Buccaneers are great hulls, good ride, good looks and layout, very similar hull to Haines and far better ride than any equivalent size tinny.

FF....just for your interest, I have a Buccaneer 510 cabin boat - as does Kevin.S on here. 


Also, I am pretty sure Family Affair (also on here) had a Buccaneer 4.9 not too long ago. 
I have had my boat for the last 13 years or so and have yet to find another make and model to compare with it - not that I am looking!

I suggest you PM guys like Skoti, Far Quirk and Canadianjohn for their opinion of the Buccaneer hulls as they have in the past been fishing with me and can probably give you an unbiased view of how good these hulls are.....

Yeah, 90hp Yammy 2 stroker with just 27 hours on the clock, FF.
W.O.T. on flat water with three P.O.B. I get around 60kph which is around 30 knots.  Am currently experimenting with engine height on the transom to see If raising by one hole on the bracket will improve performance.  The theory tells me it should, but you do need to factor in what the hull is capable of and also what the propeller is actually doing in terms of slip in the water.  So something of a work in progress at the moment.  Current performance is certainly more than adequate though.
The hull is an extremely dry and stable one and I seldom if ever wear spray over the side - and that I think has a lot to do with the planing strakes.  I have been out is some really nasty conditions and always come home safely and dry.
Here's a pic of the boat out on the Manukau a couple of months back:


Apologies for the slightly blurred image - you can blame Smudge for that! 

If u take your time.. u can pick up a good old commander with a late model engine, and would strongly suggest around a 130/ 150 hp... a 115 does the job but bottom end for that hull economy
Bigger boat, more cabin storage than modern boats... proped right cruise around the 35+ mph loaded and 0.5 to .75 L per km (bigger engine as suggested above improves the economy)
If bit rough inside, doesnt take much effort or money to strip out and replace.....more user/ family friendly,  Around $1600 including a professional new bimmni and frame with side clears

buccaneer in my books far better than any other boat yourd buy around the 10 to 20k mark you can get bigger ie commando etc but its heaver needs more horse etc my buccaneer was awesome do 35knots all day with 4pob and gear only running a 90hp yammy old nymphs haines fleetlines etc just on the heavey side which in most cases is awesome apart from when you gotta tow da bugger plus getting biy old now iv got a fleetline x5 at the mo got it for a steal sold buccaneer to buy a house. the fleetlines good but just old and a heavey pig to tow

FizFisho, strakes = lift (below waterline) and spray deflection (above waterline) at the expense of a harder ride.

In some designs the lift generated by strakes gives a softer landing.

MikeAqua wrote: In some designs the lift generated by strakes gives a softer landing.

It's complicated. Has to do with the angle of the strakes relative to the hull and their size.  On the advice of naval architect, I took a strake off my boat (alloy) to improve the ride. The bottom edge of the strake angled downward moving away from the hull.    It should have been flat or rising very slightly.

I can't comment on a bonito, never been on one. 

Used to have a V17ft Haines Hunter (1985).  Great seaworthy little boat and adequately pushed along by a 90HP 2S.  If I hadn't taken up scuba diving, I would still have it.

I had a v17l back in the day, great boats. I had no issue diving from mine, but needed to add a few accessories for tanks etc.

A reverse strake is a good thing from a dryness perspective.

Im with you old fart, I tend to go slow and steady. I once pushed a $100k glass boat into a big swell offshore of NSW, hit a freak wave and she buried the nose and the wave of water over the top was fun but scary, put some crazing in the middle of the gunwales, nothing structural but learnt my lesson about driving to the condition.