While in Newport recently, Soundings found a couple of updated offerings from Steiger Craft, the New York-based builder of fishing boats ranging in size from 21 to 31 feet.
The 255 Annapolis was at the dock. It’s a brand-new boat based on the hull of the 255 Miami, only this pilothouse cruiser with an 8-foot, 6-inch beam has a new deck layout set up family fishing and cruising.
We also saw the 23 CC Chatham. This salty open boat has been updated with a new doghouse-style console, yet it still retains the huge open bow and roomy cockpit designed to accommodate at least 8 of your closest fishermen friends. Both boats run on the company’s deep-V hull designed for inshore and offshore use. For a quick preview of the two models, check out our video.
Steiger Craft boats are built in Bellport, New York, where a wholesale bakery once stood. Alan Steiger is grandson of that baker, and he runs the company today. In doing so, he is keeping one of Long Island’s only boatbuilding shipyards alive.
Although Steiger Craft boats originally were designed for the shallow waters of Long Island’s Great South Bay, in the mid-1990s, Steiger developed deep-V hulls for ocean recreational fishing. Almost everything that goes into a Steiger Craft boat is made on-site. That includes the molds used to create the hulls, as well as components.
The company makes changes to its model line each year. Steiger constantly noodles with designs, sometimes using an erasable board set up behind his desk, which one of the company carpenters made years ago.
Most of Steiger Craft’s customers are fishermen who sometimes take their families to the beach or out to Fire Island. The company’s most famous customer was singer-songwriter Billy Joel, a Long Island resident who has owned more than 20 boats over the years. He had the only Steiger Craft inboard ever built.
