Top 50 Sportfishing boats of all time

[MarshMarlowe196]

Interesting list of the 50 top sport fishing boats of all time, according to Saltwater Sportsman

http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/boats ... age=133199

The Aquasport 22-2 came in at number 48. The description all but states that Aquasport invented the center console:

#48. AquaSport 22-2

The 22 AquaSport is one of the first production center consoles ever built and was a hugely influential design, helping launch other companies like Mako, ProLine and others in the late 1960s. The 22-2 first appeared in 1964; only a few center consoles came before it, notably those from Boston Whaler and the Chris Craft Dory. But the AquaSport took the concept to a new level and a larger size, and the center-console craze was on. The same basic, eminently practical, open-fishing design shown by that early AquaSport remains the most popular fishing-boat design on the market today: the center console

The only boat on this list that I've owned is the SeaCraft 20, which came in at number 2.  Still have it, but it's part of a forest on my parent's property now :(

Anyway, just thought I would share

[gran398]

Great post Jesse! Really enjoyed reading about them start to finish!

[GoneFission]

Nice list of boats - but I'm not sure I agree with the order...  

[fitz73222]

I agree also John, also there was some boats I thought should have been on the list that weren't. No Robalos? The 70's 23 was a true battlewagon. People bash AMF (mainly because of Harley Davidson)but they built some killer boats. Slickcraft was another AMF. No Seabirds either. Always thought they were as close to a Bertram as you could get in a 24' boat. At least the 22-2 made the list as it should have.

[seabob4]

Like to see the WC V-20 on there, Christ, we sold a gazillion of them!

[gran398]

V-20 is  on there ....can't remember which position.

[Capt. Bob]

37

But who's paying attention.

[seabob4]

Sorry Scott, wrong wording...I know it's on there.  I think around 38th...

[seabob4]

Thanks Bob, I was close...

[GoneFission]

No Penn Yan?  Those tunnel hulls were great boats!

Rybo should be higher on the list...

Way too many Bertram 31 wanna-be's that just tried to copy the original.

Davis should have been higher ranked!

All, of course, IMHO...

[wingtime]

AMF was like Genmar and Brunswick, big corporation buying up companies.  Sllickcraft of course was founded by Leon Slikker who got  his start at Chris Craft.  He was one of the first companies to build fiberglass boats.  He sold to AMF in the late 60's and he stayed on for a few years but he didn't like how AMF was doing things.  So he set out on his own to build S2 yachts/sailboats due to a non compete clause with AMF.  S2 begain building Tiara powerboats a few years later and then they started the Pursuit line of powerboats.  In the early 80's he bought the the Slickcraft name back from AMF.  So Slickcraft, Tiera, and Pursuit are all Leon Slikkers S2 boats and is still a private company.

[GoneFission]

It's interesting that Slickcraft was one of the first to go fiberglass with a guy from Chris-Craft - because Chris-Craft was very late to go to glass.  When asked in the late 60s why they were not switching, the elder Christopher Columbus Smith said "when 8 out of 10 large boats going by my house in Palm Beach are not Chris-Crafts, I'll switch."  Of course, by the time they switched, they were WAY too late to the party and the company.  The last wood boat from Chris-Craft was a 57' Constellation made in 1971, but the company had lost their leadership position in the boating circles, and were bought by Murray Industries in 1981 after several years of losing money.