Can't wait.
Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
DIY flats skiff
Collapse
X
-
Well, I have both good and bad news. The launch went great and Skipjack out performed my expectations. The original design said she should draft between 4-5” fully loaded but she did not. She actually drafts 2 1/2” fully loaded! I am able to move about without feeling tippy and casting from the bow deck is a dream. I realized 21 mph with a four blade prop before the outboard started acting up.
I launched solo at 0600 and had her back on the trailer by 0630. She would only go half throttle all of a sudden and after getting back to the dock, she would not start to load. That ended up being an o-ring that popped off that held the throttle linkage in place. Fortunately my neighbor has a giant assortment of little parts like that and I was back out on the water at 0930.
I pushed her hard to see what she was capable of going way back into the marsh where I found several tailing reds over oyster reefs just 6” below the surface. After going super skinny I wanted to see how she would take high speed turns so I opened her up and cut it all the way. She did not dig in as much as I hoped but she didn’t lean to the side either. I would say she drifted when I didn’t lean into the steer.
After playing around for a bit I ran her five miles to a shallow cove for pictures and video. Oh, did I mention not one chase boat showed up? Anyway, I got a couple good pictures and a little video before having to haul back to the ramp because a storm popped up out of nowhere. About 700 yards from the ramp a cool blast of air hit me dropping the temperature to 74. Pulling up to the dock there were no less than a dozen boats all scrambling to load before the rains hit. Fortunately I was able to get her loaded and on the road in time though everything including myself was covered in sand from all the wind.
Now back in the driveway I started cleaning her up. First I filled the barrel to run and flush her, reach over to start and she just spins, never firing off. It was then and there I decided to cut my losses and order a new Tohatsu 20 with electric start, tilt and trim. Skipjack turned out to be way too good of a boat to keep having to mess with the outboard!
I took minimal video posting some on Instagram and I will be producing a full build video this coming week. Overall I could not be more impressed with the design and performance! If able to go back there is not one thing I would have done differently other than purchasing a new outboard! Thank you for following along with me and I look forward to the next build being planned right now.
Michael
Comment
Comment