06seaveee
The biggest boat SeaVee has ever built, this 390 takes all the incredible innovations the company has made famous over the years to an all-new level, then adds a bunch more.
Performance
Testing boats at the Miami International Boat Show always proves challenging due to myriad boats of all sizes and descriptions running around in a relatively small area thanks to Homeland Security. But the 390 SeaVee scoffed at everything we could find to run it through: the ridiculous chop in the harbor as well as the 2- to 4-footers offshore.
Our boat sported four 300 hp Mercury Verados on the ample transom. However, SeaVee says it will make a future model available with Volvo Penta IPS drives. I can’t wait. Nothing beats maneuvering with that joystick when fighting a fish. You just can’t imagine until you try it.
Our 390 came with four fuel tanks holding up to 570 gallons: twin 135s in front and two 150s aft. For long trips, you can manage fuel just like on a much bigger boat – drawing from any combination of tanks to optimize vessel balance.
Amazingly, the bow hardly rises at all when you put the throttles forward. In fact, time to plane hardly even applies. Unlike most other boats where you push the throttles all the way forward to get on plane, then pull them back, with the 390, you simply put them forward to cruising rpm, and the boat rises onto plane and runs. Then, once running, acceleration from cruising speed is instantaneous. Push the throttles forward at 35 mph, and you can waltz your passengers all the way to the transom if they aren’t holding on.
Testing a boat at a press event usually doesn’t appeal to me. For example, we had 540 gallons of fuel plus six adults aboard. That’s not the best situation for optimum performance results. At 5,400 rpm, we hit 58.7 mph. We topped out at 67.8 mph at 6,100 rpm. Imagine just the driver and light fuel! Offshore, I launched the boat as best I could. Other than the engines hitting their rev limiters, you’d hardly know that the boat left the water, generating a soft, dry, quiet landing.
We cruised nicely at 4,000 rpm, running 44 mph, and burned a respectable 1 mpg at 40 mph. In case you wondered how this boat did with fewer than four outboards, we cruised along nicely at 45 mph with only two of the four engines running. In summation, the SeaVee 390 exhibited no apparent performance flaws.
Fishing
My first thought was, I’ll need a pretty long rod to get past that big transom, let alone the engines. But you can get pretty close to the corners even with four engines on the stern. You’d have no problem fishing eight anglers at once on this boat.
I lost count of how many in-deck boxes that 390 had – more than enough to fill several bag limits. All heavily insulated boxes and hatches feature tight gaskets. The forward in-deck hatches split so you don’t need to open an entire hatch each time. The hatch operates on a pneumatic ram – just push a button to open and close it. You also get another livewell forward since it seems to be a several-block walk from bow to stern.
Our hull had more rod holders and storage than Snoop Dogg has bling. Under-gunwale 12-volt outlets all around let you bottomfish or run downriggers or kite rods from anywhere aboard. And if you should somehow get water on the deck while fighting a fish, the innovative scupper system will drain it before you can blink. SeaVee offers several worthwhile options here, including a cored fiberglass hardtop with cutouts for the nine rod holders on each console side, a fiberglass tackle station and a big cooler that slides out from under the leaning post on steel tracks.
Design and Construction
The number of innovations goes beyond what I have room to list here. You’ll find hideaway transom-corner seats as well as incredibly comfortable bench seats forward in the bulwarks. And when I say hideaway, I mean you won’t know they’re there until someone shows you. And all hatches consist of two molded pieces finished inside and out.
One of the most ingenious features: The hull-side door comes with an integral fold-out swim ladder. And before you say it, the door actually adds to the structural integrity of the hull side rather than weakens it, thanks to the design and the amazing hidden Soss hinge.
The cooler under the leaning post slides on roller tracks and moves via an optional pneumatic ram activated by a switch on the back of the post. When you push the cooler back in, the system automatically fires a locking pin into a receiver to keep the cooler in place. No worm gear or hydraulics.
Likewise, the console-front door opens sideways with a pneumatic ram. Just touch the piezoelectric activation button. Since it no longer opens upward, the helmsman never loses visibility when someone needs to get into the console. The well-finished console houses a sink, small berth/settee and head.
Just a few other points: SeaVee includes port and starboard rod-locker/dry-storage compartments, gorgeous polished stainless everywhere, loads of drink holders, specially designed storage forward for a sea anchor, dock lines, etc., and molded-in compartments for coiled washdown hoses (one fresh, one salt) on each side of the console.
SeaVee builds every hull using advanced components like Divinycell and PVC coring above the waterline and a poured urethane transom. Two-piece molded hatches come finished on both sides and rise on gas or pneumatic rams, with sturdy gaskets to keep out water. And to make sure everything “sets” just so, SeaVee leaves every hull in its mold for six days.
You easily get jaded running every new center console because so rarely is there anything really new. Thanks for the breath of fresh, salt air, SeaVee.
Specifications
LOA……39 ft.
Beam……11 ft.
Draft……2 ft.
Deadrise……22.5 deg**.
Weight……9,200 lb. (w/o power)
**Fuel……570 gal.
Max Power…… **(4) 300 hp OB
**MSRP……$287,500 – (4) 300 hp Mercury Verado OB
SeaVee Boats / Miami, Florida / 305-759-6419 / www.seaveeboats.com
