I'm hoping this global warming thing sticks around and this is new normal since I'm missing out on this year.

That looks almost exactly like my "Square Boma" project.  Tackle some of the cheaper and easier things first because once you are at the end game and put a coat of paint inside, it's going to make that baby dazzle!

Thanks for the post as it's bringing back a lot of old memories of the Boma.  I probably have a few things for your boat in my garage.  I'll look for a few things and send you pics if you want any of them.

This hull is my dream boat, but boy do I have my work cut out for me. I will put all of the projects big and small right here. Right now I'm tackling a bunch of the small stuff.

One of the first things was getting some rod holders in so I could troll for pelagics. Got it done last week. Used a 2" hole saw bit to get through the gunnel and made sure to f@ck up the gel coat along the way just so people know for sure I was there.



Put a G10 fiberglass plate on the bottom that my buddy Chris helped cut with his circular saw. It already felt pretty solid with just washers but that made it great.



There are a zillion holes in this thing to the point where I think the old owner was just doing it for weight reduction. I can't even fathom what they were trying to do here.



Also random sh!t that never got removed, like this. There are 3 wires that were cut short on the backside so it seems like a toggle switch but it's seized and doesn't move. The flat heads are corroded to hell so it will be awful to remove and then I'll just have a hole in the gunnel, so I might leave it. Or I could remove it and put a cool sticker over it...



The cleats are a bit corroded but they will hold for a while. Medium term project.

I still need to wrap my head around the electrical work on the boat, which is not my forte. I also need to capitalize on this space a bit more as it's one of only 4 hatches. Just need to find the less flammable things to put in there.



I like the rail but it could use some more reinforcement. Also pictured here are two of too many fenders on the boat (6). I am replacing all 6 of this style with 2 EVA foam ones which are smaller, more modern looking, and can double as a seat cushion. The black 4 prong thing on the rail in the middle is a downrigge ball holder which the previous owner said he never used because it was too far forward. Why it was ever put near the bow is beyond me.



Console is interesting but needs work. FF is old. It works, but doesn't give me a temp reading as far as I can tell. It was also on the fritz this weekend, though did work on day 2. I replaced the broken compass for my own slightly less broken compass for now. Maybe make room the FF level for my phone so I can have my phone up with Navionics. the steering wheel is a bit low so I'm going to try a suicide knob first, but might put a spacer under the wheel.



I find these chairs not very god looking, but it is surprisingly comfortable. It sits a bit low, though. I would like to eventually build a box for storage under the seat. Chris was saying I should build the box a bit long going astern so my mate can sit behind me and monitor the rods. Not a bad idea, though the dimensions are a bit tight.



I removed a bunch of grommet fasteners for tarps today that were phillips heads, though some are pretty seized and I'm gonna have to go back through with Corrosion X or something. I'm going to fill those and some other holes wit h bondo short strand fiberglass putty once I watch a video on how to do that.



Then there are these. Idk wtf I'm gonna do about them yet.



The hatches never got their hinges fully assembled because previous owners realized the hatch runs right into the gunnel as you open it. The latch holes are 1" and 3/4" which don't really fit the universal 2" latches and are gonna be awkward to keep drilling out with a 2" bit for those. But, I need to do something about them, because these corners are the only wet part of the boat.



Need to put carpet on the side bunks still, and more likely hard plastic type stuff on the floor bunks.



I do like this boat though, one picture of admiring instead of bitching. Op! Just kidding. Those little corners to hold a cooler need to come off. That bow floor either needs to be reinforced with coosa or removed and totally redone, but I won't be standing up there myself.



I wanna put horizontal rod/gaff storage on at least one side of the hull. I was originally thinking something like a putty adhesive and a DIY plastic hook hold system, but Chris said I should really fiberglass it in.



Trying to sell the Honda 8hp kicker outboard that came with it so I cleaned the carb. PITA but it runs good now and ready for a new owner.



After fishing it, the fuel line had a crack, so I have a fresh fuel line now to install tomorrow. I think there's a male connector installed into the boat right here so I can just take the primer bulb kit and cut it shorter on the one end.



Chris installed these rod holders onto the rail overnight while it was at his house. Very generous and a great touch.



The nonskid currently on the DIY side floors was made for shoes, not barefoot. I will redo that eventually. But I didn't slip.

Quote from: jrodda on September 22, 2026, 11:30:26 AMExciting trip! Never a saw a paddy this weekend so hopefully some of those drift up this way.

It was only a manhole sized paddy, but held a TON even 50 yards away!  As for the one I found when the navy threw me out, well that was as big as your boat!

Great report, that's some real bullsh!t with the navy. I would have done all the same as you. At least you found a ton of willing biters.

Exciting trip! Never a saw a paddy this weekend so hopefully some of those drift up this way.

My shoulder was toast, but I needed another shot at marlin.  I reset the Curmudgeon to fish and only planned on hitting the water from 6-12.  The forecast seemed it would be the best day all week, so I needed to get out there again and try to redeem myself for the lost marlin.

I headed straight out to where I was on Saturday and the forecast was totally wrong!  It was windy and choppy the entire way out!  Ugh... I get out there and start trolling.  There are like 4 other boats all doing the same thing and looked suspiciously like fishing for wahoo and marlin.







I had zero hits and was wet from all of the spray coming over the rails when I saw the big paddy!  I ran over and started casting my little iron and instantaneously caught 4 tiny yellows in a row, but there were dodo all over the paddy!  Then a guy in his 36' Pursuit trolled right next to the paddy as I'm fishing it but no time to get pissed.  I pulled in a few small YFT (Nerf football size) and even hooked a few of the dodo that launched my iron like a missile when they jumped! 

I was ready to tie on a better lure to get the dodo when I hear cop sounds behind me.  There was a navy boat behind me saying I had to clear the area.  There were 4 other boats around, but he shot up to me first.  I was like "Are you kidding?"  "There's a million miles of abyssal plains for you to do drills but you have to park it over the ridge everyone comes to fish?"...  He said I need to be 7-miles from this location in a north easterly direction at bearing blah blah blah...
He didn't like that very much, so I complied and started heading in that direction as well as the big Pursuit that kept trolling around me.

He shot over to another boat and kicked them out before moving to the next boat and doing the same.  I got a mile away and said f@ck it and threw the trollers back out and the Pursuit did the same.  We were heading exactly on the course he said to go.  Then the Pursuit hailed me and said to look back...  There was that Navy Squid all up on my ass telling me to go.  I said "I can only go 15 tops in these seas and I'm trolling at 10, what's the difference, I'm heading to where you told me to head".  Well, he didn't like that even more and gave me a final warning so I reeled up the rods and gave him the big final bird before running again.  I know he saw it because his loud speaker said something the minute I did it.





I got about 5 miles away and said f@ck him and put the trollers out.  I saw more mantras jumping and flying fish, but was on the outside ledge of the shelf before getting into rockfish land.  As I was going, I saw a big Mola that followed me around and more mantas jumping. 







Then I caught a glimpse of it again and it was a marlin!  I pretty much had everything reeled in except my marlin gear and started boxing the area.  ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!

Literally 5 seconds and one jump later he was off.  10 more circles and I decided I was done.

On the way in, I found a paddy and started using my little bass jig on it.  Well, no ahi... or wahoo.... But TONS of tiny yellows! I caught about 12 and released before packing it in for the barn.



No fish in the bag for me but also a lot less cleaning when I got home.  My shoulder is a wreck, but it felt good to get the boat out 2x in a weekend.

Thanks for reading and pictures to come later.

I had my buddy who bailed on me last minute for an emergency, but I already had the boat packed so was on in the morning no matter what.

I wasn't sure what was going on locally over the week, but I knew it would be a little bumpy for the Curmudgeon... and it was billed as forecasted.  Sharp/short period 3-4' waves @5 seconds made for a sporty trip out to the 9-Mile.



Water was super clean and bright blue, so I threw out the trollers.  I put out a 4-rod spread with a big Mad Mack for wahoo, a big marlin troller, and two chrome jet heads in case.
I ran south but didn't see much.  Plenty of Devil Rays and flying fish, but very little else in the way of the signs that I was looking for.  I missed a few of the jumps, but also potentially saw a few marlin mixed in with the rays.



I switched to head north and try the 178 area instead.

It was a long, boring troll and I was thinking about maybe just heading to LJ and look for yellows when both of my Jet Head rods doubled over and started screaming!



I got both in and they were legit skippies!  All lit up as hell and the fresh pictures just make them glow!
I cast out a small iron on my bass gear and a screamer again!  I gaffed this one, but it showered my boat in blood, and I didn't like that outcome so I decided I would bounce more if I had the chance.
Next cast and I had the chance!  Unfortunately, I bounced him on the casting platform, the hook pulled and he rolled out of bounds like basketball and back into the drink.  Oh well.







I continued my troll and found a beautiful paddy that appeared to be full of bait.  I pulled out the little iron on the bass gear and started jigging it by the paddy.  Well, the same as last week... this paddy was full of little nerf sized yellowfin tuna and small ½ to 1-pound yellows.






I think I caught a dozen total, maybe more and released all of the baby yellows, but kept the footballs.  I saw a few dodo but I couldn't get them to bite for some reason.  I decided to troll circles around the paddy and see if there was anything bigger on it or around it.  I made about 8 loops before deciding to start to troll home when my marlin rod started screaming!

Nice striper doing the greyhounding thing and my first marlin for the curmudgeon?  I fought it for about 10 minutes, and I could not get him to budge from 30 yards from the boat.  I got him close once, but he went... "NOPE" and then locked me down.  I started to angle the boat in a way so I could gain some ground when he jumped again and threw the hook... UGHHHH!!!!



Well, I didn't need any more marlin meat anyway and I went from thinking I was going to release him to keeping him, so it was bound to get off since that was my original plan.  LOL

I worked my way back through a desert and just called it as it was getting late and the only thing I found on any remaining paddies were the tine yellowtail, so all in all it was a great day.  I would have loved to get my mitts on the marlin, but I still had a lot of fun fighting it on my skiff. (My skiff lacks a lot of room to maneuver around the console!)

That's it.  I'll post pics later tonight or tomorrow.

The way in was a mess with the Thunder Boats racing in MB.  Too many drunk idiots out there....

I had an almost epic day on Saturday and almost had a more incredible day today!  f@cking Navy Squids pretty much closed down all of the inshore banks and forced me off my paddy full of YFT, YT, and Dodo.  f@cking really pissed me off....

I'll get a post up here as soon as I can.

Yep, that all seems right about the Maiden Voyage!  Once again, beautiful boat!

As far as the GWS... I've seen a dozen jumps in my boat and they are always unreal!  Squatch used to think I was lying until he finally got to witness a big one leap!  Super cool stuff.