# Story of the D2D



## kicker (Dec 16, 2006)

After spending the last month or so moving into a new apartment, getting used to the daily grind, fishing almost every weekend, and enjoying a few adult beverages while on the prowl for some beautiful south florida woman (I know, tough life I live, right), I decided to spend the weekend concentrating on the adult beverages and putting together a rod rack for the new apartment.

While waiting for the stainer to dry, I decided to test out the latest suggested cleaning product to try and get the brown off my boat. With the forum going in a new direction and the incentive of FREE goodies for creative posts, I decided to take a bunch of picutres and put together a little story about the history of my boat....plus score some brownie points with the new guy in charge  

The boat:
http://www.dusky.com/photo_gallery/dus14t_gallery.html
It's a 1997 Dusky 14T with a 2004 25hp mercury. I'm pretty sure the design has changed a little from what you'll see from the dusky site as my coast guard label says max hp. is 25 and the new ones are 25 tiller and 40 remote. Pay close attention to the name of the boat!!!

I'm not quite sure how many owner's there have been, but I'll guess our forum leader, Capt. Jan, was the second owner and probably transformed it to the way it was when I got it. I'm sure Jan loved the boat, as do I, up until the fateful day and reason for selling. Jan was trailering the boat home from the gas station to get it ready to fish the next day. On the way home somebody T-Boned the boat and flipped it up on its side, doing a good bit of damage to the trailer and unknown damage to the boat. Anybody remember the name of Jan's boat that he just sold? Here is the reckage:














































After dealing with the insurance company and deciding what Jan was going to do with the boat, I was the first in line to take it off his hands. First though, was a trip to the trailer manufactor, Rolls Axle, to pickup several new parts. On August 14, 2006 me and my dad went over to Jan's where I became the happy new owner of the Dawn to Dusky. Not before replacing the axle and fixing the bunks just to get it out of Jan's backyard. The axle was replaced, bunks fixed, new fenders, new tires, new hubs, new pole guides, new lights and a successful 3 hour trip back to UCF in orlando to the boats new home. Here is a couple pic's from the first fishing trip on 8/26/06:



















While learning the mosquito lagoon and the waters of central florida, the D2D has gotten me places my previous jon boat couldnt. As most people, I would much rather be spending my time fishing than putting the boat out of commision to work on it. However, I was beginning to have the craving to get SHALLOW without causing harm to the flats. Pretty much the only major upgrade I've done to the boat since getting, I decided it was time to add a Tom C. electric jack plate.










DID I MENTION SHE GOES SHALLOW!!!









I've had the boat for a little less than 2 years now. It's seen the waters of several famous big bass lakes of central florida, the mosquito lagoon, indian river lagoon, banana river lagoon, tampa bay, fort myers/sanibel area, biscayne bay, atlantic ocean, gulf of mexico, everglades national park, and several lesser known spots. Here are just a few of the awesome moments I've been able to capture on film while on the D2D:


















































































As you can tell the boat has gotten plenty of use and with its use its gotten a bit dirty. I've tried a couple products to try and get the brown off the side of the boat. It was getting to the point where my boat was starting to have 2 names. Remember I told you to take a close look at the name of the boat on the dusky website, well yes the D2D and Smells Like Fish are one in the same :-? . You'll see in the following before and after pic's and the boat is lookin good as new.




























O yea, I almost forgot the entire reason why I didnt go fishing this weekend...










Since getting my new job I've been putting as much of my paycheck as possible into the bank. It's pretty much been my goal for the last few years to graduate and buy myself a nice truck and boat. I've been fortunate enough to already get the truck and am saving for a small boat that will be offshore capable. I'll still be keeping the D2D so I'll be able to fish the flats and troll the blue water. However long it may take me to get my next boat, once it happens I'd like to spend plenty of time to fix all the little things on the D2D and prepare her for another 11 years of use....without having to spend anytime being boat less


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## tom_in_orl (Dec 9, 2006)

Good read. Like that rod rack too. I am going to have to do something like that soon.


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

Nice story...thanks for sharing.


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## kdhs10 (Jun 16, 2008)

Nice, I see you frequent another forum that I like, ICIX. ;D


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2008)

Who's Jan? ;D ;D ;D

I always though he should have named it Dusky till Dawn so we could do the "before and after" (wheel of fortune) _"Dusky till Dawn of the Living Dead"_. ;D ;D ;D ;D

As far as the name of his last boat:










_"Swimming with the spineless"_ ;D ;D ;D


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## thresher (Dec 18, 2006)

great story, nice pics and way to stay on task (saving money!)


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## BobFLA (Feb 15, 2007)

Great success story! What did you use to clean her up?

Best regards
Bob


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## kicker (Dec 16, 2006)

> Great success story!  What did you use to clean her up?


I used Lime Away. It doesnt seem like its working at first but what I did is put it on a rag, rub down the area I wanted clean and let it sit for about 5 minutes and the brown would just disappear. Then I would come back with a wet cloth and wipe the boat down and scrub any dirt or other things stuck to the boat.


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## Tom_C (Dec 10, 2006)

She looking Good


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## MATT (Apr 30, 2007)

Dusky, I myself have owned two Duskys in the past and loved them.
Very strong boats built here in my backyard. I have gone to Bimi with the Dusky crowed a few times and they have always put on a nice Dusky Owners fishing Turnament each and evey year.


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