Striker Yachts and Sedef in Turkey and Aluminum questions

Battlewagon

Hello fellow "STRIKER LIKER",I suggest that you give the folks at Striker Yacht Corp. an EMAIL. I understand they can answer any question you may have.Good luck, am headed fishing!

It took a little digging, but I traced the IP address of Battlewagon back to...

Edward E. Ennis, Jr.; the CEO/President of Striker Yacht Corp.

Ed, your membership is being removed. You were warned multiple times during registration NOT to engage in promotion, yet you took the opportunity anyhow. When you pose as a 3rd party, this is FRAUD. To anyone considering this company for a new build, be aware of their clandestine tactics.

I was in Turkey a couple of months ago visiting builders. There are a number of them that could take on a sportfish project. However, never under estimate the power of "Made In America". I am sure that there are yards today that would love to build you a boat where a few years ago they would laugh you off because of current build schedules.

He just said to email striker though. It wasn't over the top like a lot of the other brokers/manufacturers have been on here.....

I know nothing of the current strikers or Sedef. However, I did manage, maintain and run a 1991 58' striker SF many years ago. Solidly built boat, well engineered, rode good but was wet, very stable. However, it was slow......20-21 knot cruise and hull design, several people told me was the real reason. Supposedly if you either extended the stern, or welded trim tabs to the transom they would pick up speed........The particular one I ran was built by Burger Yachts, and supposedly the interior came in much heavier than it should've......The owner who built it, told me they used 8 semi-trucks of marine plywood on the interior.

Personally, in todays day and age, I don't like aluminum for a yacht building material in most all yacht builds. However, there are a few instances where it is a good material.....I don't think a modern sportfish is one of them. The aluminum is noisy and the maintanence is high. I'd rather have cold molded or fiberglass over aluminum in a SF anyday of the week......

Don't think for a second there aren't a bunch of builders that would embrace your ideas about beam and styling! Many of them are sitting idle now and you can get the best deal in a long time on labor. Materials haven't gone down but have leveled off somewhat lately too so you can get some really good deals now.

Many of the builders are using lightweight materials in both interiors and structure and "exotics" like Kevlar and carbon fiber are yielding hulls that are much stronger than even ten years ago. You should try giving a few builders a call. I'll bet you will find them very receptive and competitive!

As an owner of a Striker 44 (also named Battlewagon but no relation) I've followed the attempts to bring back Striker Yachts from various groups. I guess the design can be duplicated and the name has been fought over for a while. Six years ago there was a salesman in Maryland insisting he could get one built of any size requested. The original designer Thomas De Groot has a web site offering design services and the ability to build you a pilot boat or custom Striker also. He was very helpful to me in getting updated rudder drawings. There are also clones out there that are not "true" Strikers. After many of these were originally built the American portion of the company did a number of customizations including adding an afterplane to get more speed. It worked but diminished the handling in a following sea. The boats are very stable but have a large beam. The hull design does not lend itself to going 30-40 knots and I'm not sure you can correct that.

If you are building a custom hull then using aluminum can be as cheap as any other material depending on labor costs and skill sets. However if you want a new Striker I'd seriously look at buying an old one and stripping it completely to start over.

It's not the first time he's done this. I removed his membership several months ago for attempting promotion. This time, he signed up under an alias to direct a potential buyer to his business. We will NOT let YF be manipulated by unscrupulous manufacturers. This is FRAUD and it should be a red flag for anyone who is considering this company for a new build.

Hello John, I was the salesman from Maryland you are talking about, what I think I meant was all Striker designs are available for the older designs as well as the newer designs at that time. Mr. de Groot taught me all about the Striker business and yes I could build these vessels with my own hands, but its not a one man operation. All the Striker designs and itellectual property are owned by Striker Boats International in Holland and they still design Strikers' to this day. He has several websites and I don't think these other guys are on the level , all boats are built for a license fee to de Groot per boat. The other guy "Ed" stated on their website they been in business since 1951, That's impossible and is only buffery. Plus they don't mention de Groot and are using his material and photos from other previous license yards. I should probably email him in the morning.

I like your idea about restoring the older ones, there's a 44 south of you that was converted for commercial use, has turbo 3208 cats and will run pretty fast, 30 knots isn't impossible, there is a 46 series 90 like this one Striker Pilot Vessel designed by Thomas de Groot - YouTube that will do over 30 knots has double the power, I am only quessing 70 plus gallons an hour, maybe more. They love the boat.

They still are built in Holland with the origanator of the designs, I worked with the chief and know several others . The legal issues are about a company ownership dispute here in the US. They are only a "shell corporation" Holland has all the plans and design staffing craftsman ect. You can only get a license from them which is normal for most builders, like custom homes. Plus they are not part of the real Striker, I wonder if they even know they have this site up and running ??? When I worked with Striker Boats International I was approached by various con artist from Turkey and a few other places.

Everything is through de Groot in Holland, I was an salesman for a couple of years, but still contact them once in a while. My main business is Mechanic/shopkeeper. I am not a good salesman, just a mechanic.

The MAN'S were replacements, I remember reading about that in the ninies in Marlin.

Yes, they are still build to this day, the over-sight could be available in house from the builder, the best yards have several people backing up the shop guys. I don't know when the 120 will be built but it's not impossible. When I worked as a salesman my assignment was to focas on Pilot boats sales in North America, my problem was the Pilots were very interested but the yards were booked up and couldn't help, 9-11 set those guys on fire, the order books were full for years, now its a different story I quess.

You won't be able to build at the yard of your choice, unless approved, the yard will need a special press to form the hull, when I worked there we setup the boat kit program where all the metal is precut with a waterjet and peices labeled delivered to your builders door, you can get the metal work done ahead of time. Although they did it before for the sport fishers.

I can only quess what it would cost here in the US, 3,250,000 for a 62 4,000,0000 for a 70 plus 6-10 percent for design fee's. Also don't forget sales tax.

I don't think those other guys have the technology to design this hull, The Striker has a special bottom.

I'll email de Groot tomorrow and ask if he knows about these guys. The other guy said they were a fraud so maybe he knows something we don't.

My Striker was a classis 37 restored and was a good boat very large engine room with 671's. Ran boat empty no interior, low fuel no water only a few items and myself, the boat ran 25-26 knots on the GPS and handled very nicely in 2-3 foot sea's. Loaded down with everything and extra people 18-20 knots average, very safe and fun boat.

All due respect and good intentions should have guided you to contact the forum administrator with a press release stating all the facts you wish to establish and demand that to be posted officially by the admin in this thread and/or a special thread about the company's history and what not. Everybody on this forum, guests and members alike, grows to have a faith in its supervisors and moderators, which makes reading their posts and opinions more followed and heard than reading commercial website contents.

No offense, just my honest opinion and welcome to Yacht Forums.

Have a nice stay,

Well said Alfred. Sorry that the post you quoted was deleted before your answer was published...

No worries. They got the official version of what I said from you!

Cheers,

A true shame!
Anyway, now they get the advise straight from clients... "Show Effort to Generate Interest!". Hopefully some good material will be available soon. I think they should have a build or two dedicated for pictures, trials and videos and have those thrown in every direction, it will be money well invested.

Keep the good faith up!

Cheers,