done.

[Mark]

OK, let me start off by saying that the changes that were made to my 1971 20' SeaCraft were specific to my needs and very likely are not the changes that someone else would make. Secondly, my only contribution to this project was a wish-list of changes, and my checkbook. I did none of the physical labor myself.

This all started by my having a '76 SeaCraft 18' that I had work done on and wanted to modify it even more but couldn't bring myself to have it gutted after all the work that I had already paid to have done to it. Therefore, I sold the 18' and started looking for a 20' built in the decade that Bill Potter owned the company. I spent a short while searching boattrader for a 20' that I would have COMPLETELY rebuilt. At the time, I was living in Atlanta and ended up finding the boat in South Florida. I picked up the boat and towed it to North Carolina which was the initial intended location for having it rebuilt. I say rebuilt because I don't think what I had done would qualify as a "restoration". Anyhow, the North Carolina part of the plan had a few hiccups, so I towed it back to South Florida where I chose Wildfire Marine in Stuart to do the work....or more accurately, to build a new boat for me.

Before towing the boat from North Carolina back to Florida, I removed the engine, original console, fuel tank, t-top, etc. When the boat arrived at Wildfire Marine, it looked like this:



My wish-list of things I wanted done to the boat was two typed pages long and included the broad strokes of the overall plan as well as smaller but still important features that I wanted included (more on that later). The first thing on the agenda was to thoroughly gut the boat as such:



and continuing onward, remove it ALL:



ALL of the existing outer shell of the boat was retained, including all of the outer skin of the transom. The transom was raised from 20" to 25" as seen here (notice original mustard color of boat) :



Out of respect for those without a high speed internet connection, I will jump forward about 75 photos at this point. Obviously, the floor had to be raised so that this could finally be a self bailing boat without plugs in the scuppers, fear of leaving it in the water or any other such concerns. Fly fishing is my primary endeavor with this boat, so the gunnels had to be widened out to 7.5" in order to make hanging rods under them possible. Additionally, those original width gunnels in the 20' are narrow enough to be A) uncomfortable to sit on, and B) a possible way for me to break my neck when stepping off a dock onto a wet boat. Also, those half height seats in the transom had to be changed to be functional, which I felt would be best raised to gunnel height and reduced in length from several feet down to just 17" fore-to-aft. I wanted the base of the livewell to be at the same height as the floor so that draining it would be a function of gravity rather than pumps, or me on hands and knees with a bucket. Here is a shot of the newly widened gunnels and full height aft compartments:



After an exhaustive search over the course of nearly a year, I was simply unable to find a console that I thought was appropriate for the boat. Then to make matters worse (better?), I had the opportunity to ride in Other Tom's Whitewater at last years Dania flea market get together. I had been intending to go with an overhead electronics box but noticed how much better the visibility was with all the electronics mounted in the dash and nothing hanging under the t-top at all. This really made my console search seem just about impossible because those consoles that work out so great in the SeaVee/Contender/Whitewater/etc boats are really designed for a boat much larger than a 20' SeaCraft. After finding several consoles that would have sort of worked with a lot of cut-and-repair glass work to get them how I wanted, Mike at Wildfire Marine said he would just make a console from scratch for me if I could come up with some measurements that I liked. I spent one Sunday afternoon with an Exacto knife and some 1/2" Foamcore making a dummy console on my living room floor. I then put it in a U-Haul trailer and towed it from Atlanta to Stuart where a few measurements were changed slightly to allow for better mold release, and a plug was made to make a mold from. The console is 28" wide instead of the overly wide console that originally came in the boat. It allows for very good walk-by space and still holds plenty of electronics for a coastal boat. Here are two shots of the custom console:





The livewell mentioned above, drains at floor level so as to prevent any headaches due to pump failure, and to make it as simple as possible. Here is a view into the livewell, which is small for those who are really into livebait fishing, but as stated earlier, fly fishing is my primary thing, so it is quite adequate for my needs:



Here are two shots that are out of order but are good overall shots to show how the boat looked the afternoon before the engine was mounted. The only non-white accent on the boat is the stainless rubrail. There will be no "name" painted on the side of the boat, no brand name logo on the boat, and sadly there has to be FL numbers - I would have preferred to leave it as generic as possible. The forward casting deck is the only thing retained from the original boat. The drain for the fishbox in the casting platform was rerouted back through a macerator pump in the bilge so that there are no holes through the hull except for the livewell pickup now. The two scuppers drain directly out through the transom at floor level:





Jumping ahead once again, this photo was shot this afternoon with an adult weighing over 225#s standing next to the transom with the boat in the water. A 426# 4-stroke engine mounted on the transom, no plugs in the scuppers, and dry feet. This is probably only of interest to those of you who have spent time in an 18' or 20' SeaCraft, but it was one of my foremost goals and the reason for raising the stringers 2.5" so the floor would finally be well above water level :



Even with the 4-stroke engine tilted well out of the water, the waterline is quite acceptable. A new 75 gallon tank was added below the floor and slid as far forward as possible in order to distribute the weight away from the stern. In addition, both batteries are under the seat portion of the console so the boat would sit as normal as is possible for what is a tail-heavy boat to begin with:



Although fly fishing at night is not one of my preferred activities, the lights are all there if I need to see where the steering wheel is. There is a halogen flood facing forward off the front of the t-top, flourescent tube under the t-top over the dash area, six red LED lights under the gunnel, and a light inside the console for finding that hard to find sandwich:



While there are still several minor tweakings to be done, it is pretty much exactly what I wanted. The people responsible for the boat looking the way it does are:

Wildfire Marine - all glass work, painting, console, rigging, problem solving, etc - Ph.772.286.1925
Bausch Enterprises - t-top
Birdsall Marine - leaning post (32" Mini Rocket Launcher).
Fantastic Plastics - dash enclosure, console door, fly rod racks, leaning post lure tray.
Pompanette - 30* rod holders
Accon - 6" flush mount pull-up cleats
Southco - latch pulls
Loadmaster - trailer
Suzuki - engine, 140hp 4-stroke
Garmin - gps and fishfinder (182C and 320C)
Icom - vhf
Bluesea Systems - switch panel
Floscan - fuel management (admitted overkill on a boat this size)
Lenco - trim tabs
Polyplanar - speakers and MRD-60 stereo
Custom metal work was done by a Pratt & Whitney employee who made the polished stainless transom plate (pure vanity!), lure tray posts, and most importantly, custom flush mount hinges without that rattling center piece - I don't like noise!
I'm sure I am forgetting someone, but that is the bulk of it.

Here is Capt Chuck driving the boat this afternoon:



and here is the purpose for the boat in the first place. Although we jumped some large 100# class tarpon yesterday, this is the first fish I landed with the new 34 year old boat:



If I get motivated, I will post shots of all the details such as the custom hinges, racks, etc etc. However, motivation is in short supply right now