Dear fellow members, I am looking at several different brands of boats but one that has caught my eye is a 1990-1992 Huckins convertible that is 70 feet long. The boat is beautiful and has everything I would like in a boat. I would like input on a boat like this in how the Huckins boats perform in open water. I will keep the boat in Guatemala and it will be in fresh water. This will put me about 45 minutes from the Caribbean for cruising and fishing. I would really appreciate your comments on this boat especially in regards to sea worthiness and general characteristics. Thank you
You're looking at Orion the Hunter? The Kirkline convertibles have an outstanding reputation for their construction. They're lightweight with a displacement just under 100k lbs (figure somewhere between 35,000-50,000 lbs less than a comparable Hatteras) by design, which has benefits and costs. The benefit is they're fast and efficient on lower power than other boats the same size. The cost of that shallower draft and lighter weight is you will move around a lot when the wind picks up. If I recall correctly, the Kirklines carried the V further aft than the typical Fairform Flyer hull, with some deadrise at the transom. The smaller Kirklines were similar to a Jim Smith above the waterline (but Fred Kirk never owned a Jim Smith, only admired them) and were really good boats. Kirk had some odd ideas, though, and as the design stretched to the 70' the bow flattened instead of continuing to rise, and the flare was decreased as the forward stateroom was widened a bit. The result is a good handling boat, but wet in almost anything more than a light chop. Orion is largely original despite some newer window dressing, and that's definitely a good thing. She hasn't had a ton of extra tripe loaded aboard, although that also (being the nature of Huckins) means you're not going to have every single luxury that the other brands might have packed in. That's another cost of the light weight. A Huckins is a rewarding boat to own and operate as long as you don't treat it like the garage or attic, filling it with seldom used junk just to have it along.
Hello Seafarer, Many thanks for the information! It is very much appreciated. What is really nice about the Huckins, is the attention to detail and the boat appears in excellent condition. It has everything we would want, with very few additions! The only downside, in my opinion is the 16 cylinder Detroit's. But one has to take the good with the bad I suppose. At least the engines have low hours and we will not be putting huge amounts of time on them and they will be operated at low rpms. Many thanks, Dave
