Thoughts on owning a 20 foot Master Angler

[FishStretcher]

I was asked to discuss a few things about the 20 foot master angler with the big console by a list member. So I thought I'd mention them on the forum.

I bought my master angler on Cape Cod. The prior owner said it would need some rehab work. I didn't quite know what I was getting into, but that's another story.

I wanted a master angler because of the extra freeboard for fishing in Buzzards Bay. If I wanted a pretty boat, I guess I would have gotten the standard sport fisherman model. And especially one that was in good cosmetic shape. Mine was nearly stock in many ways. It had the large console with the hinged door with space for a head in the console. It had a 50ish gallion aluminum tank that stopped short of the spot for the head. I can't imagine using the head. Sitting down, I think your ankles would be on the casting platform. That is, if the door swung open enough to allow that, and I don't think it really would, as the molded in seat would hit the hull with the door open at 45-60 degrees.

The wide console, 38" at the bottom, 36" wide at the top makes for tight quarters getting fore-aft. If you put a vertical rod holder on the side of the console, it becomes near impossible to get by. I presume T-top supports would cause the same issue, if they were side mounted. More on this later.

My boat had no t-top, but a leaning post and a single piece splash well door/insert. It had been damaged by the powerhead when it was trimmed up fully without removing the gate first. It had a worn out transom cut for a 20 inch motor and ping pong scuppers.

The 1988 Yamaha 175 was bolted to the mushy transom and the flex caused the deck plate in the splash well to pull up the patch over the previous slider there. One of the first things I did was repair this area and install a decent rectangular Bomar hatch so as to not sink the boat that easily.

I noticed that steering cable routing to the outboard was very difficult from under the starboard stern cooler into the splash well. I think it might be more difficult with a modified transom for a 25 inch motor- if you kept the rear cooler. If you shortened the cooler, it wouldn't be so bad. In either case, I believe hydraulic steering would be much easier to route.

Also with the cable steering, a heavy motor and a 20" transom, the steering cable exit is maybe 6" or so above sea level. Perhaps 8". So that whole area needs to be sealed well. The pump for the live well was iffy, so I used it for an exit for a 2nd bilge pump.

I nearly immediately removed and sold the leaning post. I don't regret this. The cap on the master angler is great for freeboard and rod holders, but with a large console, there wasn't a lot of room for fighting fish. I don't have great knees, but the Seacraft hull rides well enough that I can stand for a 75 mile run up and down Buzzards Bay.

Besides sealing the splash well and pulling the leaning post and sealing appropriate holes, the next thing I did was chop off the molded in sea on the forward console door. At the same time, I installed a hatch with locking Gem latches to make access to storage inside the console easier.

Shortly after this, I bought 5 feet of 2x3" aluminum C channel in 6063 alloy with radiuses corners. A 2 foot length inside the hull is used to transfer the load from the lower outboard motor bolts to the big box stringers. A 3 foot length in the splash well performs the same function, but bolts to the entire width of the splash well to spread the load nicely. In this way, the transom core can be mush and yet the motor is well supported.

I got rid of the ~410 pound Yamaha 175. I wanted reliability, better fuel economy and less smell. I replaced it with a Yamah F100 four stroke at 366 lb. Some help from Fr. Frank led me to a stern lifting 4 blade prop and a hydroshield under skeg flying wing. The result is a 10 knot plane. The Hydroshield does this and has enough trim authority to keep me from needing trim tabs to correct attitude in pitch. I address roll with moving weight in the boat. Although bending the hydroshield bracket will do the same thing with a lot of authority. Bounce it off a sand bar when beached and you will notice this, but you can bend it back by hand, barely.

I got close on prop selection with a a Solas Amita4 aluminum prop in 12.75 x 17" pitch. It achieved a WOT speed of 34 MPH even with the Hydroshield drag, and stern lift was good. MPG was very good, north of 5 NMPG. But holeshot was not great. I dropped to a 15" pitch and never looked back. Identical top speed, appropriate RPM at WOT, only slightly lower NMPG- just about 5, maybe a tiny bit better.

I immediately goofed the static balance by adding a 4 stroke kicker- a 58? lb Tohatsu SailPro 6 hp kicker. It has a 30" shaft and will charge the batteries. It is a bit crude and loud but effective.

To help with static trim, the previous installation had batteries in the console. This worked fairly well.

I had just seen video of another 20 foot sea craft sinking in seconds just off the vineyard. It had nearly no flotation foam in the boat. I reacted.

With a much more efficient outboard, I pulled the 10 year old tank and sold it. I filled that space with floatation foam, save a small cavity for running cables to the stern for lights and transducers. I also filled the under deck space with pool noodles to help float the hull and reduce free surface effect if a lot of water does get in the bilge.

Finally, I put block foam under the deep caps of the master angler. I think this is key. This foam will help keep the boat from turtling if it starts to sink.

So where did I put the fuel tank? Where the head was. Inside the console. I put a 20 gallon tank in there. It helps with static trim.

I put a large cooler on front of the console initially. It doubles as a seat, and for short trips, it can be removed.

That said, I have started roaming further with the boat. 70-90 miles is about the reasonable limit with a 20 gallon tank, depending if you want to carry 5 gallon jerry cans. So I built a support structure and nidacore cover for a 22 gallon tank forward of the console. Where I had put the cooler. I just did this in 2015. Passengers seem to like this. I am not 100% sure yet about the reduced flexibility. If I were to do it again, I would make a thinner console door, probably out of Nidacore. In that way, it would give a bit more space between the casting deck and the bench seat/ forward tank.

On to the T-top.

I live and use the boat near Boston, roughly. From Block Island to Maine. But mostly south of Boston. At latitudes that are the same as the Northern half of the Mediterranean Ocean. Like Rome and the French Riviera.
Check a map. The gulf stream is an amazing thing. And when it passes you by, it removes the warming effect. But not the sun.

Did I mention that I am fair skinned? Really fair skinned.

So when I boat, I am covered up, head to toe. Which means I can fry my skin, or roast in the heat. So I got a T-top.

Remember the wide cap? Remember the enormous console and the narrow access fore-aft? This pretty much rules out a conventional side mounted T-top. So this reduced mounting points to in front of the console, on top of the console, or behind the console. I chose atop the console for the forward mounting points. The top of the console seems to be 3/8" thick there. I mounted the rear feet to the deck just behind the console. The tradeoff there is that in rolling seas you will either occasionally bang into the uprights with your shoulders if you don't have a center mounted wheel. I don't. Yet.

Visibillty isn't too bad this way, and the shade is wonderful in terms of sun protection and staying cool. But I did just about knock myself out cold getting into the boat once.

Of note, rather than drilling into the cored (40 year old balsa cored) deck, I made landing pads of 6x6" G10 fiberglass 1" thick. I tapped them for the appropriate holes and adhered them to the deck with 3M 5200 adhesive. I was concerned with further damaging a cored deck.

So far, this works well. I would rather have the t-top bolt to the console in the ordinary way, as it is a solid solution to clearance for body parts and visibility. But the compromise I struck seems to work well enough.

Next on the list is re-coring the old fuel tank hatch. It has wet plywood. I plan to re-core with nidacore, and do the same for the cap. To reduce mass, and make static trim a bit better. And to keep the hatch from feeling like a half cooked lasagne noodle.

I am also in the process of building a bowed out spalshwell insert. I am debating permanently installing it. The removable one needs to be pulled to trim the motor up now,which is a pain. But with it removed, working on the motor would seem to be lots easier than if it were in place. We will see when I get it done. I hope to core that in nidacore as well.

For me, now the boat is much easier to use. My use is fishing, more than anything. I don't think this configuration is for everyone, but it works for me better than it did when I got it. And most of my mods can be done in a driveway.