New member from Anchorage, Alaska

[Dmorris]

Hello everyone! Glad to be here. My father started our family addiction of building wooden boats. Several years back he built a Tolman Skiff. I soon followed by building a Northeastern Dorry by CLC. Not to be out done my brother build a kayak.

I've decided to do another build in a year and am looking closely at the Geronimo or the Sea Knight. I want a ski boat that I can also take into the ocean on calm days. I love the classic look and the beautiful mahogany with inlays. I may stretch it the 10% to get that extra room but won't mess with the beam. I imagine the Sea Knight would be slightly better in the ocean but not sure if there would be a noticable difference.

Anyway, nice to meet y'all.

[Roberta]

Welcome aboard!! Do explore the archives and other builder's blogs. This will help in your decision.

Roberta

[mrintense]

Welcome to the forum. There are only a handful of cruiser builders here, most like the speedboats which makes for a lot of eye candy!

But the cruisers are nice as well. I personally would love to see another Sea Knight built. One thing to consider with it's use in the ocean is to go with a long shaft motor (20 inches or longer). On my Vera Cruise I have a cutout for the outboard at just over 20 inches and it comes a fair bit of the way down the transom. The motorwell is going to mitigate any splash over unless I get hit with a large wave. The original short shaft design of the Vera Cruise and Sea Knight, I think would be too close to the water.

However, I am not a boating expert so please continue your research. Looking forward to seeing what you decide on and my bit of bias hopes it will be a cruiser!

[hoodman]

The Geronimo and Sea Knight are the same hull. There isn't much deadrise at the transom so it's not a "deep vee" hull. At the same time the flatter hull I think makes it faster and more efficient. With spray rails it is almost a completely dry ride unless you really plow into a wave. I think it would be fine on a calm day in the ocean although I have no experience with that. On the smallish lakes in this area that get stirred up by an absurd amount of boats it does fine even if it does beat you up a little.

If you want a deep vee of a similar size check out the roustabout.

[Dmorris]

Thanks everyone for the response. Since this post I've actually changed my mind. I am planning a sail boat in the future so I want to scale down my build to save money. I've decided to just focus on a small ski boat for lakes. I LOVE the Desperado design but it's too big. I'm looking at the Ski Tow now. Anyone know much about it?

[DrBryanJ]

I believe the ski tow and malahini use the same frames, the malahini is just stretched a bit. It is rather flat at the transom.

[Swomel]

Welcome, I am also new, but I work on the slope, from Louisiana. If I can help in any way please feel free to holler at me.

[Gayle Brantuk]

Welcome DMorris! The Ski Tow and Malahini are the same hull. Both are very popular, although the Malahini is by far the one most built.