43 vs. 47 Ride, performance

PacBlue · Jan 27, 2014

Capt J said: ↑

OK, and where are you going to store all of this stuff on a little 47' Cabo.
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Fortunately, the 47 Cabo's cockpit is huge!

If you put a dinghy and davit on the bow, there is no room for a livebaitwell on the bow. Your better off with a bagged inflatable dinghy and small outboard for it that you can stow away when you're not using it to save space and weight and not installing a davit.
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It will usually be an 11' rib for this size of boat, you just need the sidedeck clear and casting usually takes place at the bow pulpit that has toe rails to "lock you in".

Then you have 4 large livebaitwells in the cockpit and bladder tanks, again where are you going to have anyroom to fish or even to store all of this stuff? you can take a 100 gallon chemtainer with a rule 3700 pump on it and stuff 25 dozen goggle eyes in it, and then stuff 40 dozen pilchards in the transom livewell. How much livebait do you need? You're going to try to fish with supply hoses and drain hoses to 4 different livewells on the deck. You're not talking about a 64' Viking here.
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A common set-up could have a transom bait tank and a much larger cockpit bait tank on centerline and a bait tank at one of the forward cockpit bulkheads, were an East Coast Freezer would normally go. Some even put bait tanks on the swimstep. They are all molded frp clean, with nice manifolds below decks, multiple SW pumps. No "redneck engineering" with chemtanks/tubing/pipes above decks to get in the way allowed!

Just with your list, a 47' Cabo would be well overloaded with weight to even be safe to go out in the ocean with. Impossible. 4-50 gallon livewells in the cockpit and full fuel, and the factory livewell full would have water coming in the scuppers and covering the cockpit floor on a 47' Cabo with a tower, let along adding bladder tanks and everything else. The boat just cannot handle that kind of weight. No wonder why you guys fish off of the bow, because you render the cockpit useless.
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Yes, but very possible, at Full Load departure, the scuppers can be barely above the waterline, fortunately as the aft fuels tanks burn, she sits a little higher.

Quite honestly, if I was doing it, I'd bring a 200 gallon bladder, do 800-1000rpms all of the way down there, empty the bladder as quick as possible and fold it up and throw it in the dinghy,
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Exactly, perfect strategy.

then a 100 gallon livewell on the deck......
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No redneck engineering allowed, owners like clean styling.

A 47' SF is a small boat, and you're going to have to make lots of compromises to do all of that.
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Absolutely!

The chirping from the side scanning sonar also keeps a lot of fish from coming with 100' of the boat as well.
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Not the case, most of the winners of the big tournaments have them/use them here.

A friend of mine was the mate for Enrique Capozzi down in Costa Rica for a few years when he set all of those light tackle records, Enrique holds dozens and dozens of IGFA light tackle records in the Pacific for Marlin, Striped Marlin, and Sailfish, perhaps you've heard of him? They almost never fished from the bow, I mean almost never. It's the same mate that has worked for me for years. If you cannot position the cockpit to fish out of, even with pitch baits, for marlin, sailfish and others, you need a new Captain. You can spin a 47' Cabo around in seconds and still do about 10 knots in reverse. All they mostly did was pitch live baits, and bait and switch down there when they set all of the records. They also did it out of a 44' Gamefisherman.
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That's the typical East coast approach, it's all about staying inside the cockpit and boat handling. Most of that technique is bait and switch, which we also do, but someone will go forward to through more baits in the water.

In that Viking pic, there is no reason on this earth, you couldn't have that fish behind the boat and not forward of the cockpit. How does someone on the bow even tag and release a fish with the height of the bow of a 61' Viking. On the 75' Jim Smith I worked on, we caught and released 31 sailfish off of Palm Beach on live bait before 2pm and never once had anyone or any fish forward of the cockpit, even with multiples on
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.

If you look closely, they have a double header going on - angler in the cockpit and the bow are both hooked up. The angler on the bow will eventually walk back to the cockpit to release/keep.

These guys can do 40+ Striped Marlin a day in Mag Bay with these techniques, I think I have even heard of a 60 fish day, so I guess it works
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Reelentless · Mar 23, 2014

43 Owner

I have been on both. Own a well travelled 43. 43 is faster, rides better up hill and has a better bridge lay-out. I can't speak to ride at anchor comment but have been in conditions form Channel Islands to Frailles and have never had any complaints. Love the boat and chose it over the 47.

Big-e · Nov 5, 2017

MBY said: ↑

The 47 isn't a Michael Peters hull. It was originally a 45 flybridge until 3 weeks before the Ft Lauderdale show. My dad went and chopped the transom off at 7pm, told the boys to add 2' to it the next morning. It was originally based on the 45 hull. The hulls on the 47 and 48 are identical, the only difference is the house is 14" longer.

The 47 is going to be a little slower than the 43 but overall I believe it will be more efficient. Both boats have no prop pockets so they will both have very clean wakes and both fish very well. The 47 has a MASSIVE cockpit, perfect for so cal fishing.

I've run both boats down to Cabo and if I had to choose between the two I would take the 47. The 43 is a great running boat but it's sensitive to weight. The 43 leaves one heck of a hole in the water and likes to drink fuel but it's a great head sea boat. The 47 is all around a great running boat. The 43 has a nicer interior but the 47 is a very comfortable boat.

47 with 800 MAN's is a great combo, you will be very happy with that combo.
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MBY, I believe I am looking at the exact boat your father cut 2 feet off the back and extended. I'm curious if that is possible? Though the hull indemnification number says the boat is a 2006 which I know the 47 footers were no longer made at that time, I believe it was given to someone and complete it by them at some point. If you would be able to shine any information on that I would really appreciate it

MBY · Nov 6, 2017

Big-e said: ↑

MBY, I believe I am looking at the exact boat your father cut 2 feet off the back and extended. I'm curious if that is possible? Though the hull indemnification number says the boat is a 2006 which I know the 47 footers were no longer made at that time, I believe it was given to someone and complete it by them at some point. If you would be able to shine any information on that I would really appreciate it
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We built 47 hull #3 as a test boat that we fit with 800 Man's and had a gutted interior. To my knowledge once we finished testing the boat it was sold as essentially a one off to a customer who installed his own interior. This was the only Cabo that we ever did that wasn't finished at the factory. The gentleman that bought the boat was a very good craftsman and did the service work for one of our dealers in the Northeast so we were comfortable with him finishing the boat. As for the hull ID, 47 #3 was a 2000 or 2001 boat.

Big-e · Nov 6, 2017

MBY said: ↑

We built 47 hull #3 as a test boat that we fit with 800 Man's and had a gutted interior. To my knowledge once we finished testing the boat it was sold as essentially a one off to a customer who installed his own interior. This was the only Cabo that we ever did that wasn't finished at the factory. The gentleman that bought the boat was a very good craftsman and did the service work for one of our dealers in the Northeast so we were comfortable with him finishing the boat. As for the hull ID, 47 #3 was a 2000 or 2001 boat.
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Thank you so much for the quick response, I believe the boat owner is Kevin up in the Cape Cod area. He is an extremely talented craftsman and his interior work was wonderful. Is there any chance I can get more information on the boat itself? I'm just curious if there is someone knowledgeable that I could talk to you briefly prior to finalizing my deal

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43 vs. 47 Ride, performance

PacBlue Senior Member

Reelentless New Member

Big-e New Member

MBY Senior Member

Big-e New Member