California Dive Boats -- the legend of Radon (pictures)

[JGrant]

a 23' Steiger Craft with a 250 Suzuki...just fill her up and go!

[sbsurfer]

Originally Posted by JGrant

a 23' Steiger Craft with a 250 Suzuki...just fill her up and go!

Nice ride, i'm sure that pilothouse makes for a nice warm ride even in bad weather...great looking boat John.

[olekils]

Thanks so much for all the info and leads on other places. Scottee's # seemed to work as I was able to leave a message. I'll also check on the other recommendations.

[skiff]

John- I still love that story of you guys surfing the unknown rockpile thinking it may have been one of the 'known' spots? Only proving that imagination may be better than GPS sometimes....! We could all learn from that.

[skiff]

OK, really, I'm not trying to hog up this thread....but I snapped some recent photos of Nate's almost done mega/super/custom panga at Anderson's, and I know lots of the SoCal guys are on this wavelength, so I thought I'd post them up. Nate will be commercially diving with this boat for sea cucumbers, so it's got a level of customization for this type of work that you wouldn't normally see in a 'sport' boat? But a dive boat is a dive boat, so I thought that lots of folks might want to see how Nate is finishing this thing off. Splash time, maybe two weeks off (no pressure, Nate...), so it's getting close.

[skiff]

Continuing- This has been one long year of hard, itchy, educational work on Nate's part, and this thing couldn't have turned out any better; he's beyond stoked.

[Mahtzo]

Originally Posted by skiff

Continuing- This has been one long year of hard, itchy, educational work on Nate's part, and this thing couldn't have turned out any better; he's beyond stoked.

that is one awesome panga! I can believe Nate is stoked...I'm stoked just looking at the photos. Amazing!
Louis Rosales

[skiff]

Mahtzo, Yeah, you can imagine how stoked Nate is right about now....all that work, now coming to fruition? Mind boggling levels of satisfaction...

In town last week, I finally had the pleasure of meeting up with David and his insanely restored 24' Radon, 'Easy Money'. Apparently the timeline traces this boat back to it's origination as Radon hull #5, built back in '69/70 over on Garden Street by Ron Sr., David was in the harbor wringing out mechanical gremlins and getting his almost finished project out and about for the week. The old school vibe of this thing is beyond strong...it was getting comments everywhere and long time habitues that remembered the boat from back in the ab fishery days were stopping by to tell a story or two.

[oldestradon]

Thanks Skiff for posting the images of the Easy Money. I had only been on one short ride on a Radon before launching mine. I really had only heard the stories of how they ride and handle bad weather. I was able to test my boat in many different conditions from glass to 6 ft wind chop at the west coast Cape Horn and I can say without hesitation that all my efforts were totally worth it and there is magic in the hull design.
It was so great to have my son and good friends there to see it happen. Cheers!

[skiff]

David- Yeah, when you're done with the Easy Money, that baby should wind up in a museum or something. Truly a piece of living history, brought back for another round crushing whitecaps and giving up unbelievable adventures.

Here's some shots of Scott's almost completed custom Greenough 17; it's going to be getting one of the new Yamaha 70 four strokes as well, just like Nate's panga. The rigging will come next, then all the stainless, windows, rubrail, electrical, and non-skid; with a new custom Trail Rite under it. Two weeks is what I"m figuring, but it could be a taste longer, you never really know. Also threw in a shot of another G17 being laid in the mold...you can see the vacuum bag working on the transom layup in the photo and the coring in key spots. After that one gets out, my buddy's new order for his gets laid up; so he's in the background....chomping at the bit.

[WESTBURY]

Cool little 17 footer!

Is that a new boat or re-fit?

If new, curious what the approximate cost is. Looks like a great little boat.

[skiff]

Westbury- That's a brand new boat, not a re-do. Anderson's has molds for the Greenough line of boats in 17' and 21' lengths. The 17'rs, if you jump in with both feet........and get all top of the line electronics, a cabin with sleepability, custom trailer, brand new four stroke outboard, and the 'extras' that you'll end up wanting on a new build like this........you're probably up approaching $30K. If you want just a center console built..........it would probably be less. The boats have a 7' 10" beam, so they're a 'big' seventeen foot boat.

That said, I had a buddy who had one built a long time ago, had maybe $28K into it, used it hard for THIRTEEN years (*but kept it in great shape), and then sold it for $22K, so these boats seem to hold their value extremely well. Good used one? Good luck. Most just end up getting passed among friends, and the nice ones rarely if never make it onto the 'open market'. Building new is the way to go if you can swing it, and it's a true custom boat, so you can get exactly what you want, how you want it, built to your specific use.

[WESTBURY]

thanks skiff!

not a bad price for a new boat "built how you want it".

[soupfin]

Joe,

If you want a ride, just give me a call. We can go dive the islands together in the 17 greenough skiff. We just took it to Clemente overnite, and it did great.

Eric

[WESTBURY]

Originally Posted by soupfin

Joe,

If you want a ride, just give me a call. We can go dive the islands together in the 17 greenough skiff. We just took it to Clemente overnite, and it did great.

Eric

Heck ya!

Give me a call, let's catch up