Jose C. DaPonte, the President and Owner of C&C Marine, has built his life around building quality boats since the early 1970’s,
specializing in composite boat building and tool making in Bristol, Rhode Island. NorthCoast Boats is a division of C&C Marine and C&C Fiberglass, Inc. In 2000, Joe purchased NorthCoast Boats and a new era in Rhode Island boatbuilding was born. Today, Joe works with his wife, two sons and a support cast of skilled craftsmen to produced NorthCoast fishing boats with a focus on quality, crew comfort, fishing ergonomics and seaworthiness.
The NorthCoast lineup currently includes a six-pack of center consoles (18, 19, 20, 23, 24 and 26-footers) and a quartet of cabin boats (21 hard top, 23 hard top, 23 express and 27 hard top). Some are built for cruising, while others are designed for rough water fishing, sporting different running bottoms to fulfill their mission objective. The 24 Center Console is a member of the latter group and its hull design features a sharp entry forward that tapers back to 22-degrees of deadrise at the transom. Measuring 24.5-feet in length with a slightly overwide nine-foot, one-inch beam amidships, this sturdily built fishing platform tips the scales at a hefty 4,500-lbs dry, so she will feel solid underfoot when banging into a tight chop when heading to or from the fishing grounds. One of my favorite features is that the 24 CC’s running surface comes all the way aft to where the single or twin outboards mount to the transom, which typically affords the operator full spectrum control of the boat’s speed and running attitude in the widest variety of sea conditions.
The NorthCoast 24 CC offers the usual features and creature comforts of a mid-sized center console, but she also has a few unique attributes. One of these is an under-console arrangement. Entering down below via a locking starboard side companionway, there is a portable MSD and interior dome light, opening porthole on the port wall and the most interesting feature of all…a molded fiberglass section forward under the cockpit sole with room for a doublewide berth. Add the optional Overnight Package to the mix and this includes interior cushions to complete the berth area, a 110-volt battery charger, a Sea/Land marine head with overboard discharge system and molded cover, plus a freshwater system with 20-gallon tank.
The bow area features a roomy fiberglass lounge that’s molded into place forward of the console. When it’s time to bring the big ones aboard, the lounge lid opens to reveal an insulated 72-gallon fishbox to chill out your catch of the day. The console’s dash panel is roomy enough to flush mount a 12-inch multi-function display, in addition to engine support instrumentation. If you upgrade the standard leaning post to the optional Deluxe Tackle Console, this arrangement includes quad vertical rodholders, a 35-gallon ice-blue baitwell, sink and prep station, tackle drawers, stowage compartments, battery switches, plus a 110-volt battery charger. The console features a three-sided wraparound windshield for added protection, a molded footrest with storage bins, plus a pair of high-end Blue Sea 6-positon waterproof accessory panels with circuit breakers.
Power Options
The NorthCoast 24CC is available with Mercury, Suzuki, Evinrude or Yamaha outboards. She’s rated to carry a max of 450 sea ponies on the transom, but the builder recommends a minimum of 300-350 HP in either single or twin configurations to achieve max performance. Outfitted with a pair of Suzuki DF200 in-line four cylinder four-strokes, factory tests show that she will hit a top speed over 47-mph, with optimum fuel efficiency at 3500 rpm, hitting 23.4-mph at 10.2-gph, for a net of 2.29-mpg. Bumping up the twin throttles to 4500 revs, the NorthCoast 24CC will hit 34.2-mph at 18.9-gph, for a bottom line of 1.81-mpg. If you prefer the simplicity of a single outboard, this hull will hit 48-mph at wide open throttle rigged with a Suzuki DF300. Her best fuel efficiency numbers also occur at 3500 rpm, where she will hit 25-mph at 8.1-gph, which translates to 3.09-mpg. Advancing the throttle to 4-grand will generate 31-mph at 11.3-gph, for a net of 2.75-mpg, which is enviable fuel efficiency for a beefy 24.5-foot center console with a deep-vee footprint.
NorthCoast builds their boats tough, with a hand-laid single skin fiberglass hull, foam-cored topsides, foam-cored grid system and no wood anywhere, backed by a 12-year structural hull warranty.
