\"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

Well, after almost exactly one year, the little boat has been completed. This site has been a tremendous help for many of the decisions that had to be made. First off, I did none of the work, and all praise for the quality of work should be directed to Wildfire Marine in Stuart. The hull is a 1972 and I’ve owned it for about 3 years. After a trip to the keys in May of 07 and seeing a plethora of new spider cracks all over the deck and casting platform, I decided it was time to get the boat rebuilt. The deck/transom/cap was rotten (typical old Seacraft) and it was in need of a repower so I decided to take the plunge. I’m a huge fan of the 20 Seacraft and think its about the perfect hull for the south florida area, so instead of buying a new one, I figured I’d have my old one fit to my tastes.

We raised the deck and enclosed the transom. We installed a floatation bracket from Armstrong and added 12x12 lencos. We added a livewell in front of the console and one in the transom. We also reinforced the forward livewell in order to have it double as tank storage. The old 40 gallon fuel tank was replaced with a new 70 gallon (pushed as far forward as possible), mainly for those summer runs to the islands. Dual batteries and oil tank were placed under the console to counteract the bracket.

Rotten Balsa

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Raising the stringers

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Enclosing Transom

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New deck (and transom livewell). The new deck was cured upside down with weights on top to make it curved, thus forcing water to filter to the sides.

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Transom is filled in and hatches are built.

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Console takes shape. The previous owner "restored" the boat before I bought it (obviously he did a horrible job) but the one nice part was he put in a new console. The console was from the factory and is the console they used on the 20's from 2000-present. I'm not 100% sure it is the same console used on today’s Seacraft 20, but its from the early 2000 era. To add the livewell and retain the lines of the console, Mike cut out the front and extended it.

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Bracket and engine installed

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Water line with nothing in the boat, marked by the bottom of the blue tape.

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If you look closely, you can see the ball scupper above the water.

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Dive rack in front of console. Also, forward console access to all wiring.

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Final product :cool:

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Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

Also, while I'm hesitant to post "official" numbers, I will say that I saw 52 mph while only spinning 5350. That was with a Mirage Plus 21p. The motor should spin 6000. We will be raising it a hole or two and experimenting with different props. I'll let you know final numbers when we get them.

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

Beautiful boat Zach!!

Congrats and Enjoy!!!

Oh, and hold on to your hat! :D

Lloyd

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

Absolutely beautiful!

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

Very nice!!

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

Thats beautiful Zach.
You're gonna have a lot of fun with that.
I gotta get me a 20'

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

Pretty boat, -Mike does good work.

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

nice lookin restore! what color is that? i love the way it looks!

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

I appreciate all the kind comments and want to again thank everyone who lent their wisdom throughout this process.

Lloyd, the bracket is great, totally changes the boat. Thanks for your help. Not going to lie, I was very nervous about the water line when putting the boat in the drink for the first time with the bracket. I was even more nervous about the boat porpoising when running. Thankfully, it is still self bailing and I experienced no porpoising in the 4 hours that I ran it (with no tabs). A hint of tabs are needed offshore, but when flat I can raise them with no ill effects.

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.

Blue, color is ice blue. Boot stripe is a royal blue. Initially, I didn't want a boot stripe, but after looking at the hull for a month without it we decided to add one and I think it came out great.

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

the more i look at it the more i see that it has things that i want to do to mine. do you have any other pics of the foredeck now that the gunnels are open? i prefer boats like that and thats exactly what i want to do to mine with the gunnels and keep the front that way. also no bracket either. before and after and maybe during if you have them would be great!!! not no big deal but if you do, then THANKS!

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

Zach the boat looks wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

strick

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

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

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

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

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

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

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

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.

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

Beutiful job!!!!

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

that is a sharp looking boat

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

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

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

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

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

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.

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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

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Watching a sail steal our bait

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Me releasing one of the many kings

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Pleasure cruise

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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.

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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.

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Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

I hope I can make it also. Would love to put some faces with the names.

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

I was never a fan of brackets on the 20, but that is one of the nicest 20's I've ever seen. Definitely changed my opinion. Very nice job.

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

Very, very......very nice!!! Call me an old fart, I don't care, the way I look I look at this project, no matter what you have invested, is nicer than those $50k to $75k "bay boats" like Sterling, Pathfinder, etc. Nothing like a classic re-build put together just like you want it! This will turn more heads than any of the new stuff!! Congrats!!!

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

Zach, beautiful boat! As you know I'm trying something similar with my 20' and I need to know how heavy your engine and bracket are. I can't see going any heavier without getting into problems.

Thanks

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

According to Merc's site, the engine is 431 lbs. Bracket is 50-70 lbs. I've heard, cannot verify, that Mercury is the best about stating accurate engine weights, so I feel pretty confident that the engine is 430 plus prop which would put the entire package around the 500 lb mark.

I definitely would not have anything heavier. As you can see from my pics, when resting the boat is JUST self bailing, and this is with the floor raised 2.5 inches and batteries, fuel tank, etc. moved forward.

In my opinion, the bracket is the way to go. Good luck and keep us updated.

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

Zach, sweet 20!
Curious, is you new floor & transom all structural foam?
I basically have the same boat (1970) but the repairs were made with all wood....I too have a 175 Opti but she's sitting a little lower in the real than your 20. I assume the difference is the materials used...I plan to make those changes soon.

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

Zach,

I like the console, where did you get?

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

New floor and transom is all wood.

Re: \"New\" 20 with a bracket
 

Console started as the factory console from the '00-'05 20s. We cut out the front, extended it and added the livewell and rod holders.

Bracket Setback and Tilt
 

Zach,
Would you be able to tell us the setback you used? Able to get full trim out of your opti 175? If so, any room to spare? Planning to go with a similar setup -
Thanks very much,
Drew

Boat is bad arse! Thx for the pics

Great looking ride....

Color
 

Awesome job. What color is the hull? Ice Blue?

That is cool. How did you do the deck? Did you just put weights on it until you got the curvature that you were looking for?