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Did anybody look at the 29; sea vee at the maimi show or take a ride. I looked at it and was very impressed, but didn,t get a chance to sea trial, I was curous what others think of it and how the ride compares to my 26 Reg.The layout and construction looks much better than my Reg.The actuall amont of hull in the water is about the same except the 6'' of extra beam, so I wonder if there is much differance, maybee balanced better, not so stern heavy?
Funny you should ask this question. I sold my 26 Regulator about 4 months ago and I am in the market for a bigger boat. I took a ride on Saturday at the boat show....and I was impressed. It will outride the 26 Regulator and it has better fit and finish. And I a loyal Regulator owner.
Saturday's conditions were perfect for a boat test. Snotty! We ran in every direction....wide open and no banging and no water. Go take a ride on one....
Did anybody look at the 29; sea vee at the maimi show or take a ride.
My son & I demoed a new 29' with twin 225's Verado’s at the Lauderdale Show in November. We did some ICW running then out into the Atlantic for a bit. Overall I was quite impressive with the ride offshore in 2’ to 3’s and the boat was relatively stable at drift, even given its deep V. A few issues I had were (1) during the demo the saddle fuel tanks had unequal fuel loads and as such the tabs were needed to level the boat, (2) our top speed with 2 adults, 1 child, minimal gear and about 100 gallons of fuel was just under 50 mph, not quick enough IMO, (3) with the livewell full and given the weight of the Verado’s, the boat appears to be slightly stern heavy. All that being said the 29’ is a beautiful boat and I’m sure will perform favorably with the best boats available. I have since read some tests that indicate the top speed with 250's is in the low 50's. Maybe the boat I was on did not have the correct prop's. There are a few owners on the Florida Sportsman site.
My 2 cents - any boat that is not balanced correctly (i.e. heavy in the stearn) watch out for porpoising. Not a definate but be aware. This can be very bothersome. Prob is not the case with this boat but be aware. Just wanted to throw that in.
Did anybody look at the 29; sea vee at the maimi show or take a ride.
My son & I demoed a new 29' with twin 225's Verado’s at the Lauderdale Show in November. We did some ICW running then out into the Atlantic for a bit. Overall I was quite impressive with the ride offshore in 2’ to 3’s and the boat was relatively stable at drift, even given its deep V. A few issues I had were (1) during the demo the saddle fuel tanks had unequal fuel loads and as such the tabs were needed to level the boat, (2) our top speed with 2 adults, 1 child, minimal gear and about 100 gallons of fuel was just under 50 mph, not quick enough IMO, (3) with the livewell full and given the weight of the Verado’s, the boat appears to be slightly stern heavy. All that being said the 29’ is a beautiful boat and I’m sure will perform favorably with the best boats available. I have since read some tests that indicate the top speed with 250's is in the low 50's. Maybe the boat I was on did not have the correct prop's. There are a few owners on the Florida Sportsman site.
50 mph too slow? What have we become? Personally I think the boat would be better matched with 250 Verado's but 50mph is fine. I can't wait to see this boat up close. At 120k its priced right in there with alot of other boats like the Reg 26, and Southport. I love the 34 Sea Vee but its out of my price range. However,for a 29 foot boat with those features and quality, this boat is very affordable.
The issue I see is: It needs 225s minimum and 250s seem to be the way most end up. So at the point you have jumped into a set of twin 250 Verados(or whatever), it seems to me the SeaVee 31 would be so much nicer for not much more. The 26 Regulator runs beautiful with twin 200s. Since we're comparing/talking 26 Regulators we know we are comparing 200HPDIs almost certainly. So the comparison is 200HPDIs to 250 Verados. And this is a huge difference in price and fuel burn. No question the 29 with 250s is nicer! but it's bigger, and has/needs bigger engines, and cost a alot more, and cost alot more to run, and could really be rediculously nice if you jumped to a 31 Seavee for just a little extra. Obviously I am a fan of the old SeaVee 29 that is gone. I think it was bad decision to make the new 29 too big for 200s and cost so much more than the old 29.
__________________ AKA, The SKIMMER! No way am I reading all that crap!
Have a 29' on order but had to go to the show to sea trial the 31' my feeling was the same as grin for a little more money the 31' just looks so much bigger
You would think bigger is better, even though I had my slot for the 29' they gave me the opportunity
to switch to the 31' as long as made my decision by the end of the show because they where expecting orders and it wouldn't be fair to the new buyers.
So first thing Sat morning I took the 31' out conditions where go for a trial, well bigger is not better the boat had a tendency to porpoise a little & was a little wet.
Now I had a problem because when I trailed the 29' back in December the test boat was very light on fuel & though the boat would come out of the water the landing was incredibly soft which made me orderit in the first place
Telling this to the test captain on the 31' He said that the 29' test boat was full of fuel & we could go back & test it again (great guys at SV ) I was glad to hear this cause it gave me the oppratunity to trial these boats back to back
The 29 ' definitely runs flatter & smoother than the 31' & is bone dry the 29' test captian said that with the mercury K-planes the boat would even perform better and thats hard to believe.
The 29' is a baby 34' & i'll bet it won't be long until they change the mold on the 31' too.
So I opted for the 29' with twin 250 verados
We rode the 31' SeaVee at the show with 275 Verado's. In our group of friends we own the following boats to compare to the SeaVee. 26 Regulator, 31 Jupiter, and 27' Contender. The Seavee rode as well as the Regulator and pretty close to the Jupiter. I think you are splitting hairs in terms of softness of the ride. It rode softer than the 27' Contender, but was a little slower. It was wetter than the 31 Jupiter and probably wetter than the Regulator, but can't say for sure, since there are so many factors that play into dryness of the ride. The guy that was driving our boat candidly told us that the 29 rides just as well if not better than the 31 Seavee and is definitely not as wet. We looked at the boats side by side and the bow of the 29 sits about 8 inches higher and has more flair....similar to the 34.' It is hard to improve on a 26 Regulator and you may be splitting hairs in the end, but the 29 Seavee is certainly comparable in ride and probably better in layout IMO. We had another friend who test drove both the 29 and 31 SeaVee and said the 29 rode better without question. Hope this helps. I was very impressed with Seavee and if I was in the market I would get the 29.
We rode the 31' SeaVee at the show with 275 Verado's. In our group of friends we own the following boats to compare to the SeaVee. 26 Regulator, 31 Jupiter, and 27' Contender. The Seavee rode as well as the Regulator and pretty close to the Jupiter. I think you are splitting hairs in terms of softness of the ride. It rode softer than the 27' Contender, but was a little slower. It was wetter than the 31 Jupiter and probably wetter than the Regulator, but can't say for sure, since there are so many factors that play into dryness of the ride. The guy that was driving our boat candidly told us that the 29 rides just as well if not better than the 31 Seavee and is definitely not as wet. We looked at the boats side by side and the bow of the 29 sits about 8 inches higher and has more flair....similar to the 34.' It is hard to improve on a 26 Regulator and you may be splitting hairs in the end, but the 29 Seavee is certainly comparable in ride and probably better in layout IMO. We had another friend who test drove both the 29 and 31 SeaVee and said the 29 rode better without question. Hope this helps. I was very impressed with Seavee and if I was in the market I would get the 29.
Thanks for the input , I was curious as to the ride because my Reg 26 has 250 fs and in my mind is very stern heavy, but I really like my boat other than that, but the 29 sea vee has a much better layout and when you walk around the deck it feels so much bigger , but really isn,t. The rod storage around the console is great ( 14 rods ) , where my boat is non existant, heck I can,t even get 14 rods on my boat without them being in the way. The best thing I liked was the livewell setup and the pumps were done right, where my Reg I had to totally re-vamp. Well I guess I am going to have to sea trial it my self-fully loaded and both livewells full of water and see what happens.
The 29 outperformed the 31....across the board. I was told that was the case, by several people at Sea Vee but I did not believe them. We tested the 31 first and then ran the 29. There were three of us on the test and we all agreed...the 29 was drier, faster, and took the seas better. Please note, that the 31 was still a great ride...but the 29 was better. I am not biased because I plan to purchase a 34. I hated the loud Optimax's on the boat, though. It sounded like 4000 squirrels chirping on the transom.
29 Sea Vee 
