By Capt. Dave Sutton

            The Willy 20' flats                                               The Willy on plane

        I have only been here in South Florida for about thirteen years, so I don’t remember the old Willy Roberts Skiffs that used to be on the cutting edge. I have always been told that another company built the skiff that built the sport, or something like that. Well having done some homework I find that Willy Roberts had a great idea and hand built it in wood at first, and then in fiberglass up until he passed on in April of 1993. No, this was not going to be a production skiff, this was going to be a hand made, one at a time, old world craftsmanship boat to be proud of. And it still is.

        Capt Chris & Melissa Wettberg have given the old molds a new lease on life. Spending over a year rebuilding the original molds that were 20 years old, they have kept the old world curves and the classic lines of the old design, but have introduced some of the newest technologies there is to offer.

        The use of Carbon Fiber, Kevlar, Core Cell foam and Vinyl Ester Resin in a Vacuum Bag process, might not mean much to some of you but to those of us that are students of the art of building flats boats, well, this is the way to build the very best, (and consequently the most expensive) hulls on the market.

        Just look at the length of the boat at 20’ and the beam of 86", then the weight of only 740 pounds, and you will find a twenty that is capable of poling in six inches of water. I have been invited to water test this hull over the next few weeks and I will let you know my findings in the next near future.