Major Curtis Allen is currently stationed at Fort Knox in Kentucky. On the weekends, you’ll often find him out on the water in his Sea Chaser 24 HFC. Although he currently lives in Kentucky, he dreams of retiring in Florida one day.  He was very intentional in selecting his boat, choosing a versatile vessel that meets his varied needs now and will serve him well in the future.

Tell us a little bit about yourself:

I am an active duty military officer.  We are from southwest Michigan and are used to having a lot of freshwater lakes around. My wife is a government employee.  Our son is 18 and soon ships out for US Army Basic Training and is set to become the youngest warrant officer aviator in the U.S. Army. Our daughter is 14 and will be a freshman in high school this fall.  I served as a police officer for twelve and a half years in Michigan while in the Marine Corps Reserves and Army Reserves before returning to active duty.   I will have 26 years of total military service this October: 10 and a half years of active duty and 15 years in the reserves.

Tell us about the process of purchasing your boat and making it your own: When I was young, I’d been out on boats with my parents and with friends, but didn’t really grow up around them. I remember my parents going on Walleye fishing trips on Lake Erie, and a few times every summer we’d spend time on other people’s boats.  My wife and I bought a small aluminum boat in 2011.  We had that for a few years, and then we sold it. My son raced motocross for eight years, and during that time, we didn’t have a lot of time for boating.  So we didn’t have a boat again until the end of last summer. We got another small boat last year but that vessel was totaled after an individual on a personal watercraft collided with our boat.

We found ourselves in the market for a boat yet again. I knew that this time I wanted a boat that could do all the things we wanted it to do.  That brought us to the large, off shore, center console Sea Chaser 24 HFC.  My wife and I eventually plan to retire to Florida.  We did a lot of research on coastal living, bay boats and more.  As we were sitting and dreaming and researching models and brands, we knew it was time to go big or go home. We looked at boats that were small. We looked at boats that were 22 or 23 feet.  We learned quickly that we wanted to go 24 feet or above.  After a lot of research and watching online videos, we found a dealer and ordered the boat. Since the purchase, we’ve added a trolling motor, audio equipment, head units, a fish hatch, depth and temperature monitoring and a TurboSwing tow bar that allows me to pull tubes and wake boards without disturbing the motor. It’s simply fantastic!

 

Any extraordinary memories about time spent on your boat that you’d like to share?

My son and I recently enjoyed a five-day trip across two states in the boat, and those are memories we will always treasure.  He and I returned home with our new Sea Chaser to visit family and dropped the boat in the water for the first time in Fishers Lake in Three Rivers, Michigan. We broke in the motor together, and my parents came out to see us, but we didn’t do any fishing. The next day, we went to Gull Lake in Michigan. It was cold that day, but we anchored off a sandbar and enjoyed some relaxation and music. The next day, we went out on Lake Michigan. We were out in about 230 feet of water fishing for salmon.  We caught a 22 pound lake trout.  Shortly after that, we caught a coho salmon. We were thinking the day was off to a great start! But after that we did not have another nibble for five and half hours! But we got to know that boat. We messed with the electronics.  I knew my son was leaving in three and a half weeks. It’s an excellent chance to visit when you are 13 miles off shore. After that, we came back down to Kentucky for our family maiden voyage. The bodies of water are different here, but we enjoyed tubing and wakeboarding on Rough River Lake.

Tell us about your ideal day out on the water.

I just really enjoy spending time on the water with my family.

Are you in the market for a new boat, or will you stick with your current vessel? 

This is our retirement boat.  It will handle anything we want to do in it.  So many people go out and get these wake boats or pontoons or a deck boat or a small aluminum boat.  All of those are really limiting both in what you can do with them and also with the kinds of bodies of water you can put them on. If you are going to spend your money, get a boat that can go anywhere and do anything. Get a boat that can do what you really want to do with it. Get a hybrid if you want to fish and cruise. But get the right kind of boat.  

We purchased a boat that can do all of the things we want.  This boat can do anything and can do anywhere in the United States in shore and off shore and do whatever we want. Where we are, everyone has a boat. We get a lot of compliments.  Here, it’s the largest boat around and the only center console that happens to be on our lakes.  We get a lot of attention here. I know when we get to Florida, it’ll be more like a dinghy compared to some of the vessels we’ll see there, but it’s the perfect boat for us.

At Sea Chaser, building the best quality boats for a great price has always been our goal. Whether you’re looking for a pleasure boat, fishing boat, runabout or commercial/work boat, we deliver the most in value, quality and style. Find a Sea Chaser dealer near you today or visit  to learn more.