34' Crusader? Anyone familiar with these

[DudeShippinOut]

Im pretty sure this boat is a 34' crusader, anyone have any input on these? Built in florida? Not much info out there.

34' Fiberglass Sportfhisherman Cummins Diesel Power

 

[CEShawn]

Charter friend of mine had a 34' Crusader, at some point it developed a crack in the bottom of the hull, not sure if it was from a hull strike or what. I do know that the insurance company would not accept a repair on the kevlar hull and it was game over for him. I do not know if they were all made of Kevlar or what. I'd hate to find out down the road you can't insure something though. If you get more in depth I can probably put you in touch with him.

Are you Mass Maritime grad? I'm an '02, was just sailing with Maersk as Chief Engineer...

 

[DudeShippinOut]

Oh so thats what the CE in your name stands for? yeah im mass 04

 

[CEShawn]

Roger that... let me know if you need more help with the Crusader...

 

[pugsley]

pretty decent boats, the keel is not molded if i remember correctly, wood bolt on keel. many many of them in florida.

 

[29chawk]

built in south florida in the mid 70's alot of them used as spiny lobster trap boats, couple different sheer models, pretty rolly on a drift, pretty wet in anything over 3' chop, more of a chesapeake deadrise hull than a downeast, some had low decks that flooded when loaded with anything more than 3000 lbs. a small 34' compared to most maine built boats. besides that they work well for many fisherman here in florida.

 

[Drakes]

The old sea wolf was a crusader I would say they are fine as that boat saw more weather than any during that time period

 

[CEShawn]

Just to throw in the boat I was talking about was BILLFISH out of Watch Hill I believe. I know he ran daily offshore trips for a while with a Cat 3208.

 

[mudhake]

A freind of mine had one that caught a ton of fish out of N.h. It had a flybridge idg

 

[CCtuna]

Since when is "wicked tuna" a style of cockpit? Thats like the 3rd place ive seen that.

 

[james]

james

Crusaders are good boats I have a 1984 34' my father in law gives me a hard time because its not a rocket in the water but other than that (awesome boat) its about a 17 to 22 KT boat depending on power they were originally built by Andy grant then bought out they were called an Andy grant high sider then crusader took over the keels on 80's model are made of glass and held in place by three bronze or stainless bolts has a big rudder so it tracks pretty well in a following sea I can send you some picks mine is in the back yard at this time for some TLC and love the boat is an awesome rough weather boat and mine is very dry loaded or not takes head sea well doesn't beat or slam James shoot me a text I'll shoot you some pics 9125069444

 

[Lon Jarvis]

james

Crusaders are good boats I have a 1984 34' my father in law gives me a hard time because its not a rocket in the water but other than that (awesome boat) its about a 17 to 22 KT boat depending on power they were originally built by Andy grant then bought out they were called an Andy grant high sider then crusader took over the keels on 80's model are made of glass and held in place by three bronze or stainless bolts has a big rudder so it tracks pretty well in a following sea I can send you some picks mine is in the back yard at this time for some TLC and love the boat is an awesome rough weather boat and mine is very dry loaded or not takes head sea well doesn't beat or slam James shoot me a text I'll shoot you some pics 9125069444

I just bought an '81 Crusader 34' after owning a 43' Deadrise for years. I was excited to finally get a smaller diesel with a glass hull. We hauled her and I was horrified to find that she had what I would call more of a wooden skeg than a keel but a keel it is nonetheless. It was/is wormy, but I'd still like to see the reno through so we're looking at glassing the whole wood part over once the repairs are made to the wood. The prop is well protected at least. The Detroit 4 53 was struggling to get to 8 knots but she was loaded with barnacles during my purchase trip. I'm really interested in hearing from anyone that has removed, swapped or enhanced the wood keel on your Crusader. Really appreciate any input.. Lon

 

[Panhandler80]

Ran one for 20 years. A no-nonsense boat. Was laid up in 1997 and I think Andy's build quality at that point in time was a bit nicer than some of the boats from 70s and 80s. Kinda a DE / Deadrise hybrid if you ask me. Fairly efficient boat when light and with moderate loads. Andy Grant of Grants Fiberglass built them for several decades... initially in the Keys and then outside of Miami. Probably 90% of hulls were laid up for lobster and stone crab trap hauling. Plenty of boats out there working to this day that are 40 pus years old. My "keel" was wood cored. Notched out a section in the spring of 1998 for a rather unique transducer application and the coring was dry as a bone. I had a 450C cummins in her. Boat would want to wander a little bit in a following sea, but all in all a decent sea boat under way. On drift she tended to snap a little bit if wind and tide weren't great. Low freeboard boat. Anyway, got a great 6,000 hours of recreational use out of ours. Lost her in hurricane Michael... Direct Cat 5 hit in Oct of 2018.

EDIT: As far replacing your skeg, I believe they are all bolt on. You should see the bolts along your centerline from the inside. I imagine a sawzall, an angle grinder and a little elbow grease could have the skeg off in fairly short order. Once removed you could more carefully remove / replace bots for new one. Commercial boys (when skegs are in good shape) would beach them and minor bottom work after tide went out... they are pretty tough boats. I looked at one locally about 8 months ago. Didn't buy it. It's currently tied up at a commercial dock and is out 3-4 days at a time catching bottom fish.

My old boat...

 

[Panhandler80]

 

[Panhandler80]

 

[DotRat]

Dang that was a beauty turned beast! Sorry for the loss!

 

[Keelboater]

After a hard loss like that, there are only 2 things that might make you smile; Taking some SERIOUS anti-depressants or getting a very nice insurance settlement ............for me it would have to be both.

 

[DotRat]

Did the insurance company pull the old ACT OF GOD, scheme or did they pay?

 

[Panhandler80]

Did the insurance company pull the old ACT OF GOD, scheme or did they pay?

Was with Progressive on an Agreed Hull Value policy. They were actually really easy to deal with. Few more carnage shots... and a picture of her and dad's boat earlier that day before all hell broke lose. Last picture of her upright. What's crazy is that dad's 42 trawler rode it out. Talk about impressive. Granted she rode the worst of it on a massive Ronca anchor and about 300' of chain. It also looked as though a little dipshit sail boat may have gotten into me. Elected to go open water in order to avoid other boats. In retrospect, that might be a good idea for some storms, but probably should have thought better of it for sustained 155 mph. Storm blew up so quickly, we had to focus on other boats / houses, though. Crossed fingers and hoped for the best. Dad has finally gotten the demons worked out of his. PRetty much had to rewire her from wind blow spray through every crack and crevice. Oak leaves in the bilge, paint blown off mast, it was crazy.

Speaking of "smiling"... it's all you can do. A la "White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean." Hahaha.

 

[DotRat]

Good deal what did you replace it with?