Finally spent the day in my partners new 2020 Falcon 19.5. Couldn't be more impressed with a boat that size powered with a 200. Holeshot was superb with 2 guys, full gas, full tackle, 2 poles and I even filled the live wells. He let me drive first half of the day and I ran it to 65 right off and it felt extremely stable and positive. Im sure a few mph are available if I wanted to bump the trim up a bit more and play around but with that weight in the boat I was impressed how easily 65 was to get to. Turning hard at speed the boat cut like knife. The motor was mounted 3rd hole down and I ran the Atlas at around 3 on the tape. Didn't seem to matter much if I moved the jackplate up or down a bit, speed stayed the same. A gauge is being added later. At that height the boat jumped on plane very easily with just a touch of cavitation and from that point accelerated forcefully, just a bit of trim to loosen her up and away you go. Noticed at the end of the day he didn't have any plugs in that 23 Fury which I believe will end any cavitation during holeshot. Dropped a Ghost trolling motor for the first time and if anyone thinks anything bad about that motor then nothing in life will make you happy. Lifting and dropping it is fully controlled with the hydraulic ram, you can let go of the cable and it will go into the water without a splash or a slam. It is super super quiet running, has a very faint RTD2 sound that you really have to listen for to hear while steering or on anchor. It cut through heavy vegetation without flinching. If you think Minn Kota is good wait till you try this one. On 10 the boat went 3mph. As a fishing platform the boats stability is extremely good, very little to zero hull dipping when walking to the edge of the boat. The boat feels big and solid plus it feels like a big deck for a 19.5, two up front was comfy. We fished super shallow looking for the last of the spawners with the trolling motor churning mud but the hull never touched bottom that either of us felt. Boat can get super shallow. Wind picked up for the ride home and had a 6" to 12" chop and the boat was like butter, could hardly feel the chop. Biggest complaint which is the same thing on my 205 is the Mercury V8s soft motor mounts. That motor really shakes on those mounts and sends the reverberation through the boat which it does exactly the same on my Falcon. You can see that thing shaking fore and aft on its mounts which I believe is a flaw in Mercurys choice of material for the motor mounts. Too much motor movement for sure. Otherwise if your looking for a 19.5, put you name on the list and get in line. Again, the guys at Central Georgia Marine did a great job rigging and delivering to us New England boys.
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Originally Posted by 2dwoods
