22 Panchanga in Ft. Lauderdale

[rwvw415]

Im in the process of buying a condo in the Ft. Lauderdale area and wanted opinions on if I should bring my perfect condition 1987 Pachanga 22 down to the coast or if I should think about a center console type boat for running to bars and waterside restaurants? Either way I would keep the boat dry docked. Would the Pachanga be comfortable and handle the bays, IC and a run a mile or two off shore?

 

[Chris Nowell]

Once again I'm surprised that a thread like this has gone unanswered. I have a 1989 230 CC that I think is similar to the Pachanga as far as the hull design goes. I've heard positive feed back from a few members who have used these boats for trips to Catalina Island off the west coast. I can tell you that ours does handle the rough water fairly well and is quite comfortable when up on plane. The only complaint I have is that when I slow down to hull speed in foul weather she has a tendency to bury the bow in some of the larger waves if I'm not paying attention to my angle of approach. She does shed the water quite well but the cockpit drains into the bilge on mine so you have to be careful. I've seen some of them develop rot in the port and starboard bilge shelves too. The drain holes are very small and the water does tend to collect in there. I just vacuum it out with a shop vac when needed. There seems to be a lot of center console boats in Florida so I assume they are very capable off shore boats. Hope some one else who actually HAS a Pachanga can add to this. Good luck.

 

[Capt. Rusty Higgins]

I hang around a mint condition Pachanga and that baby still hits about 65 on calm water...Not a scratch on her after over 20 years of shredding the water.

Will try and post pictures.

My advice is that if you ever come across one in good condition, you have found yourself a jewel. That is one boat that will get more popular with each year that a good one, gets harder to find

Capt. R

 

[GrandMaster]

In the intercoastal you'd be fine. More than a couple miles offshore could be dicey many days and probably wouldnt be doable in the winter at all.

 

[fwebster]

A local guy has found an undamaged 32 Pachanga and is dumping a ton of $$ into it. Right now, he has painted the entire boat and replaced the interior and the cockpit vinyl. He was at about $85K at the end of the summer last year and loves the boat and particularly the ride in the Gulf. We also have a 22 Pachanga in dry stack storage under a dust cover (it isn't for sale- I've tried). Don't discount the Pachanga as a calm water boat…….they will do what you need to do. In fact, the passengers will "call Uncle" before the Pachanga does.

 

[Pat Ousborne]

I had a 22 Pachanga in Ft Lauderdale in the late 1990's. It was fun but limited to calm days on the ocean especially in winter months. I ran 100 mile trips into the keys many times by picking my days carefully. The intercoastal is full of speed limits to protect manatees that were idle speed not 6 MPH and my boat bow hunted and sat low in the stern so was not fun to run for long trips in the ICW. Some times I had to run slow for hours to get home if the seas kicked up. Summer was calm and I could run most anywhere offshore. The dockside restaurant/bar scene was awesome and it's easy to dock a 22 anywhere. All in all you can have fun with a 22 but pick your days. Pat

 

[rondds]

Hey Pat!

Welcome to Club Sea Ray! I knew you would have answers for the OP on this one!

 

[rwvw415]

Thanks for everyone's responses. It is a big move for me to bring my "baby" down to salt water. I think I am going to do it and just pick my days. On a day like today (82 no wind ) I really hated not having a boat on the coast. Rusty by the way I'm Gary McCloud's friend from Nashville. in fact he personally delivered this boat to my cousin in 1987, I bought it when my cousin died about 5 years ago. It is Perfect and unrestored. In fact it still has the full window without the divider in the middle.