Well it sure has taken me long enough to get this party started on my 1989 Skater 24. It was about a year ago I learned from Tray Archer that I could make a deal on this pretty Lil'Red 24 and after he grabbed the twin 260s off the transom, I brought her to my shop in Florence, SC. Well as busy as the Marine transport business can be and other projects taking up my time... I simply have been overwhelmed this season. In addition to the Skater, I have a few other projects like my 21' Eliminator and a 32' Dakota CC Cuddy with twin Opti 250XS motors.

So cruise through the pics and I will upload more as I get through the build. At this time, my focus on the boat is to not cut it up too much. She is a very low time, 227 hour boat. It's kinda like finding 1965 Mustang Fastback and knowing the LS Swap would be SO MUCH MORE fun but common sense is telling you to kinda keep it original but with some updates. If I thought I could keep two Bridgeport 2.4 EFIs to live through a weekend with the Keys Island Runners, I would do exactly that... but we all know it would take three times the fuel and more than that in spare powerheads! I am thinking this build will add a touch of the new power with twin 250XS optis on 300X offshore mids, full SmartCraft and VesselView integration to the original cables.

Since my ass isn't any lighter these days... I will move the batteries from the transom area to forward of the front bulkhead and mount the oil tanks in their location. So enough text... let me share some pics and add a bit of show to this project. I look forward to everyone's response, feedback and suggestions. I will say, my goal is to run the <25' Cat class next year at LOTO.

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Once I made it back to my shop, she got parked and this weekend work began. Let's look at what I am starting with.

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