Posts: 410
Location: With my son on the water | Well I have the new ride and have a few hours on it.
Let me tell you this took 2 years. I am 55 year old and this was my retirement present. If I was buying a new boat it had to be better than what I had.
I have always run Lunds and they were great boats but after reading the discussion about glass I made the switch.
I primarily cast for muskie so I needed a boat more set up for casting but I also had several important criteria. I spend 5 weeks on LOTW each year.
1. Needed to be a true vee hull.
2. Needed to be able to lock up 8'6" rods.
3. Needed to have a large enough cockpit for a muskie net in the ready position
4. Needed to have a large gas tank.
5. Needed to be able to store at least 3 x 8'6" rods on a shelf on the port side.
6. Needed to be single axle so I can move it by myself.
7. I didn't want a 96" wide boat because of garage space.
8. Needed to have ample lockable storage.
9. Able to put a kicker motor on each side without a bunch of work.
The Tuffy 1760 GC esox is the only boat I could find that did this, and I looked at all of them. I bought the boat from MD Services 1-262-206-3045. Mike is a great guy and easy to work with. Between Mike and Steve Worrall they made sure everything is perfect. We did some nice customization. 1. Added 2 more rod tubes so I have 12 that lock. 2. Move the gas fill so I can lay 9 ft rods on the port shelf. 3. Didn't install any cleats that the net will get caught in. (This already saved one net job for my son this week). 4. I added a divider between the port shelf and the passenger seat. I put the net next to the seat and the divider prevents the bait attached to the stowed rods from getting tangle in the net.
Comparing this boat to my Lunds is night and day. Like a Tank versus a Corvette. This is the first boat I have ever had were I have open space in my compartments, and I have it set up to live out of for weeks.
Against Steve's advice I will be plugging my livewell to be able to store (life jackets, a daily bucket, rope, beach shoes, garbage can & cooler)
The rod storage is great, I can lock up 12 rods and strap another 10 to the decks.
I bought a 150 fourstroke, not for the speed but the fact that I can idle back and save gas. At 3000 rpms I can cruise at 25-28 mph. Open it up and it is a rocket, 54+.
I will be adding a 9.9 pro kicker mainly so I can get back if I hit a rock.
We installed a 80 Terrova Link which has more technology than I will ever use. 2 - 8 inch humminbirds. I put the bow unit on a long ram mount so it is closer to my older eyes. They are all locked on.
Between the lockable rod storage,compartments and dura locks, I can lock up everything which helps a guy sleep.
I could go on and on but I am not a good writer, I hope my pictures come through as I have been struggling with that. If you have any question please contact me, if you ever are interested in a Tuffy I would certainly give Mike a call.
The only regret is that I didn't do this 20 years ago.
This is one kick a-- boat.
Have a good day 
Edited by btfish 6/20/2014 4:03 AM
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