I remember thinking to myself that the performance of this boat would be ok no matter what, as long as it floats and all of the justifications I might have to come up with if it was less than satisfactory. "It's perfect and sure beats paddling,It's pretty even going slow,it's a fishing boat and speed is for people in a hurry...". Not that I would have blamed the design or poor plans or any excuse but more like if I had overlooked some important design detail in the plans.Truth be told,this is the nicest 18ft boat I have ever been in considering things such as,how light it is,low fuel consumption,speed(it boogies),how shallow it will go,holeshot without sacrificing top end speed,how well it push poles,behavior at anchor and I could go on. I had to totally detach myself from having built it to see if I wasn't imagining these things of biased association.I put it thru the tests and I can't make it fail.My buddy drove it and he was grinning like an opossum eating sandspurs.So it can't just be me.