Hi all,

New to the site, guess I've been lurking for a little while now. Deciding to jump in head first to get my first mud boat, and decided to go big right off the bat.

I've been kicking around the idea of getting a mud boat for a couple years now but could never convince myself to pull the trigger. Every time I thought I was about to get one I'd get in one of my friends mud boats and remember how slow and narrow they are. I mostly hunt the TX coast and a 45 minute run has become the norm lately in order to find anything but redheads. The last couple year I've been hunting out of my 21' Kenner bay boat just for speed and wave taking ability on these long runs. And when the weather is rough I've gotten used to everyone hopping in my boat for the hunt, so I'd regularly have 5 or 6 people with me.

I visited the Gatortail factory early this year right after duck season when I was tired of running the Kenner aground in a foot and a half of water, and needing thigh deep water to get on plain. After taking to Bubba, he told me that a 1854 would serve me for 70% of the hunting I want to do, but hunting 5 deep wold be a challenge.

After some research on this site, and taking to some friends who have mud boats and asking them what they would do different if they could do it all over again, they told me to talk to a custom boat builder and WC boats kept coming up. So I filled out the contact us questionnaire on Pete's website and gave him a brief description of what I was interested in.

He emailed me back with a few questions and it was obvious that I have no clue how these things worked. The boat I originally asking about would have been cripplingly under powered and wouldn't meet my needs at all. We arranged a time I could go up the his shop and look at some of his work and I was blown away. Just about everything I've thought about "why doesn't somebody come up with a better way to make this last" Pete already had. He has some incredible ideas and they quality of his work floored me. If I asked him about something I wanted in boat that he had never done, he didn't hesitate, just said he could probably figure it out. That's when I knew I was gonna buy a boat form him.

So after going back and forth in my mind about a smaller boat that I would be kinda happy with, or a bigger boat with duals that could do everything I wanted, I finally decided (and convinced my wife) that its better to buy something you are completely happy with than save money and always have that other boat in the back of your mind. Buying one boat you love now is cheaper than buying one now and upgrading in a few years.

So, that brings us to now. Pete sent me some updated pics yesterday of the build. Here's what I'm getting.

2072 with dual 37 GTR EFI with electronic F-N-R throttles
3/16 bottom, 1/8 sides
27 inch sides
10 inch catwalks with red LED underneath
Rounded bay boat style center console
Hydraulic steering with steering assist
32 gal gas tank
Leaning post
Square nose with 50" light bar
6' front deck with full storage below
24" gun box behind front deck above gas tank
4 speakers with bluetooth puck
18 inch removable rear deck
Max it out LED anchor light
Inset navigation lights
2 LED reverse lights
Removable bow fishing light rail
Spud poles
Winch for spud pole hole
2 inch drain holes

I'm sure there's a few things I forgot. Sorry about the long post, in case you can't tell I'm a little excited. Thanks.

Brian

Pete has built some very sweet boats, ready to see it all rigged out! Congrats on the boat man!

I got about half way through the description and details of the build, then all I could see was $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

lol you're gonna enjoy that rig

Sounds a lot like my rig !!! Will be a sweet ride !

You've done good!

Holy crap batman. That thing is going to be a beast. Congrats man. Pics can be deceiving I guess, cause that doesnt look like 20 ft and 72", but there is nothing in the pic to gauge against.

Good job on your new toy!!

Now thats gonna be a nice rig. good job.

why didn't you go 24'? don't misunderstand, it's a nice boat, but a couple ft longer would still run good and have more room for 5 people/gear.

Thanks for the imput. I'm sure I'm gonna love this boat.

Honestly a 24' never even crossed my mind. When I saw a 2072 he had at the shop I was floored with how big it actually was. Although I wasn't trying to conserve weight in the build, speed is pretty important to me. Don't know how much 4 extra feet would cut down on speed, but I simply don't need anything quite that big. Thanks for looking