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Dear Steve,

Lest you believe we have truly fallen off the face of the earth I wish to provide an evaluation of the 22' fishing machine your company built for us and delivered in early July of this year. I really intended to have this done long ago but have just been having too much fun.

Construction:
This boat is a 22' Walk-thru windshield with soft-top, powered by a Volvo 5.7 Gxi with a DPS leg and SS props. Two words that best describe the boat are 'stout' and 'fair'. She is a pleasure to look at and more so to work. Built to commercial standards, she'll take much abuse and probably never fail. She'll take one hell of a lot more than I.

The construction process went smoothly and the vessel was delivered on time in Campbell River. The tow down to Sidney was uneventful and your gracious payment of the ferry fare appreciated. Customs on the US side held no surprises.

Soon after arriving on Bainbridge Island the boat was launched, moored and run out of Eagle harbor for over 2 months. She has made some 75-mile runs to the San Juans, pulled water toys and fished well. She presently has over 150 hours on her engine.

The Class A Interior and top are fine work. I do have an issue with zippers leaking in the top under spray and will address this with Class A directly.

Virtually the only problem I've had is a Marinco Accessory Socket wired backwards. This has been corrected.

Performance:
The boat is planing at 2500 RPM and cruises about 25 kts. at 3000 RPM. WOT is 4600 RPM and 36 kts. Fuel burn at cruise is 9 GPH giving a range of about 275 nm on good water. She rides ocean swells very well and seems happy in wind conditions up to about 25 kts. I'm in no hurry to try her in more.

The boat fishes extremely well. Her natural voltage is .625 volts with new zincs, which is just about perfect for Salmon. In 3 days at Sekiu last week I hooked over 40 Coho and limited on hatchery fish every day. Downriggers are well placed, the davit makes pot pulling a pleasure and the live tank is a great place to bleed and hold fish or crab.

Summary
We are happy to have made the connection with you and the Daigle Welding staff. The building process was more fun than a guy should have. Your crew is a very talented and helpful group who knows their craft and should be very proud of their product. Tell James that many people have been impressed with his arch. It is true form and function.

Barbara and I wish to thank you personally for helping us through the building process and making this boat a reality. We would not hesitate recommending your boats to a friend and love showing her to all. Daigle Welding builds fine boats.

Kindest Regards,
Steve Hopkins