mostly trolling with 4ft boards wire line with thundersticks. I have to run two 28 inch bags to get down below 2mph.I fish out of Ashtabula Ohio.
In the spring my son takes his 27 sport to Port Clinton and we drift there. Do you fish out of Pennsylvania?
For trolling that slow I think a kicker is the ticket, and easy to mont on the I/O transom. I have a 15HP 4S on my 242 and it pushes it at about 7 mph max.....a couple MPH is easy. It's also nice to have backup power...both in the engine and in electrical as the kicker has a charging kit.
The preferred model for charter is the 30' Great lakes edition. It has a narrower pilothouse with high bow rails and wide walkways. If It were me and I were going to charter I'd go up to Port Clinton and find one. Make sure it's a straight inboard and 8.1 liter. You will get 1mpg and cruise at about 23mph. According to a charter captain, "It will take the waves, its a charter boat". I personally know it will because there were times when I wouldn't go because it was too rough and he went out to West sister.
The 30 looks to be a stretched out 27. Just a bigger deck. They have flat hulls especially when you compare them to Albermarle and Carolina classic that rise up to meet the waves.
Get a survey and have them take a special look at the stringers and bulkheads, I hear they can and do rot on the older ones.
Good luck with the chartering, that sounds like a lot of fun. Paul
I owned a 1998 272 sport for four years. It had the 7.4 with a straight inboard. I enjoyed the boat and never had any trouble with it. I rigged it for trolling. Worked great trolling. No bags speed was 3 mph. Definitely need bags for slower.
I upgraded to a 28 Carolina Classic. No comparison but the Sportcraft was sure more economical to run and maintain.
Cruise was around 23 mph. I think I was getting close to 1.5 mpg.
I bought mine from a charter that used it for casting only.
Like other say...get surveyed. I did hear the 30' rides much nicer.
Happy Days in Port Clinton can probably help you with the brand.
These plugs are from a Sailfish 246 WAC that was built for them by Sportcraft...it looks exactly like the Sportcraft 242 WAC. The plug on the left is from the bottom of the hull in th engine compartment about 18 inches from the keel. I went from an Alpha drive to a Bravo drive and had to add a seawater intake seacock. It's solid glass right at 1/2 inch thick. The next one was for the windlass I added on the deck above the anchor locker, again a lot of glass. The next two was where I added a second wire run hose to the helm and had to go through the helm unit as well as the liner sidewall.
There a lot of glass in these boats. That said, they do use encapsulated wood. I took off the trim from around the engine compartment opening, the bomar hatches and all the rod holders and coated with epoxy. I also replaced the engine stringers as I was going to repower. The holes for the blower hoses weren't sealed...they are now. I even sealed the holes for the stern eyes and the outdrive holes and opening.
Bottom it's built solid, but uses wood and you need to make sure it's all sealed.
If you could get a hold of Buckets Carpetbagger, He could tell you. He runs a 27 and a 30 out of the Bay as you probably know.
He has 3 feet of the back of an old Hull cut off and on Castors for his Booth at the Sports Shows. Pretty nifty to look at. So he would know exactly how it was constructed.
Even the transom is pretty tough...1/2 inch glass for the outer skin, two 3/4 marine plys, and then an inner skin...
2 1/16 thick over all. But you absoltely positively MUST seal any encapsulated wood. Where they cut holes in the engine stringers for the blower tubes it wasn't sealed. Water had seeped in and there was a void under the wood
which held water the length of the engine stringer and let them rot from the bottom up. They were easy to replace
when I did the repower, but 4 ounces of resin would have saved me a couple of days effort.
Sportcraft 272 
