Lake Champlain United - Forums

Did a few more things to streamline our fishing trips some more.

So I took out one of the captains chairs, and got a cooler to sit on instead. Provides 2 seats inside instead of the previous 1, and a bunch of storage. It will be a livewell for the derby next year eventually too.
But, that sort of took away the floor space where we used to put the heater. So, we had to figure out a solution to that.

Got some aluminum.
Made a little box.
Found a spot to put it.
Cut a giant hole in my boat.

Tested it out, to make sure it wasn't going to be a fire hazard.
It was kind of hot on the outside in the cockpit, as the heat was rising straight up. Melted my little key buoys a little running it on the max setting for testing. So I added a little heat deflector.
Came out pretty good. People won't be kicking it anymore, or sliding around when it's off and driving, etc. Plus the driver will never have to wear gloves as long as its on, haha.

While I was in there, I reanchored the plastic side panels that were hanging by 1 or two screws each. That's the panel you saw behind the cooler above. Removed all of the crummy caulking and silicone while I was at it.

Then I thought, hey, let's label all of these switches that the painted labels had disappeared off of many years ago.
There was a couple ideas I had for the kicker too. First of all, a safety cable. Probably needed it a lot more on the previous bracket, but hey, can't hurt now either.
I had kind of a quick way of holding up the ez-steer arm when on the water, but, when we hauled the boat at the end of the day, we always had to completely remove the arm. Another step in the process that wasn't fishing, and there was the risk of dropping it in the water during installation.

Came up with an idea to find a good stainless mop holder as a solution. Now I'll just leave it on the kicker all of the time, and it snaps in and out. Very easy and sturdy at the same time. Of course I made those brackets that are bolted on the cowls of both engines, but I did that a while ago. Didn't really like the giant hose clamp setup that was there. It was so low too, I didn't know how you could quickly attach and reattach that thing.

Anyway, boats really coming along, I'm hoping all of this streamlining and comfort measures will make the trips more enjoyable for the kids that aren't into it as much as the usual crew. I've got great fishing buddies right now, but they're growing up faster than I can believe. Got to make the most of it while we can.

Amazing upgrades by a skilled crafts man! If you ever sell that boat the new owner will be blessed with key upgrades.

I also removed the shot gun seat for a cooler.. I like sitting on the cooler better, can use the gunnel for back support and a place to put my new Reelax pillows... It is the most stable place in the boat to sit, and the cooler is handy for throwing fish in in the summer...

Thanks for sharing Jack!

Clever upgrades. Thanks for sharing your great ideas with us.

I love the buddy heater pocket! That’s a great idea. Mine is always bouncing around and sliding under power.

Thanks guys. I love these upgrades so far. Found a piece of aluminum tube for my net too, so it lost about 5 lbs of weight, and I got the length back.

By the way, on that on the net thing, if anybody else has a similar problem, email your manufacturer. Mine was a ed cumings net, and after I found a piece of aluminum in the junk pile, they wrote back and said I could buy one for $12. Buying from an aluminum supplier online was about $50 delivered cheapest I could find.

By another way, don't use permanent marker to mark a hole to cut out on your fiberglass boat assuming acetone will wipe it off like it was never there like on aluminum. It won't. The type of marker says it all, permanent!

But, this boat is all about functionality, not beauty. And man does it do a great job at what it's set up for now. So much fun.

Thanks guys. I love these upgrades so far. Found a piece of aluminum tube for my net too, so it lost about 5 lbs of weight, and I got the length back.

By the way, on that on the net thing, if anybody else has a similar problem, email your manufacturer. Mine was a ed cumings net, and after I found a piece of aluminum in the junk pile, they wrote back and said I could buy one for $12. Buying from an aluminum supplier online was about $50 delivered cheapest I could find.

By another way, don't use permanent marker to mark a hole to cut out on your fiberglass boat assuming acetone will wipe it off like it was never there like on aluminum. It won't. The type of marker says it all, permanent!

Also, if someone else builds a pocket like this, make the top of the box 2-3 inches taller than I did. All the heat goes pretty much straight up, and that top part gets real hot. Not start a fire hot, but, hurts instantly if you touch it hot.

But, this boat is all about functionality, not beauty. And man does it do a great job at what it's set up for now. So much fun.