"New" 20 with a bracket

[strick]

Zach the boat looks wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

strick

[Mark]

Mark, if you are the same Mark with that pretty 20 in the photo section, then through you is how I found Mike. Beautiful boat, by the way.

-that would be me. I actually saw your boat a handful of times during it's redo.

[pair of jacks]

Zac boat looks great- if you don't mind, without the repower what did Wildfire get for all that work?

[ripndip]

Zach,

That is one beautiful boat. Extremely well thought out. I am in the marine industry and pride myself on properly done, well thought out, appearance happy work, and your boat is perfect. Too often I see an otherwise beautiful boat where someone does something that makes you ask- what were they thinking when they did this? I did notice from the pics that you might be running some tab with them all the way up. I could see the constraint the bracket caused when mounting the tabs. I actually inadvertently did the same thing on my 1990 20' with 12x12 Bennetts, but a little more so than you. I never had any negative results from it. I wish I would have seen or been aware of this website when I redid mine in '99. I would have definitely copied several things you have done here- closed transom, bracket, raised floor. My old boat held 84 gallons (marine patrol must have put the tank in) and made at least a dozen solo island trips/never took fuel/200 Yamaha HPDI. I had weight/scupper/deck drain issues, but the ride and performance (3+ mpg) made it worth it.

I really like the dive tank idea, and the novelty of "my baitwell is strong enough to hold four dive tanks". The only down side I can see is swinging tanks around in such a beautiful boat. I'm not going diving on your boat. No sir, I'm not going to be the one to mark it up.

Congratulations and enjoy it.

Skyler

[zach]

Blue - I won't see the boat again until this weekend. I'll make sure to get you more pictures.

Pair of Jacks - Too much. I also have a lot of money in little things that one would normally not have on there (Screwless Gemlux rod holders aren't cheap and I have 18. Could have gone with Lee's for about half the price). I'd call Mike at Wildfire. With the 10 minutes it'd take to speak with him, you'd have a much better idea of the cost. He's very straightforward about that stuff.

Rip - Yes, its going to be very tough the first time someone drops a tank and scratches the boat. Nothing a little touch up can't fix, though.

I'll have more detailed pics after this weekend. Its torture being in Atlanta when the boat is in So Fla.

[finestkind]

Beutiful job!!!!

[Trayder]

that is a sharp looking boat

[other tom]

thats a really, really sharp looking boat! well done there, I hope to see it around Fort Laud.

[eggsuckindog]

Man what a job for both of you, just looks great, hope to see you at Key Largo

[zach]

Got back from a wonderful New Years trip to Cudjoe. Boat ran great, no complaints whatsoever, except for the one bow cleat/lifting ring which is not flush. The boat will be on davits eventually and I was not happy with the flush lifting rings available. Its the only place on the boat where one can smash their toe, and within the first hour, all three of us kicked it at least once. Go figure.

I figured I'd share a couple more pictures. I still owe a couple of you detailed shots and I promise they will come eventually. Bear with me, I've been concentrating on making sure everything works and have just plain forgotten to take pics.

First day was rough, all three of us were soaking wet after the run out (no one ever said the 20 was a dry boat). I have a couple lobster spots in the Key Largo area, but as evidenced by the green water, visibility was horrible.



After the first day, the weather was gorgeous. We caught kings, macks and snapper the entire time. Couldn't find any wahoo and the sailfish were finicky.

Preparing for battle







Watching a sail steal our bait



Me releasing one of the many kings



Pleasure cruise





Pretty decent economy. This is with 3 guys, full tackle, ice, big livewell full and probably 40-50 gallons of fuel. Cruising in after fishing all day. 33 mph at 4.6 mpg.



Last but not least, the "disco" lights, as my friends like to call them. I took a pretty harsh ribbing for having red/purple lights on the boat, but they actually look pretty good. The "red" deck LEDs turned out to be purple, while the red livewell LED is actually red. Not sure how it happened, but it did and it has grown on me so I think I'm going to keep them. I have a switch to toggle between the white deck LEDs and the "red" deck LEDs. Have LEDs in both livewells and inside the console as well.