What is a Sleekcraft
 

My buddy asked me about this boat, I gave him the steer clear line based on the pro charger and I'm guessing this is a typical California boat meant for rivers out there, fast but not good in the ruff we boat lake erie.

Am I wrong? any info would be great whether I'm right or wrong:lolhit:

Sleekcraft has been around since the 70s.....that model since thew early to mid 80s.

friend of mine has that same hull but with twins. It actually runs out pretty good and is a pretty fun boat. Handles lake Erie slop just fine, its a 24 degree hull i believe. The Pro Charger is fine if your only making a couple of pounds of boost, its when ya really try an crank up the wind that they get difficult.

I would have to say the Sleekcraft 34Heritage would be better suited for a lake like Erie. It's a Don Aronow-designed hull. In the 28' range Apache and Pantera would be worth looking at.

I had one in the mid 80s nice boats with beautiful gell work.. jet boat .. it was lots of fun.

Seekcraft Boats
 

Sleekcraft was started in SoCal in the mid-60s by Bruce Nescher (Whittier CA). Started out in a very similar way to Eliminator as Bruce was a racer and wanted a "better boat". Became well known in the river-racer/jetboat crowd in the 70s. Started building raised deck "day cruisers" in the 70s. These were low-deadrise but fairly good running boats that were very popular on rivers and lakes in the west coast.

The boat in question was first introduced during the '85 model year (If I remember right). I was a dealer for Bruce in the midwest at that time and I bought all of the boats he had at Imtec (the dealer show in Chicago) that year. We sold a lot of these boats which were introduced as the "enforcer". First the 28' was tooled and then a 23' and a 26' and 36' were introduced. Most had single big-blocks (except for the 36'); but we had a few with twin 350s as well.

There was a variation of the 28' that was built as a tunnel vee; a design that was very similar to the Stoker boats of the day. I tested one in SoCal that had twin 2.5 mercs on a B-Bracket that really ran well. (I'd love to know where that boat is now).

In terms of rough water usage, we used them all the time on Lake Michigan. In my judgement, I'd say that while there might be "better" designs out there today, we never one time had any kind of hull or structural failure or cracking (stress cracks or otherwise). The gelcoat work was stellar, the interiors were well done and all of the years I was a dealer, the only warranty issues were very minor.

In terms of the boat, you'll be fine. The motor I wouldn't want to provide input on as these kinds of motors are only as reliable and good as the person who put them together.

Good Luck!

Researched these boats pretty hard a while back and loved the look. Often big singles and run comfortably in the low to mid 70's but I don't know beyond that. For some reason I thought the hull was just 22deg of deadrise, but I would imagine glassdave is right and I'm probably wrong. The 28 seemed to run good in 2-4ft chop. Just my opinion though

He can buy the boat and I will trade him my N/A Velocity. I would be more than happy to help him out:drink:

I like the lines of that boat and the price sure seems right (of course who knows where it will be in 10 hours). If I wanted a closed bow I might even be interested. Did Sleekcraft change the hull design on later models??? Seems like I have seen very similar hulls by Sleekcraft that were stepped.

I can tell you that Sleek did not offer stepped hulls when Bruce was running it. When he died, his "significant other" Candy ended up with the molds and finally sold them to Magic. They may have inserted dteps, but I'm not sure.

Back in the day, these were fun people to be around. I know Candy is still breathing and somewhere in AZ. The sales manager ended up with Eliminator (Jim Foley) but died a couple of years ago. He was the most fun. The Gel guy was named Phil, but I don't recall his last name. He was exteremly talanted.

A funny story: I went out to SoCal to test-drive a 36' Ambasador that had two brand new R&D version merc drives that were named Bravo. Bruce stated that it had to be noon somewhere (9am Cali time) and insisted we go to the bar. He sat there drinking something called a "Stinger" (tasted like a combo of cat pizz and pool acid) and then we went out of Long Beach harbor and spent the rest of the day literally beating the snot out of that boat. The Bravo drive was introduced the following year.

IM IN THE PR0CCESS OF RESTORING A '89 ENFORCER - SOMEONE HAD RIGGED FOR O/B'S SO I HAD NO TRANSOM ISSUES, SO LUCKILY!!- BRAVO CUT AND NEW ENGINE BEDS..........BUT THATS OFF POINT,
I BELIEVE ITS A 22D DEAD RISE - I HAD IT PARKED BESIDE MY 24' EAGLE HAS 24D AND ITS NOTICABLE TO THE NAKED EYE.
THE ENFORCER IS A "FAT" BOAT - BUT SHARP...THERE ARE CLIPS OF THEM RUNNING ON YOU-TUBE.
I HAVE PICS FROM SEVERAL ANGLES IF YOU'D
LIKE. SEND YOUR EM TO [email protected] AND I'LL SHOOT THEM TO YOU

Doesn't the Conquest name have something to do with Sleekcraft as well?

Yes it does. Bruce started Conquest before he died and after he lost Sleek

I have been working on this 1 since 1992. It ran 95 MPH this year.

For the sake of general knowledge, how do they differ? Pros? Cons?

They really don't differ a lot. Bruce was pretty comfortable with he lamination schedules, general build practices, etc., so as far as that stuff goes, they were albeit not high-tech by todays standards, still well built for the day. When he started Conquest, he was really starting over, so I'm sure he had his hands in everything until he got sick.

Here's my buddy's Sleek Craft..... Just a little smaller though... Definitely not an offshore but still really cool!!

Does anyone know what year Magic took over Sleekcraft? Then CMS took over Magic right?

Can I resurrect this one?

Currently shopping and found a 1991 Sleecraft 28. Shall I assume no good for Florida Intracoastal nor offshore as it seems from the above it's a lake/river shallower hull design?