Finally popped my cherry

[chesapeake724]

Well, I was up until 2am (thank God for the time change) getting the boat ready enough to take my maiden voyage and go fishing Sunday at 5am. Splashed her and she didn't sink, so that was the first hurdle. It took some coaxing, but I got the motor started and everything was good enough to pull away from the dock. The motor doesn't shift smoothly, and it ran rough up until maybe 1500-2000rpms (no working tach yet), but beyond that, the motor ran fine. Second hurdle cleared.

I turned out of the protected creek only to face into a steady 20 knot North wind and a 2-4' chop. Needless to say, the ride was rough and wet. I didn't balance the boat well at first and the water that was pushed to the port side just blew back into the boat. A priority next year will be to put in trim tabs to level the boat. I think if I had tabs, I could've trimmed up the engine and pushed the bow down w/ tabs to skim the wave tops instead of going up and pounding down with each one. That day, any boat under 30' was going to be a wet ride, so I'll save comment on the V-20 ride until I go out in normal conditions. Sunday was probably as rough as I'd go out.

Other than that, the motor started on the first turn and aside from the clunky shifting, it looks like I might squeeze some life out of it. I put in a shock treatment of de-carb so maybe that helped rehab it a little, considering it hadn't been run (besides on the muffs) in 15 months. Once it laid down a little, I wanted to see how it'd run wide open. According to GPS, I made 31mph. Unfortunately, with no tach, I wasn't so sure I had WOT. When I bought the boat, the prop was dinged up, but I could find no stamping as to its size. With a little research, I chose a 15x17 and it seems to have worked well. It's got some oomph to pop her up on plane. I'd like a little better top speed, as I expected to get +35mph. When I pulled the cowl today, one of the spark plug wires had popped off. There's no way to tell when it did, so maybe the engine was handicapped when I tested for speed.

Managed to catch a dozen stripers, only up to 21". Here on the Chesapeake, a keeper is over 18". I released it, thinking we could go bigger, but that first fish was the biggest of the day. Oh well, maybe it was good kharma not to eat the first fish caught in my boat to appease the fish gods, that they may look favorably on this boat for years to come. The only casualty was the cabin door pulled out. Did I mention it was rough? ::) The previous owner re-finished them and just screwed them back in without resealing or adding adhesive. Screws don't hold too well when screwed into a laminate from the side. Oh well, it shouldn't be too much work to reinforce it or even just replace 'em.

So, that's how my maiden voyage went. It was good to be back at the helm of my own boat after a two year hiatus from boating. There's lots of work to do, but with a little luck (or at least no bad luck), she will be a true asset to the family and a great ride to raise the kids around boats.

[chumbucket]

Hopefully it only gets better from here on Ches. ;)

[Blue_Runner]

I hear ya man. I remember when I owned a V-20 and couldn't use it. It sucks! Glad you finally made it out and were able to do some good on the stripers!

[willy]

Good luck Ches, I'm splashing my new v20 tommorow hope to do as well.

[macojoe]

Happy days are here for you!! Congrats!!

[bigshrimpin]

Congrats Chesapeake - 31mph with that motor sounds about right for firing on only 5 cylinders. Make sure to put in a fresh set of plugs after you decarb . . . too

The trim tabs will help a lot getting the hull balanced. When the boat is balanced . . . you'll knife right through the chop. When the boat is leaning heavily to one side . . . your in for a beating.

[reelapeelin]

Congrats on gettin' her bottom wet!!...I want tabs, too... 8)...think it'll be mo-better!!!... ;)...