# SUV 17 - First Out The Door



## anytide (Jul 30, 2009)

-i'm coming over ;D 
-anytide


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## Gramps (Nov 1, 2007)

Woooo! Congrat's Fish_Cane! [smiley=1-beer.gif]


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## bamboobill (May 20, 2010)

> -i'm coming over  ;D
> -anytide


Any time, anytide.  Just give me a shout.




> Woooo! Congrat's Fish_Cane!  [smiley=1-beer.gif]


Thanks, Gramps.  Do you think yours will be out of the mold by Sunday?  I'd love to see that ice blue first hand.


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## makin moves (Mar 20, 2010)

congrats you must be amped right now.


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## bamboobill (May 20, 2010)

> congrats you must be amped right now.


Thanks MM. Yeah, I think you could say I'm amped.  The thing that sucks is I'll have to what 'til the following weekend to get it wet. I shoulda saved some vacation.


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## Gramps (Nov 1, 2007)

Fish_Cane - I'm not sure if it will be out or not. Although I may be up at the shop regardless 

What options did you end up with? Or are you waiting to do a full text & photo reveal...


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## out-cast (Jan 27, 2009)

CONGRATS BILL!!!! Why wait that long? There's a boat ramp down the street. The wind should lay down by Friday. Go fish!!


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## bamboobill (May 20, 2010)

> Fish_Cane - I'm not sure if it will be out or not. Although I may be up at the shop regardless
> 
> What options did you end up with? Or are you waiting to do a full text & photo reveal...


Well then, with a bit of luck maybe I'll see you there, Gramps.

I think I'll take a lesson from Justin and hold off on the details until I take some good pics.  I will say that it's a fairly simple setup compared to what Justin, Making Moves folks, and I assume yourself are doing.


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## makin moves (Mar 20, 2010)

less options means more walking and fishing area  either way you have the boats built they are sweeeeet ;D


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## bamboobill (May 20, 2010)

> CONGRATS BILL!!!! Why wait that long? There's a boat ramp down the street. The wind should lay down by Friday. Go fish!!


Thanks, Justin.  I'm looking forward to seeing your boat.  Shall I take some pictures?

As far as waiting goes - when I get her wet for the first time, I want it to be on waters that I know and all by my lonesome so I can savor the moment and spend a day getting familiar with the girl.     I've been 4 months boatless, waiting for this.  I'm sure you can relate.  Too, the plan is for the wife to come along to collect the new addition to the family. She's more into the recreational aspects of boating, so the sliming will have to wait a bit.


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## out-cast (Jan 27, 2009)

Do you know what day your picking her up? I'd rather spare my keyboard of the drool and see your finished rig in person.


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## oysterbreath (Jan 13, 2009)

Sweet! I liked the little crab well. I thought that was a sweet addition. The color looks great too.


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## bamboobill (May 20, 2010)

> Do you know what day your picking her up? I'd rather spare my keyboard of the drool and see your finished rig in person.


The plan is for me to pick her up Saturday.  I haven't got a confirmed time, but as of now I'm thinking 9:30-10:00. Hope to see you there.


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## out-cast (Jan 27, 2009)

Ah crap, my say has a ball game in the morning. Drive safely and feel free to get some pictures.


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## bamboobill (May 20, 2010)

Got over to Ankona yesterday and picked up the 17.  Had a nice visit with Mel, and met Rory.  Also met Eric (paint it black) who had stopped by the shop.  Nice to meet you, Eric.  Saw the other 17's in progress.  Justin, yours is really coming along.  Like a dumb azz, I rushed out of the house without my camera, so no shop pics.  

I'm pressed for time now (trying to get everything together so we can get the boat wet today) but will post detailed pics this evening.


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## makin moves (Mar 20, 2010)

its looks great congrats, love the color


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## out-cast (Jan 27, 2009)

Can't wait to hear about the performance and get some speed numbers. She's a beaut Bill.


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

It was nice to meet you too.
The skiff looks badass.
I didn't want to poke around the shop too much, cause I knew Mel was busy.

Those really are great looking skiffs.
It looks like the SUV 14 after going through puberty. lol


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## Gramps (Nov 1, 2007)

That color grows on me the more I see it! Your 17 looks awesome Bill!


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## Charlie (Apr 5, 2010)

Awsome boat! I'm sure you'll have lots of fond memories of trips taken on that thing. Now go get some fish slime on it!!!


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## skinny_water (Jun 11, 2008)

Let me know when you want to get on the feesh. I want to pole that boat!


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## tguasjr (Mar 9, 2009)

Is that a Strongarm tiller extension on there? That boat looks sick!


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## bamboobill (May 20, 2010)

Thanks, all.

Well, here's my first report. Let me know if you have any ?.

I spent Sunday morning prepping the boat and finally made it to the ramp at 1:30.  Old Tampa Bay was nice and smooth - perfect - at least to start.  Put 3 hours on the motor, so got it the the point I could run it WOT for short periods.  Problem was an on shore breeze sprang up late in the day and it got a little rough, especially with all the boat wakes you get 'round there.  I can report that the boat is remarkably dry.  In fact, compared to my J16, it's like desert dry.    We could run comfortable in a confused chop approaching 1 foot at 13-14 mph.

We did try 2 WOT runs.  The first was aborted at 30 mph as it was just too rough - flew up on a big boat wake and knocked the wife off her perch.  She's still trying to decide where I'm taking her to dinner.   After that we cruised around trying to find a smooth spot in the lee of the western shore.  Found a likely spot and made another run.  Got her up to 34 mph before I chickened out.  There was still enough chop to make her sorta launch and grab.  When the wife started reaching for a handhold, I backed off.  Call me a wuss if you want, but that felt damned fast to me.  

Other things to report:

On plane at 11-12mph.  Cruise at 18-22mph.  Slipped into an NMZ and poled the boat (from the bow) for 1/2 an hour or so.  My first attempt at poling, so it wasn't very pretty, but I thought she moved well like that.  Love that TLDI motor - do the prestart routine and she'd start first time every time.  Did notice that you need to let it warm up a bit before throttling up, even if the motor wasn't shut down very long.  I need to check the tank and see how much fuel I burned.

Had a little trailer issue heading home.  Had to drop the wife off and limp to a ramp to relaunch the boat and straigten out the bunks.  In the end, I was too tired to mess with posting more pics last night.  I forgot how being on the water tires you out.  ;D  I do have a couple hi-rez pics of the boat on the water I'll post shortly.


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## bamboobill (May 20, 2010)

*SUV 17 - Pics*

Well, these were supposed to be high resolution, but it looks like they were resized when they were emailed to me. I'll try again this evening.


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## makin moves (Mar 20, 2010)

the boat looks great, Let me know next time you go out Ill bring the copperhead I live right by the dog track on gandy alll the ramps in tampa bay are close to me  I dont have the throttle up problem after I start :-/ it up maybee it will clear up


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## Gramps (Nov 1, 2007)

Hrmmm 34mph before you backed out, with a motor that isn't broken in yet? That thing is going to scream!

Thanks for the write up and congratulations on the successful maiden voyage. I'm have serious boat envy right now...


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## bamboobill (May 20, 2010)

> the boat looks great, Let me know next time you go out Ill bring the copperhead I live right by the dog track on gandy alll the ramps in tampa bay are close to me  I dont have the throttle up problem after I start :-/ it up maybee it will clear up


Thanks and will do. We launched from the Salty Sol ramp on the Hillsborough side. The NMZ was Weedon Island, so I was practically in your backyard. I'm hoping that the motor will respond better immediately after start-up once it's completely broken in. I have to recheck the manual, but I think it said it needed 5 min to warm up, but I thought that was just for a cold motor. In pratice, I had to idle for a couple minutes after relighting the motor before taking off. Are you running a portable or remote fuel tank?


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## bamboobill (May 20, 2010)

> Hrmmm 34mph before you backed out, with a motor that isn't broken in yet? That thing is going to scream!
> 
> Thanks for the write up and congratulations on the successful maiden voyage.  I'm have serious boat envy right now...


Thanks, Gramps. Saw your boat on Saturday. From the looks of it, it was all layed up and curing. I expect to hear it's out of the mold before too long.


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## bamboobill (May 20, 2010)

> Let me know when you want to get on the feesh.  I want to pole that boat!


Will do.




> Is that a Strongarm tiller extension on there? That boat looks sick!


Yep.  That's Mel's Strongarm extension, which he loaned me while mine is on order (hell of a guy - he also loaned me a ball mount for my receiver hitch, 'cause the one I showed up with had the wrong size ball on it.  Doh!).  Mine will be black to match the motor.


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## Gramps (Nov 1, 2007)

Fish_cane we're still waiting for the options list.


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## bamboobill (May 20, 2010)

Sorry about that Gramps.  Somehow, I managed to fall behind at work and at home the week before picking up the boat.  

So here are some details:

Tiller console with grab bar, Humminbird fish finder/GPS, tachometer, and switches for lights, bilge pump, and tilt & trim.  Running lights on the console sides.  Storage under.

















Gas shocks on the back deck/locker box lid (glad I did that).  House battery in locker box w/ kill switch.  The lifts for the back deck can be locked.









Front deck showing crustacean well.









The well itself - 3 gallons.









This is a nice touch - the well drains overboard, the drain controlled by a ball valve accessed via the 30" hatch in the front bulkhead.  The 12 gallon aluminum fuel cell can be seen further in.  Fair amount of storage under there still.









Rod racks under both side decks, with carpet behind.  The cockpit sole is matterhorn white gelcoat that has been tinted with a little key lime.  The webbing is key lime and gray.









Nissan 40 TLDI tiller.  I've got a black Strongarm tiller extension on order.  The silver one on there is a loaner provided by Mel.









Anchor light on the motor cowling (old school, I'm told).  I hadn't had a chance to clean the love bug guts off the cowling when this was taken.  The were thick around Yee Haw Junction.









That's pretty much it. I'm planning some tweaks to the trailer (guide ons and a mounted spare) and a Yeti cooler I'm waiting to pick up from Ron.  I may do some customizing later, but I'm outta $'s for now.


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## Gramps (Nov 1, 2007)

[smiley=1-thumbsup2.gif] Thanks FC!


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

That well looks nice!
As does the whole skiff.


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## Gonefishin (Jan 10, 2010)

Very nice.


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## Bissell (Feb 27, 2010)

i like the well in the front deck, thats pretty cool
nice skiff


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## Salty_South (Feb 25, 2009)

SWEEEEEEEET


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## oysterbreath (Jan 13, 2009)

Awesome skiff!


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