I had a weekend fishing out of my Vexus VX20 (not a tournament) and had a good variety of experiences - good, bad, and ugly.
First the ugly - my CoastKey battery "suddenly" died after launching at the ramp. Boat started, no battery warning on the fob initially, no beeping from Coastkey. But once off the trailer and among the docks idling/maneuvering I get beeping. But initially I don't know the source or reason. Of course, it kills the outboard after several beeps. But it does it at the most inappropriate time - when I'm trying to pull up gracefully to a dock in windy conditions! QUICK restart and saved the fiberglass - WHEW! After tying up to the dock safely I start investigating the issue. Battery red LED on the fob. Crud. Now how do I restart without the fob? Manual says safety recover man-overboard mode. That'll get me to a safe docking location. Then I take the vehicle to go get a stinking 2032 battery. Buy TWO! That fixes the fob issue and it's back to working like a champ. Lesson learned. Kinda would prefer a traditional key though after this.
The bad - fishing was only so-so productive on Friday. Some good size, but no quantities. I've got a cousin that's not been fishing for a couple decades that I was taking out on Saturday, so I was hoping to figure things out for maximizing his positive fishing experiences. Saturday was horrible fishing for the two of us, and not just for us - but other guys saying the same. Wind changed overnight, conditions changed and only one fish in the boat. Pretty pathetic. But still enjoyable on the water with him.
Now the GooD - a couple items.
First off, my cousin is ~6'8"+ tall and he LOVED the space in the VX20 cockpit. And the comfy large seats. And the legroom. And not sitting so low to the floor like most traditional bass boats. Plus, the decks are big enough to not feel crowded with his height. He also loved the appearance of the boat (maybe being nice to me? haha).
Another good was the comfort while running on a very windy/choppy day. This could have easily been a bad or ugly, but not in the VX20. Wind was howling on a big lake. We had a good distance to go to get back to the dock/ramp. Boat was comfortable in the 50-60s mph and even better in the mid to upper 30s when it was really rough. Drove so nice. Kept us dry. And the air-ride seats added to the comfort. He thought it was going to be painful coming off a few of the big wake/surf boat rollers, but easy landings!
So far I'm really happy I joined the revolution!