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Very nice vacation. Recommend this area to anyone, lots to do. Manteo Marine was awesome with the trailer repair. In my bucket list is to get back to go out to the canyons on one of the tuna boats. I have never done that. The family had a lot of fun fattening up sheepshead and whatever else was stealing our bait. My daughter caught the only legal one. we are heading home a little fatter and a little tired but happy!

Nice seeing ya out there today. We worked the area just behind the shoals and caught 3 ribbon fish. Fish #2 managed to have a little payback on me. As I went to grab it behind the gills to remove the hook, it turned and raked its teeth across my left hand pretty good. Got 3 fingers and my palm. Darn blood everywhere! Finished getting the fish unhooked and wrapped my hand with an old rag, then kept on fishing until we were tired of fighting the swells. Decided to head inshore to try for red drum, but could only catch sea mullet and pigfish. Glad to hear the trailer is fixed. Have a safe trip back home!

Trailer is repaired. Manteo Marine was awesome. They put a new hub and bearings on it, no brake on that wheel. Next project is to switch it over to stainless caliper disk brakes.

I hear ya! Yesterday was beach day so I could help my son launch the hobie from the beach. Slick water and little wind. Was hoping to hit the ocean today until I rode to the beach at 8 this morning and that north wind had the water whipped up good! Even too rough to launch the kayak from the beach and fish the offshore wreck. Planning on trying again tomorrow. Heard there are spanish macs and ribbonfish just south of the inlet. I forgot to warn you about those sand bars on the outgoing tide! Been there...done that! Fortunately caught it in time to push off the flats after everyone was off the boat!

We did ok on clamming, enough for us. Got them on the large flats just north of the channel heading to the bridge. Tide was dropping and the wind swung our boat on the sand, I was busy clamming and didn't notice. We were stuck for a bit and had to wait for a big boat to pass and give us a lift with the wake to push off. Going to fish some this morning. Hoping tomorrow to get out on the ocean.

I'm selling my 1978 19 foot Robalo. It has a 2015 Suzuki four stroke with less than 300 hours. The boat is located in Central Florida and I am asking $12,000. The trailer is only 2 two years old and was custom built. Fuel tank is 30 gallons and is located on the deck under the center console. Everything is operating on the boat and I am selling because I have no where to store it. If interested email me at fred02643@gmail.com

Thanks for the offer on the hub. I am hoping Manteo can at least put new hub and bearings on. I can get home without 1 pair of brakes. Today is family beach day. Thursday I might be out chasing macs too.

Sorry to hear about the trailer. Manteo Marine is a good place. I have a spare hub / bearing assembly at the beach house but no brake parts. Let me know if you need it. How you do on the clamming? Did you go on the sand flats down around the bridge? Rain was unreal...pumped about 10 gallons out of the cuddy cabin on mine this morning. I don't know if I will get out tomorrow as my son wants me to help him launch his Hobie 14 off the beach. If I had been smart, I should have headed out today once the morning showers cleared out. I hope Thursday works out and will try for ribbonfish and spanish mackeral just outside the inlet.

Looks like you got all the basic things to replace covered. Do the trim pumps act like air may be present...if so check level or at least inspect o rings on fill ports. Smart move on going back to the recommended Champion plugs. Don't know what it is about Champions, but they seem to work better on these 2 stroke motors. Boat is real clean for that age...great find! Also, where are you located, those pictures are awesome.

Made it down Sunday night. Rain Monday, Tuesday we put the boat in , did some clamming and watched some dolphins. Had to take the trailer to Monteo Marine, bearing went and wrecked one hub and brake. Ugg. Hope it can be fixed by Sunday. Beautiful place, we are having fun.

I thought I'd start a restoration thread here. As opposed to posting randomly in the CC forum. I'm not sure how deep the restoration will go, as I'm much happier fishing than sanding. In fact I'm using it in a local freshwater lake this summer as is with just a small 15hp Yamaha on it to putter around for small mouth bass. It really does make for a great, stable casting platform. But I do want to get it in the salt water and I am in the Pacific Northwest (Vancouver Island, Canada), so we have much cooler marine weather and water temps than the southeast US. A couple of changes I'm considering initially... in no particular order (I did add the lower garboard drain already... Thanks to Mr R for the instructions. - Plugging up the scuppers. When I did a sea trial (with the old 95 hp Johnson) it came with, there was a following sea - and the water that came in the scuppers almost immediately filled the live well. And when I launched the boat on a steep boat launch, the stern filled with water - straight in the live well again... I'll look at the one way valves - but I'm leaning toward capping them off. - Plug the drain hole in the bottom of the live well with a brass thru hull threaded plug. I have a flip lock plug in there now. We don't fish live bait here and would use it just as a fish hold. Though I just came across this from Sammy Joe on another thread. - I really don't want to tear up the deck to replace the fuel tank. I was thinking about installing a top surface tank under the forward casting platform (would get more weight forward), or a smaller tank under the console. I have drained and washed the tank, but haven't gotten the inspection cam down there yet. - speaking of the console, its pretty Swiss cheesed as it was set up for the original twin controls. So I'd either cover it in sheets of uhmw or aluminum and cut new holes. I could glass it all in and restart but it seems like a lot of work... Either that or replace the console with a newer smaller one. Add T-Top and windshield... - The previous owner took the bow rail off and had no idea what he did with it. I do have the teak bowsprit at least. I would like to replace the bow rail, and may have to get something fabricated, In which case I'd likely go with aluminum as it would be cheaper. I'm also thinking about a 6" rail over the gunnels as the gunnels are only about 18" above the floor. - Transom seems very solid. I'm deciding where to fill it partially to raise it to 25" or add some wings beside the outboard to keep stray water out. - I'll finish glassing over the old holes, then paint and repower. Ken

I Just acquired a 1997 Robalo 2520 w/Twin 225's I am in the process of running through the boat from top to bottom. It is a single owner boat with very little use and I expect very low hours. I has been stored at a full service dry stack marina for since new 23 years. I am replacing the remote control with the new 4500 Mercury/Quicksilver series, the original command series is very difficult to move, cables are good and were replaced in 2018 when last serviced. Pumped out old fuel, scoped the block and cylinders, all looks good. Compression is good (cold) have not yet attempted to start the motors, that will be this coming weekend once all of the parts arrive. Any recommendations or suggestions of what to do and not to do? My plan is to replace the NGKs with Champion QL77CC's as the recommended plugs. Replace the fuel pump diaphragms, thermostats, belts, inline fuel filters of course the H20 separators. Lower unit inspection and seals (props haft, carrier assembly, and shift box seals) and water pumps. new batteries. More to come on my new born again project boat.

Scuff any wood residue off the inside fiberglass skin with a 36 grit wheel. Good choice on resin. 1708 biaxial fabric is the favorite one. I used the 45/45 bias material instead of 0/90 when i did my boat and it has held up just fine. You can go with the 0/90 bias if you want to maximize fiber orientation vs strength, but the 45/45 is great for all around usage. I over did my layup and went with 6 layers inside and outside so the fiberglass skin would match the original glass thickness. This was way overkill. 3 or 4 layers of 1708 will be more than strong enough and finish with a layer of CSM on top to give a sacrificial layer for fairing. Allow first layer of fabric to wrap onto surrounding sides and bottom 10 inches; second layer 8 inches; third layer 6 inches and fourth layer 4 inches. Tabbing for where stringers butt up against transom....3 layers will be sufficient. No need for CSM anywhere that is going to be hidden. Calculating amount of fabric and resin is going to be based on your measurements. Allow 20% for any errors, waste, and other needs. Lots of good information here... Let me know if you have any questions.

Alright so I finally got the funds to buy most of the materials needed to close off my transom. So how many layers of fiberglass do I apply? What types of cloth should I use? How many yards and weight of cloth do I need? Any specific pattern of laying down glass on transom ,tabbing or knee bracing ? I got a 1975 R200 amf Using vynilester and going with 1.5' coosa board Thanks for any input

Low water levels shut down the boat launch Dan... so it's in the lake for the rest of the summer now. I guess there's worse places to be stuck! the fishing is still great. Ken

Thank you so much for your reply, I don't have any pictures when anchored but I did notice I'm getting water anchor and running on 2-4 wave... definitely I will post some pictures next time I go to the water.... again thank you!

Is this when you are anchored up? Have any mods been done to the boat such as adding a transom bracket? Can you post some pictures of the boat at rest in the water so we can see where the waterline is on the transom?

Hello, Hope everyone doing great!!! I have my 2006 R240 CC and I'm getting descent water to the stern even in not that chopy waters, the pump pull it out but is this normal or there is some concerns about it....please help me up when you have a moment...thanks in advance

Islander13111 - You may have a hard time getting that boat back to saltwater with all those smiles it is making!

Welcome to the forum Noack! We love following a good restoration project. I'm in the midst of fixing up a 1970 or 71? 19CC myself... But I'm using mine as a lake boat for small mouth and trout while I save for the salt water re-power. Beats having it sit in the yard! And my son and daughter are having fun.

Yeah there are too many bad reviews to feel confident in thinking that it would be a good choice. That’s unfortunate because I like seachoice, I think they have great products but apparently they shit the bed when it comes to this electric hitch. the Fulton is really nice but I don’t think it has the wired connector or the swivel capability. As I had said in the original post The electric hitch would be sweet and as far as longevity who knows how the Fulton will hold up over time. It might end up being just another component to worry about crapping out. I’ll probably just go with a standard manual hitch. Keep it simple right… anyone have any input on the Fulton??

Too many common sense issues based on those reviews. If it had been just one review, I would have thought the review was suspect, but this is not the case. As nice as the concept is, I would consider the Fulton version if you are going with one.

Welcome to the forum and congratulations Noackexas! Looking forward to seeing the restore process. Don't be shy to ask questions as we have some knowledgeable people that have re-done their boats.

I need a New hitch for my trailer and I’m wondering if anyone has any input on an electric hitch, clearly an electric hitch isn’t necessary but it would be sweet. the seachoice has everything I want, a seven pin connector to get power so I dont have to mount a battery or run wire to the battery, and it swivels up for transportation. only problem is the Amazon reviews basically say it’s garbage and not to buy. anyone have any input ? Thanks in advance

Hello, I just purchased a 1976 20ft Robalo! Already started the restore, pics coming shortly!