I remember when

S

steplift20

God
When I first started to use this site there was posts everyday
But now ,nothing . So I just realized that all our love for the steplift is going away.
I use to see them on the bay and ocean all the time now I just see 1 other than mine.
I think the last one 21 v was made in 96 that puts them atleast 26 years old and that's the newest one
Mine is a 1978. 46 years young. Not to many out there but I love my boat. A guess you all moved on to newer boats, but not me. No new post anymore and that's sad.
The 20 v ,the best hull ever produced.
 
There definitely were more active posters here in years past, but that doesn't mean that our love for these boats is going anywhere. There will naturally be fewer of these boats left today than there were 10-20 years ago, so fewer folks here. But I think part of it also the changing nature of the interwebs. Since I joined the facebook site for V-20s I see a good number of posts there. Yes, many of those are simply boats for sale, but a good number of them are folks showing off their boats and asking questions. Social media has changed and maybe web forums aren't as popular as they once were. Over at The Hull Truth people asking about V-20s are frequently pointed here for info and answers. Maybe they look for what they're seeking without joining and posting. It would be interestint to look at the traffic on this site to see how many visits are made each month.

As for me, my internet time is less than it used to be, and spread over several sites, so I'm not here like I once was. But I still love the old Pipe Dream!
 
Yeah, gotta agree, lot less traffic. I m not on facebook,twitch,,tic tok, etc. so no comment about that. I still check in everyday, see what s going on. Most of us have got our V s where we want then, so modifications aren t going on like they were.

What I don t understand is some guys come on here, ask a question, get some good answers from members, then go dark. Never respond with what they did, how it came out, or if we helped.
 
The problem with the site is very complicated, technical and quite frankly it is above my pay grade. For one it is running on vbulletin which is obsolete which means they stopped support and software updates long ago. Not only that but the site is on an old old version of it - very old. On top of all of this for quite a while now there is an issue with captcha which is the identification verification (click on all the motorcycles, etc.) that is supposed to weed out the bots and non-human users. With it not working, we can't accept new users. There are some options to use q & a (what sound does a dog make = woof) but when I tried to use that the we were getting DOZENS of new users a day from the bots. Maybe hundreds. The site needs to be upgraded badly to continue on. That or someone who can at the very least, fix the captcha issue. Even if I had the money or we raised the money to do it - I don't have the time to devote to it. This site really needs a V20 loving owner that who has message board administration experiend and some time to devote to it.

Sorry guys, there is the ugly, ugly truth and I HATE that it has gotten to this but while I am and IT professional message board engineering is NOT my forte.
 
I don't think it's too complicated. I can't post pice but that's ok cause I don't know how to take one lol. But I use the repair section a lot and always got good feedback. But lately nada zilch nothing.
I think there are only a very few of us that watch and post. When I say very few I mean very few. To tell you the truth. I miss spareparts, he was and is a very knowledgeable person. All of you guys are too but I would say he was on top of his game.
Anyway I would like to know how many of us die hards still one a V20? You know what I'm going to post a new question, how many still own a V20. Let's see how many we get. You don't have to write a lot. Just your screen name. I will start. I will number one. Check it out
Than we can have a better idea why this site is slow.
 
I believe Facebook has taken a bunch of the younger owners. Sadly, some of the older ones are gone.
I still stop by every week or so. Just not many people left.
 
I’ll second that Spare is our #1 guy with his real professional knowledge and extreme generosity with it. He saved my sanity when I was trying to fix the water pump on my Mercruiser 170 from leaking all of the coolant into the bilge and answered a bunch of other questions that kept me running.

At the same level is Blue for keeping the rickety old site running - definitely deserves our highest Medal of Honor.

Maybe it’s being an old codger, but I think there’s a lot to hate about social media - I don’t like it and absolutely don’t trust it. We might want to swap email addresses in case the site blows up, so we can check in occasionally. Mine is Scott at cookconst dot net.

I do check in most nights and am disappointed when there aren’t any posts.
 
Ditto on everything that has been posted. Years ago, when I bought my 74 V20 the site was abuzz with lots of posts every day. Upon selling that boat and buying that pristine 96 V-21 down in Spartanburg S.C. it was fun to post here and wow the board, thank you Reel! I lost my mind 2102 and let that one go due to no longer able to keep it inside. After a long spell I was hungry for another and bought BGREENE's 96 V-21. I have been dialing it into my liking ever since. Bennett purchased a 23ft Sea Secptre down in Fla and last we text had purchased a 250 4 stroke Yamaha to power it. He has tried to get on here, but the Captcha thing mentioned earlier will not let him. I applaud Bluerunner's efforts in keeping this site up & running for us and hope that someone with the time and expertise will step up and keep her floating for years to come. Dave
 
Mabye you guys missed my point - without being able to accept NEW members any kind of message board DIES. Some more slowly than others.

I've had a few folks (new members) PM/email me and I'm able to add them manually, but the ability submit a request to join our forum isn't there. I feel bad about it but I don't know how to fix it.

We need new members to come in here to:

1) ask questions
2) post pics of their boats, restoration projects
3) answer questions
4) become our brothers of all things V20
5) argue about stuff
6) BS with each other about hunting, politics, etc.

Without it we're doomed. Sorry to be the Debbie Downer, but I believe this is our reality.
 
How expensive would a new platform be and is there anyone who could/would get it fired up? I recall a guy who used to be involved somehow who came to our rescue not all that long ago (was it Valiant?) - would he be someone we could pay something to help out with this?
 
Hey, I still roll thru here time to time. i hate to see it falling off. I've been trying to recruit new members from the FB groups, I didn't know that theres no way to become a new member. I still reference this site to many people to research various projects. there's a bunch of reasons online groups like this are falling off, not all are unique to this group, although I think there were a couple specific issues that didn't help. I've seen bigger group sites fall by the wayside faster than this group. I wish you all well, I'll be around from time to time. trying to get my life back together
 
Good to hear from u Spare. Hope things are working out for you.

Was digging through my closet the other day and found some of the old tee shirts from this site, found the 10 year anniversary one. This is the 20 year anniversary of the site.
 
Yep, I still wear my hats, tee shirts and sweatshirts. Wish I could get some more hats and shirts. I'm very proud to wear my stuff and occasionally get someone to ask me about them. So very glad to have this site and be part of such a fine group of proud V20 owners. I check in almost every day and post when I can. I winterized my old V today before leaving for work tonight. Its been pretty cold here the last two nights, supposed to warm back up tomorrow. Hope you're all doing good, Spare I'm pulling for you. Hoping you all the best.
 
I still have and wear my hats and t-shirts, too. Long and short sleeve. I have two hats, one is still in fine condition and the other is my go-to. It blew off once and I had to turn back and retrieve it.
 
Is it not possible to join the forum -- am I reading that right? Because at the bottom of the community page I see a "welcome to our newest member" who was last active 8/13/23.
 
Yep, Also still wearing my hats, t shirts and hoodies from this site. Would love to get more. Maybe siome day.....

Spare, don't you dare ever leave this site! You have a back up team here that's pulling for you day and night. Love you bro.
 
This is interesting . . .

I'm looking at the Wellcraft V20 Community page -- the one that shows all the subforums -- and I count 31 people "viewing" various pages now. At the bottom the only member online is me. So we have all these viewers who are potential members? Wow . . .
 
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