20' CC ideas/questions

[Bucsfanatic59]

I picked up this boat several months ago, and have enjoyed taking it out almost every weekend down here in Clearwater since I purchased it. I have attached some photos so you guys can give me some feedback on some of the issues I have with the boat. I'm torn at this moment between, keeping the boat and restoring it, or selling it and getting something a little bigger and more of a Bay Boat.
The boat rides very well in my opinion except when it first gets up on plane. She jumps right up on plane with a 2005 200hp Mercury on the back of her. After it gets up on plane, the boat wants to ride sideways until I use the trim tabs to level her off. Other than that, and being a tank in the water, its probably one of the smoother boats I have been on for its size.

I installed a trolling motor on it a few months back(many said I was a fool that the boat was too heavy and wouldn't move well and doesn't draft shallow enough). However, I have gotten alot of use out of the trolling motor and haven't found myself wishing the boat would draft what a flats boat will because I would lose the smooth ride I have from it.

Now for my issues with the boat. Its a 1969, and it looks older and not modern. The outside looks great in pictures, but she definitely needs to be sanded down and repainted. But at the moment the boat doesn't really NEED anything to be seaworthy as I have used it every weekend for months... The boat seems so small with my big butt on it and seems like there isn't very much room to walk around the boat or fish and throw nets from it. It also seems very very narrow to me compared to other boats and rocks and leans a lot easier than other boats. There is a recirculating livewell on the boat, but its ghetto rigged and takes up an entire corner of the back of the boat and you lose even more fishability . I love the big center console as well.

Now for my ideas, I've considered putting in a Smaller Center console and moving it slightly forward and putting in a Leaning Post that has a livewell in it. Currently it has a leaning post, but you cant add a livewell behind it because theres a small hatch in the floor(I've considered turning this into a livewell, but it may only hold 8-12 gallons). And you also cannot center a livewell in the back of the boat because it will cover the bilge hatch. In the front of the console is a livewell that I use for a cooler because theres no room to hold a cooler on the boat and this livewell has no plumbing. It is a decent size though.

Now for your ideas and suggestions, should I keep the boat and restore and make it a custom boat the way I want over time, or is this maybe not the boat to satisfy me? It seems small, would changing the center console and leaning post open the boat up for me? Should I close in the transom and add a livewell there and push the motor back on a bracket? Any ideas or suggestions is greatly appreciated!