New guy here
 

Hi guys, My name is Abel, I live in Lake Charles, Louisiana. I've been searching the huge amount of knowledge you guys have built. the fact that you all have put this site together is remarkable. Great to see this hull has such a following.
I kind of inherited a 1979 v20 I/O cuddy. Not sure what engine is in it, just that it's a V8. I got a chance to check it out more today and bought a Die Hard to crank it over. Isn't getting any fuel to the carb. Posting some pics of it. Not in great shape, but feels solid.

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/4...2367vf7.th.jpg

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/9...2368jn7.th.jpg

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/9...2369ed0.th.jpg

welcome :clap:

Welcome Abel, good to have you on board. I think few other hulls have the classic lines, seaworthyness, and versatility of the V-20 hull and are readily available to the average joe. Look forward to seeing your progress with your new V!

P.S. NOW THATS WHAT YA CALL A DIVE PLATFORM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOOD LORD MAN!!!!!!!!

welcome aboard abel,
is that an a/c unit in the bulkhead? looks like a real nice v ya got there.

Welcome aboard, nice heliopad. I guess being from Louisiana, that's a V20 Lafitte skiff

Yea, that platform is crazy but, nice. I've been out on it once ,before we inherited it, and it really ads room for people to spread out. Now, to the A/C in there...I have no idea. It was bought that way. Maybe if you had a really quiet and portable propane generator it could be useful...to freeze you out. What's really funny is they used romex run to the transom (along with about 35 other single conductor wires) for 120AC. I guess being from Louisiana I should understand that if you give some coonass a welding machine, boat and an air conditioner that it could turn into a monster, but it still confuses me.

welcome! cool rig man....that dive platform must be a nice conversation piece at those crawfish boils eh?

Good to see a fellow La resident. This forum never ceases to amaze me. Crawfish have been a little high this year. We've only had two boils so far. We can't wait till after Easter when prices go down. Lastnight we had a boil for a rehearsal dinner, but nobody has seen the boat yet. I hope to get it running for some trials by May. I'm looking to get to the first rigs to do some fishing this summer. Seems I've gained some extra friends at work when I explain the boat...everyone wants to go fishing

hello abel, i dont want to alarm you but some jackass has crashed his pontoon boat into the back of your boat.
gonna be hell gettin it off.

:hi: Welcome

That's it! Time to pimp out my boat. MJ!!! Bring me the blow torch and more peanut butter! :bat:

welcome aboard Abe. That's the first v20 I've seen w/ a heli-pad. Cool set-up, good luck w/ her

Welcome Abe,

I'm sure you'll enjoy the boat.

That's one way to turn her into a V23 :beer:

Nice to have you here! Love the platform!

Well you know your a Red Neck when you use house wire and 110 air to cool off a 10 cubic inch box, and add a deck off the back of a 20 foot boat!

Or was that you know when you are homeless when.............. O heck pass another beer, I want to be the first to use the 2nd floor to pee from!!:you:

When I joined this website, you all said that you had seen every modification done to a V. I can now officially call you all a bunch of liers! P.S. -- How long of an extention cord do you need to keep the A/C on at the lake?

Got me there! But there are more joining all the time, Can't wait to see whats next??:clap:

Next? I say Abe should figure out a way to mount a jack plate off that high dive and hang an OB on that puppy. :sly:

I'd mount a water slide up there. :you:

Sorry Abe. We's just having some fun here. Not every day you see that sort of mod on a boat. Kind of looks like the platforms they add to boats that take people out para-sailing.

Yeah, Abe, we're just teasin' a bit... Actually, I've seen things similar to yours on boats down in FL... A little different, but similar...

maybe the platform was where the generator for the AC sat..............

Now we're talkin. that may be the best use for the platform/helopad.

Sorry I posted then ran, but with the recent wedding an all it's been one hell of a day.

I can't take credit good or bad for the mods to the craft. I talked with her father about it and we wanted to do many things to get it sea worthy. Unfortunately he was murdered before we could live out the dream. Louisiana lives up to the stereo type in this case....lotsa trash in this area. Too bad someone couldn't take it out in time.

Bottom line, we both like the boat. We both have lived on the water most of our lives. Given all the other crap...the boat is going to run. He wanted it to run, so it's a big F*** Y** to the men that killed him so we're hitting the first riggs asap. And for her I'll do whatever it takes.

I don't mean to throw you guys into this, but things have been tough here. Just remember you never know who your neighbors really are....and after that...this ship is GOING to sail.

Welcome Abe! Yours is a unique V20 but still a 20. Keep us posted on your mods and I see you already know we love pictures! Billy Mac :beer:

Don't worry about the teasing...I have thick skin plus it's all fun.

I've got a few more pics for you guys. Any ideas on the engine?

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/2...2373au3.th.jpg

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/3...2372wz6.th.jpg

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/9...2371gt0.th.jpg

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7...2370ms0.th.jpg

Abe, that looks like an OMC 5.0 2BBL stringer drive set up. Now for the bad news, if that is a stringer drive(named by the way the engine attaches to the stringers not to the transom) they wern't very good when the were brand new, part are hard to find and they usually don't last long. OMC wouldn't put a 5.7 in front of them because it wouldn't take the power. Before you start on the engine, check the drive out. If it has a small anode( square aluminum thing) in the drive housing above the anti-ventalation plate(look above the prop), you have a mechanical shift, they were fair, they can last if taken care of. If it doesn't have the anode, its a hydramechanical drive, they were so bad, that OMC stopped making them after three years, they offered an exchange program for the newer mechanical drives to repalce the hydramechanical ones, I've built two of them(long time ago), they worked when I got thru, don't know how long they lasted. After you determine what kind of drive you have, check the gear lube, if it is full of water(milky looking) stop right there, don't spend any more without having a tech look at it, there are three plaes to check gear lube, one in the lower unit(drain screw), one in the upper unit, has a screw in teh top or on the side, one in the intermediate housing, right up to that rubber boot on top, look for signs of water, rust or metal. Then look under the drive at the ball gears(looks kinda like a weird door knob, or some kind of cog gear), they will be worn, if the appear to more that 50 % missing, you're going to need them. Check the drive part out first, then move on to the motor. Don't spend any big buck till you evaluate the whole package. I'll tell you about the wrong distributor later.

sounds like everything else I acquire...needs more than I got.

don't give up hope, at the very least, if everything is screwed, you have an excellent starting place for a bracket conversion

It's late and I'm not going out to check it tonight and might not have a chance tomorrow. If the worst is found, then is it possible that a different drive unit would bolt into place? If so, what would be the best option? To be honest I'd like to change the craft as little as possible.

yeah for good friday we were going to get a sack but it was around $ 75 so we found some peeled la shrimp for about 3.33 a pound and made po-boys and they fried some sheepshead we caught in january. talk about good.

Depending on the pounds of the sack that's crazy/robbery. Sacks are about 25lbs to 35lbs. We're going about $1.50 a pound...that's medium to large. On the other hand how the h**l did you get peeled shrimp for $3.33 a pound? For large shrimp with heads we're looking at $2.25 a pound. Nobody sells peeled shrimp here.

Sorry, but finally... you guys eat sheephead? They're so tough here that it's not worth the effort for the small gain.

Guess we could throw rocks at each other, but food is completely different. On another note: how was the gator this winter? Ours was scarce at best.

we eat sheaphead here, and it taste mighty good

http://www.charlestonfishing.com/for...TOPIC_ID=56575

I eat Asians down here, and they taiste mighty good as well. : )-