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Here are a couple of pictures shot by Alan when we took him and Graham for a ride a few days ago at B&B shop.

Some recent pictures of her at her home, been running her going through the systems playing with speeds, economy settings, auto pilot and learning how to handle her. Really enjoying the boat so far, very comfortable and reasonable easy to handle. Might try to visit Vandemere in a couple of weeks depending on schedule and weather.

A couple of pictures of the top

The top is 5'6" X 8'6" by the way it is a soft top we used an aluminum half round band to fasten the fabric to the T-top instead of rope it makes it cleaner.

A couple more

The reason we used solid back rub rail is because it bends better the hollow back will flair and spread on tight bends, also the hollow back will cut the paint and finish when it gets hit. I did not want to spend that much but I ended up getting a really good deal on the material through a friend. It took 110' of rub rail 16' sections and about 20 hours of labor to get it fitted. Some of the bends are pretty tight and hollow back will not have made it look as good. Using hollow back is definitely cheaper ( probably 1/5 of the cost) but also when you have an end piece you will have to use a prefabricated end and that looks OK just not what I wanted, when we installed the rail we coated the back of it with 4000 UV and also all the screws where sealed.

Here are a few interior pictures

Finally got the rub rail installed, 1" solid back SS as per plans. A lot of work fitting , bending & polishing we have been running her with out it and it had been worrying me we also installed the rest of the electronics ( radar, search light, tunes and a few other stuff).

Thanks I really enjoy your built, hope you get it done soon so we can have 3 in the water

We have some updated info on the 256. We raised the engines 1.5" and we are 3/8" lower from were we should be on the info Alan gave us. Ideally we should be a little higher (3/8") but it is what it is. This brought the bow down to where it should be and the trim tabs made it really easy to adjust as we needed. So I don't think we will be adding any weight. The stern is a little low the bottom of the scuppers (floor level) is about 2" above water line at rest, but with the scupper flaps (I finally installed them) there is no water coming in the boat no matter what we tried. Here is some speed / rpm info. The boat planes at 3000rpm and that is if I just hold it at that and it takes about 8-10 seconds If we open the throttles wide open it planes in 2 seconds or less it almost jumps out of the water (awesome Suzuki's) you better hold on to something as my son found out. So here are the #'s RPM Speed 3000 20 kn 3500 24 kn 4000 27.5 kn 4500 32 kn 5000 35 kn 5500 38 kn 5900 43.8 kn I don't have the prop info with me right now but it is a 25 pitch. I am not sure that the rev limiter is why it would not turn more than 5900 rpm's but that is all it will do. We will do some more research and probably try a few different props but as of now it is good enough for us. Have a great holiday season, we will not be putting the boat in the water this year again, it will be late winter early spring depending on the weather. Still have a few things to finish up (installation of rub rail, upholstery, nav lights and finish a few misc items) . Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

Thanks again for everyone's input, but I agree with Alan. I love the way the boat looks it did come out how I had envisioned when I started this project. I also did what Alan showed, I looked at John's pictures and both boats look very close at rest so that made me feel good. I know that a boat with a single engine is going to sit differently than a twin and all that comes in to play how we are going to set it up. Hope to get a chance next 2-3 weeks to stop by and give Alan and Graham a ride. We will let you how things develop next few weeks.

All these are interesting ideas and opinions, if there are 1000 lbs of weight too much in the bracket then either we will have to put a 50 hp engine on the boat or the design is wrong. The boat is designed for either a single 300 hp ( Suzuki DF300 AP weighs 640 lbs) or (2) 150 hp engines ( Suzuki DF150 AP weights 531 lbs each X 2 = 1062 lbs, and by the way the DF175 AP's which is what we used are the exact same weight as the 150's ) even the Yamaha's are almost the exact same weight, so if the boat is not sitting right at rest then the issue are not the engines. When the boat is running is a little bow high and we are going to adjust the engines height this weekend we think we will have to raise the engines 1.5" (2 holes) and then we are going to play with the weights. We are only talking about 200-300 lbs of weight to raise the stern at rest I know that we don't want to add any weight more than necessary but 200 - 250 lbs is just an extra person in the boat. I appreciate everyone's input and all information is evaluated but at the end first of all the boat has to be safe, operate smooth, operate good, be reasonable at cost and look good and that is the order of importance for me.

Looking at how John's boat floats with a single engine (about 600 lbs) versus ours twin (about 1100 lbs) they are close, about 2-3" difference. When we run the boat we had 3 on board and we moved people around to see how the weight distribution effected the ride and attitude. When we put 2 people as far forward as possible (about 400 lbs) it really made a big difference. Most boat manufacturers add weight on their boat during construction in some form or another to get the correct attitude and then they glass it in. We think 250-350 lbs should do it. Adding buoyancy to the rear at this point it is not really an option that I would consider, unless nothing else works. For some one that is building and considering a twin setup I would recommend looking at the option to have the fuel tanks (both or one large one ) under or forward of the center console, but that should be a change that needs to be explored by the designers. The Suzuki specs for the AP150 and the AP175 (what we are using) are exactly the same, both versions are 531 lbs each. So I don't think using the 175's makes any difference and that is why we used them.But I will say that the 150's are plenty for a boat that is lighter than most of the same length. We think that when everything is setup we are going to be in the mid to high 50's wide open.

Here is a better picture of the boat with out my ugly mug in it. This will also give you a better idea as far as the riding height, we only need to come up about 2-3 inches I think...!! We can add weight between the bench seats since we have a compartment with an access hatch to the bilge, and that is an option it's just that we can get the weight further forward by going past the anchor locker so we might split it and go both places.

Thank you guys, it has been an interesting journey. We are going to have to add some weight on the bow, I don't think it is because the engines weight. The Suzuki AP150's and the AP175's are exactly the same weight the 25" shafts are 531 lbs (according to Suzuki specs). All 3 of the batteries are under the center console so that is some weight forward and that I am sure makes a difference. If both fuel tanks were forward I think it would help, we are going to start with 200 -300 lbs of lead shot ballast on the very front bow compartment and see how it does. We really cannot say yet how it performs on certain RPM's because we don't have the correct attitude also we need to raise the engines a little bit more, we are getting some spray around the engines. Overall I will have to say the boat rides well and it takes the sea very well, smooth ride, and pretty dry considering we were on a 2' chop and 25-30 mph winds at the time. We really tried to get it ready for the Messabout but we had small things keep coming up and we just could not catch a break. I think we are going to use lead shot bags so we can add or remove them easier, does anyone have a source preferably in Eastern NC but or otherwise? Thanks again for everyone's comments, will be in touch. George