What was your First Boat?

a 12 foot aluminum skiff with an ancient evinrude.

a 16 foot glasspar with a 40 evinrude.

an 18 foot silverline tri hull with a 115 evinrude.

a 24 foot performer with a 350 chevy.

a 22 foot sea ray with a ford i/o and later with a 225 evinrude on a bracket.

a 24 foot bayliner ciera with a 350 chevy.

a 1986 wellcraft v 20 with a 350 chevy and a brand new hardtop.

* * * * * * * * <*{{{>( and im 42.

[willy]

Hey Rick, you brought back memories with the USS Forrestal my Dad who passed when I was 16 was a marine engineer and installed the engines on that carrier, I have pictures somewhere of walking around on the deck when I was a little boot. First carrier with nuke propulsion.

[Blue_Runner]

You a playa in my book if you got a V20 (or V21)... ;)

[C YENSEN]

bought my first boat this year. 1984 v20 with a 470 merc. nothing to compare it to but i love it

[chumbucket]

Hmmm, don't know how old I was when I got my first boat. My dad gave me a wooden rowboat that was kept at our camp in Maine and provided many years of fishing fun on that lake. We threw a small 2hp motor on it after a couple years. I bought my first boat myself in 1973. A 14' Mirrocraft side console with a 25hp Johnson at the Boston Boat Show. Boat, motor and trailer for $800. Had it up until about 7-8 years ago and sold it for about 2X what I paid. 8)
My first "real" boat (if you want to call it that) was a '78 20' Glastron Cuddy Cabin with a 115 Merc inline six (God, I hated that motor). That boat was very solid and lots of freeboard with a decent layout for fishing.
A 24' Century powered by a Merc 260 I/O. That I/O gave me so much trouble. Seemed I was always working on it more that out fishing. I sold that one after 1 1/2 seasons and beat it like a rented mule at the end.
Next came a 26' Stamas Pilot house similar to the layout of the Parkers. This one was also powered with a Merc 260 I/O. You would think I'd have learned my lesson from the previous boat. Found out after several misadventures that the previous owner installed a motor donated by one of his trucks and never changed the camshaft or anything else. That motor gulp water while trolling at 3 knots and that was all she wrote on that motor. I threw a big block in it with a Bravo outdrive and the power was so much better. I loved this boat to fish from but it was an absolute PIG on gas with either motor. I think the boat tipped the scales at close to 10,000lbs. We liked to make the run across Cape Cod Bay to fish the Provincetown Race and it cost a fortune in gas even at $.99/gallon. Hated to do it, but got rid of that boat.
Then came probably the best boat I've owned. '87 Grady-White 22' Walkaround powered by an Evinrude 225 on a bracket. Yamaha 4 stroke 9.9 kicker motor with electric start. Nice full enclosure for the helm and a huge cockpit for fishing. This one was "The Boat" for me. It had everything I wanted. Then a few years later, my daughter was pregnant with my grandson. After he was born, I made the difficult decision to sell the Grady to help put a down payment on the house right next door to mine. So now I get to see my little buddy everyday, so that's not a bad thing right? ;D 8)As pre-arrainged, I made it known that when the Grady got sold, I would be buying something else for a lot less $$.
This is where the Wellcraft came into the picture. After extensive searching, I found the V20 Center Console the boat for me. I loved fishing this boat and the mobility it provided me. I really shouldn't have sold it, but the guy wore me down with an offer that I couldn't refuse. So, I sold it for considerably more than I paid.
The search has been on for a while now for a replacement but between working lots of hours and some other priorities on the homefront, I haven't seemed to be able to make a connection on anything. I've made a few offers on boats. There's a 17' tin boat sitting in the driveway that I've been using. Powered by a 60hp Evinrude, it's actually not a bad Striper fishing boat, but I want something a little more than that.
I'm 50 years old now, so maybe I'll settle down and keep whatever I get this next time around. I'm really not looking for a project boat. Too many other priorities to get saddled with a project. I've attempted a couple of those and just never found the time to complete them, so they were sold as is. I still have a bracket from one project. If I find the right boat, maybe I'll sell the bracket to get those thoughts out of my head. Whenever I see the bracket, I start thinking of taking something on to apply that bracket to.
Oh well, the search continues, but this is a tough time of year in the Northeast to do any real looking, so we'll see what pops up come springtime.

[phatdaddy]

1976 bought a 1964 13 ' whaler w/ 25 evinrude
1982 sold whaler and bought 1972 Mako 19'w/ 115 evinrude
1989 sold Mako (motor blew up) & bought a 21' Hydro-
Sport w/ 235 Evinrude. Driest and best riding center console I have ever been in,but too much vee. At anchor if you walked to the side, you felt like you were going to tip over
1990 Sold Hydro sport for $6500. and bought 83
V-20w/150 mercury for $6500 on the same day.
2005 Still got the boat but re-powered with a 150 Mariner in 95
I 've been looking for another boat for years, but the
V-20 always beats them and I already own it.

This is going to be tough

1. 12 Carter Craft mahaghony skiff with 10 hp Wizard outboard, I was 12 yrs old

2. Some kind of little green skiff with an 18 evinrude then a 25 Evinrude I was 16 or so

3. some kind of white V hull about 18 foot with a 90 johnson, late teens early 20s I guess, at the same time I had a gill net boat that was 17 foot with a 25 johnson, and also pulled shrimp nets with it

4. 16 foot Carolina Skiff it's on it's 3rd motor and second trailer, still own it and still use it constanly, got it when I was 26

5. 17 foot montgomery sail boat, 5 hp motor

6. 30 foot Columbia sailboat 12 hp diesel got it when I was 35 and still own it

7. Saving the best for last 1976 V-20 Center COnsole with a 120 hp got it a few months ago and will probably always own it

[Brian_M]

Previous

1979 Anchorcraft I/O runabout (also known as the AnchorCrap)

1979 Dufour 35' Sailboat w/ 27 hp diesel. Owned it 16 years and lived aboard for 5 years in NC and California

1989 Catalina 27 sailboat w/ 12 hp diesel

Now

1985 Carver 3207 Aft cabin, twin 5.7 MPI Mercruiser inboards installed this summer

1996 Wellcraft Eclipse (married this one)

1976 Wellcraft V20 w/ 165 hp inline 6 I/O

Happy holidays!!

[chitbob1]

let's see my first would have been make shift rafts I made as a child that would take a month to build and maybe would float a day 4 lakes behind our house
ok now the kind that float I think about age 20 I got a 12 monkey wards v-bow aluminum just a trolling motor
later put a Sears 7.5 gamefisher on it needed more power so I put an additional 7.5 GF on it to fast then just recently sold it I kept it for my pond in the yard

2. age 23 1975 westwind 17' tri hull with a one way 85hp mercury in line 6 always paddled back

3. age 26 1975 23' westwind cuddy cabin 292 chevy omc outdrive that boat was so heavy you had fits getting out of the water

4.currently 8' peddle boat in my pond
1977 17' pro-line deep vee cc that my wife learned to fiberglass on we totaly redone everything on her pride
&joy 85hp chrysler very good boat

1975 wellcraft v20 cc i/o 4.3L omc cobra bought for 1,000 have not had the privledge to take it out yet
2 other projects going hope I QUALIFY

[Skools Out]

oh yeah sounds good hey you had a 12 MW with twin 7.5 hp's? i'd like to see that that is a sight a 12 ft with twins how cool. were they both tillers?