PREDATOR or SAMURAI

[sixrods]

Does anyone own or fished from a Predator or Seahog Samurai boat.
If so any opinions on either boat would be much appreciated.
I particularly would like to know how they handle, what size engine is fiitted, what speeds can be expected and what they are like to fish from.

Both look really good boats on paper but you cant beat getting advice from those of you who have actually used either of them.

Cheers

[peterpan3494]

i know the member keefy has a prededator
you could pm him or get his email from members info

[squidlips]

i have had the unfortunate pleasure of fishing from the samurai
my old boss has had both and the samurai seat bases came away from the deck,the boxes under the cuddy split away from the inside of the boat.
another club member with a samurai found a split in the hull just as the boat ran out of warranty the makers did not want to know so he repaired it himself and was gutted when he found there was no foam under the deck and a split hull just over 4ft long.

personally there are better boats available out there

[Dave.S]

I have a couple of reports on the Predator 160 & 165 on my web site.

www.fishing-boats.info

Good hunting

Dave

[furdy]

My mate bought a Samurai in the summer of last year and it is awful.

To start with there were three small holes in the gel coat which over a few trips let water soak into the foam between the two skins, waterlogging the boat. He had to tip the boat up as high as he could to let the thing dry out before he could repair the damage. Seahog sent the repair kit but he had to do the work himself.

Now onto the performance. Boat is fitted with a 60 mercury 4 stroke that gives around 28 knots flat out and cruises at 23 knots at just over 4000 rpm, but, and its a big but, the water has to be like a millpond for this to be bearable!!! In anything other than a slight ripple the damn thing will shake you nearly to death. I,ve been out with him and we've had to chug along at about 8 knots as it was so uncomfortable. At anchor it doesn't seem too bad, certainly no better or worse than any of the other boats in the same class, although careful stowage of gear and persons makes a difference. It doesnt like three people over on one side too much either but most similar boats would struggle. The other thing that I dont like is the tinted windows. I cant see the point, and at night you cant hardly see through the things which means you have to stand and look over the top of the cuddy and freeze yours nads off. When its sunny wear sunglasses, at night, take them off. Simple!!

Anyway.......hope that helps a bit.....