[WildBill]

I really appreciate this thread. Like my man Teasem I like to to be able to go home when it's time to go home. I use to run south out of Angel Fish Creek (Northern Key Largo)We sometimes would end up 20-50 miles to the east or maybe south so coming home was usually trying to beat the sunset. Here in Central Florida I have fished from Steinehatchee to Tampa Bay and I'm still the same way; "Let's go find some fish" and I continually end up 2 hour's from the boat ramp. This new 20 footer project will be fun and getting to the end result is the fun part. So I'm all ears when I read about powering these classic 20cc's.
I can really appreciate the effect of how the center of gravity will effect a boat's performance and attitude. So what really can you expect with running a later model 6 cylinder verses a 4 cylinder? What I had thought up to today was that the hull would be okay as long as the motor weighed as close to "400lbs" as possible; and one of the the ultimate motors of choice is the DF140 weighing a tad bit more. I figured the 150 would get the boat to the mid to upper 40's and a 175 maybe 50/51 a 200 low to mid 50's. The 4 cylinder's maybe upper 30's. but great fuel economy. Of course I agree completely your only going to go as fast and safe as the sea allows you; thoroughly understood! So the question is; with a full transom and some sort of floatation bracket, the batteries up front, a standard 49 gallon fuel tank slid forward, a livewell under a leaning post, a raised deck and scuppers out the back, What is the ideal motor?
Like Dave I enjoy re-inventing the wheel and trying to acheive the perfect or best balance for the hull and my specific needs. For me it's a livewell full of frisky bait in the am. and a cooler full of dead fish in the pm. I need rod holders a good bottom machine/gps and good tunes.
When I was a "wee lad" in the early 70's and these 20's started showing up they were the ultimate fishing machine. The best of the best fished out of them. Heck in 1972 I think all they had was a 3 or 4 cylinder outboard; my dad replaced a '68 100 horse Evinrude with a new 125 Johnson on a 18' Thunderbird and it was huge! All the larger boat's ran I/O's or inboard's. From that point forward the outboards grew bigger every year and in 1981 I had my own 235 Evinrude on my boat.
So please chime in. What motor do you have on your 20 ft Sea Craft? does it porpoise, do you have trim tab's? does it self bail? how fast does it run? how many gallons do you burn doing what you do? Are you happy with it's performance or how would you improve it?
The ultimate goal is to share the vast array of knowledge here and improve and modernize these classics so they'll be around another 40 years from now.

Thanks' Wild Bill