Ok POST experts, lets hear some thoughts

How long do you plan on owning the boat @strongfinish? Something to think about would be, will you be able to find a buyer if you decide to sell in a few years? How's the navigation electronics? Would you be buying from a broker or the owner direct? How long has she been for sale?

Sounds like your sold on this one. Congrats. - Cheers. When do you close the deal and make the maiden voyage??

Love my ancient 42, these were said to have the worst behavior in following seas. I HAVE experienced the "suicide slide" once, but that was Baltimore harbor after the Blue Angels show. In those confused seas created by 100s of wakes, no boat was going to handle well. Chesapeake 46 makes good valid points. Don't be afraid of a Post.

I am new to the Post , I have a 1993 46 , this with the 550 HP DDs. I have run the boat for 2 seasons off Canadas east coast , It took some time to get used to the following sea handling characteristics but with no taps and paying attention to whats the sea and boat are telling you , with the right power and Wheel she will be OK , Hell , nothing like a ship handling challenge , thats why I became a Master Mariner and love to skipper offshore support vessels in the North Sea....This is a great site , I love my boat , but she will I know take up a huge ammount of my time , both in pleasure and pain...Good luck , keep us in the loop...

Have any of you captains changed out the rudders?

Strongfish,

The 80's 42 Post is a great value and very capable safe boat.

I have a 46 and I am extremely happy with the boat.

There is a rudder upgrade available for the 46 Post.
I have the rudder upgrade in my boat house but haven't installed them yet.
I compensate with zero tabs in a following sea and I have a light inflatable on the bow.
Also try to keep the weight in the rear fuel tank.

Overall I am extremely extremely happy with my 46 Post.
It is an overbuilt quality boat.

I have run Vikings, Hatts, Berts, and few custom downeasters.
All run differently and have different handling attributes.
I have been on some large SFs that handled great in a following sea but rocked you to death on the troll or at anchor.

Strongfish you will not be disappointed by the 42 Post. There are some amazing values out there.

LOLOLOLOL it has NOTHING to do with any of that, and little you can do to correct it. It surfs on the side of the keel/hull. It's a hull design flaw. Like driving a car in the rain with bald rear tires, sooner or later the rear of the car is going to come around on you. Bigger rudders will help, so will keeping weight aft. Some Ocean's exhibit a similar ride....the 48's.

Strongfish,

Here is my opinion.


the 42 Post is a capable, proven, and safe platform.
There are tons of them around that have seen offshore service and service as cruisers.
I have personally crewed on an older 42 in the Northeast Canyons.
I found the 42 to be a very stable comfortable boat especially when hooked to a pot overnight 100 miles from the dock.
There are some restored and updated 42's that are beautiful.


Regarding the following sea handling:

The 42 Post has nearly zero deadrise.
The benefits of the flat stern section of the hull are increased stability, less draft, and less power needed.
The flat stern causes the 42 Post to be extremely stable trolling, at anchor and on the drift.
The draw backs of the zero deadrise are that the boat can tend to bow steer in a following sea if you have a heavy bow, light stern and have the tabs down.
To counter the bow steer in a following sea you need to run light up front, heavy in stern, and zero tabs.

I have time on other well know brand similar SF's that have significantly more deadrise.
they track better in a following sea, but the draw backs are more power needed, fuel, and some of them can snap roll you to death in a beam sea or at anchor.
Some of them also rock pretty good at the dock.

Good luck
RT46

good luck, welcome to the club!

Remember Tabs up, u will be fine!

FYI here is a pic of the rudder upgrade:

For what it's worth I have a 1999 42 Post and ran back from the Hudson Canyon 3 times this year into a 15-20 knot south west winds with 5-7 and occasional 8 foot following swell (9 second) at around 23-24 knot average speed. With the tabs set right and autopilot engaged it has been pretty damn comfortable ride every time. Yes you will get the occasional spray over the course of three and a half hours and it will occasionally want to surf the chine but it quickly returns back to its bearing and I have never had any white knuckle adventures. That being said I would not intend on running in anything larger than that unless I owned a 65 plus Sportfish or a Downeast style hull. Not that the boat can't handle it but I am adverse to cleaning up the interior after a long trip.

The boat is a good trade off for having the family enjoy and live aboard all summer and still be able to efficiently get out and get away to do serious fishing.

I can't speak to the older Posts and their handling but mine I have been pretty impressed with.

Mother nature had nothing to do with these confused seas. A bunch of really ignorant throttle jockeys. Its amazing nobody gets killed when they have events in the harbor, they really should enforce a temporary no wake zone to the point the river widens. Tuck the tabs? Never used them. I've operated them only to replace the zincs.

We are talking about hull design, manufacturers have chosen different designs over the years for the different benefits of each design. What happened in 2000? Don't manufacturers still choose different style hulls for different reasons? There are no "great sea boats" considered a sportfish before 2000? My question to the more experienced and knowledgeable than I is why?

In addition to what Strongfinish said. Everything has advanced, and progressed, just like cars. a 2016 corvette runs circles around a 1996 corvette and handles better, stops better, and is much faster and gets 30 mpg on the highway.

In early 2000s several things have happened. Builders and hull designers have advanced and learned what works what doesn't. Due to lighter and stronger materials (coring etc.) weight has been reduced in the construction of the house and flybridge (up high), hull designers are using CAD machines and computer modeling and can design the boat with weight and shift the weight around (fuel/water etc tanks or equipment) to see where the longitudal COG needs to be and COG will end up. It's a lot less trial and error now. Also, several builders have had computer generated scale models made and tank test all of them in a variety of ocean scenario's. Some even go as far as to put them in a wind tunnel (lightening boats does this) and test designs to see how they can reduce wind drag for more speed. Molds are made now that are exactly to the specs of the hull designer since a CAD machine can whittle out a styrofoam block exactly to the hull designers design and they can make a mold off of it. Engines have a lot better power to weight ratio from 2000s on so they can reduce weight there and keep the same HP or push them faster.

Nothing will screw up a SF's ride than getting the longitudal center of gravity wrong. A 500 lb swing from the bow to the stern, can make some boats go from being a total pounding submarine, to an excellent dry running boat.....

The 50' Egg Harbor SF comes to mind. With the aft tank full of fuel and bow tank dead empty is when it rides correctly and quite well actually, fill up the bow tank with fuel (and aft), or have the bow tank empty and the stern tank starts getting below 3/4 the ride starts diminishing incredibly, night and day difference. Now, all the builder probably had to do to do correct the issue was build the boat with the aft fuel tank 12" further aft.......or lighten up the bow with lighter build materials. The boat I ran was a 2006, had no bow rail, no windlass, a Fortress with only 6' of chain......imagine if it had all that weight up there. But this is why Egg Harbor is Egg Harbor and in the Position it's in, and Viking is Viking and in the position they're in. NOW, this 50' Egg Harbor still rode better, considerably better..... than a 1980's 54' Bertram or 52' Hatteras or 48' Viking......Especially with the sea on the beam, but by today's standards wasn't a great ride.

Buddy Davis was notorious for screwing up Longitudal COG as he'd build a few hull lengths off of the same jig or mold. Some would be wet pounding submarines and some would be a great riding boat. Usually the longer one.

You also don't see Keels on SF anymore like you did in the 80's as they figured out how to get low speed (trolling) stability without them. And in a sea the keels a lot of times at cruise would give some boats the suicide slide in following seas or make them lean/ride on one side of the keel or the other at times. Chines are another relatively newer thing on SF and have helped with ride and stability. Motoryachts too have advanced greatly.

I have had my 42 for 21 years, used my father's for 13 yrs before that. They are a war horse, they are not a speed demon compared to today's standards. The 42 has a ton of room in them. Yes they do not like running in a following seas. I put rails on and stopped a lot of squiring and I have a tower on it. I have put my wife through seas most wife's would walk of the boat and never come back. That age boat look for hair line cracks around the edge of the cabin top and the back of the cabin where the window is. The pulpit is a problem with rot underneath as around the hatches. Check the corners of the aft bulkhead for rot. It looks like a nice boat go with your gut you can not go wrong with the boat.