It’s always a delight to take a ride on a Downeast-style boat. They’re comfortable, easy to drive at moderate speeds, and unlike their Clorox bottle-shaped cousins (your typical express cruisers), they’re well proportioned, good looking and seakindly. Why they’re not more popular among recreational boaters remains a mystery, especially since so many of these vessels have proven themselves in commercial uses for thousands of hours a year in all weather conditions.

Unlike a typical hard-chine planing hull with its exposed running gear (props, shafts and rudders), the Downeast-style Seaworthy 28’s full keel offers excellent grounding protection, to say nothing of the great strength added to the hull. Its low sheer and relatively large underwater hull area make it steady as a rock in a crosswind when idling around the harbor. In proportion and line, the 28 seems indistinguishable from a 35' or 40' lobsterboat; the space allocation between cabin, pilothouse and cockpit is pretty much the same, and the sheer height is proportional to the hull’s length.

The Seaworthy 28, originally produced as a BHM 28 until builder Steve Law bought the molds a few years ago, has an unusual history. A Maine builder took the front half of a Spencer Lincoln-designed BHM 31, narrowed it, and joined it to the aft end of another boat. The result is a Maine-style boat with a roomy cabin (for a 28) and a bit of rocker (convexity) in the bottom, which produces a bow-up attitude and a great running boat at low to moderate speeds, up to around 18 knots.

The semi-custom Seaworthy 28 is available as a bare-bones workboat with a V berth and manual toilet or a fully equipped weekender with teak decks, enclosed pilothouse and fully outfitted cabin. Builder Law and Seaworthy’s distributor/sole dealer, Laurence Bussey of Northeast Yachts, emphasize that you can have this boat any way you like it, within reason. Our test boat was on the “basic” end of the spectrum, listing for $98,900 (2008 base price $105,000) with a 315-hp Yanmar diesel, a rough galley and basic enclosed head. Its owner, a state police sergeant in Maine with a little saltwater running through his veins, uses the boat for sportfishing and local cruising.

Law has been building boats full-time since 1994, when he decided it was time to get out of the deep-sea fishing business. BHM was concentrating on its larger boats, so he was able to buy the molds after a little negotiation. The major components, hulls and decks are subcontracted out; Law and his crew of three finish off an average of 10 boats a year in their shop in Arundel, Maine. Located near Kennebunkport, Law’s operation is less than two hours north of Boston. Our test boat was hull number 22 out of a total of 24.

(NOTE: As of August 1, 2004, thirty-six (36) boats have been built, with #37 currently in the shop.

The 28 is the company’s only model. (January 2008 - NOTE: We are taking orders for our new 25'BHM and 32'H&H models. To date, we've built three 32' models, and two 25's. Any of these exceptional boats can be configured for a single or dual outboard motor setup).

DESIGN The Seaworthy 28 has a fine, deep entry; round bilges, full hollow keel; and large, flat planing sections aft (unlike some other Downeast hulls). The fine entry diminishes vertical accelerations in a head sea, and the round bilge (as opposed to hard chine)makes the roll gentler: Absent is the snap seen in many wide-and-low hard-chine boats. Without the chine flats, there’s less lifting surface, and the water flow separates less completely from the hull, so the boat will not plane as efficiently. But it planes more easily than most modified V hulls, so there’s not much of a noticeable hump to get over; you just sort of slide up on plane as if the bottom were covered with Teflon. The full keel provides protection for the single propeller and rudder, with a skeg joining rudderpost to the bottom of the keel. It also adds significant drag due to its large surface area, which becomes more pronounced as speed increases.

The Seaworthy 28’s topside layout is quintessential lobsterboat, with a relatively small but comfortable cabin, and a long, low flat deck stretching from the aft cabin/forward engineroom bulkhead clear back to the transom. Our test boat had an engine box, since the builder wants to keep the boat’s profile low (including the pilothouse). Putting a flush step-up deck over the engine is an option, but you give up some of the boat’s looks, and the deck is a foot or so higher off the water, making it less suitable for commercial fishing. You can order the boat with just a windshield, with a hardtop and soft enclosure, or a full hard enclosure on all sides. The open starboard side is standard, as the boat is often sold for commercial fishing with a pot hauler. The pilothouse top can be ordered in varying lengths. A flying bridge is really too much topside weight for this round-bilge boat, but an aluminum-pipe frame bridge right on the hardtop, strung with canvas to protect from wind and spray, should work well, coming in at around 75 pounds or so with basic controls included.

CONSTRUCTION Vinylester resin in the first 3 oz. of mat was a $1,200 option on the Seaworthy 28. After discussing the importance of vinylester’s critical role in warding off blistering, the builder has decided to make a vinylester skin coat standard, along with a 1-year warranty against blistering. You still end up paying for the added protection: The builder jacked up the boat’s price by about $1,000 to cover the cost. The hull has a 5-year warranty.

The boat’s four stringers, which are made of two layers of 3/4" AC plywood, run from the forward bulkhead to the transom and extend from the hull up to the deck. The wood stringers are encapsulated in 2415 fiberglass, and two layers of 1808 overlap the bottom panel between the two stringers. These laminates, according to the builder, produce a solid glass hull that is 5/8" thick or more on the bottom, 3/4" at the keel, 3/8" on the hull sides, and 1-1/4" around stress points like the rudder post. Limberholes are sealed with mat, and the hull-to-deck joint’s self-tapping screws clamp the shoebox flange together from the outside; it’s then fiberglassed from the inside. End-grain balsa core ranging from 1/2" to 1" thick is used in the washrails, deck and superstructure. The builder counts on a polyurethane adhesive, 3M’s 5200, to keep the water out of the balsa core in way of screw and bolt penetrations; laying up solid glass in these areas would be a much better idea to make sure the balsa stays dry. This is especially relevant, considering that many problems with delaminated balsa occurs in the deck, not just in the hull, where more attention to sealing penetrations is generally given on cored-hull boats. The cockpit deck is made of 3/4" AC plywood covered with 1808 fiberglass reinforcement and 1.5 oz. mat, and then painted with gelcoat and covered with masonry sand to provide an effective nonskid finish.

This boat has some interesting hatches that lend themselves to use with stick-built plywood-and-fiberglass decks. Made by Anchor Hatches of New Brunswick, they utilize stainless steel flanges that fit nearly flush with the surface of the deck (only the thickness of the flange stands proud) and aluminum diamond- tread deckplates. Four individual dogs tighten with a wrench to snug the hatch down, and only the thimble-full of water that gets trapped around the perimeter of the hatch falls into the bilge, or whatever is below, when the hatch is opened. It’s still a smart idea to put a cover of some sort above anything below that can possibly corrode.

The bulkheads in the Seaworthy are not watertight, as we would like them to be, but the builder will make them so for the same price. Water in the hollow keel, in fact, is free to slosh back and forth from the cabin to the lazarette bulkhead where it ends. The builder is rightly concerned about air flow through the bilge to keep things dry, which is the reason for leaving the thru-holes in bulkheads or stringers. But watertight integrity in case of a hull penetration is a more compelling interest, in our view, and a ventilation work-around can be found.

Pressure-treated deck stringers support the fiberglass-covered plywood cockpit deck, which feels quite solid underfoot. The nonskid consists of masonry sand and gelcoat rolled out over the fiberglass, and it’s very effective. The molded nonskid on the side- and foredecks are much less grippy underfoot, however. Cockpit/Deck The 9'5"-wide cockpit stretches 15 feet from the transom to the cabin bulkhead. Six feet of that is really cockpit, if you just count the area aft of the deckhouse, and it should be plenty of room for two or three guys to fish from at once if all are reasonably accurate with a casting rod. Like most Maine-style boats— and this is precisely what gives the boat much of its versatility—there’s no clear delineation between pilothouse and cockpit, unless you have a hard pilothouse enclosure. A tuna door in the transom (a $1,900 option) opens outward, with a fixed washboard above. A walk-through transom door ($2,300) is also available. The fittings holding the door flange in place were bleeding copiously and need to be upgraded. The builder reports getting a bad batch of stainless and has switched distributors.

The cockpit’s washboards are quite wide, creating a roomy, balance-enhancing toe-kick below. Their 28" height aft and 25" forward is just about high enough for safety, though it’s right in line for this class and size boat. The builder lines the cockpit perimeter with the same PVC rubrail and stainless rail used on the boat’s gunwale—it’s crude, and a little hard on the thighs, but effective, we suppose. Other options are available, including a padded bolster. One of those Anchor hatches leads to a small lazarette between the two inboard stringers, but there’s plenty of room for the rudder post and steering gear. Back aft, the deck is 5" off the waterline, and that’s with two people in the stern and a full load of fuel. That’s nice and low for gaffing a fish, but water shipped aboard through the 2" x 6" scuppers and the transom door when we backed down on our sea trial, and it took a while to drain off. Of course, the closer the deck is to sea level, the more water will come aboard at the same time it’s trying to drain back overboard. The deck’s pitch, or slope aft, was minimal, which didn’t help matters.

We’d raise the deck aft by a couple of inches, and also add an inch or two of pitch, all of which the builder would be happy to do. This would require raising the pilothouse by 3" or 4" to maintain 6'4" headroom, which the builder will do on request. Seaworthy is also going to change the scupper flappers to prevent water from coming aboard so easily.

The cockpit has a clean layout—all gray and off-white, which gives it an open, professional look. Hardware is all 314L stainless, including the 12" bow and 10" spring and stern cleats mounted with thru-bolts and backing plates. Popular cockpit options include an upholstered transom bench seat, built-in steps to the sidedecks, livewells, fish boxes, and fiberglass swimplatforms with walk-thru transom doors. Wide (11") sidedecks lead forward, and the grab rails on the deckhouse give you something to hang onto on your way to the bow. Our boat’s owner didn’t want the bow railing, but it’s available as an option, the price depending on what it’s made of and how far aft it extends. Adding a railing would make the foredeck a fine spot from which to cast for breaking fish.

PILOTHOUSE Inside the pilothouse, the engine box dominates, but it also serves as a table or seat and can even be made long enough (6') to double as a berth in a pinch. The aluminum-framed windows can be opened (except for the two center windshields), and there’s a full 6'4" of headroom, so the pilothouse seems roomy and bright enough. It has combination red/white lighting for use at night, as well as handrails positioned outboard overhead so you don’t bang your head but still can easily grab them in a hurry. The pilothouse top on our test boat was 8’9" long from the windshield back, but it can be extended 18", and the sides can be lengthened another foot to make the boat into a cruiser. With a low-profile 200-hp Volvo mounted farther forward, poking through the cabin bulkhead a foot or so, the boat can have a flush deck, though headroom in the pilothouse would drop some 4", and the boat’s center of gravity would shift forward. However, the builder would move the fuel tanks forward to help offset the change. The engine can also be moved aft 18" to permit walking between the engine box and the forward bulkhead while moving the cabin companionway to centerline.

CABIN The base boat comes with a V berth forward and a manual toilet below in the cabin, though our test boat had an optional galley with dual-voltage refrigerator and sink, along with an optional enclosed head with a manual toilet on a raised platform. The head is 4'7" long, which is roomy for a boat this size, and there’s room for a closet pole at the forward end, so the head doubles as a closet in which to hang your wet slickers. A V berth is forward, with 6'6" legroom along the hull side, and stacked berths on each side are an option. Our boat had a small, 9"-square Bomar hatch overhead; we always like to have a second way out of the boat, so we’d specify a 20-plus-inch overhead cabin hatch. The finish is very basic—plywood covered with fiberglass, painted with white gelcoat, with plenty of mat pattern showing through—but it works well enough, and the finish, while by no means tooled, is easy enough to keep clean. The stick-built head is also fiberglassed to make it watertight and more easily maintained. All the cabin components are glassed to the hull, so they become structural support members. A Polyfair bright white fiberglass finish in the cabin interior, nearly as smooth as Formica, is an $1,100 option. The back of the breaker panel is visible on the aft bulkhead in the head. The wiring is neatly installed, though we’d like to see it covered so the hot connectors are out of harm's way. The same goes for the Yanmar instrument panel on the cabin’s aft bulkhead; those wires would be better covered with a box. The builder will make teak or Starboard composite boxes to cover the wiring as an option. What you don’t get with a workboat configuration is enclosed cableways in the boat, but the wiring is neatly routed and bundled every 6" or so. We’d add some chafing protection where the cables run through holes in the bulkhead.

ENGINEROOM/FUELTANK(S) The 5'-long enginebox slides aft to provide excellent access to the diesel engine. The engine cooling water seacock, forward of the engine and low in the bilge, can be reached lying on your belly. The double-clamped water hose leads to the internal raw water strainer mounted forward of the engine to starboard. Oil and water level checks are easily accomplished, as is changing the oil, with a screw-on fitting built into the dipstick. Six-foot sections of heavy-duty, 6" x 6", 1/2"-thick steel angle iron through-bolted to the sides of the hull stringers serve as engine beds. We noticed they were already starting to rust heavily on this 2-month-old boat. The builder reports this to be an oversight, and that the engine beds on every other boat they’ve built are the same size but made of aluminum with gussets. To promote natural ventilation belowdecks in the bilge, the builder included three air boxes in the cockpit, so engine combustion air is sucked through the bilge below the cockpit. The builder installed SoundDown acoustic insulation (no extra charge) around the inside of the engine box, which cut the engine’s radiated noise level to well below that of its exhaust. Seaworthy 28s have two 65-gallon fuel tanks made of welded 1/2" polyethylene plastic that sit on a level plywood platform encapsulated in fiberglass. The tank is bedded in foam to act as a cushion and to prevent shifting. These tanks, made by Triple M Plastics of Kennebunk, Maine, can't be used for gasoline because they do not meet USCG standards for gasoline tanks (which involve pressure, fire and other tests), but they represent a big improvement over corrosion-prone aluminum tanks. The Seaworthy's builder has successfully used similar tanks of up to a 450-gallon capacity on larger boats. The fuel fills are attached directly to the tank tops and accessed through a cockpit deck plate, so if you spill any fuel, it goes right into the bilge, rather than overboard. The fill pipe is a full 2" in diameter, so you can clearly see the tank level while filling up. It also allows a simple wood stick to be used to measure fuel level. This is fairly common on commercial boats that value simplicity and appreciate being able to prevent fuel spills. The builder reports that they usually epoxy a retainer ring, or bowl, around the fuel fill pipe to contain minor spills. We’d recommend not leaving home without it, if for no other reason than to prevent spilled fuel from reaching the foam below.

HELM/PERFORMANCE Our helm station was simply laid out, with a vertical wheel attached to the Hynautic manual hydraulic steering (5-1/4 turns lock-to-lock, which is OK for a boat that only runs at about 18 knots), and cable engine controls with separate throttle and shift. The electronics were dash mounted, and the engine gauge panel supplied by Yanmar was mounted flat on the bulkhead, which made it difficult to read. The builder installs gauges and electronics wherever the owners want them, but this location ought to be discouraged since you have to take your attention away from the view ahead to check engine rpm. The mullions between the windows are on the wide side at around 5", but overall, sightlines were satisfactory. Sea Trial We had a steady 20-knot wind and a 1' to 3' chop in Buzzards Bay (MA) for our sea trial. Our 315-hp diesel delivered a lot of power for this boat, pushing us to just over 24 knots at full power, with the engine cranking up to 4000 rpm. This model engine has recently been up-rated from 300 to 315 hp; nothing’s changed—the engine was just too conservatively rated to start with. On our boat, either the tach was off or our engine was turning up too fast; it’s rated at 3800 rpm, not 4000, so if the tach is right, it needs a larger prop capable of absorbing more horsepower. A larger prop would also increase speed below full throttle, and burn commensurately more fuel, but with 3" of clearance with the propeller as is, the builder can’t go any bigger. On the other hand, when the boat is loaded up and the bottom gets dirty, the engine will still probably turn 3800. Note that you can run this diesel at 200 rpm off the top all day long, according to Yanmar. This translates to about 21 knots, a very respectable turn of speed. The ride was nice and smooth running at 16 to 18 knots in the steep chop, and the boat's motion when we were stopped in the trough was quite comfortable. All-around visibility from the helm was good, though the stem poked into the sky a bit, obscuring a few degrees of horizon with the boat running at a fairly high 6 degrees of trim. Since the semi-displacement hull design runs less efficiently at high speeds than a modified-V planing hull of the same size and displacement, why use it? To start with, it has a more comfortable, less snappy motion, especially at speeds below 18 knots or so, with the hull shape shifting buoyancy inboard. This hull also gets up on top very easily, planing (which we’re defining here as leaving a clean, solid wake astern) at just 10 knots. That’s because this boat is reasonably lightweight for its size (with little transom immersion), the round bilges reduce resistance at these speeds and the buttocks line aft is within a few degrees of horizontal. It’s this ability to transition to plane seamlessly that makes the Maine-style hull such a favorite of fishermen. They run comfortably at 8 to 14 knots, while most hard-chine deep Vs are digging 3-foot holes in the water at these speeds. Like many semi-displacement, full-keel round-bilge boats, this one started to get a little squirrelly above 20 knots. Run it much above 18 knots, and it lacks the coursekeeping or tracking ability of a keel-less V-bottom boat, and it leans away from a turn, so it’s actually less comfortable at higher speeds. To make this a good high-speed boat, you’d have to cut off the keel and add lifting strakes along the bilge for added dynamic lift and waterflow separation outboard. But that would be a crazy thing to do with a great 18-knot boat like this one. Neither is the Seaworthy as dry as a hard-chine boat. This is true of most boats of this genre. Lowering the spray rails forward, which are unusually high on the Seaworthy, by a foot or so might deflect some of the spray out and down. There’s no question that the boat would benefit from having a muffler installed. Noise levels from the engine were high, and exhaust noises predominated the engine noises radiating through the engine box. Seaworthy considers the muffler to be optional on a “guy's boat” like this one, since low noise levels typically aren’t so high on the owner’s list of priorities. We’d make it a priority, though, since continuous exposure to 84 dBA or greater warrants hearing protection, according to the Navy. The builder will install a Vetus MF muffler for $500, so the problem is easily solved.

The boat’s steering system is up to snuff; we managed 16-knot turns to port and starboard in record time, just 14 seconds. Credit the Seaworthy 28’s big barn-door rudder and full 35-degree rudder angle. The boat was able to back downwind with a little coaxing (only the Eastern 31 does it better, in our experience), which is quite a feat for a single-engine boat. We’ve run many sterndrives that wouldn’t back downwind. It turns in a diameter just a little greater than its length at slow speeds, so it will work a fish nicely.

Conclusions The Seaworthy 28 is well worth your consideration if you want a seaworthy 16- to 20-knot boat built to commercial standards—with a long list of customizing possibilities. Resist the temptation to overpower this boat, since it’s designed to run best at 16 to 18 knots. You can get into a solidly built, diesel-powered, no-nonsense cruiser-fisherman for around $100,000, and it won’t depreciate anything like some of the express cruisers of the same size. Steve Law is an experienced commercial and charter fisherman, and a clever builder, so he has a clearer idea than most of what it takes to make a boat utilitarian, reliable and long lasting, and he listens carefully to what the customer wants.

The basic boat, finished to commercial standards of fit-and-finish, with the 230-hp diesel, V-berth and manual toilet, is all many people will really need, so why pay a jacked-up price if you don’t have to? Base price is $95,000 with the opening windows, open pilothouse to starboard, compass, SoundDown insulation, PVC and stainless rubrail, washdown pump, manual toilet and 6-gallon holding tank. Price as tested was $106,800; test boat options include the 315-hp Yanmar upgrade ($4,900), enclosed head ($2,800), tuna door ($1,900), canvas package ($2,650), handrails ($300) and extra opening window. The builder charges $9,600 to upgrade to the 350-hp Yanmar.

PLEASE GO ONLINE: www.powerboat-reports.com

BUILDER'S COMMENT: JANUARY 2008 The boat pictured above is Hull #22, the test boat. We're very pleased with the acceptance the SEAWORTHY 28 has received. We build one of the most rugged (We'd love to say "the MOST rugged", but defer to our fellow Maine boatbuilders) DownEast boats afloat. Of the 49 boats we've produced since beginning in February, 1999, we're pleased to say none has experienced engine, running gear, alignment, fiberglass or structural problems of any kind...(knock on fiberglass). In reference to the comment regarding a 'wet' boat, let us say that the conditions on the day of the sea trial were moderately extreme. We were in whitewater at all times, with strong winds, and maneuvering across the seas. Lots of spray was flying, but never impeded visibility, nor was there ever 'green' water on the windshield. The engine supports used in this boat were provided by the owner, not the builder. SeaWorthy Marine provides exceptionally heavy duty aluminum engine beds. Regarding the elevated noise levels reported, we concur with the findings. Therefore, additional SoundDown insulation and a wet muffler would reduce the db's considerably. In fact, we've just gone to all heavy-duty thick-walled exhaust hose from the manifold riser back to the transom, and WHAT A DIFFERENCE it makes! Wish we had discovered it earlier! Much more quite (probably 15db's), and no vibration.

We stand behind our boats 100%, and will do whatever it takes to make you totally satisfied with your new SEAWORTHY 28. Thanks for allowing us to build them!" HAPPY BOATING! SeaWorthy Marine & NorthEast Yachts.

P.S. A 'Letter To The Editor' was published in the FEBRUARY 2003 issue of POWERBOAT REPORTS, as an update to the SeaWorthy 28 evaluation. By the way, both the new SeaWorthy 25' and SeaWorthy 32' are now offered as a Center Console, Walkaround, OUTBOARD, and traditional Picnic Boat.

"NORTHEAST YACHTS strives to provide the finest boats and offers exceptional guaranteed personal service to clients throughout New England and across the United States. We are FLORIDA LICENSED BROKERS, and serve the international yachting market, as well. Call LAURENCE BUSSEY, 603 433-3222 anytime. Our mission is to provide SAFE FUN ON THE WATER!"

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