Thanks for the compliments and comments.
I agree about Tabman. They have been more than helpful in the past. The pump cover was cracked and I needed some fittings for the hoses and some other small parts. Bennett sent them along without any hesitation or cost.
I went looking for a 130’cause I thought it was a great combination of weight and power, and several people had said they thought it was a real good choice for the 20SF. My performance numbers are should be considered as preliminary, but they are very close to what Alerie gets with his 20SF, but off from a post I saw by EBEACH. Anyway, mine are with 2 people, 45-50 gallons in the main tank and 6 gallons in a portable located up against the splash well. The boat was probably a little light with respect to gear and I only have one battery, which is located under the back edge of the console seat. I’ll post more accurate numbers plus some fuel consumption figures after I shake a few more bugs out.
I have pictures of the boat in the water before I bought it and they show a LWL at the top of the upper tape boot strip where it meets the transom. I applied anti fouling on the transom up to that level and only up to the chine along the sides of the hull, figuring I’d let a scum line develop, then beach the boat and add paint up to that level. When I floated the boat, I was surprised to see it riding 1”+ above the anti fouling along the transom.
So far, I really like the NFB 4.2 (especially the tilt helm), but, up until a couple of years ago, I’d always had tillers. I went with that system ‘cause I couldn’t fit a rack under the console where I wanted the wheel to be. Right now, the NFB is hard to the left and I need to adjust the zinc with the fin on the bottom of the cav plate.
The boat had a 175 Mariner with a Merc’s version of cable steering. I patched all the holes in the splash well are and when it came time to install the new steering, I just re-drilled the hole where the old cable came through. That was a mistake (the thermos cork stopper in the pic’s). My transom is 25” and the engine is up three holes, with the top ones drilled using a Yamaha jig. I think that puts them 2” blow the top of the transom. The Teleflex would not make the bend up to the steering tube and I had to cut a slot in the fiberglass apron behind the starboard side rear hatch cover. It’s taped over for the time being and I need to fabricate a permanent, watertight solution.
Except for the cost and the smell (solvent washes, etc.) I liked the perfection, although I never did figure out how to tint it. Gel coat coloring seemed to work the best, but I chickened out and ended up using the stuff right out of the can. BTW, once you open than can of paint additive, you own it and need to be prepared to pour it off into another container if you are not mixing a full batch.
I rolled and tipped using short, solvent resistant foam rollers from HD, and solvent resistant foam that I got from Jamestown Distributors. No problems at all, they worked very well. I used Interlux’s primer + 3 thinned, topcoats, block sanding with 320 as required and cleaning with their solvent wash and Isopropyl (sp) alcohol. I had filled holes, chased gel coat cracks, etc. with a 2:1 mixture of Phenolic Microballons and Cabosil. The color was dark brown and the 4 coats barely covered in some places.
I did have some issues with Perfection when I did the non-skid. In places, the first overcoat seemed to create dark spots, and I have no idea what caused them.
From what I’ve heard, I don’t think this was a very good fishing year, although the bait guys say they have had a few good days lately and internet chatter says Boston Harbor has come alive over the last couple of days. Casting to surface feeding tuna (the real reason for this boat) has not really materialized north of Boston, but I hear it’s been very good in CC Bay and east of Chatham.