Thursday, February 27, 2014

Just thinking out loud


One of my regular winter customers was wondering what a boat costs.  Not a big boat, just a boat to fish say the bridge, bay and Hawk Channel and the Reef on really good days.  You can pay just about anything you like for a boat.  For example this butt ugly POS will cost about $1500 to buy and about $4000 to fit up with most of that cost being a used or rebuild outboard.

I happen to know the guy that owns this POS boat and after explaining to him why is was a POS, I mentioned how it could become a not quite a POS boat that could be used for bridge and back country charters.  By losing the walk through windshield, adding a small center console and adding steps so it easy to mount the casting deck, this old POS that only drafts 14" with the motor properly trimmed out could make a tolerable bay boat.  It is too heavy for serious flats fishing, but can provide a reasonable facsimile of "serious" flats fishing without a ridiculously expensive rebuild.

The trick though is the motor.  It would be a sin to put a $10,000 motor on what is actually a $500 hull.  Since I have owned quite a few Johnson 90 to 140 H.P. V4s and can just rebuild one over night, losing the collectors item Mercury inline 4 Cylinder 115 H.P. in favor of a motor that tends to disintegrate less often, the Johnson V4, I/we could survive a motor meltdown without going postal.

The trailer, also a POS, appears to be salvageable which could allow some more picturesque back country safaris out of the Old Wooden Bridge Fish Camp for example, saving a ton of fuel bucks.

As the title says, this is just thinking out loud, but it could fill a niche that is currently open in Marathon.  What do y'all think?

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

 Tight lines,

 Capt. Dallas

2 comments:

  1. i agree 100%!! of coarse i'm the one who suggested it. going to the bridge is an awesome day in the keys!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, it was your idea. The problem with any boat though is they break. Since I am not Mr. Moneybags, I need to set the boat up so I can fix it quick and inexpensively. I have a guy in New Jersey looking into 140 Johnson, corroborated, which I can rebuild in my sleep for next to nothing. We'll see.

      Delete