Need your honest opinion(s)

[Harry Klauber]

A good friend of mine bought the same boat with original Detroit 6-53's. It was such a dog that he decided to do a complete make-over. They gutted the boat, repowered it with triple the power, rewired everything, increased fuel to 600 gallons, as they wanted to run to the canyons from Montauk, re-did the interior and then found they had a higher speed re-built boat that they could not run fast in a following sea as controlling it was impossible. He was so insistant that he could make this project successful that he hired a naval architect and they added 5 feet to the transom extending the length of the boat and changed the underwater profile. After $200,000 in re-fits, and almost 3 years in a small yard in Montauk, he has a great fishing machine. The final chapter on this whole story will be written after some time when he finds out if a very old boat can take the beating a new boat can. Sometimes when you do too much more than alot of cosmetics you can do too much and you don't get what you hoped for.

For what it's worth I would say looking for a proven entity that gives you everything you are looking for and can be tested before you are buying it is the way to go. The proverbial "pig in a poke" can work out but can also be a huge disappointment.

[DORADOsteve]

Harry,
What's the name of the boat? I remember quite a few 41's out there, but dont remember any that were extended. I could certainly understand different handling characteristics after a radical modification.
I do know that there were two Topaz 38's that were extended by Scopinich.

[Harry Klauber]

This boat is called "Contender" and is in a Marina in Montauk where it stays all year round. It's fished a few times each summer and just sits the remainder of the year. The owner also has a 54 Hatt and a 36 contender down here.