Thank you! I had seen the add before BigFluke purchased it. This version with bow fish box filled with ice for weight and the sterndrive seemed the best compromise. Cap looks well integrated also. Hope this ones turns out great. Super project.

This is the second cracked keel I have fixed, and I’ve seen a few others with a nearly identical crack. It seems the 23 has a hard spot in the keel, forward of the center wooden stringer, before the bow eye. I basically grind a ton away on the inside, lay a bunch of glass on the inside, and then grind back to my fresh glass from the outside to eliminate all the bad spots. Easy fix if the boat is fully apart. I’m not a fan of the wooden center stringers, so they have been removed from both 23s and the 25. The 25 will only retain 2 of its original 7 stringers by the time I’m done.

Banking like a jet fighter is fun once you get used to it. The hull will actually spin if you go over far enough. Experiment with it and you discover that you are still in complete control. Odd but true. Warning your passengers is a good idea. I did have to play with the tabs if people moved around. You get used to it.

My configuration was was pretty good, small block duoprop was much lighter than the original twins and balanced the lack of ballast tank fine. The boat handled fabulous as is. It was even better with lots of weight added forward. When going on a long trip, with the forward hold full of water and as much weight forward as possible, it rode even better, bow down slightly and somehow seemed more stable. Not sure how to quantify that, just a feeling.

As I ran it, it was the most seaworthy hull I ever experienced. It didn't matter the conditions the hull felt rock solid, big, short following seas, tropical storm conditions on the beam, anything I ever experienced, A look around might scare the sh#t out of me, but the boat never felt like it was anything more than a walk in the park.

Screw with the cg too much and it might feel like a different boat.

I bet it drives just like my dads Bertram 20. You can nearly dip a rail turning in that boat.

started on stringer repair on the 23, they were both blown out at the bottom and need lots of love, also got the 23 transom tabbed in, old through-hull holes patched up, and 25 transom cut and glassed on both sides, quick sand and its ready to go in the boat

stringers on the 23 have been getting some love and are almost ready for new foam, transom of the 25 is ready to be installed hopefully by the end of the coming weekend

Are you planning on building the grid stringers like your other 23? Coring the sides?

This one will have a partial grid to allow for some deck hatches port and starboard in the rear, but I'll be keeping a good portion of the original stringers towards the front of the boat. The 25 is getting a full grid with lots of hatches.

I’ve ridden in Connor’s 25 in 5-6’ swells. Very soft ride, and like all Moesly designs with original-type power, it would plane at relatively low speed, like about 12 mph!!