Yes, it appears that is was. I take it that is a good thing right?

sure is a good thing because i have the same year wellcraft that you have-----1978 thats your year yes or no

you have a 235 evenrude----------you must fly whats your top end? i have a 150 mercury and my top end is about 32 mph

Yep it is a 78 and yes it does fly. I had it to 41 on the river but not on the bay and it had more left. I am a fair weather fisherman and don't speed around much. It does come in handy when chasing birds. I love to roll into boiling water with rock or blues in a frenzy. I really want a smaller motor but this one runs so good I hate spend the money right now on a new one. I know it is a gas hog but I only get out two to three times a month when the weather is nice. I love the 78 so far everything has been solid except for the transom and I probably could have gotten another year out of that. This is quite a project but thanks to all of you guys it is moving along nicely.

Steplift20 with the right prop that Merc should run around 40 mph. If its a V6 it would do real well with a 17" pitch.

im turning a 15x17 prop it runs reel well and with the weight i carry it s probably doing what it should do
78 steplift thats the one to own we should start our own club what do you think? how many 78 s are out there
I used to turn a 13 1/4 x 19 inch s.s. prop wasnt happy with that then was told to turn a 15x17 on this web site perfect size im happy with the r4esults

I know I like mine, the deck drains to the splashwell and I have foam. After reading on the site it seems a lot of things started changing on the 78 it's almost like it was a transition year in some respects. I am running a 17" pitch SS prop also.

I recall the 83' Mercury Boathouse Bulletin for the V20, the 150 did 46 mph with a very light load and a 19" prop. I ran a 17" SSTII prop with a Johnson 150 and also got about 46 mph trimmed out, but turning almost 6000 rpm as I recall. In real life with full tanks (72 gallons), several ice chests, 4 guys, a 25 hp kicker, and lots of tackle the propping was right and cruised well. Botom line is that top end isn't the "end all". Real life means cruising where the motor won't be in such a load that it burns pistons and cylinders. Folks that have bottom paint on their planing hull boats need to be happy with 2-3 less mph and sacrafice some MPG also. I see lots of pictures of trailable boats with bottom paint, it's a killer on performance and MPG IMO.

pics update transom
 

Ok I am just about finished and thought I would post an update. This is my first transom and fiberglass job so this isn't a closeup picture. Still needs a few coats of paint to finish. It's not perfect but it should get me fishin again. I am glad I took your guys advice and made it a 25.
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/P4040025.jpg

That looks great and for your first job WOW.