Years of owning sailboats came to an end in 2013 when my wife and I decided to switch to power.
We were interested in downsizing and portability; something pushed along by an outboard that would better utilize our time on the water. I’m an air charter pilot, so free time is not to be wasted and working a larger sailboat was becoming more of a chore as I grew older. We also wanted something we could trailer. Armed with sales proceeds from our 1978 Hunter 30, the search began.
At one point during our hunt, my wife, Jackie, asked, “Why don’t we get a boat like (a cousin and his wife) own?”
Both of us were quite familiar with the cousin’s boat: a 23-foot Caribiana Sea Skiff (not to be confused by the Carolina variety), so it took no arm-twisting to convince me.
For many of the same reasons we were switching from sail to power, several years ago our cousins, then living in Boca Raton, Florida, traded down from a Tiara 30 Open Express with two gas Merc engines to their Caribiana. During visits with them, we cruised the waterways surrounding Boca numerous times, so we were quite familiar with the Caribiana’s sea-keeping nature. With this boat, it took less time to get out on the water and to put her away at the end of the day. Thus, we had more time to cruise and explore.
Don’t be surprised if you’ve not heard of the design. Caribianas are true niche boats styled after hard-working Caribbean pangas, but with more “yachty” styling. You don’t see these boats everywhere you go, and that appealed to us. We wanted something that had good manners and was noticeable because of her good lines. In the Caribiana, we got all of that. We’re always getting the thumbs-up from other boaters and, when trailering, folks walk over at fuel stops to ask about the boat. We like that a lot.
We’re not particularly concerned about selling the Caribiana, but we do get several calls a year from people who want to know if we wish to sell.
Originally, we thought about a used boat, but we quickly found out there aren’t many Caribianas on the used boat market. After a frustrating search, I called boatbuilder and businessman Curt Morse in Pensacola, Florida, who, at the time, owned the brand. He became the company’s second owner after buying it from original designer, Lynn Raybren. Curt said he did, in fact, have a used one, but if I was interested in a new boat, he might have a deal I’d be interested in.
About two months later, Jackie and I drove over to Pensacola to pick up our new 23. We made it back to Texas the next day in time to splash it in our home waters.
We added cap rails of old-growth Burmese teak, a deck grating built out of Brazilian walnut (Ipe), ice chests, a portable toilet, cushions, safety equipment and a bronze cutwater to let the sharp-edge prow fend off flotsam. We suffer the south Texas summertime sun because we’ve been reluctant to mess up her lines with a Bimini top.
I keep at least eight standard life jackets in the forward locker, along with four for kids. Also onboard is a fire extinguisher, two horns, whistles, lights for after-dark operations and Orion 12- and 25-gauge flares of various types, including a couple of smoke pots.
Jackie and I both wear inflatable, suspend-type personal flotation devices and whoever is helming the boat is connected to the kill-switch via lanyard in case of an accident that pitches the driver overboard. We carry an Icom handheld radio with mic-speaker and our cell phones are carried typically in water-resistant cases. We typically don’t voyage out of cell-phone range.
I plan to recut the cushions to make all storage lockers more accessible the give the Caribiana surprising storage capacity. I will also add a stowable bow tent this summer that will be supported by custom-made collapsible fiberglass tent poles to give some shade forward as well as rain protection for a passenger or two.
Because of her V-shaped, faux lapstrake hull, and 5/4-width cap rails, climbing back aboard is a bit of a challenge. Typical removable boarding ladders take up too much interior real estate. My solution was to add a stern-mounted, removable boarding ladder that easily stows in a side lazarette perfectly.
Port and starboard lazarettes with a generous forward lazarette and chain locker provide ample on-board storage with drainage taken care of by 600-gph Johnson bilge pumps equipped with float switches. There is also a storage trough underneath the helm seat.
Two 12-volt lead-acid batteries secured in battery boxes and controlled by a Perko multifunction switch make up the electrical system, which powers running and courtesy lights, engine ignition and power for the Garmin 740s chartplotter. While one battery is sufficient in most cases, I prefer the second as backup.
Narrow-beamed as she is at only 6 feet, the Caribiana is a bit twitchy in the roll which makes getting off and on an exercise in balance. Without trim tabs, she’s subject to a bit more prop-torque than I would like, but that is easily manageable. With 70-hp Yamaha, she comes quickly out of the hole, rising easily onto plane and at 5900 rpm she’s seakindly using her deep-V bow to slice through most chop and wakes without complaint while doing so on about 4.5 gph. A full fuel load gives us about five hours under full power from the 26 gallons onboard.
While a typical crew is just the two of us, the Caribiana easily accommodates four adults on martini-and-burger runs and we operate the boat both day and at night when weather permits. She’s USCG-rated for a total of eight passengers, which means we can board at least six of the 12 grandkids at a time.
Kept on a floating dock for several years, the boat now resides in a rack-and-stack boat barn where the staff launches her for us and then puts her back inside when we are done. Having inside storage during our hot Texas summers is definitely an advantage and the cost is comparable to our previous marina dockage. Utilizing a valet service also saves us time, which we appreciate.
The Caribiana is fairly light weight and transports easily on a single-axle trailer. Our diesel Ford F-250 barely notices the tow, but she tows equally well behind a half-ton pickup. She’s also light enough to where fuel mileage doesn’t suffer and an 8-hour trip from Houston to the Mississippi Gulf Coast is easily manageable during daylight.
The cousins I spoke about earlier make their home on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Jack and I meet up with them to go out to Horn Island and Ship Island. We also run the nearby rivers and bayous. Finding dockage at local eateries is not problem.
Overall, the Caribiana, while maybe not a good choice for some, has met all our expectations. She has good seakeeping, a generally soft ride in light chop, good economy, low maintenance and more than adequate range for all our boating endeavors. A niche boat? We’d definitely do it again.
This article was originally published in the July 2023 issue.
