New FinCraft 19 Center Console: A New, Low-Priced Saltwater CC Player

After taking on the builders of aluminum freshwater fish boats, the folks at FinCraft have now trained their sights on the saltwater center console market. FinCraft, which was introduced last year as a multi-specie freshwater fishing boat with a price tag low enough to compete with inexpensive metal boats, has now launched a low-cost center console for saltwater anglers. FinCraft is taking dead aim at the largest-selling center console brands, companies such as Carolina Skiff, Key West, Sea Fox, Sea Hunt and others. The FinCraft 19 CC is a compelling alternative to conventionally-built, low-priced center consoles.

FinCraft’s 19 CC is so new that at press time the company hadn’t yet photographed it on the water, thanks to the brutal Minnesota winter. The wavy sheer line is unusual: low forward, higher at the console, then a little dip on its way aft. This is a styling flourish that you sometimes see on larger boats – and, of course, never on an aluminum boat.

Before the financial meltdown of 18 months ago or so, the annual sales of center console boats was about 35,000 units annually, making it one of the largest-selling single categories of boats. The last time we counted there were well over 50 companies making center consoles, and the prices and quality of these boats runs the gambit from very basic and very low-cost to high-quality fishing machines full of every feature imaginable with prices to match.

With one exception, the top five selling center consoles brands are low-cost. Now, FinCraft is going to give those brands a run for their money (better stated: a run for your money!). Indeed, on its website, FinCraft lists five low-costs brands and invites consumers to compare the new FinCraft 19 CC with –

*Sea Hunt Triton 186

*Sea Fox 187 CC

*Angler 180

*Key West 186 CC

*Mako 184

The MSRP price for the new FinCraft 19 CC is $23,599, including a trailer and a 90-hp Suzuki 4-stroke engine. The boat measures 18’6” (5.69 m) LOA, 94” (2.41 m) beam, draft 44-3/4” (1.14 m) and has a displacement of 1850 lbs. (840 kgs.). Its deadrise at the transom is 21-degrees. The boat has a 35 gallon (133 L) fuel tank and is rated for a max of 175 hp.

This drawing shows the major features on the new FinCraft 19 CC.

The FinCraft 19 has a cockpit depth of 29-1/2” (.75 m) which is a good detail to check on any center console boat going offshore. But the major feature of the boat is the fact that it has been constructed with the VEC process – and it is the only center console on the market made with this process. Not only is this the reason that the FinCraft 19 CC can be priced so competitively, but it means that each hull is made to exacting tolerances. The VEC process assures that the right amount of resin and fiberglass are combined to produce a hull exactly as it was designed to be.

The VEC Process

The VEC process was invented over ten years ago, and it remains state-of-the-art a decade later – and no one has invented anything better in the meantime. VEC stands for Virtual Engineered Composites, and it basically replaces open molding, the time-honored method of building a production fiberglass boat.

This doesn’t look like typical fiberglass boatbuilding, and it’s not: Rather than conventional open-molding, FinCraft’s VEC system uses two-part steel molds and a sophisticated injection system to ensure precise glass/resin ratios and thorough wetting-out of the laminate. The cure rate is carefully controlled by varying the catalyst concentration – resin injected at the end of the cycle has more catalyst to make it kick faster.

VEC results in a one-part hull, with integrated stringers and other structural members that are literally molded-in rather than attached later with fiberglass – that’s called “secondary bonding,” and it’s often a source of trouble: Sometimes fiberglass doesn’t stick to other fiberglass as well as it should. Better to have everything built in one piece, at the same time. What’s more, the FinCraft 19 CC is wood-free.

With the VEC process, fiberglass and resin are put into a two-part stainless steel mold; catalyst is injected to make the resin “kick,” or cure; and 45 to 60 minutes later a perfect hull is released from the mold.

Conventional open-molded hulls take hours to cure enough to pop from the mold, and days, sometimes weeks, to fully cure. The whole VEC process is computer controlled by people monitoring over 500 variables. The best part is, because it’s computer-controlled, that means we don’t have to worry about a boat being built on a Monday or Friday anymore. They all come out the same.

Apart from its manufacture, the 19 CC is a typical center-console boat. Its helm bench reverses by swinging the back forward, turning it into an aft-facing fishing seat. There’s room at the helm for flush-mounting all the electronics you need. Standard steering is dual-cable; we prefer the hydraulic option. The under-gunwale rod racks are standard, as are the coaming pads and almost everything else you see in the picture. There are few options for the 19 CC.

Going Green

Irwin Jacobs, FinCraft’s owner, tells us his boats built with VEC technology are the industry’s cleanest and most environmentally friendly boats in the world. The VEC process reduces styrene emissions by over 90% compared to traditional fiberglass boat manufacturing methods – the styrene that would be lost into the environment as fumes in open molding is trapped in the VEC laminate. VEC technology won the EPA’s prestigious “Clean Air Excellence Award,” an honor that has never been awarded to a boat manufacturer before.

FinCraft is owned by J&D Acquisitions, the new holding company put together by Jacobs after the Genmar reorganization in January 2010. J&D also owns Seaswirl, Larson and Triumph; all of these brands will be built in the Little Falls, MN, plant which formerly was occupied by Larson and Glastron.

Keep your cold drinks and lunch in this cooler secured just forward of the console; the pad turns it into a seat. The grab handles are a nice touch, since things can get lively in a boat this size running fast through a chop. FinCraft tests showed a top speed of over 39 mph with a 115-hp outboard. We have not tested the boat, so can’t vouch for that, but it seems reasonable for a boat of this size and type.

The Bottom Line

At press time FinCraft was offering a special deal on the 19 CC: $23,599 for boat, 90-hp Suzuki outboard and trailer. That’s an attractive price, as they say in the ads. We’d upgrade to a 115-hp Yamaha motor, paying the increased price of $25,781; if money were no object, top-of-the-line is a Mercury 150-hp Verado outboard for $30,561. Even with a full load of options, the price of the 19 CC would stop at around $33,500.

One of the few options is a pair of removable jump seats aft. We’ve had similar seats on a couple of boats, and found them of limited use – they’re more often in the way.