MOESLY’S VARIABLE DEADRISE

The variable-degree deadrise shape was patented by Floridian Carl Moesly in the early 1960s for hulls of his legendary SeaCraft line of center-console boats, the same hull that served as the basis (with major modifications) for the running surface of the Sailfish 276 DC. Moesly’s design featured three separate panels running fore and aft, each changing by about a degree from the initial 24-degree deep-V at the keel. (Imagine a shingled roof upside down.) Moesly was a tinkerer, a World War II combat pilot, and an avid boatman who believed in testing his ideas under trying conditions. He had built his first boat at 13, and as he formulated SeaCraft, he studied the newly launched Bertram deep-Vs. He knew that the high deadrise of the early Ray Hunt-designed Bertram deep-Vs were low on lateral stability. They were, in a word, rollers. What he wanted was a good rough-water boat for running off Florida in the Gulf Stream in all conditions.

In 1961, Moesly entered a 23-foot wooden SeaCraft prototype in the grueling Miami-to-Nassau powerboat race and, despite a 25-minute delay to sort out carb problems, finished fifth overall. Powered by a pair of 110 hp Mercury outboards, it finished just 25 minutes behind a 1,000 hp competitor.