1984 V20 Upgrade Santa Barbara

[DustyCajun]

New member here. Me and my buddy Hoober were out having a few beers at a local German pub in Santa Barbara a month ago and decided to go check out a 1984 V20 Steplift cuddy cabin that was for sale at the harbor. One look at the hull and the wide open fishing platform in the stern and we’re off to his house to get some cash! Beers and boat buying, what can you say!

Wellcraft Before 2.jpg

The boat was used by the Santa Barbara Sailing Club as a race spotter, thus the huge S B S C letters on the hull.

Wellcraft Before 1.jpg

It was a dirty, oily, greasy mess with about 20 pvc tubes mounted everywhere to hold race flags.

Wellcraft PVC a.jpg

We have been spending the last 4 weekends getting her ready for spring fishing in the Santa Barbara Channel. Sanded off the letters and cleaned up the hull. Have not had the time to get to the bottom paint, that project is on hold.

Wellcraft Hull.jpg

Can't figure out how to get more than 5 images on here, so will post more on reply.

[DustyCajun]

The old cabin door was shot, the black plexi glass was melted.

Wellcraft Door 1.jpg
Took the door apart and put some beech wood veneer in place of the plexi. Added stain and varnish.
Wellcraft Door 2.jpg
Cleaned up the hardware and mounted the door, it came out nice.
Wellcraft Door 4.jpg

Added a new slammer door to the rear battery area as the old wood door was toast. Also mounted a center rod holder down the middle for bounce ball trolling for halibut.
Wellcraft Rod 1.jpg
Wellcraft Slammer 2a.jpg

[DustyCajun]

Installed diamond plate rod holders on the sides. These covered up most of the old holes left by the flag holders. These are also used for bounce ball trolling.

Wellcraft Side Rods 2a.jpg

Wellcraft Side Rods a.jpg

Installed two new rod holder sets on each side transom.

Wellcraft Rear Rods a.jpg

Replaced the old wood kicker plate that was on the stern and installed the
kicker motor.

Wellcraft Kicker 2a.jpg

Removed the old dashboard and all of the old wiring. Put a piece of Starboard in and mounded the compass, GPS fish finder and fuel gauge. More to be added here.

Wellcraft Dash a.jpg

[Destroyer]

Dusty, you are on the right course for sure. Got a good boat at (I hope) a good price, and you're moving ahead at flank speed on restoring her. Would you please explain to me (and some of the rest of us I'm sure also) what "bounce-ball" trolling is? I really don't think I've ever heard of it and i'd like to know how it works. In all cases, welcome aboard, don't be a stranger and keep up with the pictures...we love boat porn around here, especially of V20's. Beer and boats.... a winning combination.

[DustyCajun]

Thanks for the welcome Destroyer. Got the boat for a steal. I have to say this site has been great for research and inspiration in getting this project going.

Here is a basic layout of the bounce ball set up. Fished in 60 to 100 feet of water with a whole squid or sardine pinned to the hoochie.

bounce ball rig.jpg

It is a proven winner for Halibut fishing along our central coast.

halibut a.jpg

We are going after them on Saturday.

Can you tell me how to get the photos directly inserted into the thread?

[phatdaddy]

welcome dusty, you are indeed lucky to have come across an 84 V, as we all know. that is the best year.

you need to upload photos to photobucket, then copy the link for forums to your post & it will show up as the pic.

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by phatdaddy

welcome dusty, you are indeed lucky to have come across an 84 V, as we all know. that is the best year.

you need to upload photos to Photobucket, then copy the link for forums to your post & it will show up as the pic.

Dusty, thanks for the diagram of the bounce ball rig. We don't have Halibut here on the East coast, but we have Fluke, which are cousins of them. Going to have to try it and see how it works.

As to your question about posting pics, Phatdaddy was right on the mark with his reply. Open an account with Photobucket, (www.Photobucket.com) then upload your pics to your account there. Follow the directions on that site for copying your photo here. Just make sure that your photo has the tag [img] both before and after it's name. As an example [img] my boat [img]. This site reads that tag as a photo and displays it as such.

Oh, and don't listen to phatdaddy (or anyone else for that matter) about which year hull is the best. Everyone knows that the best V20 hull was the 1978 issue and the best V21 is the 1996. Cheers..

[charlie_the_tuna]

I noticed on those halibut, some are left sided and some are right sided. I find that odd.

[GREYWOLF]

Welcome dusty
You are doing a lot of work fast . congrats on the find you will love these V20 boats for fishing they are very stable and dry boats , I see you already have tabs on her they make the ride even better, I also agree with phatdaddy 1984 is the best year

[willy]

Good job on the reworking of that beauty, except for 86 and especially 92 it was probably the best year