High Performance Boats Playing and Working with Offshore Boats July 2006

by Steve Seaton
Photos by Russell Byrne

Perhaps I inherited an inclination for fine boats because they tell me that my grandfather, who I never met, sold Chris Craft boats and yachts back in the 1950s. My earliest memories go back to boating. When I was just a baby my dad and mom used to take me with them on excursions to Catalina Island in their cruiser.

Dad got tired of life in the fast lane and walked away from a high-paying job with McDonnell Douglas. He moved from Miami, Florida back to Marin, and he and a high-school buddy went into partnership buying a marine business in Novato, called “The Boat Shop.”

I was only 11 when I began working in my dad’s shop. I started at the bottom sweeping floors, washing boats, and cleaning the toilets. I also enjoyed being around that marine environment.

Following a six-year apprenticeship as janitor and errand boy I was promoted to engine mechanic when I was 17 years old. The transition came smoothly. Before long I was as comfortable inside a marine engine as other kids were in a video store or poolroom. I continued to work for my dad until he retired in 1989.

Time Enough for Fun

We didn’t just make it possible for other people to have fun with boats, we had a lot of fun ourselves. The freedom when you are out in one of these is remarkable. I was kindergarten-age when I first learned to water ski. I remember strapping on a pair of skies behind an old tri-hull boat with a powerful inboard-outboard Volvo engine. Dad nailed a length of garden hose between the skis to hold them together because my legs were so weak. I was frightened by the power that came surging down the tow rope, but once I got up on the plane and began skimming across the water I was having so much fun that I fell instantly in love with the sport.

I grew cocky about my abilities on skis before I had any right to have such feelings. I once snapped across the wake of the boat as it turned away from a beach, let go of the rope, and prepared for a spectacular landing. However, I hit the sand so hard that it took the skis right off my feet, and tumbled me head-over-heels. I finished with a GI roll, jumped to my feet completely covered with sand, glanced nonchalantly at the people watching me, all the while trying to keep an “I meant to do that,” expression on my face.

When I was 24 years old I bought a ski boat with a muscular motor hanging off the back. Every Friday morning during the summer my anticipation would begin to build as I looked forward to the moment when I could take off and launch my boat on Lake Berryessa’s sunlit waters. I learned how to slalom on that lake. It was wonderful!

Working for Myself
After my dad sold his business I moved to the Far East County and created a mobile engine-repair business by converting a second-hand bread truck into a rolling marine engine shop. I built shelves for my tools, painted the thing white, and ran my business out of that vehicle from 1991 to 1996. My business expanded and a decade ago I opened my own shop at its present location just West of the bridge on Highway 4, a mile past Discovery Bay Boulevard. I renovated an ancient asparagus factory that had gone out of business and gave the name Seaton’s Marine to my new enterprise.

I service and repair all small watercraft, and specialize in high-performance offshore power boats. I’m riding a wave because the number of large off-shore boats has grown ten-fold in the past ten years.

I began working on these super-boats in 1993 and fell into a niche. Half my business is now done with offshore style high-performance boats. I do a lot of custom high-performance upgrades for people who want to go faster. For example, if the performance on an offshore boat is below the desired level, I’ll replace the two 575 HP engines for a pair of 800 HP engines and give the client something that will leave in its wake 95% of the other speed boats. In fact, that’s exactly what I did for one customer named Tony Adams.

Some people buy these boats just for the thrill of going fast. In other cases, however, the boats are created for competition purposes. 110° Magazine did a May cover story on Janine Doherty who, at 102 MPH, holds the world’s record for women in her class. Casual readers might never think about the fact that in order for Janine to go that fast, she needed a boat that could pull her at that speed. Seaton Marine created the boat that Janine uses for her competitions. For a few years she was pulled in the fastest races by the boat mentioned above that I created for Tony Adams.

When Tony first took delivery of that boat from the factory he was disappointed in its speed. He had bought a brand new Formula 382 offshore boat with twin 575 SCIs (Super-Charged Injected). He took delivery of the boat in Texas and had it transported to Los Angles. Then he hired Bob Teague, the Technical Editor for Powerboat Magazine, and me to look at it. When we tested the boat. It would only do about 83 MPH. I convinced the others that we should replace the original engines with a pair of blown and intercooled 800 HP custom-built Teague Custom Marine engines. When they arrived I tore the whole boat apart and put it back together around those two monsters. Now the boat would do 100 MPH. That upgrade cost Tony a lot of money, but he considered the extra speed to be worth the expense.

But that wasn’t the end. Two years later we installed an Arneson shaft-mounted surface drive, which permitted the boat to pull a skier through water at 95 MPH. In particular, Tony pulled a world-class Belgium skier the 26 miles between Benicia and Alcatraz at an average speed of over 95 MPH through broken water. The race involved the two fastest skiers in the world. We left from Benicia, took the turn around Alcatraz, and were on a pace to set the course record when we threw a blade on one of the propellers right in front of the Richmond San Rafael Bridge. The course record will have to wait.

I pull Janine on some of her runs in my 34 Magic high-performance boat, which has two 454 electronic fuel–injected stock engines. In the May article of 110° Magazine my boat was the one that Russell Byrne, the photographer, rode in while taking Janine’s pictures. We were flying, and Janine was always trying to get Chuck to go faster. She’s a nut that way. There’s no such thing as too fast for her.

Same for my boats.