hi a mate of mine used to have a rum runner with 115 hp suzuki in the mid to late 80's & i had a haines 17L 115 hp suzuki . they were both top boats & handled the chop & swells with ease good for fishing out of.we mainly did esturary fishing with the occasional outsider through the seaway we never had any issues in either boats.
cheers
shubeej
I had one of the models you speak of. About 198? vintage from what I could estimate with a 1978 115 Evinrude on the back.
A very well handling boat with lots of buoyancy and great high sides. They don't have a large deck space but are generous in the cabin. They also roll a lot when stationary.
I found myself in some pretty stupid spots with more than 25 knotts and still found a safe path home. The angle of the bow and probably the depth of the bow seemed to be able to split a wave rather than getting thrown in the air. It did tend to broach when in a following sea but more speed seemed to fix that.
I had mine out at Hutchies and Flinders a few times and the Barwon Banks twice as well as a trip to 1770 but found the fuel tank limited my travel to a larger degree.
The new canopy was a absolute corker and kept all very dry
I have 2 mates with them. Great boats. Very wet in a big sea but not scary boats. A good set of clears would solve this problem. I reckon they are ok at rest. Not as stable as some boats but still pretty good.
Like most manufacturers they are pretty quick to knock up a knock off of a Haines and these along with the BFG made a pretty fair effort against the 17L.