Sea Hunt Boats, the Value Leader in Saltwater Center Consoles

From a one-room shop to 2,000 boats a year

Father and son Vic and Bubba Roof started Sea Hunt in 1995 in a one-room shop in a small plant outside Columbia, South Carolina. Their aim was an affordable boat that was the best in its class. The company is still family owned and operated, and Sea Hunt now calls itself the number one selling saltwater center console for 20 years straight. That is the company's own claim.

In 2016 Trade Only Today reported that Bubba Roof held the majority stake and ran the company with partner Joel Moss. At that time Sea Hunt built about 2,000 boats a year, eight a day, in a 170,000-square-foot plant, carried no debt and spent nothing on print advertising. The same report said the company had no plans to build big boats, and the current range still stops at about 30 feet.

How the standard equipment list keeps prices down

Sea Hunt's approach is to include equipment that other builders sell as options. A 2027 Gamefish 25 at $158,568 comes with twin Yamaha F150s on electric steering, a fiberglass T-top with misters, a 12-inch Garmin, a windlass, underwater lights and a china toilet in the console. The company buys in volume to keep costs down. The hulls are straightforward production fiberglass, built to a price rather than to a premium standard, and the helms and rigging are simple, which makes them easy to service.

The range is split into three lines. The Ultra series is for families, with modified-V bottoms of 18 degrees at the transom. The Gamefish series is the offshore line, with 21 degrees at the transom, 24 amidships and 60 at the entry. The BX series covers bay boats and hybrids.

Five Sea Hunt models, from 22 to 28 feet

The Ultra 229 is a 22-foot 8-inch single-outboard family console introduced around 2020, from $71,701 with a Yamaha F150. The Ultra 234 has been built since about 2011 and returned 3.75 mpg at 30.4 mph in Yamaha's 2013 test. The Gamefish 25 has been the entry to the offshore line since about 2010, on twin F150s. The Gamefish 27FS is the forward-seating version of the 27, separate from the coffin box 27CB since 2019, and comes with twin F200s or F250s. The BX28 is new for 2027. It is a 28-foot 6-inch hybrid bay boat on twin F300s that Yamaha clocked at 61.4 mph.

Dealers, resale and used checks

Sea Hunts are sold only through dealers. In 2016 the network was mostly in the Southeast and Northeast, with a couple of dealers in Texas, and the company kept it small so each dealer got enough boats. Volume and brand recognition make Sea Hunts easy to resell, and boats with bigger engines, a T-top, trim tabs and a second display sell fastest. Equipment can make a $15,000 difference between two boats from the same year, so compare what is fitted, not just the model year.

• Find out which engine generation is fitted, for example the older V6 or newer four-cylinder F200
• Check T-top mounts, especially on tops added after delivery
• Moisture-test the transom and stringer area
• Run livewell pumps, washdown and any recirculating plumbing
• Inspect the trailer as closely as the boat