Haven't been here in a while!
Some updates:
Took the boat out probably 30-40 times this summer/fall and caught a few dozen salmon. The boat fishes great with 2 people.
Hit a rock underwater on the river at full throttle (river visibility is low and the depth/structure changes every year). Hit so hard that it blew the shifter dog out the side of the gear case. I found a parts motor for $200, and took the time to replace the cylinder head, which had stripped spark plug holes, new head gasket, cleaned all the carbon out of the cylinders, new thermostat, new water jacket gasket, new drive shaft (old one got warped a bit due to the impact). Total for everything was pretty pricey, but now I have an almost complete parts motor I can pillage in the future.
Took the boat out in the ocean about 3 km offshore in some pretty choppy weather. Was hitting some 3-4' swells, and the boat handled surprisingly well. Having a tiller in that situation was an advantage due to the extra control. Caught a couple Salmon and some crabs, so it was worth it!
Installed a Garmin 500C fish finder. Amazing unit and I have nothing bad to say about it.
Added 2 downriggers and mounts which have caught me a 4lb Rainbow trout, and a few Salmon from the ocean. Hope to do more ocean fishing next year.
Took it out this weekend for some steelhead fishing, which should continue to get better throughout the winter, well into March.
Boat is still completely water tight! Not a single leak to report after some hard use for the last 6 months.
Some small qualms about the products I used:
Self etching primer wasn't really the right choice. Should have used a zinc chromate primer, but it would have been very hard to source, and I was fast tracking the build in time for fishing season. Only a few high wear areas and corners have had the paint peel, and it won't be too hard to touch up.
Spar urethane seems to be holding up well on the transom, but the spots that I used stain on have shown some cracking in the varnish. I don't it's bad enough to compromise the wood, but I will add a few more coats in the spring to mitigate any water ingress that could cause premature rot. A good economical choice, but next time I will spend the money on epoxy. I managed to inherit 2 5x10' sheets of a material from work called "Alumapanel", which is a plastic core with thin gauge aluminum on either side and a white powdercoat finish. If only I had this stuff when I was still building the boat! Would have worked well on the floor.