Gene, this SeaCraft may not be ready for a few years; it's a learning experience for me, so I'm taking my time to build it as I want to.
If I was in a hurry to fish it, I'd just raise the transom cutout to 25", put it back together as much as original as possible, and rig an old motor.
I like to fish offshore for swords and deep drop, so I'm sometimes over 20 miles out and 30 miles from home, so I'm thinking of making it a small, economical, but capable boat.
Thinking of the closed transom, which then requires some bracket or extension, the raised deck for self bailing, and then more freeboard, and the open layout, with a lot of under deck storage. A newer four stroke motor for the economy would be nice.
My Contender is great, but is bigger than I need, since I usually fish solo, and with fuel prices now, it runs about $200 to fish offshore for the day. And I usually go out 2-3/week, so it adds up.
Here's a pic of a swordfish I caught solo on the 18' SeaHunt last week. If the weather is good, the boat is capable, but it has a flat bottom and is not really built for the offshore fishing I do. With any seas, it pounds and it can take 2 hours to get to the grounds, plus you're beaten up by the end if the day.
I'm hoping the 18SF will be better suited.
You're welcome to fish with me sometime; we'll fish the bigger boat, the 18' Sea Hunt vs. your 17' Mako!
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