I just spent the last 4 days lingcod and seabass fishing in neah bay with the NEW BOAT. trip went off without a hitch. It is amazing how much better the boat handles, accelerates, and floats when you remove 21' of rotten wood. my boat sits 1.5" higher in the water at rest than it did before the restoration. It pops up on plane in about half the time and I ended up with 3.2 mph gain on the top end with 4 mph gain at 2/3 throttle. I had her out in some pretty nasty stuff like 5-7 foot swells with 2-4 foot of chop and she handled it like never before. all that is left is to order and install the rub rail and I can call this chapter of my life complete. funny but sad thing is, I cant wait to start another one. I don't think that I could have or even wanted to attempt this project without this site, so thanks to everyone who over the years has put in his or her 2 cents worth of advise. when you add it all up it is worth a million bucks.