In what years were they improved?

[csvencer]

How do you know if you have a raised deck? I have an '84 and I still get some water up through the thru-hulls...

-Svence

[THEFERMANATOR]

The raised deck should sit slightly above the waterline when at rest. The early V-20's sit with the deck just below the waterline. This is why they drained to the bilge and then the bilge pump pumped it out. Otherwise the deck would stay wet all the time. The outboard boats got the raised deck first, and some of the I/O's and sea-drive boats stayed with the lower deck. The color scheme is a poor way to tell the year, but there were a few hull changes through the years. 78 brought about the raised gunnel where as 77 was flat about 3-4 feet back from the windshield. And the center consoles switched back and forth from raised front casting decks to not raised, and had several different configurations. You can go through the catalogs in the history section to find some of the major differences.

[phatdaddy]

My 83 cuddyOB has the raised deck, blue/black stripe & no foam..............

[willy]

Not sure Ferm but I beleive there were two times they raised the deck, initially in the early eighties they raised it so that they could have thru hulls with floor scuppers, at least on the outboard boats. These drained overboard not into the bildge.
Then in 1988 they raised it again about 2 inches so that the floor would not take any water when the boat was bobbing and weaving in the water.
That is why the 88's and above are not as deep in the cockpit, they hit you in a lower spot on your leg when you stand in them to fish and lean against the gunnels.
This same floor height also applies to the V21's.
At least that is what I have seen in the 20 or so I have actually been in.

[THEFERMANATOR]

I've been in an 86 that had the high floors in it like the V-21's, and my 84 seadrive sure has a low deck in it. I think WELLCRAFT changed it up alot just so that later on it would keep the V-20 alive in people trying to decipher the mysteries surrounding them. That RAYMONT HUNTER designed hull shore has made for some good discussions.

[chumbucket]

Good answer Ferm.

[labii]

Model year 1977 was the year they raised the deck on the center console and 1978 for the Steplift . I'm not sure when the 25' transom was first offered . The boats we set up for a two motor mount until sometime in the 1980's .

[randlemanboater]

Originally Posted by csvencer

How do you know if you have a raised deck? I have an '84 and I still get some water up through the thru-hulls...

-Svence

You have a raised deck, they just did a poor job designing the drains.

If I ever see my V again, I am going to see if I can fix the problem....if it works I will share, if it doesn't, I'll cuss.

[bradford]

Originally Posted by randlemanboater

You have a raised deck, they just did a poor job designing the drains.

If I ever see my V again, I am going to see if I can fix the problem....if it works I will share, if it doesn't, I'll cuss.

Still waiting for you to do it first Randleman.

[turbinedoctor]

Are all V-20's step lifts or just some models? I have an 84 center console.