Just Purchased 2001 Angler 204 CC ... need some opinions/advice

[JakeLeeReelEstate]

I just purchased my second boat a few days ago to fish the near shore reefs around the coast of Pawleys Island/Georgetown SC

Against my better judgment I went ahead and bought the boat without doing a lot of research because I got it for only 6k. I water tested the boat, checked out the motor, checked the hull,deck, and all compartments... everything checked out great and it's very clean, high/dry ride, takes waves wonderfully, and moves at decent speeds for only having a 135 on the back. The only thing I'm not crazy about is that it planes out slow... but for the money, I'm more than happy

2001 Angler 204 CC with t-top and powered by a 135 optimax.

I was wondering if anyone has had any experiences with this year/make/model or if you have any opinions?

Also looking for an owners manual of some sorts if anyone knows where to find one

 

[rrhodes]

Re: Just Purchased 2001 Angler 204 CC ... need some opinions/advice

Add some trim tabs and you time to plane will be greatly reduced. I added a set of smart tabs to my old 19' Cuddy and it was a different boat.

 

[JakeLeeReelEstate]

Re: Just Purchased 2001 Angler 204 CC ... need some opinions/advice

Add some trim tabs and you time to plane will be greatly reduced. I added a set of smart tabs to my old 19' Cuddy and it was a different boat.

Do you think fins would work? I added them to my smaller 15ft and they worked great and helped the boat plane EXTREMELY FAST

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Just Purchased 2001 Angler 204 CC ... need some opinions/advice

We are talking trim tabs (as in Smart Tabs) not a hydrofoil that bolts to the AV plate on the engine. Without any actual performance data, WOT RPM and speed, we can't know what would help. The first thing to do is make some baseline WOT runs with what you consider and average load. If the engine cannot reach the manufacturers WOT rpm, you have a prop with too much pitch or the engine setup (engine height) could be tweaked to help. Proper use of trim helps with hole shot. Before begin spending money, tweak what you have. Make sure you aren't lugging around a few hundred pounds of water soaked foam. Once you do the mechanical tweaking and decide a different prop is needed, go to the Prop forum and read the READ ME FIRST sticky. Then post your baseline data and we can help you there.

 

[capt sam]

Re: Just Purchased 2001 Angler 204 CC ... need some opinions/advice

Not trying to rain on your parade but try and find out if the powerhead has been replaced on that Optimax, that's one of the years when they were blowing up, my buddy had two 135 Optimaxs on his boat and blew one in the Keys....just an fyi.

 

[rrhodes]

Re: Just Purchased 2001 Angler 204 CC ... need some opinions/advice

The "fin" Is dangerous, I had another boat fly by us and caught a wake from the side. Though I was going to flip. The Tabs help stabilize your boat.

BTW, That incident scared my little kids so bad they would not go back on my cuddy. One big reason I switched to the Pontoon.

 

[triumphrick]

Re: Just Purchased 2001 Angler 204 CC ... need some opinions/advice

I agree with other posters. One of my recent boats was an 18.5 with only an 85 Yamaha. I put Nauticus smart tabs on and all kinds of things got better. First of all, the smart tabs used a pressurized cylinder that needs no adjusting from the helm. Also, it will help if the boat isn't balanced properly. And lastly, it helped with a porpoising problem I had at ideal cruise.
All in all it was the best $130 I spent on that boat. Good luck!!

 

[JakeLeeReelEstate]

Re: Just Purchased 2001 Angler 204 CC ... need some opinions/advice

The boat has been great.. I'm very pleased so far... still not sure how to use the raw water wash down system... but she's at the shop now getting smart tabs and a vhf installed. The mechanic tuned the motor, changed the spark plugs and impeller and took it out for a water test and commented about the great condition of the motor.