Freeman 33 update

[Captain Mike Ellis]

Now that I have had my Freeman 33 for two and a half months of hard winter fishing. It is time for a update on the performance and durability of the boat. I have now have 400hrs on the engines and manged to run a pile of trips on her so far with a average fuel burn of 85 gallons a trip I have only broken the 100 gallon mark on two trips so far. One was to a spot due south of Alabama and the other was to just about the farthest rig we ever fish. and on theses trips the total fuel usage was 125 and 130 gallons. That's not bad with a total of seven people onboard and a load of fish. So the fuel burn is right on track for the higher price of fuel we are sure to encounter this summer. And the speed is more than enough to get to the spot before most of the other boats can. I will be trying out some new props in May to gain maybe a little more fuel econemy and hopefully a little bit more speed as well. Billy was right on track with delivering the fuel and speed I requested this boat to have.
And as to the durability of the boat she is still rock solid after the horrible winter weather. The boat still doesn't shake,shudder or sqeak one bit. There are no screws to back out of the console or leaning post since it is glassed down and not screwed to the deck. A very big positive point for me. I have put her through the paces this winter with most days marginal at best for weather. Even when I have to pull back on the throttles I can still maintain a very healthy cruising speed and do it comfortably. And the benefit to that is the fuel burn drops down to almost nothing. I can't say the boat doesn't sneeze it's a cat and they all sneeze. But I will say this it is almost non existant and not a issue at all. I never could run with my sunglasses on when I had the GB, but now I can. I don't have any stress cracks or any other signs of wear on the boat that wasn't caused by me or a fish. I did have a 90lb wahoo bite the side of the boat and put some teeth marks in the glass. But I can live with that type of damage. Since owning all fiberglass boats for the last 15 years I have forgotten how easy blood comes off of a painted surface instead of sticking to gelcoat. The clean up is a piece of cake. All in all after having put some time on the boat I have yet to come up with anything to complain about. This cat boat will change the way cats are viewed.
Capt. Mike

[Relentless33]

Sounds like a sweet machine

How far out is your average trip and how much running around do you do while you are out there?

[Captain Mike Ellis]

For most of the winter I have been running on a average of 130 miles or so round trip trolling for wahoo. I am getting anywhere from 1.3-1.5 MPG. In early May we will be playing with props and raising the engines two holes to see how that will improve the economy/speed. I am one for it it works don't change it but the builder Billy Freeman thinks that we can do better than what we are doing now. The boat is amazing right now and I have no complaints at all. But I get a kick out of passing monohull boats up so a little more speed is good. The builder is toying with the idea of having my boat in Florida for some seatrails. I can use a week in some warmer and calmer water. I think this boat will really make a impact on the south florida fishing scene. It's fast and it looks good which doesn't usually go hand and hand with a cat boat.
Capt. Mike