44 Striker

[dougl33]

That was great George.

Can't get enough of that movie!

[dwaynec]

Thanks guys. The comments are really appreciated, and the Caddyshack clip was absolutely great. I will pass them on to my friend.

I will say that I much prefer my Hatt.

[jim rosenthal]

My 44' Striker was the one featured in ad about Buddy DaSilva, a Bermudan sportfish captain whose boat was caught in a very severe storm (I believe the one that sank the Marine Electric, a collier, off Assateague Island, VA)- the Striker survived astonishing conditions and got them home to Bermuda alive. So- the good and bad points, as I see them:

1) they are damp, cold noisy boats, because they are made of aluminum. Modern aluminum boats are better insulated, and exhibit this vice less, but the Striker is not a modern boat. The 44s are old boats.

2) there was no Striker yard as such. The boats were built on contract by various yards in Chile, Norway, and Sweden, I think. Mine was built by Fjellstrand in Norway- it was quite sturdy, with fairly heavy shell plating and good weldments. I don't know how consistent the construction is from yard to yard. I think for the most part they were well-done, but they are old boats now.

3) Unlike FRP boats, which accumulate blisters from outside, Strikers (and all aluminum boats) are prone to pitting electrolysis damage from anything that falls into the bilge- copper shavings, wire whiskers from the wiring construction, coins ferrous metal particles from the engine (INCLUDING RUST FLAKES)- all these lie on the inside shell plating and slowly eat a hole there. We had the engines out of mine for rebuilds, and cleaned up and painted the engine room. The boat had 6mm plating under the engines, and there were pits as deep as 2-3mm from ferrous particles that had fallen off the engines, which were 6-71s. You would think the propensity of Detroits to weep oil would prevent this, but no. These holes would ultimately end up going through the plating and create leaks which would have to be welded.

4) any repair involves welding. Period. Do you weld? Great- you'll get practice. You don't? Make friends with a welder. Better yet- find a nice lady who works in a shipyard and can TIG-weld aluminum. Marry her. Buy her a new welding rig as a wedding present. You'll need it.

5) Strikers are rather light boats- aluminum weighs quite a lot less for its strength than FRP or wood or steel. Combined with the rather wide beam and shallow draft, this leads to some interesting roll characteristics. Kind of snappy, as I recall. They are extremely stable- much of the weight is carried near the waterline or even lower, so they have a low metacentric height, if that's the right word. DaSilva's boat is reported to have rolled seventy degrees from neutral, and come back up rightside up. Not many boats will do that. The question is, how often do you need to?

6) Mine was slow- 19kts tops with majored engines and a clean bottom- but modern high-speed diesels would make a big difference. I had J&T GMs which were rated 310hp. This is due to the length to beam ratio and the fact that the planing areas are not particularly modern in design. It is difficult to make a Striker go fast, but the light weight does make it possible. They are not particularly cheap to run at low speeds, though, because the beamy hull makes a lot of drag.

7) It is hard to find a yard that will work on an aluminum boat. If your friend is dead set on one, fine- a Striker is a good aluminum boat, as they go. He needs to remember that the danger of damage to the metal structure from stray currents is always present- basically the water is trying to dissolve the boat- and that the main structure is not chemically inert like an FRP boat. Having a CAPAC meter helps, and any metal boat should have one, but owning a metal boat, especially an aluminum one, requires that you gain knowledge and expertise that most of us don't have, just to keep your investment up and so that it will survive. Maybe that's true of all pleasure craft, but it is true of an aluminum boat in spades, and of Strikers in particular.

There are some really beautiful aluminum boats- one of the couples in our club has an old CC Roamer that is just to die for. It has had very good care and belonged to loving and knowledgeable owners, and the boat is just beautiful. If he decides to buy a Striker, he should find the equivalent of that boat. They built about seventy or eighty 44 SF models. I think they are kind of angular an unlovely boats, but at least he should find the best-maintained one he can.

Personally, having had both a Hatteras and a Striker, I feel there is no comparison. I would not accept a Striker of any size or condition as a gift- or would only as long as it took to sell it and buy a Hatteras of comparable size and layout. Hatteras has built perhaps 7500 hulls by now- they supervised their own construction, they are an actual manufacturer who knew what they were doing, invented much of the technology we see today, had first-class naval architects, and enjoyed relative stability in the business. Striker, on the other hand, was not really a boatbuilder in the same sense- it was a company on paper that contracted their designs out to boatbuilding yards, had the boats shipped here, and finished them out in the USA. There was a great deal of variability in this process and all of it has an impact on the quality and longevity and safety of the boats. Frankly, I'd stay away from another one, but if he's determined to do it, I'd get a marine surveyor who REALLY knows metal boats, and pay for a very serious survey of any boat he was thinking about buying. Including getting the hull audiogauged to make sure the shell plating wasn't pitted or holed where you can't see it.

If he buys one, buy your friend a good offshore raft. I recommend a Winslow. My judgment is that he is more likely to need it than average.

[(Nobody You Know)]

Good luck with the purchase. hope this works

Was that a striker in that scene?

It kind of reminds me of our visit to Angela at the Rickenbacker Marina last Nov. Whew. LOL.

[dwaynec]

Dr. Jim, Thanks for the reply. I am sorry that you have been so busy at work. I do miss your posts. Hopefully things get better real quick and you can be busy with the boat vs work.

[jim rosenthal]

Righto. We are shorthanded (this seems a chronic condition with our practice) and so I have been spending a lot of time at the horse pistol. Sorry, hospital. This might let up by July or August, with any luck; we are supposed to have people in the credentialing pipeline. Of course, we've been hearing that for quite a while now.

I thought the Caddyshack clip was great. I think that's a Striker 62, or 70, or something like that. Undoubtedly still out there giving its owner anxious moments.

I am working through the punch list on my boat and hope to have better news to report soon; we got the charging problems fixed, now on to the warm engine and control cable issues.

And (full disclosure) I have been playing around with the Kirkham Cobra some, as well (with the able assistance of Mike P) so that has cut into my boating time...

[kemosabe421]

Years ago a Striker was fishing off the coast of Cuba. They go to close to the island and the Cubans seized the boat. Fidel decided to keep the boat for his personal use. A few months later Striker ran an ad in the boating magazines featuring a Striker with the caption "If a Striker is good enough for Fidel......."
Pretty clever.

[luckydave215]

There's a big Striker (70'?) in my marina that's for sale. While looking well maintained and shiny, she's certainly not the prettiest boat I ever saw. She has that "industrial" look about her, like she was built by the Russian Navy.
And I think she's a wide as she is long.

[dwaynec]

I passed on all the comments that have been made. Due to your comments, my friend is now talking about looking at Hatts, and Bertrams.

Thanks for all your comments.