First Trip (of many hopefully) in the books! Spring Break 2018

[rustybucket]

Well, the first trip is in the books! All in all a great trip although the weather and the fish did not quite cooperate! The 'guys only' trip was myself, a good friend and 5 middle school aged kids for spring break. Got to the boat on Wednesday and back to the dock Saturday Afternoon. Had two cold fronts hit while we were out, so it was breezy and chilly most of the time, but the boys had a blast doing all kinds of stuff.

It's hard to believe that less than 8 months ago when we bought this boat it was on the hard, in the Shipyard (for 7yrs) with the engines sitting on the ground beside it on pallets.... The entire salon/galley floor was removed and the back wall was completely cut out. Man how far we have come!! It's really easy to get frustrated on projects like this, but the first trip really brought it all into perspective and solidified why we went through all this! Hopefully there will be many more trips like this in our future!!







The amount of cockpit space on this boat is awesome!

 

[rustybucket]

24 knts was our top speed at WOT in 4' seas on a 4 sec period. In our old Ocean I would have had to slow to 9-10knts to make headway in this. On the Hat it was a very comfortable ride, no banging, shuddering...etc.





Had a tired little birdie come visit us about 15 miles offshore. He slept for about 2 hrs, drank a little water and then took off again.

 

[rustybucket]

The fish didn't really cooperate, but the squid sure did. The boys had 1 squid rig and spent hours at night taking turns catching them. There was ink all over the side of the boat!







One of my fav parts of the trip, watching the sunset on the hook!

 

[motoryacht lover]

That is a nice looking boat. It doesn’t sound like you had too many issues for the first trip out after major surgery and a 7 year layup. Sounds like whoever did the work was very thorough and competent.

 

[rustybucket]

That is a nice looking boat. It doesn’t sound like you had too many issues for the first trip out after major surgery and a 7 year layup. Sounds like whoever did the work was very thorough and competent.

The issues we encountered were pretty insignificant, I couldn't be happier with the performance of everything for the first trip. The port engine was making a little oil, pulled the valve covers and found a couple of loose fuel injector jumpers. Tightened them up, leak fixed, changed oil and went about our business.

If the weather holds off we are doing a 'man only' trip this weekend heading out after some tuna. That will be the first true fishing trip on her.

 

[Avenger]

Very cool. I can't wait for the weather to get itself together here so I can do things like that.

Thanks for the pics.

 

[SEVEN]

Memories you and those kids will have for s life time. It’s all worth it my friend.

 

[krush]

Thanks for the pictures and the story. Great memories are what it's all about.

And of course, a good looking boat.

But for your usage, I suggest a bow rail (like the OEM) for safety. You probably can find one off a hurricane boat pretty easily.