# 2014 Ankona Copperhead Gen 2



## RonBari (Jun 30, 2012)

Spoken from experience...

Option #1:  Start off slow.  Read your owner's manuals.  Consider doing a trial launch, run and re-load in fresh water during the middle of the week at the least crowded ramp you can find.  Throttle up at various speeds to become familiar with how it handles.  Take note of any glitches or adjustments to be made .. anything you can think of before you encounter a busy, windy ramp.

Option #2: Take a framing hammer, smack the hull right now and get it over with... It's going to happen anyway at some point.

Seriously.. Take your time and have fun with the whole process.. including the build. You've picked a great company to buy your first boat from.


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## miket (May 7, 2013)

Thanks SurfnFishr. That's a good idea concerning launching in the middle of the week. Trust me at first I am going to go snails pace so I can get the hang of it all. This will be very overwhelming for me at first.


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

Start off by lowering your jack plate all the way down, and trim the motor all the way down. Slowly give it speed, and the boat will get up into the 20MPH fairly easily and want to plow the nose down. Then, you will start trimming the motor upward, and the bow will unstick and come out of the water. Then you will give it more gas and it will be mid 30's, raise the jack plate slowly until you feel the whole skiff come up higher in the water column. Open it up all the way, your skiff will be at about 39-41MPH and you may have to trim the motor up a little more. It will be perfectly balanced at that point and running great. 


If you try to just open it up with the motor down, you will plow way too hard into the water. You just do as I said, and tweak jack plate and motor trim accordingly until you get maximum performance. 

I had to do the same thing for forum member's Matlacha Cody and Matlacha Eric a couple years ago down here in Miami cause they couldn't figure out how to run their Copperhead, so we launched both their's and mine at the Blue Lagoon and I showed them in person. Their boat had the same setup as you listed, and it was the best running Copperhead I had ever ran. And I have ran quite a few. Mine didn't have the jackplate and ran great, but with that Atlas plate, it was incredible.


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## RonBari (Jun 30, 2012)

miket1515
In case you are new to this forum, you need to know "Paint it black" has a bazillion hours of experience with 2 Copperheads. He's covered a lot of water and tried everything, and he has posted a lot of cool videos. IMO he (and the crew at Ankona) are your best sources for good advice specific to this boat.


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## miket (May 7, 2013)

Thank you guys. Both of you are very helpful. I have asked Paint It Black for some pointers already. I am very appreciative of both of you. If you guys are free I wouldn't mind taking you guys on the skiff out to show me the ropes. That would be extremely helpful.


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## MUD_MINNOW (Oct 16, 2011)

Very exciting stuff!!! Can't wait to see more pics!!


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## RonBari (Jun 30, 2012)

Stopped by Ankona today after fishing and looked for your Copperhead. I didn't see one this color. Have you already picked it up?..


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## miket (May 7, 2013)

SurfnFishr, Ankona told me that it should be out of the mold by Monday and they were going to send more pics.


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## RonBari (Jun 30, 2012)

Ah.. That's why I did not see it.  I did not check the molds.
Had a nice visit with Mel and Erin and Rory..  There's some nice boats being built.. All kinds of things going on.


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## Godzuki86 (Nov 30, 2013)

> miket1515
> In case you are new to this forum, you need to know "Paint it black" has a bazillion hours of experience with 2 Copperheads.  He's covered a lot of water and tried everything, and he has posted a lot of cool videos.  IMO he (and the crew at Ankona) are your best sources for good advice specific to this boat.


And he has bad ass apparel and artwork!

As said above the one thing I would stress to everyone is make sure your first time is in the middle of the week with no one around. Taking your time and not worrying about someone being a total asshat (instead of helping a fellow new boat owner) is key. 

Good luck with everything else. Post lots of pictures. We love pictures! 

Andy


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## miket (May 7, 2013)

I have more pics to share with everyone.  She is coming along nicely  [smiley=1-biggrin.gif]


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## jeremy5780 (May 12, 2014)

Super jealous


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## RonBari (Jun 30, 2012)

Sweet.. Looks to be a similar color combo as my SUV. 
Time to take a drive to the shop for your first look.


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## miket (May 7, 2013)

I am thinking about it. I do need to drop off the fishfinder so they can mount it.


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## RonBari (Jun 30, 2012)

Schedule your trip to Ankona, fondle and drool over your boat, then go eat lunch or dinner and have a celebratory drink at "The Edge". a small waterfront restaurant on the causeway east of the south bridge next to The Dockside Inn. Good food, good prices, great view of the inlet action.


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## miket (May 7, 2013)

That actually sounds like an awesome idea SurfnFishr


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## miket (May 7, 2013)

I stopped by Ankona on Saturday to drop off the Fishfinder and trolling motor and took some more pictures of the build.  She is almost done.  I am thinking that next week Saturday I will take ownership of my new Copperhead.  I was hoping to have her ready by this weekend so I can attend the Ankona tournament next week but I guess I will have to wait till the next one.


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## RonBari (Jun 30, 2012)

Looks amazing.. You are going to have a blast with this boat. Congratulations!


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## jeremy5780 (May 12, 2014)

looking great! cant wait to see the finished pictures!


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## Fish_specialist (Jan 1, 2014)

I'm going there tomorrow.. I'll take a pic of your skiff for you.


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

Saw your skiff today, looks great! You're going to love it.


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## davefishing (Dec 16, 2011)

Best of luck with the new skiff. Looks great. I never trailered anything before i got mine and it is a great setup, very easy to get around with you will love it. Love the color looks like my Copperhead.


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## RonBari (Jun 30, 2012)

Looking forward to how your first launch and voyage goes. Take your time. Send us some pics with that "new owner" slop eating grin on your face.


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## miket (May 7, 2013)

She is in her final preparation phase.  She will have a new home this weekend.


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## Fish_specialist (Jan 1, 2014)

looking good too!!


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## miket (May 7, 2013)

Well I finally took delivery of my skiff this weekend and she looks great.  I need to work on tuning her up now and getting used to her.  Here are a couple of pics of the skiff.


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## RonBari (Jun 30, 2012)

WHoo.. Hooo HOO !!!!
Looks GREAT !! Of course I'm biased because it's the same color as my SUV. ... but I predict this will become your ticket to many adventures. Looks like it's rigged and ready to take you wherever you want to go. Congratulations !!


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## Fish_specialist (Jan 1, 2014)

Congrats!!! Looks awesome!!


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## JRP (Sep 24, 2012)

great looking skiff im sure will enjoy it


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## TwoKids (Jan 2, 2013)

Congrats on taking delivery of your new skiff. It's a great looking package. Time for slime. Enjoy!


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## Otterdog (Feb 8, 2014)

Congratulations. It's nice to read about virgin skiff owners loosing their virginity especially when they do it first class like yourself. Additionally the wisdom folks are first class in pointing you in the right direction.
If all goes as planned I'll be placing an order in Dec for Feb delivery of a skiff as well. I would appreciate following your experiences as you become seasoned along with the boat.
Best to you and safe fishing.


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## RonBari (Jun 30, 2012)

"Stories and pictures of people loosing their Skiff virginity"
Great stuff for a new forum topic


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## miket (May 7, 2013)

This is one of the most helpful sites and all around best microskiff family sites anywhere.  Thanks to all of you for all your helpful insights and experiences.  I will keep posting pictures of catches as they come. 

I am getting good at the towing the boat around...The backing up part is a different story


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