Looking for a simple boat that doesn’t need much horsepower to run at a decent clip and doesn’t guzzle gas? Eastern Boats’ new Seaway 24 Sport center console deserves some attention.
The Milton, New Hampshire, company builds boats from 18 to 35 feet across four brands: Eastern, Seaway, Rosborough and Sisu. All of the boats to 27 feet can run with a single engine.
With a 115-hp 4-stroke, the 24 Sport tops out at about 32 mph and cruises at 20 to 24 mph. At 24 mph, the outboard will burn 3.5 gph, translating to about 7 mpg — an impressive number, even for a small boat. Equipped with with a 150-hp outboard, the Seaway will top out at about 40 mph and cruise at 25 to 30 mph. Mileage is about 7 mpg at 28 mph.
“I think this boat will really fit a niche — an affordable family and fishing center console that’s more economical to run,” says Bruce Perkins, Eastern’s director of sales and marketing. Eastern discontinued its previous 24-foot center console two years ago. “That boat never worked for us — too many bells and whistles and not enough room for crew,” says Perkins. “This boat is simpler, with plenty of room. One of the other issues [with the previous boat] was freeboard. This boat has 4 more inches of freeboard, which makes a big difference standing in the cockpit.”
The 24 Sport, which is built with no liner, has a portable head in the console. She’s outfitted with a storage box that doubles as a seat on the aft side of the leaning post. A coffin box with a removable padded top is in the center of the foredeck.
The decks are built with Nida-Core closed-cell foam, and the hull is solid glass, says Perkins, and uses a foam-filled stringer grid — there is no wood in the boat.Its hard-chine modified-vee hull begins with a narrow forefoot and flattens out to 4 degrees of deadrise at the transom. The engine hangs from a cutout transom.
Base price with a Yamaha F115 is $46,500 ($50,000 fully equipped). Base price with a 150 is $49,800. Seaway also carries Mercury and Honda outboards.
This article originally appeared in the September 2015 issue.
