1977 23 Restoration

[captsuperfly]

Congrats! Would love to hear the numbers once you break her in. So, did you go with a level deck? Do you have pics of the bow?

[SeaChuck]

as for my 150's, I don't know the stats, I have fished the boat many times with my buddy and recently purchased it from him. He was never concerned with stats , He used it for a Taxi cab to his house in Grand, Ba for many years and had it always fully loaded. He had the transom completed with Armstrong bracket , new 142 gallon tank moved all the way forward to the step . He always kept 6 gallons in the 5 gal bucket....these boats will handle the load.

I just removed the top and console and will be replacing the original floor. Hope to remove the top layer and core, add some aluminum plate for fastening top and console, and raise deck with Nidacore or like 2" higher. will report back on the stats hopefully in about 3 months......they do have the same props as yours. Plan to use for a couple years and repower with 200's down the road.

I have been lurking around this site for years and the yellow boat I have is actually a 2nd 23' 1973 boat with a single Armstrong, which I acquired about 2 years ago and completely gutted. Originally was the "Reel Smoker" from south Florida and Keys , I believe it's transom Armstrong conversion rebuild was on this site many years ago. I plan on getting the white boat, with dual 150's, useable , with not much time spent on cosmetics , and ready for use this spring. then starting the complete redo of the yellow one with my daughter and new husband.

Thanks everyone with sharing this wealth of knowledge, I got a lot of work to do

[SnafuFishTeam]

Originally Posted by captsuperfly

Congrats! Would love to hear the numbers once you break her in. So, did you go with a level deck? Do you have pics of the bow?

No I have kids and a wife who love the step up in the bow. We have cushions for the front. Recessed bow rail still needs to be installed.

[Stephen]

Looks awesome Matt !!!
What bow rail are you putting on it ? And thanks so much for the one you gave me !!
I really appreciate it..........

Steve

[BermudaTriangle]

i would love to see more pics!!! video even!

[SnafuFishTeam]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Looks awesome Matt !!!
What bow rail are you putting on it ? And thanks so much for the one you gave me !!
I really appreciate it..........

Steve

Hey Steve! Thank you! A long journey in the boat for sure. Hope all is well and glad to hear the hand rail went to a good home.

I got a new recessed hand rail from Birdsall. It’s more like the 2000s tracker model with the legs welded on. Just have not had the time to get the boat up there. I’ll post a picture once it’s installed.

[SnafuFishTeam]

Originally Posted by BermudaTriangle

i would love to see more pics!!! video even!

Will do. The weather has been a bit cold for this Floridian over the past few weeks. Hope to get back on the water next weekend.

[SnafuFishTeam]

Weather was great yesterday and did about a 60 mile run. First two times cruising the ditch and this time was its maiden voyage in the ocean. Probably about a 2’ chop inshore. Boat performed very well. I was able open it up a bit and saw some really good numbers. Solid cruising speed was 3400-4000rpms which was basically 30-40mph. At 3400rpms boat ran 28.3mph,10.5gph and 2.7 miles per gallon. There was about 100 gallons of fuel onboard Punched it and we were in doing 56 mph in a hurry with plenty of throttle left. Wife told me to back off so didn’t get all the specs. I was also curious about the trim tabs and boat planning with the bracket and twins. I didn’t even need them at all when powering up. Overall things are looking real good. Very happy camper. Only issue I am having is learning how to use all these electronics. Man going from my old school SeaCraft to this is like another world. Definitely need to reach out to garmin and get someone to help me dial it in.

[Blackfin26]

Rocket ship and "throttle to spare" sounds fun!! What props are you running?

[SnafuFishTeam]

Originally Posted by Blackfin26

Rocket ship and "throttle to spare" sounds fun!! What props are you running?

Thanks Blackfin26, it’s definitely been enjoyable and a change of pace for sure! I’m running three blade Yamaha reliance props 19m x 13 3/4. They seem to be a good fit. Need to get some more hours on the boat to confirm.