FreeByrd

2005 27 Contender Open with twin 2006 250 HP Evinrude ETECs. Took delivery July 2, 2005 - used only in Freshwater on Lake Erie through November 5. 196 and 198 hours on engines - 70% of hours at slow trolling speeds (1.5 to 3 MPH) for walleye.

Ice Blue Hull & Bottom (2 coats VC offshore Navy Blue Bottom Paint), Navy Blue waterline stripes, Snow White Deck Liner & Vinyl. Captain's Navy Sunbrella T-Top Canvas. 60 mil Custom Strataglass Console Enclosure with white Stamoid trim and 40 mil wings that allow use of the rear grabrails.

Standard 210 Gallons Fuel
Larger T-Top--Deluxe w/ Handrail, (4) Rod Holders, Florescent Light, Spreader Lights
Oversized Console (from 36 Open) with 8 console side rodholders
Custom Flush Mount Electronics Panel behind lockable plexiglass doors
Fixed Back Leaning Post Folding Footrest Cooler Base and storage tray under seat
Frigid Rigid Cooler for under leaning post
5 drawer tackle center in rear of console
Grab Rails on rear legs of T-Top
Split Console Door
Insulated / Oversized Livewell with High Performance Plumbing in transom
Stainless steering wheel with turning knob
Windline TDL III Stainless Steel Swim Ladder
Sea Water Washdown

Evinrude I-Command NMEA 2000 Guage Package
Engine Warranty through June 2008
BRP Rebel Props - 21 pitch

Raymarine Electronics Package:
E120 High Performance Display
E80 High Performance Display
2KW Radome Radar
DSM300 HDFI Digital Sonar
B117 Flush Mount dual frequency transducer installed at Contender Facotry
P79 in hull backup transducer
S1G Smartpilot with 6001 Control Head and S100 Wireless Controller
Ray 240 Modular VHF radio with external speaker
Standard Horizon Eclipse backup VHF radio
2 Shakespear Galaxy 8' Antenaes
Clarion XMD3 Stereo / CD system with two Poly Planar Box Speakers
Wired for electric downriggers

Includes SeaHawk polished Aluminum 10,500# tandem trailer with polished mag wheels and spare

Boat has been professionally maintained and detailed and is ready to go fishing.

$102,900 - save thousands compared to new on this boat that was only used 4 months in freshwater. Reduced to $99,900

email - steve199132@yahoo.com
wireless 330 283 2155

Attached Images

            

micky

Selling it AGAIN!!! Are your boats sponsored?? What's the new boats, another Contender??

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Puerto Rico
1996 Mako 19' twin Yamaha 85's
1969 Concorde 35' Twin Perkins 160's

Lazy Bones

Nice boat. Can you share some performance numbers?

Top Speed?
Cruise?
Fule burn at cruise 35/40/45mph?

thanks and good luck.

FreeByrd

Lazy Bones,
Top Speed I saw was 55.8 MPH WAAS GPS measurement taken with about 150 gallons fuel and three 225 - 250 pound guys and my normal fishing load which is a lot of gear. The oversized console and T-Top added some weight to this rig and I do have VC offshore bottom paint and this was in freshwater.

I had one of the first I-Command guage systems and it was mid September before everything was fully integrated with the GPS / Engine Monitoring to get fuel burn numbers.

35 MPH RPMS were 3500 and 19 GPH burn
40 MPH RPMS were 4000 and 26 GPH burn
45 MPH RPMS were 4500 and 34 GPH burn
50 MPH RPMS were 5000 and 38 GPH burn

These measurements were taken with a set of prototype BRP Rebel props. I suspect there is some room for improvement on the fuel burn with some further prop tweaking and we planned on some more experimentation this spring. I expected the fuel burn to be a bit better but these measurements were taken with the boat FULL of 210 gallons of fuel and all gear and two 250 pound men. When you factor in that the ETECs run on 87 Octane fuel and you need to run 89 Octane on the Yam F250s it is pretty close to a wash even with better reported fuel burn on the F250s.

Micky,
I ran a 2003 25 Contender for 2 years, then moved up to this 27 this past summer. I have been fortunate to earn some sponsorship along the way so that has helped. My plan had been to sell the ETECs this winter, and repower the boat with the same engines for this season, but my job has recently been "downsized" so I'm looking to "downsize" my expenses for this year. I fully expect my next boat to be another CONTENDER.

My personal situation aside this is a good deal for someone to get into a boat that was used for only 4 months in freshwater.

To buy new as this boat is equipped is $130K+ by the time you have all the rigging done.

Thanks for the interest.
Steve

RaritanBayF225

hey Freebyrd, you owe me $40 for a new keyboard because mine just shorted out from drooling on it too much while looking at your boat.

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Jay

06' Sailfish 218CC---Yamaha F150

alamo707

btt....This is a very nice boat with great electronics.

c-witch

Freebyrd,

Tell me about the rod holders and what are those things sticking up near the bow?

How well would the rod holders hold up in a salt water enviroment?

FreeByrd

Surprised it took that long for these questions to come up - meant to address them in the initial post.

The "things" sticking up near the bow are masts for running planar boards - Great Lakes version of outriggers. The planar boards float and are designed to pull out to the side and are run anywhere from 50 - 200 feet out to the side of the boat. Work up to about 3.5 - 4 mph. Release clips slide over the towlines and slide out to get lines away from the boat. Fishing for walleye we obviously aren't concerned about "chasing" a fish and don't break down other lines when we hook up - just keep trolling. We run anywhere from 2 to 5 lines off each side of the boat off the planar boards. The masts are actually just installed with pins through a 90 degree heavy duty Lees gunnel rod holder - so they pull right out and all that is left is an extra 90 degree heavy duty gunnel rod holder. If you look closely in some of the pictures you can see a line running from the mast back up under the T Top which are electric reels for retrieving the towlines. These could easily be removed and have just been clamped on to the T Top. A great lakes fisherman would likely want to keep them and the masts and they can go with the boat.

The rod holders along the rear gunnels: I have two sections of aluminum mounted to the boat - throughbolted to the gunnels a 3 foot section to the rear and 4 foot section forward. The rodholders themselves slide into these tracks. I also use downriggers in the rear section of the tracks for the few times a year I go after salmon or steelhead. The rodholders themselves are made of a very heavy duty aluminum and the guy that makes them in Cleveland Ohio has done some saltwater corrosion tests with very good results so far but has not marketed them outside of the great lakes at this point. They feature infinite vertical adjustability and are able to lock in place at any vertical position. The locking lever is actually the same type lever used on a bicycle seat so if it can handle a 250 pound fat guy on a bicycle it ouoght to be OK for holding fishing rods. They also rotate and lock every 12 degrees horizontally. If a great lakes buyer wants the tracks and rodholders to stay I planned to include 4 holders per side. I assumed a saltwater buyer would likely remove the tracks and have traditional gunnel style holders installed. I did not have gunnel holders installed when the boat was built. So for a few hundred bucks the buyer can have the tracks removed - holes repaired and gunnel rodholders installed whereever they want. I don't have a website link to the rodholders as it is a small 2 man operation at this point but quickly growing in popularity among Great Lakes anglers. Here is a link to the track system.

http://www.teclausa.com/bert/products.html

In one of the pictures you can see a line running over the side - I was dragging a trolling bag to get down to very slow speeds in windy conditions that day. Here is a link to the Amish Outfitters trolling bags that are very popular on the great lakes to get down to SLOW walleye speeds near 1 MPH some days.

http://www.amishoutfitters.com/buggybag.htm

In addition to the Planar Board rods which get run from the forward set of rodholders we use diving planars called "dipsey divers" off the rear set of holders running anywhere from 2 to 4 per side. Depending on conditions and number of people aboard it is common to troll 10 - 12 or more lines at a time which is the reason for all the rodholders...

(when I grow up I hope to move south and fish for something big enough that we can only run 3 or 4 lines at a time and need to chase with the boat...) - LOL

Steve

gb

I like everything about the boat, but I just don't think it has enough rod holders for my fishing

So you think those trolling bags would hold up in saltwater? I need something for my 23 Contender and king mackerel slow trolling.

Sweet ride.

John_Madison CT

I know what us Saltwater guys are thinking............" I wonder if all those holes in the gunnels can be fixed once I rip out those funky rod holders..... "

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c-witch

I actually was trying to figure out if they would hold up to the strain of wire line trolling. By having those rod holders, they look like they could eliminate the need for the Outrodders that most of use. That would free up some storage space. They would also make it alot easier to drift multiple lines for Fluke. definitely have peeked my interest.

FreeByrd

John,
I know the look with all the rodholders is definitely a lot different that what you are used to. It really is the ultimate setup for great lakes trolling. I thought about restoring it to factory conditions, but you know what would happen then - a local great lakes guy would want the boat and his complaint would be how come there are ONLY 4 gunnel rodholders...

But in case it wasn't clear from the long explanation above, the only place there are holes in the gunnel now are to secure the aluminum track sections. The 3 foot section in the rear is secured by 6 1/4 inch bolts - 2 on each end and two in the middle. The 4 foot section either has the same configuration of 6 bolts or more likely it has 8. Each individual rodholder is secured to chanels inside the track.

Rigging and Reconditioning is one of the primary businesses for my Contender dealer beyond boat sales. They could make it look new without much trouble and I suspect any competent glass / gelcoat shop could do the same without much expense. There is room in between the tracks and behind the rear section to add the traditional gunnel holders as well. They also sell a starboard insert for the tracks that effectively make them a step pad so there are plenty of options.

At most changing all of this is $300 to $500 worth of work on a boat that has been used for 4 months in freshwater and represents around a $30,000 savings over equipping a new one the same less the rodholders...

Steve

Lazy Bones

FB -

Thanks for the numbers. Beautiful boat.

bgreene

All I want to know is how fast will it go ?

Lazy Bones

I take it that reading comprehension wasn't your strong suite.

high life

I like the way e-tecs look on the transom better than a yamaha.

Sweet boat!

alamo707

btt

Drifter

What a sweet ride!

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Drifter

alamo707

bump... This a nice rig guys

rodbender bob

Freebyrd takes super care of his boats and equipment. This boat is a really sweet package!! And, it looks sweet flying across Lake Erie!