St Pete Boat Show Photos of Compac Pilot House

[HideAway]

I wasn t too excited about the whole concept of a 23 pilothouse -- let me stand corrected - this is one really cool boat--Magical to standard Compac 23 owners - full standing headroom - what a concept--  A very well thought out craft.  I heard they sold at least one at the show.  At 70k it was the most affordable of it s genre - of course it would fit inside of it competitors.  We boarded a cat that had a BEAM of 23 feet.

I m told the keel is part lead and part concrete.  The trailer, by the way has very small wheels.  There was a discussion awhile ago about the small wheel vs large.  Sure makes the launching water depth easier - probably wouldn t need a tongue extender.

Here is a link to the photos I took

http://photobucket.com/stpeteboatshowcompac

[Billy]

Ahhhh, the tiny tug! one of my wife's favorites at the show! I liked the IP 46 & the Jeanneau 44 di the best.  I even managed to speak to Bob Johnson for some time about my boat and told him of my adventures. Told him I paid $2,500 for my boat but wouldn't sell it for $12,000. And he said, " I don't think you would sell it for that much either!"

I saw the foiled rudder on the PH, spoke with Rich & Gerry and will be exchanging my existing blade for a foiled one as well. Even got the A-OK from the admiral as an early Christmas present. $350 for the blade and a really cool bar for raising and lowering, also keeps it in the down position and keeps it from floating but also will still kick up in the event of running aground, which is a common occurance here in the Tampa Bay area. Seems much more simple than the hydrolic on the Ida, but not as simple as Skip's snow blower pin. But here in Florida snow blower pins are hard to come by!

back to the PH. Very beautiful and VERY well thought out. But my wife was not sold. She wants to keep our 19, mainly b/c we have done so much to it. The one at the show will be heading to the bahamas in the near future. I told them they really need to incorporate a mast tender as you have to step up onto the top of the pilot house to step the mast. It takes 3 people minimum. Still a great design. Maybe one day......

[HideAway]

I know this is heresy  but my favorite boat was the Hackercraft wooden power boats.  The woodwork was exquisite and the finish so shiny I could not get a good photo of it because of the reflections.  Truly an example of master woodworking - and at 250k a bargain.

My other favorite was the Island Packet 35 with the v berth converted into the salon.  I did not like the main sail furler in the mast - looks like a disaster waiting to happen.   The boat didn t feel so huge as the others and was more liveable.

I was most disappointed in the lack of small boats.  It sure looks like the small boat manufacturers are hurting.  The price of entry to the show for a space is very high too.  I worry that next year it may just be a power boat show.

I didn t realize that rudder was so cheap - I may have to rethink building one.   I use a piece  of Schedule 40 PVC pipe attached to the rudder with a Tee joint at the top for a handle to keep the rudder down.  It is not pretty but it does the job.

We had a great time in tent 2 pointing out all the really expensive we don t need on HideAway-  I m glad I don t need those 8 inch exhaust manifolds for instance lol

[pdx23p]

Thanks very much for posting those pictures! Looks great. Cool if the show helped make another sale; tough market these days!

[jthatcher]

I got to check out the Island Packet at a boat show in Maine in August.. very pretty boat, for sure..   i was talking with the person who was showing it, and he said that, at this point, boat builders were concentrating on boats 35' and larger because there simply was no money in smaller sailboats.. he went on to say that anything less than 35 was actually losing money for the manufacturers.      hopefully,  the guys at Compac  have a different story, but I suspect that there is a good deal of truth in the statement, and that  we will see fewer sailboats in the range of 25-35 feet as time goes on..   jt