thought I'd revive this with a final thought or two
finally got a good chance to get dad and his boat out to the lake, he's been out several times but with the trolling motor only. 1436 weld craft
the F20 is a little on the big side for the boat but it'll work just fine. The boat really needs to be about a foot wider but it is what it is. Maybe I can find a 1448 or something similar locally. They are hard to find here but there are millions of 1432's and 1436's
Anyway we went to the local lake, actually an arm of the lake about 5 min from his house. Real convenient without actually living on the lake. Dad and I fished that area from when I was about 13 until, gosh, in my 30's? Then we both got heavy into drag racing and forgot about fishing; even sold his boat (I bought a couple though, just didn't use them enough). So for about 15 years we ain't fished that part of the lake together, til yesterday. Boss sent us all home cause one of the employees tested positive for corona. Hmm...67 degrees outside, sun shining, nothing better to do, grab a bag of minners and round up dad and his boat and head to the lake
He backed me into the water and I fired up the little F20. Backed it off of the trailer, he parks, and then he climbs in & sits in the front seat. We idled off. He turns around and says are you paddling? Nope...idling. The motor is so smooth and quiet that you can't hear it running. No seriously, that's how quiet it really is. I'm actually quite impressed, it's quieter than my 2018 F25 is. Certainly smoother too. Well anyway we idled around for a while, I came back up the creek and hammered down to see if it would plane the two of us, and yes, easily. All I needed to know. Ended up catching about a half dozen crappie and a small catfish. Dad lost about a 3 lb crappie right at the boat. I thought it was a bass when he raised the mouth up out of the water. So we're done fishing, dad walks up to the truck and while he's walking (and stopped to pee), I take off down the creek to check the trim pin adjustment. Wide open, GPS'd 25.7 mph steady. Stopped, turned around, raised the pin a notch and tried again. 28.2mph steady but on the limiter (needs a prop change but he will never run it like that). I'm tickled with that. That's not much different than my 25 is but his boat is obviously much lighter, smaller, less hydrodynamic drag.
Very impressed with this little F20. Quiet smooth no spray not much vibration to speak of, uses no fuel (and that's gonna be a challenge). Only thing I need to do is clean the carb again, he let it sit all summer and it it a little hard to start cold. Most of us could deal with it just fine but I know where the problem is and I'm real picky anyway. Actually a customer asked me to replace his carburetor (same F20 yamaha motor) and I have the old one, I think I'll just clean this one up and bolt it to his motor. Probably a better idea. Then clean his old one up and keep it around because I know for certain he's gonna let it sit again and the fuel will get old. Maybe someday I'll pick up an F15 or F20 and it may need carb work, I'll have one ready to go. Also have a complete lower unit in the storage building in case dad hits a stump that is an inch under the surface-and he will (that lake is FULL of them!)
wish we'd caught a few more crappie for a meal but any time on the water regardless of whether or not the fish are cooperating is better'n sitting at the house in front of a TV or better'n working for sure. Back to work today, then Saturday is my last day there. Off for a while until I decide what I want to do. Long as the weather holds out, you can for sure bet I'll be on the water some. Hopefully dad goes with me. I think he wants to go see my fav fishing spot.
