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Old 07-20-2011, 04:40 PM   #31
sbsurfer
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: 805
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Re: California Dive Boats -- the legend of Radon (pictures)

Great writeup Lance!

Radon Boats are hands down one of the finest for our local conditions in the SB Channel (and Hawaii too). Andersons and Wilsons are damn nice rides too. I don't fish or dive but i have been surfing the Islands and Ranch for many years now and after enough white knuckle rides home in deep V boats i knew it was time to upgrade to a modified V Radon. The real nice Radons were way outta my price range so the first one i bought was an old urchin dive boat, ran solid and was extremely stable. The boat i really wanted was a 20 ft Radon that sat in the harbor but was well outta my price range. Finally last year the owner and i struck up a deal and i sold the 24 Radon and bought the 20 fter, which had more creature comforts (like seats). Turns out the boat i bought is Don Radon's old surf boat....STOKED!!! Don and Linda are super nice people and after talking to Don it turns out my 20 is the boat he used to make the mold for the new 22's...he just raised the sides a bit. It's cool to own a neat little piece of Radon history.

These boats ride so well in the rough stuff, even my little 20fter, it's unbelievable. In boats i have owned of similar size where i would throttle down to 12 kts i can keep charging at 22 kts in the Radon. Plus these boats are constructed so well they are as bulletproof as a boat can get. And it's stories like the one Bob Ballew shared about his 24 in super gnarly conditions that are a testament to these boats seaworthiness.

here's a few shots of my Radon surf sled Caitlin:

Anchored at Scorpion



At the Radon yard



Quote:
Originally Posted by CitoRat4Ever View Post
A funny side note, the pride of ownership of people that have Radons (or Andersons or Wilsons)is always present. They seem to know everyone else who has one. I can't tell you how many times I have had people come up to talk about my boat (an Anderson) for no other reason than they also have one. A special local community for sure.
Very true. It's definitely a cool community to be part of. Whether its a 17ft Anderson Greenough (like CitoRat's), a 22ft Wilson or a really nice 26ft Radon like Lance's there is a real appreciation and respect amongst the owners of these boats.

BTW, right now Don and Linda are out of T-Shirts but they will be ordering more soon so give them a call and get one on order...they seem to go pretty quick.


Dolphins like Radon's too:

SB Channel Crossing with Dolphin Friends - YouTube


Here's a little vid of when i was in the process of buying the boat (i probably watched this video 10 times a night til i bought the boat):

Radon 20 - YouTube

Last edited by sbsurfer; 07-21-2011 at 07:30 PM.
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