Outfitting My 18' North River

Aluminum Boat ; I had owned a number of boats in my lifetime (80+ some years), from 8' prams to a 22' inboard work / fishing boat. The boat I had acquired in 1990 was a 20' fiberglass Tiderunner that was a great ocean boat, but life has a way of changing things unforeseen to us. My crew was my son and his nephews. The wife and I sold the business to our son in 2003, which as most business owners know, cuts down significantly on their leisure time. And the daughter then moved to Montana, taking our older grandsons with her.

This left me with manning this boat alone, or finding a whole new fishing crew, (however, I had a few bad previous experiences with fishing partners, so was somewhat skeptical), and the wife at that time had back issues whereby with even any slightly rough ocean waters was hard on her. And this boat was large enough to not really be one that a solo person could easily launch/recover without holding up the ramp time. I knew a lot of people, but did not have a lot of close friends because of being a busy business owner, and at my age most either owned their own boats, were not fishers, or were not alive anymore.

I also had a 16' riveted aluminum Hewes Craft sled at one time and was happy with the convertible top and open bow style as it allowed me to launch and recover at a ramp that did not have a dock. So that was what I was looking for, but with a prop motor, considerably more ocean seaworthiness and something that I could handle and fish alone if need be.

Trying to sell these two was not going well because of the economy at that time. After looking for a couple of years, while the Tiderunner just sat in the RV bay of my barn, I pretty well had decided what I wanted, and was doing afterhours repairs on farm machinery, boats, quads, guns or whatever I could find to add to my boat fund. I had sat in a new 18' Hewes Craft boat at a sportsman show a year or two before, spending considerable time with the salesman listening to his thoughts on motors that would meet my fishing needs. I even stopped at the Hewes Craft manufacturing plant on a side trip of a hunting trip for more information as to what they could do to suit my needs. Yes, they could accommodate me, but OK, go home and save some more money.

Then in mid summer 2009, I found an add on Craigslist for a 2005 18' North River Mariner that had a 2005 Evinrude 75hp E-Tec outboard motor, and located on the Oregon central coast, at a price that I could then afford from the cash I had saved. My neighbor accompanied me to look at it, we ran the motor on muffs, negotiated on price a bit, and I towed it home.

The previous owner was not a fisherman, but liked to fish (there is a difference), and had owned it for 3 1/2 years (buying it new) and was fishing a local bay/river mouth. This boat was not exactly what I was looking for, but would work, and I could afford it. It was a basic boat, minimal sonar, no radio, anchor or mooring lines, no rod holders, but it did have a good convertible top, and the trailer did not even have a spare tire. But this could provide a base from which to launch my new fishing machine.

As you read through this article, you will see the years of evolution it took me to progress to what this boat is now.

Safety Afloat ; Safety on the water is/should be always your prime concern. One of the first things to add to this new boat to me, was to add this placard, as I always insist that everyone aboard wear a PFD. This placard placed prominently in the cabin does not (usually) require any explanation.

Start Modifying For My Needs ; If you happen to have a boat that has those "steps" at the transom that take up floor space, you might investigate what is under and behind them. Usually the reason as I understand it is that the USCG requires floatation in all boats under 20'. Under this step behind it under the splash well was foam flotation for the rear part of the boat. However the space where this foam was inserted on this particular boat was not utilized to it's full extent. The splash well is tapered to the rear for the water to run out. The foam under this splash well appeared to be cut with a chain-saw very undersized which left way more open space than could have been utilized. I guess that is what you get in a modern day production line.

The floor space for this boat was crowded at the rear where most of action would take place in landing/netting large fish. So removing this boarding "step" provided much needed extra floor space, at least to me. By careful measuring and fitting the large section of foam that was under the step it was inserted under the splash well. This foam was simply sawed to shape with an old fashioned carpenters hand saw.

Also there was about 2 1/2" of space left on one side, where an extra sheet foam was inserted into completely filling that compartment with the exception of a 1 1/2" channel on the bottom outside for water run-off into the bilge. Now the left over foam was again fitted and inserted into the space above under the gunwale and the rod tray and again extra foam added as seen in the RH photo. The side of the aluminum step was cut off and the front simply moved rearward. In the end, no floatation was actually lost and the much needed extra floor space was immensely improved.

You will also notice the Ball Babies for securing downrigger balls tucked out of the way and placed in the corners on the rod trays.

More Storage Space ; For most dedicated fisherpersons with small boats, the boat does not have enough storage space. In the photo below on the left all the space under the seat that is on this pedestal type mounting is really wasted. On the right is the same boat and seat but with a revised storage arrangement. The seat boxes are made from 1/8" aluminum and have a 2" stainless steel piano hinge on the front for the lid and are held in position by 2 snap on rubber straps that were designed to hold firearms into gun racks mounted on a Quads front of the handle bars.

There is just enough room under one of these seats to now store a Coleman Port-A-Potty, much to the delight of the ladies in the family.

Catch-All Box / Chair ; Where do you put fishing gear, etc. during the day when the action is on and yet keep the lures/leaders etc. out of the way.

When fishing, most of the time, I like to sit in the rear, and use my kicker motor to troll, using this swivel chair as shown in the photo below. On this chair the legs needed to be lengthened 5" so that the seat would swivel over the transom's splash well when used as a seat for operating this motor.

This extra height provided enough room to have a galvanized sheet metal pan made that was then brazed onto and between the legs. Now an update for this one, since I am near salt water at times, the bottom of this pan seems to become rather rusty, no matter how many drain holes I drill in it. My recent addition as seen below is to cut out most of the bottom, leaving about 1" bottom lip, kind of like it is now angle iron. Inside this I have now added expanded stainless steel metal that has 3/8" openings. OK, the small stuff may fall through, but that is what the plastic tray is for. The plastic bucket is a 5 quart paint bucket that I keep fresh water and Lemon Joy in. The spray bottle is filled with a mild solution of Lemon Joy.

Also it would be nice to get the whole chair frame galvanized as I fish on or near saltwater, but that is for another day.

PFD at Ready ; If you have your boat inspected, you will find that the Coast Guard wants you to be able to ACCESS your life preservers within 30 seconds. This does not mean that you can have them stored under all your other gear under the bow and still in the protective plastic wrapping. Therefore having them attached to the seat backs, erases all doubt as to accessibility. In the photo below you will notice that a strap of 1" Nylon was made up using snaps and it is attached to the top rear of the boat seats, holding the PFD onto the rear of the seat.

Navigation Aids ; Modern day navigation depends almost entirely on electronics. For the well equipped fishing boat this now normally will be a combo sonar and GPS unit. Here I originally installed a Lowrance Eagle 5, then a HDS-5, but upgraded later to a HDS-7.

Here, I also have a secondary sonar, as a backup, and/or different frequency. And later there is a Furuno radar on the tower which it is mounted on.

Also a VHF marine radio should be mandatory if the boat is to be used on anything but an inland lake, at least in my area. And here I have registered it with the DSC for emergency SOS GPS one button signaling.

Docking Lights For a Small Boat ; Have you ever came in later than you had expected? Sometimes it can be REAL BLACK out there. And a hand held spotlight might be OK for coon hunting, but it sure is worthless if it is black, midnight, raining and cold when you are trying to hold it by hand outside to get your location and yet keep the glare away from you or the skipper (Been there-Done that), and in the process, you took the wrong turn into a blind slough.

Or you have to launch before daylight because of a LOW MINUS tide at your normal launching hours where the ramp is short and or shallow with a drop-off at the end of the concrete. If you did not launch at 4AM, you would have had to wait until about 9AM and then miss the 6AM morning daylight bite (and the salmon derby was on). Then just off the launch area some do-do heads have placed their crab pots, (Yah, close to the launch for in their morning retrieval) so you need lights to prevent tangling the crab pot ropes in your prop just so you can get out into open water out in front of this launch.

Initially I mounted 2 rod holder bases on the bow. I have had 2 boats of which one had hand rails. On this one, the clamp on rod holders were attached to the rails. The other a jetsled, has a squared off bow, perfect for attaching the rod holder bases. Economical automotive driving lights from Wal-Mart were affixed to a donor rod holder spline unit off of a set of old rod holders and attached by a 3/8" bolt threaded into the plastic A set of electrical wires was run forward under the deck to a cheap rubber 4 prong trailer connector. This way these lights can ride in my storage location and can be utilized only when needed.

I got some funny looks at times because of these fishing rod holder bases being in unusual locations at the bow, but they are there for a reason and that is to get me home easier and safely.

On the boat pictured below on the left you will notice the Columbia River rocker anchor setting in a anchor nest designed for secure storage and yet readily available. The wide roller is a benefit when retrieving the anchor. These anchors have the chain attached to the BOTTOM of the anchor and the chain is affixed to the top of the anchor shaft only by a large tie tape. This is so in case your anchor becomes fouled in something on the bottom, you can motor upstream, breaking the tie tape and then pull the anchor backwards out of what it may have become fouled into.

These lights worked well, but had an issue of being so bright on the forward part of the deck directly in front of the lights that it gave off a bright reflection was hard to see over. Then when I installed a radar arch on the same boat, I moved these lights to a permanent position on the outer front of the arch as seen in the right hand photo below. Here they are far enough to the rear and the convertible top shields the light whereby eliminating any night blindness for the skipper at night.

Passenger Grab Bar ; If your boat is not equipped with a hand rail / grab bar on the passenger side, it might be a good idea to install one. As when running, if you encounter any waves or rough water, this gives the passenger something to hang onto. You as the skipper have the steering wheel to help your stability in rough water.

In the photo below you will also see in the side tray my well worn chart book, including all my GPS locations and other printed material, like battery electrical schematic, port mooring/docking charts for the areas frequented, etc. The black box for voltage to my downriggers is also shown.

Bilge Pump Indicator Light ; I made this installation after finding the bilge pump had died and probably had not been turned off after running it. In my old age, even hearing aids do not solve all problems and if you can not hear it from the helm, and forget to turn it off, who knows how long it can run. Sure the owner's manual says you can run it dry, but for 3 or 4 hours? And then when you need it, you could get nothing. This may not stop the motor failure, but it sure can not hurt if it helps you remember to turn the switch off. OK, I went to Radio Shack and purchased a small red LED indicator light. This light is about the size of a lead pencil. The installation was made in the dash right above the bilge pump switch.

You can purchase these in either red, green or amber for $2.19 at that time. Installation is simply drilling a hole .272" diameter, inserting the light unit, tightening the nut on the bottom side then connecting the red wire to the outgoing switched terminal wire (usually black) on the switch and the black wire from the indicator to the grounding strip.

As shown in the photo below this LED light is really bright, now there is no doubt if the pump is on or not. Some of the boat manufacturers are now using a switch that has a built in light in it when turned on.

Work /Cleaning Station ; Here since this boat was only a 18' and after modifying the floor space as shown in a previous section, the idea of adding more usable area seemed like a good idea, so a 3/16" aluminum cover was made bent, welded that fit over the transom and forward over the splash well on the Port side. The idea was to provide a cover for a 6 gallon trolling motor fuel tank (at that time I had a 2 stroke Johnson kicker), create a cleaning station, work area, seat or a platform where with a davit/pot puller positioned just forward of this location, a shrimp or crab pot could be pulled and the swung to the rear allowing a location to place the pot when removing the contents.

Shown in the RH photo, the yellow under the seat is a sheet of 3/16" polypropylene (could not complain about the color as it was free, which has faded out over time) that is to be used for the cleaning station. First thought was to make the polypropylene removable, but then, why, so now it is screwed down? And a Outer Banks 24" seat pad can be placed that is designed to fit on top of a 48/54 quart ice cooler. It has Velcro strips for fasteners. This cushion seemed to be a good idea at the time of building the shelf, however as a fishing boat it was removed after the first trip, and now just sets in the garage gathering dust.

Here you will also note rod holder bases and other stuff including a fish bonker.

The LH photo below is taken from the stern and shows blood relief slots milled on the back lip before it was welded onto the base. The stern mooring line passes thru a hole on the edge to the underneath compartment that it shares with a 6 gallon fuel tank and the wash-down hose.

Combination Seat & Ice Cooler/Fish Box ; Space again being at a premium, the use of a 58 quart Coleman Xtreme ice cooler and a Outer Banks 30" seat pad on top was the choice. To keep the cooler from sliding around in the boat, I had some 1/8" aluminum bent into 1 1/2"angle and I then cut wedges out in the inner corners as to be able to bend it to fit the bottom of the cooler. These corners were then Heliarc welded together.

This angle frame was then screwed to the floor where I wanted the cooler to stay. Now it is secure from moving around, along with being able to be removed for cleaning, or carrying any fish ashore.

I left enough room behind this cooler and the inside of the boat to to allow a floatation throw cushion (Coast Guard required) to be able to just slide in along with the landing net handle to fit behind the cushion when under way.

To secure the seat pad to the lid, I originally snapped the cushion to the lid using the provided straps on the ends of the cushion. This proved to be not so good of idea when invitees tried to lift the lid, they always just grabbed the cushion cover, tearing off the snaps.

So the next year's plan "B" was to take the unit to a upholstery shop and have him cut the cushion down to match the cooler lid better (about 2" off the length). He then sewed a double (folded over) skirt and I snapped the skirt all the way around onto the cooler lid, (using pop rivets) leaving access between the two center snaps for opening the lid at the same time, as seen in the photo below. This now secures the cushion to the cooler and kind of forces invitees to use the lid handle recess as re-designed by being able to see the hand location on the cooler is.

Large Fish Box ; OK, so we had found that the above 58 quart cooler is too small. I found this out in 2011 when my son and I had 5 salmon to 16# in it. The only way to close the lid was to remove the ice to make room for the fish.

If you have a boat that has an open bow, there is a lot of wasted space here. But here is another idea common on this type of fishing boats on the west coast. A Coleman 100 quart cooler can possibly be mounted in the forward part of the open bow, and held in place with a trucker's bungee cord. It took a lot of looking and measuring, but the one I now have allows it to be mounted far enough forward and is low enough which allows me room to open my center windshield and able to access the cooler from the rear and yet be able to board the boat over the bow from shore.

And I still have room on the bow for my Columbia River rocker anchor, anchor line and puller ball, forward bumper and 3 bow lines, plus a 12# river anchor used for securing the boat to the shore when launching when alone, all this makes for being rather crowded, but quite functional.

This boat does not have a under the forward deck fish box (as found on some boats of this type) forgoing it for more storage under this deck, accessable through small double doors in the bulkhead under the center window step through, which in my now mind is better.

I still keep the 58 quart cooler as the basis for a padded seat, but it also now doubles as storage for my small bait cooler, or lunch box, even a place for rain gear storage if I take passengers along.

Fish Box Ice ; So you have spent a lot on all the other things it takes to catch a fish, but when you catch one, or more, how much thought have you given to taking care of the fish and preserving excellent table fare after it is bonked?

Depending on the size of your cooler, 1/2 or even 1 gallon plastic milk jugs when filled with water, then freeze them works great. However they take up way too much room. You can also refill and freeze 16 oz. water bottles. The good part of this, is that when they thaw, you have cold water to drink. And in keeping the fish box cool sure improves the quality of the fish. For a link to extensive tests on cooler temperatures, CLICK HERE.

My main fish box is now the above mentioned 100 quart cooler mounted in the open bow as seen above, and I have standardized on 1/2 gallon plastic apple or cranberry juice jugs as re-freezable ice containers. These are a more convenient size and 4 of them keep it cool for 2 days before they melt to about 1/2 but even then the cooler is still cool. What I usually do now, is to rotate two of these ice jugs each day.

What I have done now, as seen in the photo below is by cannibalizing old plastic shopping cart plastic sides and bottoms have made a bottom grate from this plastic. This holds my fish up out of any water/slime. I also usually put my fish inside a wet burlap potato sack, which keeps the cooler very clean, and if the sack gets smelly, trade off with another, wash the grungy one off with soap and let dry.

After fishing, I don't even have to remove the cooler, but just pull the burlap sack, with fish inside, pull grates if need be, the drain plug and wash the cooler out if it gets dirty, let it drain out the boat's bow scuppers.

Bleeding Bucket ; If you happen to be a salmon fisherman who frequents the Columbia River or other locations where Seals or Sea Lions frequent, or even the ocean with blue sharks being present, the old and popular method of bleeding your fish over the side on a bleeder rope could lead to a decrease in your take home catch. Even a few minutes could be disastrous. Enter a bleeding bucket. Here, a Kitty Litter plastic bucket works great, OR that 5 gallon one you have under your seat for a "Port-A-Potty", also works.

Garbage Container ; Again space always being short on a small boat, and what do you do with used lure packages, candy bar wrappers, etc. ? In the photo below you will notice what is left of a 5 quart Pennzoil motor oil jug that is Velcroed to the bulkhead under the glove box. It being out of the way, but close at hand is very convenient. In this case the Velcro strips were attached to the bulkhead and plastic jug using contact cement.

Windshield Defroster ; There are permanently mounted heater/defrosters available, but if your boat is smaller and you do not have the room on your dash, consider going to a RV store, purchasing a 12 volt hair dryer. These sell for less than $20.00, and usually come with a fold up handle for space saving and they work just great. They plug into a standard cigarette lighter power source.

Another Defroster Trick ; Here is a trick I recently learned to keep the inside of your windows from fogging up. Use some liquid soap on a paper towel and wipe the inside of the window, BUT do not push hard enough to remove all the moisture. The theory was that if there are many minute soap bubbles on the glass, they deter any fog from forming. A rather cheap method that works.

Dual Battery Installation ; Depending on your needs/usage a 2nd battery could be beneficial. If you venture out in the ocean, or even a large bay and use a older 10 hp or lower, electric start motor for trolling that does not have a high amperage alternator like the new motors do to recharge what it uses from the battery, you could be in for a learning experience. You may find yourself in a situation where initially that when you restart your main motor that you sonar dies, this would be an indication your battery is getting low and draining power from your operating sonar unit. If you need to rope-start your main motor, once they get over about 75 hp, your efforts may prove useless.

Depending on your boat, you may have to be rather inventive to find a location that you can add another battery close to the original one. On mine the logical location would have been under the splash well and opposite the existing one. However that side has the gas filler hose so close that a regular battery could not have been placed there. I had looked this over before placing the wash-down pump there anyway.

By relocating the fuel/water separator at the rear, 6" to the starboard, I was able to place a 1/8" aluminum sheet tray with ends bent 1 1/2" down on the front and up on the rear to form a platform over my fuel tank suction hose elbows with enough clearance so they did not rub. The rear end of this plate is bent so that it just fits the angle of the inside of the transom and is bolted to it. The front downward lip is covered with a vinyl edging to insulate it from the top of the fuel tank.

A section of this base in the rear had to be cut out to accommodate the now relocated fuel/water separator. A plastic battery box base holds the battery in place. This battery box is to fit a group size 27 battery. The original starboard side batter was a group 24. I could not find another group 27 battery tray, so had to extend the base to accommodate the longer 27 battery. And in doing this, I also discarded the original tie down straps and installed a 1 1/2" nylon web with QD buckles. There is still enough room to get to the drain plug on the right side and to the bilge pump on the left if need be. Rather tight fit, but doable. And still enough room to store two boat bumpers.

Here I labeled the batteries with instructions (and had them laminated) for normal operations. You will also notice on the upper inside of the opening there is a 3 position switch that is connected to a 2 Amp trickle charge battery charger. Here I can toggle the switch to maintain either battery when at home in the RV bay for long term battery maintenance.

On the starboard side of the battery box, is a aluminum 6" X 6" lip that the new battery disconnect/selector switch is located on. There are more than one battery wiring system when it comes to dual batteries. Here is a link to one that I have settled on. CLICK HERE Go to the bottom section for this information.

On my boat I have a main disconnect switch (the red thingy shown below), I have each battery labeled and

I would normally only use the main motor as a "Get There" motor and then the trolling motor the rest of the day, unless it is a run back to make another pass. I keep all my electronics on while fishing and in the past (using a different trolling motor with less charging capacity) when only having one battery, I have had it get low enough that when starting the main motor, the sonar would drop out because of low voltage. This dual system pretty well isolates the main motor and yet when in the ALL position serves as my now normal run position of my trolling motor Yamaha T8 which maintains charge on both batteries when trolling, (which I do a lot of).

The #2 battery powers the main motor (and the hydraulics full time) and is charged by the main motor. But the dash/ignition are activated by #1 battery, which means the main motor will not start without the switch being in the #1 position, OR the ALL position. My trolling motor is tied directly to the #1 battery and is independently operational at all times, therefore I have emergency power even if a main fuse is blown.

However with this setup and the battery selector at #2, there is no power to the ignition switch for the main motor, so in essence #2 position is useless.

The reason for not wanting to run both motors simultaneously is that since both are actually connected if in the ALL position, without a diode to stop any voltage feedback where there could be possible damage to the newer main motor's computer, BUT in all probability, you would never run both at the same time.

Later when replacing these batteries, both are now group 27 Marine Deep Cycle batteries.

Battery Terminal Nuts ; Be sure to remove the wing nuts (if that is what is supplied) on the batteries and replace them with stainless steel hex nuts AND tighten them down snug with a wrench. This simple thing may save you a lot of hard to find electrical problems later because of a loose battery connection.

Wash-Down Pump ; Once you use one of these little jewels, you will not go back to the bucket on a rope to wash down the deck. Getting the fish blood and scales off the deck while it is still wet makes life a lot easier than waiting hours or days, then TRYING to remove them.

There is one requirement however, and that is there has to be some way to get the water you just sprayed onto the deck to be removed. Here, it just drains into the bilge and pumped out, and/or the drain plug pulled upon parking the boat. This is not ideal, but for this type of boat, that is what you get.

The installation shown below is on this aluminum boat that required wire-feed aluminum welding the aluminum suction pipe into the transom. In the left hand photo below, the suction line and in-line strainer are mostly covered by the fuel tank filler/vent hoses in front of them. You can see the suction line coming thru the hull, with a 1/2" brass ball shut-off valve (with the red handle). The 1/2" aluminum pipe goes into a street Ell which then goes into a in-line raw water strainer. Out of that there is a 3/4" vinyl hose that is clamped in place and into the diaphragm pump to isolate any vibration or chance of the pipe breaking off. Another 3/4" hose on the pump outlet, up behind the panel and into another street Ell that the garden hose fitting is attached to for the coil hose connection to the outer (front) of the panel.

Behind the clear vinyl pump outlet hose is a fuse block for the pump. The wiring goes thru the aluminum panel inside a plastic grommet to the rocker switch near the hose outlet. The switch has a red indicator light in the rocker that shows when the pump is turned on.

This pump unit was made to fit into the space where the 2nd battery would have been. You may notice that the metal at the juncture of the kick-panel and the hull side has been relieved to allow blood, scales and water to be washed rearward. Behind this hole it was made sure that the foam insulation was not blocking the water escape channel. On this installation, I lathe turned all the aluminum pipe and fittings, simply because I had the metal lathe, it was a challenge and I was not sure I could purchase any aluminum fittings, much less the proper length ones without making many 100 mile round trips to the nearest marine store. A later note - the upper close coupled aluminum Ell fitting deteriorated to where it fell apart after the first year, probably because with this pump being pressurized, that salt water stayed in this area even when shut off. I then made a replacement out of Nylon which solved the problem.

Here the coil hose is unscrewed from the panel fitting and stored until needed, with a protective cap attached onto the hose fitting when not being used. A regular rubber drain plug was ground down to fit the water inlet that was welded into the transom as a emergency plug in case of a failure to the pipe system inside.

I am amazed at the pressure and volume that this pump produces, it even has a built in high pressure cut out when no flow is being demanded.

And later I installed a 2nd battery in the center over the rear of the fuel tank. Believe it or not, but there is still enough room in this area for 2 rubber boat fenders.

Smelly Bilge ; There is a downside situation in using this type of wash-down unit where you wash the deck down and into the bilge where your bilge pump then pumps it over the side. But in use, if you are a fisherman, you will get blood and fish scales washed into the bilge of most boats that are not equipped with self bailing scuppers.

Then after a while, you may well have an unpleasant smell coming from your bilge/battery access area. After using the boat for a week-end and then parked it in the garage during a hot summer, have you climbed aboard only to smell a not so peasant aroma of decaying blood? You may want to wash the deck down with some soapy water, raise the tongue jack high enough to facilitate draining, pull the drain plug and open up your hatch to the bilge to let things air out. You may even need to put some bilge cleaner in there, or at least a small amount of detergent soap and or Lysol to help this clean up process.

Also your one of your winter jobs may be pull part of your deck and scrub the inner hull down, if possible. This is also more of a necessity if your boat is made of aluminum and you on occasion use it in salt water. Salt corrosion that is in hidden places make for unexpected and expensive repairs.

Bilge Ventilation ; While we are at the bilge, may boats also have an access door to the batteries under the motor well and into the bilge. If your boat is a aluminum, it may draw moisture or have a lot of condensation in this area during winter storage. It may be beneficial to install one or two louvered vents, otherwise you may need to open this cover (which may be a invitation for small critters) to let things dry out better.

You might consider placing a couple of 6" plastic ventilation louvers in the battery door, (as seen below) or where-ever the door goes into the bilge area.

Control Using a Kicker Trolling Motor ; There are a few methods of usage here. Since most large "Get There" outboard or inboard motors do not troll down slow enough, you may see usage of the Happy Troller plate, or actual drift socks, even drags made of 5 gallon buckets to slow the boats down to a trolling speed.

Others oblivious to fishing/trolling requirements just troll fast with the main motor hoping to chase down a fish.

(1) One suggestion is that many times wind and or tidal movement contributes to a steerage problem, that if you are using a smaller trolling motor, it may at times be hard to control the boat UNLESS you lift the large motor's/outdrive up out of the water. If you leave it down, the larger motor's skeg cuts into a lot of the steering that the smaller motor is now struggling to overcome. Jet motors are less susceptible to this as there is less hanging down.

On larger boats or those with even canvas tops, your smaller trolling motor does not have enough power to overcome the big rudder that you still have in the water right next to this smaller prop that you are trying to do the steering with especially since the trolling motor is running slow and IF the wind is pushing the boat beyond your slow moving control. This can be very counterproductive at times, hence by raising the main motor this increases your steerage ability when using the smaller motor for power. Just remember to lower the main motor when you start up to make another run, if not, the motor will sound loud and could possibly ruin a water pump impeller if not in the water ASAP or before.

Those of you who are running a TR-1 autopilot unit on the trolling motor may also find the above method beneficial.

Depending on the location, proximity of other boaters and the weather, I usually like to sit at the rear on a swivel chair, run the trolling motor, thereby looking forward, watching the rods and being able to see where I am going all at the same time. And some fishing areas we may not have the luxury of trolling in wide open spaces, but you are pushed (by other boaters or water depth, even floating weeds) into confined areas like a river channel in a bay or a hot spot at a special water depth.

Don't get me wrong as I also like the comfort of a cabin as much as the rest of you, but I have a problem of being able to pay attention to the rods at the rear (the reason I am there) while still watching forward trying to stay out of the way of those idiots who are running a TR-1 auto-pilot and do not watch where they are going because of it (or think they are more important than your smaller boat). Also many times since I am retired, when the fish are there, I fish even if I have to be there alone.

(2) The other more common/preferred method is to connect the trolling motor to the main motor by means of a quick disconnect coupler, leave the main motor's lower unit in the water to act as a rudder but without this main motor running and steer both from the helm steering wheel, as shown in the photo on the below. It is however not ideal if dealing with a fleet of "Bumper Boats" at buoy 10 on the Columbia River where your rapid maneuverability is limited. This method is used especially if the weather is nasty and you can sit inside under the convertible top (even with a propane heater going) if so equipped.

(3) Another helpful thing to do if you happen to have a boat with a center windshield that folds out of the way for bow access, is to open this window, allowing the wind to flow thru the boat. This helps somewhat by helping to eliminate the sail effect of the convertible or hard top. This can be used in addition to the above trolling situations where you may be encountering some wind problems occurring in trolling where there is wind involved (and on the water isn't that about always)?

Mounting Your Downrigger ; It is a very proven method of effectively fishing by using downriggers. Mounting them in proper locations on your boat needs to be thoroughly thought out before you start drilling holes. Depending on the number you are intending to run AND the size of the boat will also be a factor, but lets say just 2 in my case. Number one priority is that they need to be easily accessible and in a location where the wire (when making a turn) does not get tangled with a prop, (especially the trolling motor's) OR rubbing the sides of the boat in a close turn. This criteria with boats from 16' to 20, usually places your bases at the rear, but forward usually about four feet, as when trolling the gear will be behind the downrigger boom. And you need to EASILY access all of this gear. Some boats, especially aluminum may have low pipe railings that limit the locations, other aluminum ones may come with welded on metal bracket bases so you have little choice here, but their placement is normally well planed.

I am not going to get into a discussion here as to which brand of downrigger is better, but I have used/owned numerous brands and have settled on the Scotty Electric. However I do not like the Scotty swivel base, (for my boat it is too tall) but the Cannon which has a considerably lower profile is my choice, so I have made a 1/2" aluminum adapter plate to accommodate the Scotty base on top of the Cannon swivel base (as seen in the photo below).

For me, I want extendable booms, with the one on the trolling motor side being longer, (to clear it's prop).

Swivel bases have numerous advantages, (1) The unit can be swiveled from a out of the way position while in storage or running to the fishing grounds, to an operational 90 degree out position for fishing in seconds. (2) The closer they are to the boat when initially deploying, helps immensely if it is rotated in when attaching the downrigger ball and getting it in the water, then rotate the unit to outward fishing location. If you try to attach the ball on the wire and the rigger all the way out, when you let go of it, with that heavy ball and of you let it drop even any slight amount, it will drop enough to break off the wire or ball connection, loosing the ball and possibly some wire. I HAVE SEEN THAT HAPPEN NUMEROUS TIMES. (3) The longer the units are (farther out they extend), the harder it is to safely retrieve your clip to reattach your line to so you need a happy medium OR, Scotty makes a retrieval system that helps in the above two instances and is worth investigating. However part of this type of fishing is to help spread your gear out so you need to compromise on the boom length. (4) When netting a large fish, it may be beneficial to pull all the gear on that side, and swivel the downrigger forward and out of the way, OR tip it up, eliminating chances of fouling your gear, or the fish.

My downriggers are the old Scotty dual belt style which required only a size #14 wire and a 20 Amp fuse. Finally I splurged and bought myself Ace Line hauler electric shrimp/crab pot puller for Christmas, which mounts on the Scotty downrigger base AND plugs into the Scotty electrical receptacle. However this pot puller has a considerably more heavy duty motor, requiring heavier wire and a 40 Amp fuse. My old fuse block was made for the old style glass tube type fuses and trying to find a 40 Amp glass fuse is about impossible now. Which meant that I had to change fuse blocks. What I came up with was from a auto shop that specializes in radios, including the boom boxes. Here I purchased a dual spade type Maxi Fuse style, dual plug in fuse block.

So then remount the new block, and pull all new (larger #10) wire. This in itself was a real chore, even after pulling the rear inspection covers, one battery and for an 85 year old geezer laying on my side, reaching back without being able to really see well in order to attach the new ground wires to the ground bar under the motor splash well, and behind the fuel filter proved almost impossible. The seized screws holding on one of the inspection covers were impossible to remove, so I by using a angle head grinder, and ground off the heads. I finally got the 2 top broken screws out, (using a lot of penetrating oil, pounding, and heat, then using a Vise-Grip pliers) but not the bottom ones, which I just ground down flush and re-drilled/tapped new holes 1/2" above. And then repainted the cover.

Drain Holes For an Open Bow ; Many original open bow drain holes that you may find on these river boats are smaller than I like to see. On the photo at the left below shows what it looks like originally and on the right my modification after enlarging them and by adding a clamshell cover.

In looking for a clamshell, most marine stores do not inventory these larger ones and not really knowing the size needed is not to my liking to special order something that I am not sure I want (especially at $32 a pop). I knew a fellow who had purchased a Hewes Craft boat and it had the size I really wanted. I called Hewes Craft and for less than $20 they shipped me 2 stainless steel ones.

Then a few years later, one got knocked off, so another call to Hewes Craft, but guess what? They discontinued using them because of possible liability, IF it got plugged and could not drain efficiently.

Need Internal Lights? ; How many times in dim light or even if your boat is on the trailer that you go aboard and need better lights to find something? Some of the needed locations would be prohibitive to run wiring to, so enter the small stick-on battery operated lights, of which io have one under the bow storage. However it is my experience that the adhesive can deteriorates over time and the light falls off.

In the LH photo below a 12 volt LED compact light is wired into the aluminum side rail behind the captain's seat. The toggle switch is under the rail and just ahead of the light. This thing is small but bright enough to be valuable when rigging/tying gear up early in the morning before hitting the water.

In the RH photo below small automotive amber fog lights are mounted on the rear of the radar arch, and pointed so the whole rear deck is illuminated. These two lights have a single toggle switch placed under the Port gunnel so as to not being readily flipped on accidently. These really help if you want to be on the water at daylight, and need to get your boat ready before the sun comes up. And being amber, they do not blind nearby boaters if tied to the dock.

Freon Signal Horns ; These devises are way better than most electric horns commonly found on recreational boats. As long as the canister is intact and filled with Freon, these horns are very effective, producing a signaling noise that can usually be heard even above the sound of operating a boat. They are relatively cheap and can be refilled by purchasing a new canister.

However not all of these horns/canisters are the same and canisters of different brands may not interchange. Even ones of the same manufacturer may be different IF the model is not the same. These canisters screw onto the horn body, however the threads are not universal. Most of these threads are about 7/16" in diameter, some are fine threads while others are course threads. Then of the smaller PWC style, there is one style that uses a longer course threaded plastic tip. However this horn has the push button on the rear, not on top.

The three that I have are Falcon brands, the small one is designed for Personal Watercraft, while the others are more for conventional watercraft. Both are Falcon brand and use the fine threaded canisters. One brand was encountered that uses the same fine threads as the Falcon, and that is SeaChoice. The other small Falcon brand unit that I have has a belt clip and is called a personal protection model, (this may be good for ladies in a urban area or hunters in bear country) however it has the course threads.

West Marine also sells an almost identical larger horn, the only apparent difference is that it is red, however it uses the course threads.

Somewhere I saw an add for refillable canisters using compressed air. But I do not know which threads these use.

In my search for a compatible threaded canister, I even contemplated soldering or Epoxying a tire valve stem into the canister and making my own refillable compressed air unit.

Power Flare ; If you ever get in a situation where you need to have your boat located on the water (especially in the dark), sure VHF may notify the Coast Guard, but what if it is dark and you are so busy (or you may not have programmed your GPS/sonar unit to show the coordinates on the sonar screen) that you can not give an exact (GPS) location directions? Sometimes you may need all the resources available to be identified/located.

I saw this happen close-hand in 2015 on the lower Columbia River during the Buoy 10 fishery before daylight one morning. A small recreational fishing boat radioed the Coast Guard that they were dead in the water AND taking on water.

Communication was sporadic from the boat in distress, as he was apparently very busy. He finally answered that he had drained the fuel filter and had the motor running, AND was trying to get into the Chinook channel. We were still tied to our berth in the Chinook boat basin waiting for daylight (being a newbie there) before I attempted to join the crowd and head out that narrow channel in predawn hours.

The large ribbed Coast Guard boat came flying into the entrance of the basin looking for the boat in distress. He was not here, which meant they had missed him somewhere on their way in, as apparently they had came from downriver and he was coming in from upriver. More radio communication and this time the distressed boat gave a more recognizable location. The Coast Guard boat had then turned and was headed back out the Chinook channel, and they then soon had visual contact as it started to break daylight.

Then as daybreak came, as we exited the basin, the distressed boat, (about an 18' or 20' aluminum convertible topped I/O) with 3 passengers, under it's own power, but being escorted in by the Coast Guard boat. It did not have a lot of freeboard at that time. My best guess is that they had forgotten the drain plug when launching in the dark that morning, and in the predawn the first clue that they were in trouble was that a fisherman's feet got wet when they began rigged up.

From our vantage point still tied to our dock, it became obvious that I may need to expand my resources of emergency boat safety devices. My nephew then introduced me to PowerFlare http://www.powerflare.com/ . This is an ingenious identification device. For the price of about $55 plus shipping, it has many uses, being designed basically for emergency responders, and for being used in a situation described above, automobile emergency, being in a hunting pack, or left on your dash for you to relocate your vehicle on a night clam dig. These can be had in various colors of light, are waterproof and uses a Lithium battery. It has an outer case made of 16 Nylon/rubber protective rings.

Then just a few months later, I found a knock-off of the above, but less light modes (5), non waterproof and uses 3 AAA Alkaline batteries, for $14.99 ( 2022 prices $24.95). This one comes with a hook and magnet on the back. It looks similar but only has 12 protective rings. This one is simply called a LED Safety Flare and sold at some automotive hardware stores and distributed by www.wilmarcorp.com . Brightness on both is comparable however. But just be sure to check the batteries on these before each season.

PowerFlare in one of the ten flashing patterns available

The Motors ; This boat came with a 2005 75 hp Evinrude E-Tec, which is a fuel injected 2 cycle outboard. It was the 2nd year of production of this new type outboard made by Bombardier. The is pretty well a match as far as motor to boat. This boat has a 12 degree bottom, (designed more as a bay/river boat and compatible to use either a prop or jet motor). With a full tank (35 gallons) of fuel, 2 persons onboard and all our gear, on a smooth water with slight ripples I can get 32 MPH. That is plenty fast as on the water speed can get you in trouble.

The one drawback on this motor is that it is so computerized that you can not even adjust the idle without doing it on computer. Therefore it can only be worked on by authorized mechanics who have had factory training and access to the factory computer programs. However, even though it has had a few problems in the 17 years that I have owned it, I am happy with it.

Then on May 27, 2020, BRP (Bombardier) announced that they would be retiring the Evinrude brand and would exit the outboard boat motor market, in favor of manufacturing recreational boats. This Canadian company stunned the recreational boating industry with their announcement above. “Our outboard engines business has been greatly impacted by COVID-19, obliging us to discontinue production of our outboard motors immediately. Warranty and spare parts will still be available to cover their obligations. Which probably means essential parts will still be available, but in the long haul, non essential parts will dry up. Also it is suspected that one of the aftermarket suppliers may pick up essential parts like water pumps, fuel injectors, and piston rings.

For trolling, which I normally do, I have outfitted it with a 2008 Yamaha T8 (high thrust 8hp) 4 stroke outboard.

Preventing Boat Trailer Theft ; It can be rather disheartening to return to the launch after a day of fun / fishing only to find your boat trailer missing from your towing vehicle. Many of us do padlock the trailer hitch lever down so it can not be disconnected from the ball. And this can also be a good thing to get used to doing as it is a reminder to not forget to snap the lever down onto the ball (Been There-Done That), which can get embarrassing at reloading time.

But what about securing the hitch extension into the bumper's receiver? If you just use the original spring snap clip to hold the pin in place, it is rather easy to pull the pin, slide the trailer rearward enough to get the extension out of the receiver and then transfer the extension to a waiting vehicle that has the same commonly used receiver.

To prevent this, I have drilled my extension pin out enough to also accept a padlock bail, as shown in the photo below on the right.

It is nice to purchase 2 or 3 padlocks using the same key for this situation. You do need to remove the extension padlock occasionally and clean the padlock up so it will function when needed. I have found that if you don't, the lock may become hard to unlock. Therefore it may be prudent to smear some Vaseline around where the bail enters the base to keep out water (which turns metal into rust) and put Duct tape over the whole bottom and key slot to keep the dust from getting inside the tumbler.

For those of you who may wonder what the upper license plate frame says, it is "Crime Control" on top, and the bottom as seen, "Not Gun Control".

During the hot dry summers we seem to be having regularly, if you are towing a boat or trailer, make sure the tow safety chains don`t drag on the pavement (and criss-crossed properly as seen in the photo on the left below) which could produce sparks if too long and drag, which then can start a fire.

Padlock on the hitch	Padlock securing the extension to the receiver

Trailer Spare Tire Theft ; Don't overlook padlocking your spare tire to the trailer as shown below. Here a short section of 1/4" X 1 1/4" flat steel was welded onto one of the securing nuts, a larger hole drilled so the bolt would have clearance and another hole matching the next wheel lug bolt hole that is then secured with a padlock. On this unit, the padlock hole end needed to be bent down to minimize the distance allowing to be able to snap a standard shank length padlock lock into. Also the upper part of the hole above the lug nut that was welded on the underside, a welded on hollow cap was (with grease inside) on top of the strap to eliminate a rusted bolt at removal time.

You will also notice that this wheel is turned upside down as to protect the valve stem from being accidently stepped on and broken off.

And remember to check the air in this spare frequently, along with applying grease on the padlock, so as to being able to unlock it when the time comes.

Padlocked spare trailer wheel

Some boaters have even had their tires/wheels stolen right off the trailer at launch parking lots, so after the fact and to secure them next time, they run a heavy chain thru the wheel spokes and around the axle and secured with a padlock. If they were using a more secure launch, this chain can serve double duty by being the same as you could use as extra weight for your anchor.

Trailer Step ; I was once told that necessity was the mother of invention. Actually in my case PAIN was the mother of invention. On one of my previous boats, (a 20' Tiderunner) I forgot to lower the radio antennas after the boat was out of the water and on the trailer, so climbing onto the trailer fender and then hopefully up into the boat, my foot slipped on the wet fender and my leg went into the narrow space under the chine but above the trailer fender. It barked LOTS of skin very badly off my shin enough that there had to be a better way to board this boat while on the trailer. Hence any boat I own now has a boarding step on the trailer.

In the photo below, this step was fabricated using just a 2" X 2" angle iron was arc welded onto the side guide with brace straps also welded supporting the under outside edge. On top of this was a section of galvanized expanded metal cat-walk. This was then spray painted with a cold galvanizing paint for rust prevention on the brackets. Just be sure that you keep the inner edge far enough away so the hull does not get gouged when loading.

Expanded metal step welded onto rear of the side of loading guide

Boat Coast Guard ID# on Trailer Tongue ; OK, now here is a thought. What if you did not return to the launch when you were supposed to? You left a somewhat float plan, or the family knew where you were going, but not your boat number, where law enforcement/SAR then had little to go on. But they should be able to find your towing vehicle and trailer. Here I used small self adhesive decal letters/numbers relating to my boat numbers and placed them prominently on my trailer tongue.

I hope this will never come to where it is needed, BUT it surely will not hurt being proactive.

Here my Coast Guard boat numbers are placed on the tongue of my trailer.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind ; This old adage can come out and bite you IF you have an aluminum boat, but even occasionally use it in or near salt water. Here I am referring to a boat trailer that was supplied with carpeted bunks. If you submerge these bunks in salt water, (which will soak up AND retain the salt) and you then let the boat sit on the trailer for extended periods of time, (like during the winter months) this salt can start to corrode the bottom of your boat. I found this when I was waxing the bottom. My trailer was an EZ Loader, so I went to my dealer and ordered these factory 18" Nylon bunk channel glide covers which just overlay the carpet and are screwed onto the bunk from the sides.

These are not cheap, (like $15 each and you need 6) but they are very worthwhile and accomplish two things. (1) It makes the boat easier to slide off the trailer AND winch back on if in an area where the trailer can not be backed down far enough to ease the offload/reload process. (2) it gives the aluminum hull a better place to rest without getting subject to the salt trapped in the carpet bunk AND the corrosion associated with this situation.

Here Nylon overlays were added on top of the old bunk carpet.
Note the step above the LH finder.

Wheel Bearings/Seals ; Well, after this boat sitting for 5 years because of my wife's medical condition, and I finally got it back operational, and in replacing one of the tires, I bumped the outer clear plastic seal cover/cap of the Reliable oil bath bearing cover, cracking it enough to cause a oil leak. And not repairable because of them being 16 years old and the plastic had became brittle. But my online research came up with a new improved style aluminum threaded cap with a clear plastic window insert, eliminating this issue.

OK, while replacing this outer cap, why not check the bearings and replace the rear seal and the lubricating oil all at the same time? As the last time I changed the oil was 9 years ago. After taking them apart this time, the bearings however were as good as new.

New caps are $20 and the seal $4.50 each, and available from the trailer manufacturer E Z Loader.

Here the old plastic cover that is threaded directly into the spindle	And here the new aluminum cover with it's clear inner plastic sight glass

Here you can see the old broken plastic cap on the left, & the new aluminum (outer & inner views) on the right with the O-Ring seal

Trailer Hitch Pin Clip ; OK, on your trailer pre-check, you have checked all the usual things like lights, tire inflation, hitch latched down, safety chains etc. There is one more check that for those of us who keep the hitch extension with the ball on the vehicle all the time. Double check the receiver to extension cross pin's retainer snap clip.

I recently had an eye opener. Since my wife has been ill and was am her 24 hour caregiver, my fishing time has dwindled to ZERO unless I can find someone to stay with her. And with the hitch extension in my pickup IN the garage, I hate it when I forget, and walk behind the pickup so close that my shins get banged on the extension. So I took it off. I normally retain the cross pin with a padlock. However in my sprucing up her lawn, I needed to use my small utility trailer to haul a few loads of Beauty Bark. OK, now where did I put the cross-pin and padlock, so I just used a different but regular standard one which used a spring clip as a retainer.

On my fourth and last load, I got a clunk sound and slight jolt when I started out. I did not really think about it until almost home and slowed for a corner. There it was again. Well I only had 2 miles to go, so I will look at it then. When I drove into my driveway and onto the lawn, I had stopped short of getting the trailer off my turn-around, so I pull ahead a few feet. CLUNK again, but this time with a JOLT.

The pin had came completely out and apparently in the process, the pin may have been only in one side, allowing this slop and noise. And when the pin fell out, the only thing holding the extension in the receiver was the tongue weight for that short distance. But here and partly on the lawn, when I accelerated more, pulling the whole extension out of the receiver and hanging in the safety chains when it pulled completely out.

My MORAL OF THE STORY here, is double check that snap retainer OFTEN and especially if you hear a non-normal noise of feel a clunk. And even carry a few extras snap clips. Or use my padlock system.

Moving a Trailered Boat for Storage ; The usage of a trailer dolly can be a blessing for many boat owners. It may not work well for boats over 3000# or if it stored on gravel unless you happen to be a gorilla. But if you have a concrete garage or storage area, this sure beats trying to roll it on just the trailer jack wheel. You can find them in many places, I got this one at Harbor Freight for about $70. However for the height of my hitch/trailer tongue, I had to make a new ball 3" taller to raise the ball to match my pickup hitch.

It also helps in getting the trailer close and lined up for the towing vehicle when attaching the trailer to the ball.

Trailer dolly in use

Water Spraying on/into Motor at High Speed ; OK, this one is going to take some explaining. Essentially the transducer and water temp/speedometer senders were creating a situation where they spraying water on the motor, enough to short out a ignition coil.

One day of fishing saltwater off Washington's Westport created no problems, the best safe speed was 13 MPH because the water was choppy enough that. And the next day was the same until we headed back to the boat basin, Now we had the milder waves and the wind was on the stern and the water was calmer. A speed of 20 MPH was then achieved. However after about 1/2 hour the 75 hp Evinrude E-Tec (fuel injected 2 stroke) motor lost power on one of it's 3 cylinders. It would sputter back onto the 3rd cylinder occasionally, then finally go back to running OK for 10 minutes or so, only to revert again back to missing for 20 minutes or so. The reduced speed was 9 MPH. We had about 10 total miles total to go including cross the bar before we could get to the boat basin. A cell phone call was made to the boat mechanic for reassurance that we could make it that far without creating damage to the motor.

As it happened, we regained full power while crossing the bar and then again as we approached the boat basin. It was then when nearing the boat basin that my fishing partner noticed all the water spraying onto the side of the motor. It was coming off the area at the transducers. At the dock I took the cowling off and there was water dripping off some of the motor components.

Now came the detective work. This GPS/Sonar unit had came off my previous boat and was known to not cause that same problem. There had been some slight problem initially on this newer boat, but they had been adjusted so there was no excessive spray on the lake trials. What we have here, it is on most aluminum boats the bottom metal extends about 1 1/2" beyond the transom. There is a 1 1/2" X 10" aluminum channel welded onto the bottom of the transom for mounting this type of transducer hardware. HOWEVER there is a 1/4" gap between the bottom of this channel and the upper edge of the extended bottom aluminum. It appears that when we were running out that day it was choppy, we did not go fast enough as compared to running with the waves and WIND pushing us the second day. I suspect when we ran at the faster speed, this hollow channel against the transom and the narrow gap below created a venturi then sucked air down the transom, inside the channel and against the water traveling just under the bottom. It was then diverted up against the back of the transom by the wind. This wind on our stern then blew this FINE spray against the side of the motor which was then sucked into the motor breather location on the upper rear of the cowling.

When this fine spray was sucked into the cowling cavity and onto the rear of the motor where the ignition coils are located, the moisture shorted out the bottom coil where the inner cowl air ducting terminated. When we were forced to run at the slower speed when it was missing, the warm motor dried the water, and we were off and running OK again at the higher speed until more misty water was sucked/blown in.

You will notice in the photo below, two transducers, this is because my main Lowrance sonar/GPS is supplemented by a separate Furuno sonar.

Apparently the boat factory felt that this gap at the bottom was to not allow any place to trap water when the boat was hauled out. I had repeatedly tried before to adjust the transducers, but could never get a 100 % non-spray as compared to when they were on the previous boat. I have finally given up trying to solve the problem and concentrated on just patching the situation so it does not effect the motor. I thought about trying to plug this gap with foam, but these transducers are attached with bolts and the nuts are in this cavity. So my remedy was to make a 1/8" aluminum hood extended rearward about 3" to go over the transducers, diverting the water back down and off the motor. This 3" did not do the job totally so another was made (shown below) that extended 6".

This is a 2005 boat, a friend bought the same boat but a 2009 but the factory had made changes in that mounting bracket, placing the transducers closer to the transom. Maybe I was not the only one with a problem. My thoughts are that this gap between the hull and the bracket acted as a venturi when full speed was achieved, sucking water up from the rear edge of the bottom and then blowing it rearward. And with a trailing wind, the water was blown into the motor's air intake at the top rear of its' cowling.

A metal deflector over the transducers diverting water spray. The welded hole just barely visible immediately to the right of the hood is the wash-down pump inlet mentioned above.

Prop Guard ; Have you ever tangled fishing line around your kicker motor's prop? Or worse yet downrigger wire? Which would cut dramatically into your fishing time, and possibly loosing expensive lead downrigger balls because of this tangle?

Sometimes even though you try hard to have this not happen, things just go wrong. Maybe you are trolling and happen to go thru a rip tide with the current pushing you one way while the wind is pushing you another way with 2 downrigger wires not where they should be as the bottom came up on you faster than expected.

Here comes the use for a propeller guard, maybe not a cure all, but can not hurt having it in place. These are usually made of 1/8" stainless steel about 2 1/2" wide and bent into a circle with about 1" of clearance around the outer edges of the prop. They are bolted onto the top of the cavitation plate of the motor with 1/4" stainless bolts. There is a welded tab on the very bottom that is bolted to the bottom of the skeg for stiffening front to rear. These may seem to be expensive at the retail price of over $150, but what if you loose a couple of 12# downrigger balls that retail for $40 each. This device may also save the day by keeping your spider wire line from getting into the prop shaft seal and cutting it to shreds and you have just started fishing on the first day of your vacation.

Somewhere it was said that these also improve the thrust because it does not allow the water to be pushed off the ends of the blades. Also the steerage is improved at low speeds because it kind of makes it's own contained thrust channel.

The one shown below is a Home Do It Yourself Endeavour copy of a aftermarket factory version fitted to a Yamaha T8. Thank you Cabelas for having an open box so I could get measurements.

Consequences of a unguarded prop	Prop guard installed on trolling motor

Corrosion Under the Cowling On the Powerhead ; As a addition to the above situation, it is recommended that after a day on saltwater as you will get salt air moisture inside the cowling that will dry on the warm motor to remove the cowling, wash the motor down with Salt Away, let it set a while and then wash with fresh water. How many used motors have you seen that have been used on salt water that once the cowling is removed, there is a massive amount of peeled paint and rusted bolts which surely devalues the motor when you want to sell it.

If and when you need a mechanic's services, this is embarrassing for one and very possibly expensive to you also. One way to also help prevent this situation is to be sure the outside of the powerhead is clean, and then coat it with a protective spray in the form of Boe Shield. This is a product developed by Boeing Aircraft Co. to be applied to parts of airplanes to eliminate corrosion. It dries to a thin clear non-sticky protective film.

It is still recommended that even after the above treatment that you still wash the powerhead down with freshwater after saltwater usage.

Open Bow Cover ; One of my previous small boats was a 16' Hewescraft jet sled. I made a vinyl bow cover with the snaps close together and put 2 inflated kids swimming pool rings under it to support the vinyl from underneath to keep any water from coming over the open bow if the weather gets nasty and filling the front compartment. One of these is pretty well inflated and the other only as much as needed to bring the height up. The recovery anchor float could be inserted in the center of these rings.

For this current boat I had a bow cover fabricated for the forward deck which was the right height that with the anchor puller buoy in the center, it raises the bow cover enough so that when snapped tight the cover is has upward tension in the center thereby allowing any heavy spray not to pop the snaps and to run off.

After installing the 100 quart cooler in the bow, this cover is not used much.

This bow cover uses the anchor puller buoy which is secured in the center of the opening as a center support

Corrosion Under the Convertible Top or Bow Cover Snaps ; When I bought the used aluminum open bowed boat, since I occasionally fish the ocean and have seen water come over the bow, this could be disastrous in this instance, so soon afterwards I had a upholsterer fabricate a bow cover. Since this aluminum boat was new to me as a somewhat ocean boat, I noticed that the convertible top's male snaps had a Nylon washer between the snap and the aluminum hull. I mentioned this to the upholster. His comment was that they are not needed. OK, I found out 3 years later that he may have been right, FOR FIBERGLASS BOATS, but he did not know what he was talking about for aluminum boats and of course he is now out of the upholstery business, but taken over his dad's business drilling wells.

I had a corrosion under about all of these new snaps. This entailed drilling all of them out, sanding down to bare metal, spraying zinc chromate on the aluminum, priming and then repainting much of the forward deck. After the painting was done, I used anti-seize compound on any surface that came in contact with the aluminum. This was coated on the new Nylon washer that went under the snaps and all the pop rivets before they were installed.

Then the open center of the female rivets were filled with Silicone caulking to again try to keep out any salt corrosion. Any bolt on fastener was also coated with anti-seize. And any bolt on unit was separated from the hull by placing sections of plastic milk jugs between it and the hull.

Here you can see the corrosion under the paint around the snaps	More corrosion at this one	Here is the one on the left, showing all the corrosion that was scraped loose

Here all the snaps are removed & metal sanded	Here part of the aluminum is zinc chromate primed

Here the matching paint is covering all the damage	Here is the finished product, with the splatter paint finish coat

I won't go in to a lot of detail in the above project, except one of the worst was to get a matching paint for this faded out original paint. When I had bought the boat 5 years before, I took a sample of the paint where I had cut out metal to create louvered vents and had a somewhat close match made in a quart size. Over time, this was paint was pretty much used up or had became scummed over and it needed to be slightly a lighter tint anyway. No big deal, just take the old can back and with the code on the bottom have more made in a slightly lighter tone. Problem was the person who matched it originally was no longer employed there and the new person was new enough that he could not decipher the code. And if he could, I would have to buy a gallon.

I covered about 6 hardware or paint stores in two towns, and either YES they could do it, but again in the gallon size, and they would have to do a rematch as their code was the new style and not compatible with my old code.

I finally found a Rodda Paint store. Same as above. I gave up and turned to go, mumbling something about doing it myself. The young man behind the counter asked if I had samples. Yes, and I had the original aluminum painted cut out metal with my somewhat matched paint on the 1/2 of it. He put it on his scanner, compared the two and said you need a tad bit of green in this. OK, I can do that, then he poured off some of this green coloring in a paper cup and said don't spill this on the way home. No Charge. WOW.

When I got home, I found that I was so low on this contaminated somewhat matched paint that I made up my own using a can of machinery gray and black to get it very near the matched original can. Now add the green tint. Looks great but I got a bit generous with his tint. A couple of days later I took the sample and my mixed paint in to him and explained my predicament. He asked if I had the can of paint in the paper sack I had placed on the counter. No, it was in the pickup. But in the sack was 4 large pieces of smoked salmon. This got him interested enough that he took my can and after about 3 tries, had a VERY GOOD match. And as before no charge. I later drove by and showed him his matching job. This year you can be assured that he got more smoked fish as a partial payment on my debt.

Then the problem of how to match the black/white splatter paint over the gray base coat. He said there was only one shop he was aware of that did that and 60 miles away. A bit of reading on the internet and I come up with using a narrow 1/2" stiff bristled brush and cut the bristles off to about 5/8'. Nylon proved to be better, being stiffer than hog bristle. Also you may have to thin out about 1/3 of the bristles.

Take a margarine tub lid and pour about 1/8" of the black paint into this lid. The paint needs to be as thick as possible (non-thinned). Wear surgical gloves and dip the brush vertically in the paint in this lid. Now holding the brush with one hand close to the intended surface, (about 4-6" for a full brush and down to 2" before refilling) use your index finger to pull back the bristles, letting the bristles snap forward, which gives a splatter type appearance.

TIP #1. Try this on a sample piece before you start on the boat as this may take a bit of learning. Be prepared to clean up the splotches that seems to want to be overly generous in places. Let this dry and then do it again with the white. You will note that it may easy to overdo the white but to each his own, and don't become too aggressive, who knows, you may just like the outcome.

You will probably not have the same splatter pattern as when the boat came from the factory, as there appear to be more than one style of this application, but with some trial, error, AND time, you should be able to do a respectable job. I actually like my splatter job better than the original. Just now have to find the time to do the rest of the deck.

Here is my splatter coating on the bottom below the windshield, with the original still on the front window frame above, which is more of a lot of small colored specks.

Anchor Line ; NEVER attach your main anchor line directly with a spliced in eye end and a clevis to a bow eye or anything securely attached to the boat, either internal or external. If for some reason while you are anchored, and things go from bad to worse VERY FAST, and you now want to BECOME UNATTACHED to your anchor. This will of course depend on the size of boat and configuration of it.

OK, but if you happen to have a below deck anchor line locker and you do not want the anchor line to be fed out of this locker whereby you loose the end before you are aware of it, try this. If in this case, and it is best to be tied off, try tying a smaller diameter line (3/16") about 20' or 30' long into the end, and then tie off this smaller line to your inner eye or cleat. Now you can tell when the end of the main anchor line is nearing when the smaller line appears. This smaller line will break a lot quicker under stress than a 3/8 or 1/2" one and may save the boat from being pulled down if in adverse weather if you have to break free. You may well have other issues afterwards, which may be better than being pulled under.

Anchor Puller System ; In the picture below you will see a short section of 1/4" line tied to the top eye of the anchor. This is to help lift the anchor into the boat if need be and also to tie it in the chock so it does not bounce out when the boat is running. This particular unit is used on a 16' sled and has about 6' of chain along with 150' of 3/8" anchor line. An additional section of chain (or a 12# mushroom anchor) can be snapped into the existing chain end to give more holding power. This size of float seams to function on this small anchor, but larger ones are recommended.

The normal amount of line for anchoring is in the plastic bucket, with a loop temporarily tied in it at that length. The rest of the line is STUFFED, not coiled, into a laundry bag along with a small boat fender for floatation. The fender has a snap that is attached into a temporary loop you tie in the line after you are anchored. After that this throw bag never has line fed in or out, but stays in the boat while you fish. If the boat needs to be disconnected from the anchor system, simply throw the bag containing the excess line and floatation fender over the bow, (but not the bucket), lift the line up out of the chocks so the boat is now free of the anchor. This way there is no excess loose line floating to get tangled, as it is all inside the floating laundry bag which makes for easy recovery later.

There is one nice commercially made bag, the Chinook Outdoor Anchor bag, which is the durable, adjustable, and easily connected to a buoy, and has a built in cleat. Carrying handles are nice too, easy to fill back up. It is also UV and stain resistant, OH and made in 'Merica, Clackamas OR. And available at Bob's Sporting Goods in Longview.

Rocker type anchor with 8' of chain, sliding puller, float system, & throw bag

Bow Mounted Anchor Nest ; In the photo below you will notice the bow mounted Columbia River style rocker anchor nest. These are mounted on the bow and in a situation where the anchor can be securely carried, but yet deployed readily.

This anchor nest is a copy of Motion Marine's commercially made unit, even to the point where I purchased their rubber shank stabilizer. This was merely a thick rubber "C" shaped clamp probably laser cut from 1" thick rubber and held onto the base with a 1/4" bolt. After two years of use, this rubber broke thru the bolt hole, so I purchased a Y shaped 2" x 2" rubber bow stop designed for boat trailers for a price of $4.99 and modified the base to accept this newer rubber that now is retained by one 3/8" cross-bolt. This new Y functions well, plus it is readily replaceable as a common item if ever need be.

In this photo, you may ask "what are the purpose of the upper rear angles slots". These are provided that, so you do to not have someone to hand hold onto the anchor chain when you initially have it pulled up enough to get ahold of the chain, you can slip the chain into one of these slots and the anchor will just hang there until you can get the line and things situated to then pull it all the way in.

You may not even want to pull it all the way into the boat at some times, as maybe your chosen anchoring location was unproductive and you want to move a short distance. In this case again just pull the anchor in until it is just out of the water, secure the chain, return to the helm and move around watching your sonar until you find a new spot, then let the chain/rope out and you are in business without the hassle of completely pulling the anchor aboard.

The rubber roller on the front makes it easier to let the chain/line either out or back in. And it gives a focal point for the anchor line to lay on/in while you are at anchor.

Here a close up view of the bow mounted anchor nest

Anchor Type ; In many of the photos of my boats you will see a anchor that may be different than may of you are used to seeing and may need some explanation. These are what are known as Columbia River rocker type anchors. These were developed for use in a river that could have debris, such as logs, trees and even old abandoned cable laying on the bottom. Under these conditions, retrieval of a normal anchor can at times be difficult or even impossible.

These anchors are made with 2 flukes that are made like a rocking chair, the crossbar is long enough so that when the anchor is mounted in special anchor nests on the bow that the flukes do not rub the sides of the boat's bow. They have a eye welded into BOTH the TOP and the BOTTOM of the shaft. There is usually a section of 3/8" galvanized chain from 8' to 10' secured to the BOTTOM eye by a clevis. The chain is ran up the shaft and secured there by a heavy tie tape (shown below as the orange). In use when after anchor has been deployed and is later trying to be recovered, IF it appears to be fouled on the bottom, the boater then can motor (usually upstream) AND with the anchor line secured to a stern cleat. Applying power from the motor, if the anchor does not readily pull free, the tie tape will break, allowing the pulling pressure to now be transferred to the bottom of the anchor and allow the anchor to be pulled out in the same direction it was sucked into the debris. The rounded parts of the flukes provide no obstacle for it to be remained snagged.

The anchors and the nests are designed to match each other. The anchor shaft is long enough to lay on the bow in a rubber Y nest and the anchor usually has a short rope attached to the top eye for securing it to the boat. The front of the nest will have a large rubber roller which assists in guiding the anchor and rope off and back on. Not easily seen in this photo below is a set of "hooks" that the crossbar nestles into, but is shown in the LH photo below.

In the RH photo below you will notice a small wedge welded onto the juncture of the crossbar and the main anchor shaft. These have a tapered wedge and are fitted so there is not a lot of side clearance in the hook area of the nest when the anchor is pulled in and secured for traveling by attaching a small 3/8" rope to the top eye of the anchor and securing it onto the inner bow cleat.

In the LH photo below you see a copy of the Motion Marine anchor nest with a 20# Columbia River anchor, 6' of 3/8" chain in a rubber shaft nest using cam lock cleat and the anchor top tied to the mooring cleat of the boat.

Also in the RH photo below you will see a couple of round yellowish things with a stainless screw in the center. These are "cam locks" that have opposing spring loaded serrated cams that secure the anchor line when the anchor is deployed. For this type of anchoring system, the anchor line is never permanently attached to the boat. In use, the excess line is stored in a nylon laundry bag with a float attached. If for any reason, the boat needs to be disconnected from the anchor in a hurry, the line is lifted out of the chocks and the bag is thrown overboard, allowing the boat to drift free. After fish is landed or the downriver log danger is over, the boater returns and can either re-anchor or retrieve the bag and the anchor.

Here a side view of the anchor in the nest	Birds eye view of the anchor & nest mounted on the boat

Quick Release For Anchor Line ; For those of you who may anchor in a river you should consider a quick release of one kind or another if a situation arises where you need to detach the boat. This needs to be readily available from the helm. There are two types, one known as the clam (wedge type) the other, shown below on right are a pair of rotating cam locks. You will note in the RH photo all of the line is contained in the plastic bucket and any line not payed out when anchored is contained in a mesh bag with a float inside. The LH photo, this boat is using the wedge type chock, which with the anchor out and the rope in the chock, the line wedges into tapered notches, but can be readily released by pulling back and lifting up.

Here the wedge chock mounted on bow in front of the bow light	Cam locks mounted on bow behind the anchor nest to secure at anchor, yet readily being releasable

Need a Heavier Anchor? ; Have you ever dropped anchor, but the current was running faster than you expected, or the bottom was so hard that the anchor was dragging? You may not normally need a bigger anchor and in a small boat, along with space being a premium. Probably the simplest solution is to purchase about 6' of the heaviest chain that you can find, and using a large snap, attach it to the anchor system. Six feet of heavy duty 3/8" chain weighs right at 8#. With a large stainless steel snap, it can be attached to either the upper or lower anchor eye, OR to the upper chain line eye for added weight, which would be preferable. This saves space and adds weight if you need it.

The theory here is by adding the chain between the anchor line and the anchor, is to NOT pull the anchor itself UP, but to hold it down with the chain, with any pull here on the upper end of the chain acts as a bungee, but does not lift the anchor itself or unseat it from it's grip.

Depending on the boat and conditions, another method, but same principle, would be to utilize the smaller second anchor, but attach it to the upper end of the chain. So from the above suggestions, you have some options, depending on your boat and conditions.

Or even a standard small 12# mushroom river anchor into the upper eye of the chain (as seen below). However if you are in this dire need of being secured to the bottom if you are fishing, you probably should not be there, but sitting on the shore around a campfire exchanging fishing lies and indulging in a cold one instead.

	Here a regular 12# mushroom type river anchor is snapped into the upper end of the chain to the regular anchor

Anchor Chain Corroded ; As seen in the photo above, the 6' of 3/8" galvanized heavy duty chain which was laying on top of the anchor line that was coiled up in the line bucket, which had gotten saturated numerous times with salt water coming over the bow, and the chain began to corrode over time. Not wanting this to contaminate or deteriorate the anchor line, how do I get that corrosion off? Sometimes my strange ideas do materialize into reality. What I did was raided the refrigerator and grabbed the out of date box of baking soda that was being used to absorb bad smells. I mixed it with warm water and soaked the chain in the solution for a few hours.

Bingo, most of the encrusted salt disappeared. I then washed off any residue and let it dry. Next I (using a rattle spray can of Cold Galvanizing), painted this chain. However I have found that this finish is not that durable, so then painted it again, but with a clear-coat. And this may just prove out to be a better coating in this saltwater environment.

There may cause some confusion here as in one place I say 8' and here it says 6' of chain. The reason is because, YES the total is 8', but it is cut in two at about 6'. This is so the shorter 2' section is what is attached to the bottom AND top eyes of this anchor, and joined to the other 6' with a clevis when needed. This is so that the anchor when nestled in the anchor nest is not encumbered with all the other chain that is attached to the anchor line, which is stored o top of the line in the bucket. The shorter chain is only about 3 links above where it is zip tied to the upper anchor eye, and if the need to anchor arises, it is only necessary to attach the two together with the clevis.

Anchor to Shore When Launch/Recover? ; Here I use the 12# mushroom type river anchor when launching at a no dock launch if I am alone, where there no one to hold my bow line, by just tethering the boat to shore while parking or retrieving the vehicle and trailer. Here, it is a lot easier to do it this way instead of using the regular Columbia River style anchor, mounted on the bow.

Here a river anchor is being used to tether the boat to shore while moving
the towing vehicle.

This anchor was an old one made of cast iron that I use, and was originally dipped in black plastic, which over time and being near saltwater, became encrusted with lots of rust so badly that there was more DEEP rust than plastic. I then by using an angle head grinder, took all the rust off down to bare metal. Then using some old THICK black enamel paint, applied 3 or more coats of this paint (and letting each coat set for a few days to dry), which probably built up near the same thickness and protection of the original plastic.

Here the river anchor as seen in the photo above,
which is now reconditioned

This Ideas Could Save Your Life ; How many times have you fished alone? One thing that you may consider in this case is to use the emergency kill lanyard that is on most small motors or boats that if attached to you if an emergency happens, the motor's ignition is killed if under power. This could have many life saving scenarios from taking a large wave which could knock you out of the seat which could put the boat in danger to having a heart attach or falling overboard.

But there may become a time when you did not attach the kill lanyard, and could get distracted or ??? or get old and feeble and fall overboard when reaching to retrieve a downrigger ball. Even if the boat was not under power, and you could get ahold of the boat, depending on how deep sided it is, could you even pull yourself back into it. Or if someone else was in the water, if they were exhausted, could you even help get them in? In the photo on the left below, Tim Miller a US Power Squadron boating instructor, showed the idea that if the overboard person may be able to get their foot into the loop and thereby the aid of knots in this line, could somewhat help themselves back into the boat (better than nothing). It may be best to also tie another loop and some knots in the line above the water line to give you something extra to keep your hands from slipping if attempting to climb back aboard. The idea here in the LH photo is that this short rope is always attached to the boat but kept inside except when on the water. Then just let it drag.

In the RH photo, this operator (ME) does fish alone numerous times, and I do use my personal inflatable PDF all the time. However I troll the majority of the time, so my method is to use a 10' section of 1" nylon strap that by having a loop sewed into one end, I attach that end to a railing of the boat (on the off side of the trolling motor). On the other end, I use a quick release snap (a type normally used for horse leads) that attaches it into the Dee rings of my heavy duty commercial or offshore inflatable PDF life vest. This strap is long enough so that I can perform the majority of my time aboard unhindered while still being tethered to the boat (just have to remember to unwind myself at times).

133/8" line as a possible assistance to get back in a boat if you or anyone is overboard	Here the idea is a little different approach

Rescue Throw Tope ; Here you have options. By USCG requirements a small boat needs a throw cushion. It is best to also attach 50' of 1/4" line to it and a loop in the loose end for retrieval (however this line is not required).

The other is a special throw bag, which usually have 50' (or more) of 5/16" line stuffed into a small bag. They are designed to be attached somewhere on the boat that is readily accessible (and with a quick detach buckle). On the outer end of this line that is stuffed in the bag, there is a hand hold loop for the throwing person to use. This hand loop on the end of the bag also provides a good grasping area for the person in the water. These bags, usually being International orange, and having a good sized rope handle, stuffed with the rope, along with a small float attached, all providing some weight to assist in better throwing. The bag is closed with a draw sting around the throw rope. In use, the thrower simply slips the loose loop end of the rope over their wrist, loosens the draw string and using an underhand method, throws the bag with the same hand, in the direction of the person in the water. The rope is still (or should be) attached to the thrower, for retrieval.

Rescue throw rope

Fire Extinguisher ; If you are like most of us, your fire extinguisher is pretty well out of sight-out of mind most of the time. Yes, we look at them every year when we get our boat safety inspection (YOU DO THAT, DON"T YOU)? They need to occasionally need to be removed and shook enough to dislodge any of the contents that may get juggled into compaction, especially if you frequent saltwater wind/waves. Remember the vertically mounted ones are more subject to this than the horizontal ones.

But one thing most of us neglect is, it's outside physical condition. By this IS IT STARTING TO CORRODE under the paint if you are a saltwater boater? The Coast Guard does not really like this corrosion. Sure it is not bad you say, but they have to cover their behinds and any corrosion could be grounds for it being condemned by them. And very possible, at an inopportune time for you. OK, there are two things you can do. One is to replace it. The other would during your winter down time, if it corroded, to sand it down and repaint the outside. You would need to preserve the integrity of the model / information / identity decal on the side, so you would have to mask it off and after the paint job, remove the masking tape. The idea is to make it look as good as new (IF THE PRESSURE GAUGE STILL READS IN THE GREEN).

Most of the ones sold today for vehicle and boats can not be recharged if the internal pressure has leaked down and the gauge is into the red range. The simple rule of thumb as to whether it can be recharged or not is, is the handle and nozzle made of plastic or metal? If those parts are made of plastic, it CAN NOT be recharged.

Emergency Long Handled Knife ; There WILL become a time if you boat long enough when you could get a anchor line, crab pot line or even a dangling mooring line, wrapped around your propeller. It could even be in a situation where if in a swift river current or ripping ocean tide where the situation could become NASTY very fast. Just how far can you safely reach from your boat with a knife in your hand, and who is going to hang onto your feet? The photo below is pretty self-explanatory to an seasoned boater.

It also works great for removing a lot of wound on braid fishing line from the prop hub that you are afraid will get in to and ruin the prop shaft seal when you are 20 miles offshore and it is only 8AM. (Been there -- Done that)

You do not want a regular sharp edged knife, but the serrated blade type. The one below is an all stainless lock blade sold thru West Marine. This particular one has a couple of slots along the back that make it easy to attach to a boat hook with tie tapes. If you position the knife properly, with the knife closed the boat hook can still be used for what it was intended. But it can be deployed in a very fast time if need be. It may be best to spray a heavy duty corrosion inhibitor on this tool that would be used to ensure that it does not become inoperable at the wrong time And check it occasionally for functionality. Yah, I know stainless is not supposed to rust, BUT !

It has come to my attention that West Marine is no longer carrying this knife as it must have been a special when I bought 2, sorry guys but there has to be other brands out there that would work. However I have found that they still occasionally come up with a knife sale similar to this. And I recently saw one at Cabelas.

I also have the same knife stashed up under the bow, in what apparently was supposed to be a small anchor line locker. This knife is tethered by 6' of 1/8" tuna cord tied to the knife's rear eye, and to a 3/16" stainless steel snap on the other end of the cord, which is attached to an eye on the outer part of this locker. The knife itself is stored in this locker which is open on the rear (into the open bow). It is there just for emergencies (whatever that may be).

I also keep one of these knives attached to my inflatable life vests, which I spray them all with an anti-rust compound.

Boat hook modification.

Grapple Hook ; If you are on the water enough, you will loose something of value over the side. Depending on what it is or where you are, you may be able to recover it before Davy Jones or the Fish Gods take possession. The photo below is very similar to a LARGE triple hook and is the result of loosing a sturgeon rod over the side in 40' of water. This sure beats trying to snag it with large treble hooks (which we did, by the way). It is made of 1/4" stainless steel round rod and welded together along the shank with the total OA length about 12". The hook openings are about 4" each. Being made of 1/4" stainless rod, it is relatively strong, but would bend to unfoul itself if it really gets hung up. I have seen these made using 4 hooks, but for me the 3 hooks allow it to be stored in a smaller area. I have added a lead weight in the form of 1/4" round lead drift fishing sinker material wrapped around the shank.

Weighted recovery grapple hook

Attaching Rod Holders to Railings ; I am assuming that you are a fisherperson otherwise you probably will not be looking at these articles. So, under most conditions, rod holders are usually a necessity. Some types of fishing require that you hang onto the rods, but read on. Just one rod holder per fisherman is not really enough. Salmon fishing with more than one person aboard may get hectic if the bite is on. At times you do not have time to reel in and secure the rod out of the way. Here you may have to move one rod out of the way so that the fish can be netted.

DO NOT just lean it against the gunnel with the tip over the side. This can very well be the basis for donating a favorite rod and reel to the fish gods (been there, done that). While fishing off a friend's boat that had no rod holders it was a very heartbreaking moment seeing your favorite rod and reel disappear in the water and you can not do a thing while you are netting his fish.

I recommend having many rod holders strategically placed around the fishing area. Or at least have the bases attached, and the new type removable holders can be moved as need be.

There are many different type of rod-holders on the market today. The ones shown in the photo below are the popular Fish-On brand. However if you have a boat that requires these be mounted onto a pipe type railing as shown below, look at the one on the left. It is twisted so that the rod-holder would be pointing lower than normal.

This base being attached to the railing by an adapter sold by the same company, but it has a problem. Both parts being plastic appear to be slippery enough and the slotted head screw can not be tightened enough to keep the unit from slipping if under pressure of a large fish or being snagged on the bottom. The company supplies a plastic friction shim that appears to do little in improving the situation. On this unit the nuts are so close to the rounded outside boss that you can not use a wrench to tighten them, only a large screwdriver to tighten the screw heads. And you can not get enough leverage on the screwdriver. These factory adapters usually sell for about $7.00 each.

In the LH photo you will see the adapter mentioned, and a standard hardware U bolt that sells for under $2.00 each for attaching the base. This U bolt is 1/4" dia. and is very close to fitting the base as it comes. You do not need the flat bar that comes with it. The outside width of the ends of the U are slightly wider that the holes in the base, but a few passes with a small rat-tailed file opens the plastic base holes up. This U bolt can be tightened down by the nuts to the point that you can actually start to bend the base, but that is enough and I have not had any of these slip yet.

The threaded ends of these U bolts are usually longer than needed, but a hacksaw can quickly remedy that situation. Be sure to file of any sharp edges however. I suggest that you do use a flat washer under the nut and if you really wanted to secure it then use the nylon lock type aircraft nuts.

You will also notice that I mount my rod holders on the inner side of these railings. That is (in my mind) added insurance that the landing net will not get entangled at a most inopportune time (netting time). As I want a very uncluttered gunnel in this area.

Original manufacturers rail adapter on the tipped outward unit as compared to the rear unit in position.	Here on the right is a simple & cheaper fix.

Landing Net Storage While Fishing in a Small Boat ; You need the landing net's handle extended and ready when needed and not wait until the fish is hooked. You will see nets being positioned in many locations in order to provide quick access to them. But with a small boat just where do you put it? I personally do not like to see a net positioned upright on the side of the boat. For one, it makes me think that that boat is ready to net a fish, (seals and sea lions can also think the same) and two, it can very well be in the way of the many fishing duties during the course of the day. Also many a net has been lost because it was stashed along side and outside of the windows and inside the railing, or just laid on the top, or the bow.

For small boats with a higher, walk under convertible top, the photo on the below may be appropriate. Here the net hoop and bag is simply inserted over the middle bow and pushed forward, being held in place by the pressure of the top's fabric itself and against the rear bow. I usually let the handle protrude off to one side, providing more headroom for the taller members of the crew. And here it may be best to simply flip the net bag over the front of the hoop before placing it in this position to keep from having the bag in your face when you are in the cabin. When needed, you can simply pull it rearward and be in use rather quickly while yet being out of the way in the meantime.

Here the net is simply held in place by the tension of the top against by the rear bow, with the net going over the center bow.

Solo Netting ; Number one, ESPECIALLY in solo netting, is to run a light drag and wear the fish out before you get it near the boat.

In any netting process, the surrounding area needs to be clear of ANYTHING that the net bag can become entangled in. Many times I fish alone and have to net my own fish, so to somewhat rectify this possibility, I made up a 3/4" PVC Tee with the bottom of the Tee reduced to 1/2" PVC. This was made from scrap PVC pipe, with the overall length of the upper arms to be about 3" longer than the net's hoop, (mine being 34" OAL). And the rear section turned out being about 3 or 4 " longer than the front section, which works well for me and the location of the rear rod holder that it is inserted into.. The bottom part of the Tee was only about 6" long.

On my boat there is an extra Tempress rod holder base at the rear of the boat next to the kicker motor. I had removed it because of the far aft position placed the rod in a inconvenient location, but in surveying things, I have now replaced it, and it acts as a support for this PVC Tee, which is free floating when in place, but just high enough to allow me to steer the kicker motor UNDER the Tee arms if I need to jockey the motor to get the fish into position. I had to drill out the internal pivot lock tab inside the rod holder base and open it up just enough top allow this 1/2" PVC pipe to slide in. My movable swivel seat is near the rear for steering the kicker motor. Now when fishing solo, when I am getting near the netting time, I may slide my chair away a slight amount, grab the PVC Tee and drop it in the rod holder base, then lay the net bag on top of this Tee, and the net handle on my seat, which makes for the net readily available and a lot more tangle free as seen in the photo below.

You will also notice that this net bag is secured to the handle with a Scotty "Net Minder", which helps keep the net bag in position. This net minder is simply a rubber figure 8 that attaches tot he handle and has a small downrigger clip attached to it which is simply clipped into the bottom of the bag. This eliminates the need for the netting hand to also hold the bag during the netting process and gives the netter the ability to reach approximately another 2 feet.

Here the net is simply laid on top of the PVC Tee just prior to net time

And I have also stumbled on a method of netting solo, (which also works well at all other times, especially with larger fish). You will notice that my trolling motor is on the Starboard side, For me I do not like it mounted on the Port side because most all kicker motors have the tiller handle pointing out on the same LH, if you need to steer sharp to the left, your hand on this tiller handle will be way outside the gunnel.

However by having the motor on the other Starboard side, you gain on this awkwardness. Then, I am blind in my right eye, so sitting in the center of the boat while steering, my field of vision is very limited on the right side. But by having the motor on the RH (Starboard) side, I naturally have to now position my chair so that my narrowed vision is more centered with the boat. This has saved me a few near misses in tight quarters for other boaters who are using a TR-1 auto pilot.

OK back to the netting. I try to fight the fish off my Starboard bow, or about a 1:30 O'clock location. With my kicker motor running, but in neutral, I can quickly kick it in gear, position the boat so that the fish is always WHERE I WANT IT. At netting time, the fish will be brought in toward the bow at about the steering wheel area. What happens is, the fish will follow the hull rearward and right into your net.

This provides you with about a 100 % head on netting shot (especially well if you are right handed). Otherwise if you fight it off to the side at 3 or 4 O'clock position, when brought in to the boat, you only have a 50% chance of a head on netting shot after they turn when seeing the boat, And if you fight it off the stern's quarter, for either of these you need a LOOONG handled net. And for you doubters, I have NEVER had a fish go under the boat.

Scotty Net Minder ; For years we have been taught to use your finger to retain the bottom of the landing net bag when you net a fish, so you avoid tangles AND possibly scare the fish off it the bag is dangling in the water, and then you let the bag drop as you net the fish. Some fishermen also used a disposable rubber band.

There is one product on the market that does this for you, the Scotty Net Minder. What this is, is simply a rubber figure eight with a downrigger clip attached. The large rubber loop is slid onto the net handle being located so the clip can be attached to the bottom of the net bag, thereby holding it securely until the fish is in the bag, which pulls the clip loose from the bag. No need to hold the bottom of the bag with your finger using this. This also allows your hand to be farther to the rear of the handle, which could extend your reach up to a couple of feet.

There are a couple of detrimental things with these that I have found, (1) is if you leave your net exposed to the weather (sunlight especially) the rubber figure eight will deteriorate over time. (2) the downrigger clip is the trout size and just too small to force over a good sized salmon net bottom cord. This devise is hard to find in sporting goods stores, and probably because it is not something that the dealers even realize is available, and it is kind of hid in the Scotty catalog, but I now find that they are available through Amazon.com for about $10.

Scotty #210 Net Minder (net bag holder)

After my Scotty Net Minder rubber ring broke off and the clip got lost, is when I found it was hard to find these replacement units when I needed one, I proceeded to make a Red-Neck version as seen in the LH photo below. This involved using a Zip-Tie, a key ring, #7 split ring and a lonely salmon downrigger clip out of my spares box.

I like this clip better as it opens up wider than the small or even large Scotty ones do, as the bottom cords of my bag were heavier, making the Scotty hard to clip on without a lot of effort. This downrigger clip that I am now using is a Delta brand, made in Canada (but now discontinued). However the Offshore release clips will work just as well. The Offshore versions are made in two tensions, the lighter freshwater trout/Kokanee version, and the salmon tension, (same clip configuration, but a stronger spring). The lighter version is made in white plastic, while the heavier version is black.

Red-Neck net bag holder	Here it is shown attached and ready for use

Landing Net Maintenance ; How many times have you reached for the net to extend the handle, and aluminum shaft is stuck rather tight to the aluminum bow base unit? For those of you who never fish saltwater, this may not be of any concern to you. But for saltwater fishermen, it maybe a good idea to learn to flush the net shaft and bow base off with freshwater and soap at the same time you wash off the boat/trailer and your rod/reels. Even a little WD 40 surely can not be a bad thing for preventive maintenance here.

The above can also be used on the EXTENDABLE boat hooks. However be careful to not get a lot of oil on the extendable shaft otherwise the twist lock feature may be defeated. They need to be washed off and stored in a unlocked position.

Another trick here is to make the landing net handle into a floater. Do this by purchasing one of the spray cans of household spray foam insulation. Purchase a 24" section of 1/4" plastic tubing. Attach this tubing to the nozzle of the spray can, remove the end caps of the handle then reach inside to the depth of the tubing. As you spray this foam inside, slowly back the tube out, leaving enough foam inside to fill the handle. This stuff expands A LOT, so you do not need to fill it completely Change ends and repeat the procedure. When you are finished, you will have a floating salmon net.

Warm Water Sink In Your Boat ? ; Here you can install another line from the overboard water indicator off the motor and run it into a small receptacle nearby that can be used as a hand warmer if fishing in cold weather, or as a sink using Lemon Joy soap to wash off any Smelly Jelly or scent that you have applied to your lures. There is a overflow outlet tube that puts the excess water over the stern. This overflow is about 1" below the top & another used as a drain tube near the bottom which has a plug in it. On the ones not having a shut off valve, you may have to experiment with the diameter of the outlet hole (as there is no shut-off) before finding the right size so the sink does not overflow when the motor is at a higher speed. This water will not be hot, but warm enough to help on a freezing day on the water. And it also works for washing your hands of fish slime and removing jelly-fish parts.

One well known fisherman uses his sink to warm up food, (precooked sausages, boiled eggs, etc.) as he apparently does not eat breakfast until fish are in the boat. The food is placed in sealed Zip-Lock bags and not directly into the water.

When not using the water feature into it, it makes a good catch all for sinkers, lures etc. and a base for the leader spool. It also in the photo below for the Johnson, serves as a cover to restrict easy access to the motor mount retainer bolts.

Shown below is a simple adapter on a Yamaha T8 using the flush tube with a ordinary garden hose ball shut-off unit (in yellow) and the 1/4" fitting / tubing tapped into the flush base that has been drilled thru to allow water to flow into the tank when the valve is open. The shut-off valve allows it to be either used as a warm water tank and to adjust the flow to match the outflow, or to shut it off if not wanted as a water tank.

This input line into the tank is simply a vinyl tube, poked into a hole in the lip of the tank. There is an overflow outlet Elled off the upper rear of the tank and a drain tube off the bottom, that both exit the transom through the drain hole in the transom.

Using this warm water tank, after the motor has ran for a bit and warmed up, I crack the valve allowing about 1/8 of the flow to go to the tank. I also squirt some Lemon Joy soap into the tank. Now I have warm soapy water that I can wash my hands with, even deposit any of the take off lures/flashers into. This cleans the gear, removes scent plus providing a convenient location for temporary storage.

Here water is tapped off the Yamaha T8 flush fitting

Shown below is a hard Nylon catch-all tray that has a 5/8" deep recess on top which sits on top of the warm tank shown above. This tray just nestles into the upper tank opening, while still allowing access to the warm water and at the same time providing a small catch all tray for sinkers, changed lures etc. The notch on the RH side adds security for retaining the floating non metal pliers pouch. Oh yes, you may have to drill 2 or 3 small (3/16") holes to let any rain or accumulated water drain down and out. Also note the foam leader spool attached to the front.

Catch all tray over the warm water tank

A Place For Your Scent Bottles ; If you are like many of us, your scent bottles may never be in the right location, or get tipped over with the lid/nozzle not being tight, creating a mess. Here is a thought that may help. As seen in the photo below a 2" X 6" was cut to fit in this shelf. The holes were drilled with Fostner wood bits using 1 11/16"diameter for the tall liquid squeeze bottles and 1 1/2" for the smaller Smelly Jelly bottles.

The holes were made with 2" spacing, with the front offset 1/2 of that and drilled about 1/2" deep. For mine, it just happened so that the wood slid under the existing Ball Baby base, which pretty well holds it in place.

One thing I found that after a summers use, that this wood swelled up after being exposed to wash-down water etc. Where the wood got swollen and the holes became smaller. OK, wait until next spring and redrill the holes again, but up to 1 9/16", then paint the wood.

If you are wondering what the salt shaker is doing here, it is a toothpick container with the salt holes drilled out to accept the round toothpicks. Here I occasionally use a toothpick to run laterally down a whole herring's spine to maintain the bend required for a good bait action. I can pop the lid open and shake it, the toothpicks poke out the holes and I grab one. To the right are small cannonball weights secured in the downrigger Ball Babies base.

Here in a small boat, a wooden scent rack made of a 2" X 6" then shaped to match the contour of the hull side & lower shelf, which provides an orderly place to keep your scent bottles

Salt Corrosion on Convertible Top Bows; After any amount of time on OR NEAR salt water, the anodized aluminum convertible top bows can very well become corroded, especially where they come in contact with the canvas or about anything that can accumulate even a smidgen of salt air. About the only thing I have found is to every couple of years to clean any corrosion off with a 3M Scotch Brite scouring pad (DO NOT use steel wool as you will then have lots of small rust spots later). Then wax these bows with a good paste wax.

Maintaining Convertible Top Snaps & Zippers ; Again, for those of you who do any saltwater fishing, you need to purchase zipper lube, which appears to be a silicone substance. Star Brite, Snap and Zipper Lubricant #89102, which says just one light application protects against corrosion, reduces wear and friction, prevents binding and repels salt spray deposits and that one application lasts for months.

The instructions also suggests to apply it to the center of the zipper and work back and forth to equalize it. My thoughts are also to sure to liberally apply this on your zipper zip unit (which is usually made of metal) at it's usual normally closed position and check it out again before the winter lay up. This material is also used on the convertible snaps to prevent them from seizing together. However if you procrastinated, and the zipper is stuck with salt corrosion, you might consider making up a concentrated solution of warm Baking Soda to help dissolve the salt. Then during the season, remember to slide this zipper occasionally AND at winter layup treat it again.

Again if you run in any saltwater, before winter lay up, clean the outside of the exposed snap also. However again DO NOT use steel wool, but a plastic kitchen 3M Scotch Brite scouring pad. By using the steel wool, minute parts of this steel will break off and can then start to rust on your aluminum or fiberglass hull, which can be VERY HARD to remove.

Also unsnap the convertible top, clean, and lightly oil the female snaps. Some boaters use Vaseline but even trailer bearing grease will work. You can simply smear a little inside the female snap using a Q-tip.

If you don't, very possibly next year when you try to take it off, you can tear the canvas/vinyl at the snap because the inner spring that holds the snap together has become corroded and does not want to let go. Or the male snap will become seized will break off of what it is attached to. Sometimes even getting the two parts apart after they break, in order to repair things can be a task. They do make a metal U shaped tool that is very helpful in doing this, otherwise a flat bladed screwdriver may be helpful.

Also you may consider cleaning and waxing these snaps before winter's layup.

It is not a good idea to not remove the convertible top or even the backdrop and leave it off for any period of time in the winter if you may want to re-install it early in the season before things warm up, as the vinyl/thin Plexiglas has a tendency to shrink when cold if not stretched tight, you may have a problem re installing it AND get the snaps onto each other until you take it inside to warm it up.

While on the subject of convertible top snaps, a couple of things I noticed on the recent addition to my boat ownership is that on North River brand of aluminum boats what they have done to help preserve the snaps longevity when securing the female end to the aluminum window framework. Here they use a thin (about .025") round plastic washer 1/2" in dia. UNDER the male snap. This is apparently to help isolate the aluminum from corrosion reaction to the stainless snap. These snaps were Pop-Riveted to the aluminum using aluminum rivets, but they also filled the inside of this male snap with silicone. This appears to be there to seal over the head of the aluminum rivet if the boats are used in a salt water environment, again protecting the rivet from corroding.

Crab Pot Pulling ; If you are one who likes to drop off a crab pot on your way out to the fishing grounds, here is an idea that makes it easier to pull it back in. This unit is made to attach to a standard Scotty downrigger base. It is made of aluminum, 1/4" angle, 1/4" plate with 2" pipe with a 4" dia. pulley. All the non-movable parts are Heliarc welded together. It uses a standard single Scotty downrigger retainer bolt for attachment. The pulley sheave is made of two pieces of 1/2" aluminum, epoxied together and having the groove lathe turned deeper than an ordinary pulley. It has Nylon bushings pressed into the sides of the pulley making for smoother pulley rotation. The pivot bolt is 1/2" dia. using a Nylock nut. It also has a wedge type line chock mounted on the top rear to assist in holding the pot in position before pulling aboard, (especially if doing it solo).

This unit is small enough to be stowed when not needed, but sturdy enough to do the job of assisting on pulling about any pot from 25' to 40'.

It is a lot easier to pull inward, or in and slightly down motion than up, or even rubbing across the gunnel of the boat.

Custom made crab pot puller

Radar Arch, on Limited Funds ; Being retired and on limited financial funds, I did a lot of looking. At a regional Sportsman Show, I observed and picked up literature of different radar arch manufacturers. Their prices were probably reasonable, but more than I could afford. I have a neighbor who has a machine shop, is a fabricator, does all types of logging and farming repairs, one of which was bending heavy steel tubing to make cow stanchions.

I approached him with photos and asked if this was something he would be interested in doing in a non-rush time, (boy that was a mistake). OK, I prepaid him to purchase the aluminum tubing, but it took 4 years before I finally shamed him into doing it.

I already had the Furuno radar unit off my previous larger boat that I had sold.

So, with him working from the sales brochure photos, my boat sitting in his shop, and my additional input, we proceeded to get things going. I had already cut and drilled all the mounting holes in the base plates and holes for wiring to be pulled through later, and had the radar plate cut to size and had made the "rocket launcher" rod holders.

These rod holders were mounted on the top of the rear main bar, and was made from the same 1 1/2" pipe as the main bars. My design was only to put on 4 holders, this was twofold in that I wanted room on the outer ends of the rear bar for mounting rear deck lights. Also on my previous boat I found that if these holders were mounted too close together, you can get tangled gear if they (the holders) are all used and IF the terminal gear is not unsnapped before inserting the rod into the holders.

I had already made a flaring tool to expand the upper edge of this pipe, using his 50 ton hydraulic press. These rod holders were made so that they could be rotated up/down for needed angle placement instead of guessing the right location and welding them secure to this bar (and regretting it later). There are four total and the two outer holders were tipped outward slightly to separate the rods when inserted for traveling. They were secured to a small adapter plate that was welded to the rear bar and by 3/8" single stainless steel bolts. It was later found that they slipped under the weight of a rod if traveling, requiring a sprinkling of Mt. St Helens ash between the two pieces of metal for added friction.

Here you can see my 2005 19' Northriver Mariner outfitted with a custom built radar arch with provisions for other accessories

This unit was designed to flow with, and matching the existing angles of the windshield and the convertible top. There were two connecting bars made from the same stock as the main bars that were spaced so that they could also support a short vertical 1 1/2" pipe section designed to hold a landing net or crab/shrimp puller davit. Here, a aluminum base directly below these vertical tubes was also attached to the side deck as a bottom wear/retainer plate. Later these tubes became home for planer board davits.

The rear hand rails were made from 3/4" aluminum pipe and was one of the most beneficial unforeseen assets of this whole project. I hand bent them by hand, using a conduit bender and a propane torch, applying enough heat to help get a smoother and tighter bend than from a electricians bender alone. Knowing that replicating the second one would be beyond my capabilities, so I made it slightly longer, and then cut a section out of the middle so my welder friend could then weld it to match the overall length of the first one made.

The top running light was attached to a 3/4" pipe welded upward extension (with a predrilled wire hole in the bar) behind and high enough to clear the radar.

Another addition was docking light attachment plates added to the top front radar crossbar support. Also a set of amber rear deck lights were added to the rear main bar, illuminating the boat's rear deck. This was a asset that was greatly appreciated when prepping gear when moored before daylight and the amber lights do not blind any nearby boaters.

The base plates were drilled large enough and same size center holes in the side deck so that feeding the wiring through was less stressful, as all wire pretty well had to be fed in from the top smaller holes. Once all the wiring was checked out, the upper holes around the wires were sealed with caulking.

The one thing now was that the VHF radio antenna could not be laid all the way down along the side deck as before, but had to be bungee corded to the upper arch bar when being towed. I did not want to mount it on top of this unit, even though I had made provisions for it to be there, as I am getting too old to climb.

Many of these will be powder coated after being made to give some saltwater protection. I did not have these resources available, nor wanted to go to that expense. However I have found that when I made this one, I polished it with a power hand buffer before using, then waxed it with Johnson's automotive paste wax. This has proved effective, however I have found that it occasionally needs to be worked over with a 3M Scotch Bright pad and rewaxed, but it works for me.

Convert Boat to Camper ; Have you ever thought that if you just had enough room to throw a couple of sleeping bags on the deck that you could "rough it" if the conditions were right instead buying a camper top for your pickup or trying to find a motel? Or maybe you would like to explore a large lake or reservoir and would like to stay on the boat for a few nights? This top could be used either on or off the water.

Shown below is a answer to those questions. Here the existing convertible top rear door panel is unzipped, removed and the new camper top is zipped in place onto the existing zippers on the top. On this one there is a zippered door on the Starboard side behind the existing side curtain. A support for the section at the zipper is a 3/4" PVC pipe bolted to a bottom spline of an old rod holder and set into a rod holder base at the location on the rail needed for the door's zipper.

On the rear is a zippered clear plastic window for ventilation, which happens to have a window screen over it for when the window is opened. This unit has a short support bow that is pinned into bases at the rear gunwale. This bow is made in 3 sections so it can be taken down, then stowed under the bow deck. There are loops made into the bow to attach the rear of this top and held rearward by a ratchet strap on each side. It is made to fit over the raised motors and secured at the rear by a bungee cord on each side.

Side view of camper top installed on 18' North River	Rear view of the same top

Oily Film at Fueling or Mooring ; This one is not my idea but very well worth passing on. Those experienced yachters probably have known this since they first set foot on the boat, but sometimes us fisherpersons are a little slower (more important things on our minds).

If you are in a boat basin where there is minimal tidal movement and there is an oily scum on the surface in your slip, or you happen to spill some fuel when refueling, here is the answer. Get a Windex bottle or something similar with the pump sprayer, mix up a solution of water and Lemon Joy dishwashing soap. Spray this on the water and it will help dissipate this oily film. Here I found a spray pump unit that screwed right onto a 12 oz. Lemon Joy bottle. I left about 1 1/4" of the Joy in the bottom and filled the rest with warm water to get it to mix readily. This seems to do the job quite well.

It also works for washing your hands of fish slime and removing jelly-fish parts/slime and smell off your lures.

Here is a pump bottle of Lemon Joy in a convenient size for boaters

Extra Fuel ; How many times have you wanted another tank, but had no convenient place to put it or a way to connect to your main motor in a hurry? Here I have made a manifold block using (2) 1/4" brass Tee, (3) 1/4" brass ball valves with Teflon seals and (2) 1/4"barbed fittings to match the hoses and hose clamps. The center outlet being a 3/8" barbed X 1/4" pipe fitting, solid connection going to the main motor. One Tee (the inlet from the main tank) is screwed into the center outlet Tee. On each side are ball valves and quick couplers matching my motor's hose version.

The handles are painted different colors for clarification. In the photo below the center red valve handle is FROM the main thank. The left red valve supplies the trolling motor and the yellow valve handle goes so a spare separate tank can be attached. I have made a small deck cover on the opposite side of the trolling motor that has enough room to slide a 6 gallon plastic fuel tank under.

Here I can run fuel normally from the main tank with it's valve open. If that tank becomes low or empty, I can valve off the main tank, and open the auxiliary tank's valve (yellow) giving me an extra 3 or 6 gallons depending on the tank. This extra tank can also be used for the trolling motor if wanted separately. The one thing to consider is that IF you do not have the auxiliary tank connected all the time, then you will need to have a plastic cap covering the fuel line connector to keep corrosion down and make a tight seal when you really need it. The extra fuel line is just capped off using a rubber/plastic automotive vacuum line cap.

One thing to be sure that you have ALL of these fittings gooped good with pipe dope and tightened in VERY TIGHT and the quick coupler to the trolling motor is securely snapped in place, so there is no chance of air leaks into the fuel system.

The aluminum clamp shown simply holds the unit in position in the motor well. As shown below, this arrangement is the normal setting for operation of both the main and trolling motor. The center valved hose comes from the main fuel tank, with the un-valved hose to the main motor. Therefore IF the main fuel tank runs low, by switching to a spare fuel tank attached to the fitting on the right (yellow valve handle), fuel can be fed to either motor independently or both.

In this case shown below the valves are arranged to draw fuel from the main tank & feed both the main & trolling motors simultaneously, with the spare tank fitting turned off.

How to Not Run Your Fuel Tank Over When Refueling? ; OK, you want to fill your boat's fuel tank full but but not overfill it, you are at a fuel dock and the wind is blowing (isn't it always on the water) boats coming and going detracting you from being able to hear as it nears getting full. Or you are filling up at a noisy freeway gas station. If you rely on the automatic fuel nozzle shut off, sometimes the tank will be too full, maybe even near overflowing and if the boat is left sitting in the hot sun for a while the fuel will expand and overflow onto your gunwale creating a mess, and possibly ruining the paint.

A solution is to make a simple stethoscope out of about a 24" + piece of 1/2" clear Vinyl tubing. 3/8" size may also work, but I think you can hear better with the larger one I am using. Now while you are refueling, you can hold one end of this tube to one ear and get the other end IN the fuel fill opening next to the fuel hose nozzle. You will now be able to hear the fuel being poured into the main tank and when the noise changes as the fuel starts up the fill tube hose from the tank, stop the filling process.

You may have to learn what to listen for, and concentrate on listening. This will at least give you the length of the filler hose for later expansion and no spill at the fueling area. This works well if the fuel tank is below the deck where you have a longer hose up to the filler, but for those above the deck, you may not have enough time to discern the noise change.

One thing to be aware of, OR to remember, is that when fueling up, NEVER put the nozzle into your tank and set it on auto fill and walk away, as many boat fill tubes can not handle the full flow of some gas pumps AND YOU COULD GET A MESS very quickly.

This tube shuts out most outside noise & you can hear the filling process. The longer tube gives you something to coil up, adjust & hold onto while listening. Just remember to put your hearing aid in your shirt pocket & NOT ON the boat.

Winter Layup Steering Cable Seized ? The worse thing for a boat is one that sits all winter. It would be worthwhile to once a month go out and shift your shifter/throttle and turn the steering wheel back and forth. There is nothing worse in the spring when you find everything is froze up ! Better yet, start it up every 2-3 months.

One thing that usually gets overlooked on the spring inspection is the steering. Again if you frequent saltwater, occasionally lubricate the steering cable at the motor. The lubricant can even get dried out creating some corrosion. You do not realize it until you launch the first time next season and it is hard or even IMPOSSIBLE to turn the motor. And it really needs to be lubricated on both sides of the motor. There are large nuts on each side of the motor cable (some even with a Zerk fitting attached). Sometimes you may be able to simply spray WD-40 on the exposed shaft end and move the motor back and forth if it is not really bad and solve the issue.

If your boat is smaller and has mechanical cables this may not be as bad, but if you have a larger boat that has hydraulic steering, this can get to be a MAJOR issue. I had it happen one year at Neah Bay on my first trip out one season. We launched the boat, my son pulled the trailer up the ramp to the parking lot, and I started the main boat motor, backed it out from the dock and COULD NOT TURN the motor. The wind blew me off enough that I could not motor right back to the dock. By then the son had driven up into the parking area and had no idea that I was in trouble, (this was in the days before everyone had cell phones). I had to quickly drop the kicker motor in, and use it to motor around to our slip. Then it took a lot of careful persuasion to get it un-seized without popping the hydraulic seal at the steering station.

You can also experience the same basic situation if you forget to grease the main motor pivot shaft if you use the boat in, or near salt water.

Seized Motor Steering Column ; This situation is probably uncommon, but possible. For a link to the article explaining this CLICK HERE.

Docking Solo ; This was developed for solo docking, but may save a lot of grief even for normal docking with a crew. Make up a short "Cheater Line", usually 3 ' or less with a regular eye in the boat end, and another larger eye on the other dock end. It would be probably best to have these eyes considerably close together. After you have used this method a few times and depending on your boat, you will probably adjust the distance between the eyes.

In use, pull up very close to the dock in a more parallel fashion, and from the mid part of the boat, with one end of this Cheater over your mid mooring cleat, as you near the dock's mooring cleat, simply drop the other larger end eye over the dock cleat as your boat is slowing down. BINGO

What you have done is secured you boat close to the dock from the center of the boat, not one end or the other. This now prevents either the bow, or stern from drifting away by the wind or current. Of course this is just temporary until you get the other more permanent lines attached.

Here you can see the operations of Cheater Line

photo coming

2nd Line When Retrieving Boat to Trailer ; How many times have you tried to retrieve a boat onto the trailer and the wind or tide wanted to move the boat in a direction other than where you wanted/needed it to go if you only had a bow line attached?

Here the secret is to use the wind or current to your favor and not to fight it. Tie up to the side of the dock so that the wind pushes your boat away from it. Back your trailer down but more away from your dock than normal, and have it a bit deeper than normal, which gives you a bit more advantage later. Then the answer is to use 2 lines, the bow line AND the stern.

When you tie a boat to the dock, you always secure it with both a bow and a stern line anyway. Use the same stern lines, (these stern lines may have to be a tad bit longer than when just for moorage using this method however) in conjunction with the bow line. Matter of fact, I keep 2 stern lines permanently attached, one to each stern mooring cleats along with the bow line also attached to it's cleat at all times. The bow line is 30' and the stern lines are 20' long. This way I can use either attached side line at the rear, depending which side the wind is blowing when I come into the dock.

Here, one person can now walk the boat down the dock/launch area even with the wind blowing if you choose the proper side of the dock so the wind WILL WOR FOR YOU by pushing the boat away from YOUR dock, but controlled by you. If the boat gets too close to your dock because of lack of wind, just kick it out a bit. Give yourself enough space so when pulling, you can get the boat moving fast enough to slide up onto the trailer as seen in the photo below.

In use, untie the boat from the dock, let the wind blow it slightly away, then pull the boat forward with the stern line and guide the bow into position with the bow in line and onto with the trailer. You need to be aggressive here, pull hard and move fast.

By having the trailer a tad deeper than normal, and pulling on the stern line, guiding with the bow line, gaining some boat speed as you go, you can slide the boat up onto the trailer far enough to snap the winch line into the boat bow eye and winch it on from there.

My bow line is longer than needed here because when launching alone, I tie a loop in the end and drop it over the trailer winch upright, which then tethers my boat to the trailer after launching, and I can then pull the trailer forward enough to get it out of the way, yet have the boat follow the trailer the water behind it. I can then get out of the vehicle, remove the rope from the trailer and move the boat to the side of the ramp, or to the dock to be secured until I can park the vehicle. Therefore MY bow rope needs to be long enough for the boat (at launch time) to clear the rear of my trailer.

It is a good idea to get into the habit of putting out your fenders (bumpers to you landlubbers) before you put your boat in the water and before you approach a dock. This saves scraped paint, dents and scratches. Sure you may be a good skipper, but on a busy afternoon, other boaters may not be as concerned as you and may be making waves that you can not avoid, pushing you into the dock, or other boats. Plus not all docks may not be the same height above the water which can scrape your hull.

Here relatively easy maneuvering is accomplished along the dock, using the wind to your advantage by pushing the boat AWAY from YOUR dock, and by you pulling the stern line while at the same time, guiding the boat with the bow line. This helps maneuver the boat in position as you gain momentum and pull it onto the trailer, making for a less hassle when
in non-power loading in windy, or tight conditions

You will notice in the photo below, that the trailer is backed slightly deeper in the water than if you would normally be when power loading.

Here you see, by using this method, the boat being guided mostly onto the trailer,
and close enough to now affix the winch line to the bow eye & finish the job

Launching Light for Your Trailer ; There may come a day, either morning or evening when you would wish you had backup lights on your trailer. Having your buddy walk behind the trailer wheels with a dim flashlight showing the launch and your tires is not ideal. Occasionally you may be in a situation where you may need to launch before daylight if you have to reach your intended fishing area for the daylight bite at tide change.

(Option 1) Is to mount a set of sealed backup lights to the rear lower part of the trailer fender and wire them in with the backup light wire of the towing vehicle. This way they come on every time you back up. My thought was not to go for the more expensive and much brighter LED lights, but stay with the regular incandescent type bulb, not only because I do not think it would be necessary for that bright a light when it only is only to identify the ramp's edge a few feet away, but the LEDs may pretty well blind anyone near you or on a double ramp when backing up.

I chose to mount one on each trailer fender step. These units that I picked are oval shaped so they can fit under the fender's rear or can be bolted onto a galvanized plate that is in this case bolted to the top of the plastic fender step. They come with a rubber grommet to hold them into a Ell shaped mounting bracket. I wanted a sealed type type light (these are not sealed beam, but a regular incandescent bulb that is sealed inside a plastic unit) because of them being near or possibility immersed in salt water. The brand I that suited my needs was made by Peterson Mfg Co. http://www.pmlights.com/ purchased them thru Car Quest automotive for a total price of about $65. The light unit kit itself is #416K where the replacement light itself would be #416. This included the light unit, rubber grommet and 2 wire pigtail right angle plug, but needed the Ell bracket as a separate item. Then of course a new 7 wire plug in and matching 7 wire RV type cable.

These units consist of polycarbonate lens, sonic welded to housing to form single unit, so supposedly being waterproof. 12-volt lamps are designed with single filament, 2.1 amp, 32 cp bulb.

Most towing type vehicles will be pre-wired for a towing package which will include the standard 7 prong receptacle on the vehicle. One of these wires will be from the vehicle's backup light to the receptacle. HOWEVER identify it with a 12 volt test probe and connect a wire from the wiring harness going into the trailer tongue, then extend that wire from there to your backup lights. NOTE, locate the wires to the terminals by function only as color coding may not be the standard with all manufacturers.

If you wanted to be able to manually turn these lights on, you would need to run a switched fused wire from the battery or splice in to these wires at the tongue of the trailer to install a switch below the winch.

Assembling the light to the grommet and bracket is only accomplished by using soapy water as it is a very snug fit. The pigtailed wire plug to the light uses bayonet type connectors and comes with dielectric grease already on the female ends. There are 2 wires, a red and white. Here the white is ground.

On this installation, a sheet of galvanized 1/16" sheet metal was used as a base and was extended rearward enough over the step to accommodate the light unit. This was then bolted on top of the original step while being sure to utilize the step bracing under the plastic fender.

A piece of old carpet was cut to match the galvanized metal and 1/4" stainless steel RH bolts, lock washers and nuts were used for attaching both the step plate, the light unit, and the carpet to the trailer. On top of the carpet at the light attachment, a piece of galvanized metal 1 1/4" wide was bolted down using the same light bolts. This was to provide a more secure rear edge of the carpet, which now did not need any other means of attachment. This carpet provided for better foot traction when climbing in or out of the boat when on the trailer.

The light unit had the wires coming off on one side. It was inserted into the grommet/bracket so that the wires were closest to the frame of the trailer, thereby not hanging down. Wiring was ran up inside the trailer side rails using a electrician's snake and connected inside the tongue to the wiring pigtail was terminated.

One bit of advise, when locating the mounting holes, if your trailer has fender guides to facilitate reloading the boat like the one illustrated, be sure you locate the mounting holes in a location where you can get a drill motor in close enough to align up to drill the holes.

Now let me tell you if you launch in or near salt water more than a year or two, the steel bracket this light is mounted in will become rusted. Therefore, I had a sheet-metal friend of mine cut out stainless steel material and then took this to a neighbor who operates a machine shop specializing in farm and logging equipment repair. He also has a plasma cutter that I had him cut the oval hole out and then bend it. So now the light bracket and the top strap are made of stainless steel as seen below. You will also note that the light is angled a bit to the outside of the trailer, this helps give more lighted area to the side where needed.

Peterson #416 backup light kit unit mounted on an EZ Loader trailer

(Option 2) However if your need and budget dictates otherwise, a cheaper light unit can be made by utilizing one of the Blazer "Tractor Light" #C8011 from Amazon. A aluminum bracket was made of 1/8" material that straddles and attaches to the downrigger base using the downrigger bolt for quick and easy attachment. Between this new base and the light, a RAM ball socket mount unit designed for Sonar or GPS mounting was used. This gives you complete flexibility as to providing for the light to be shown where it is needed, and can be adjusted so this light can accommodate about any boat or ramp that has a Scotty downrigger. For power, it attaches into the downrigger power socket.

Just remember to have it handy (no digging under the bow storage in the dark) and ready to go before you get to the launch.

Here the docking light is mounted on a Scotty downrigger base for a launch light	Here the top view of this launching light, note the on/off switch on the forward side of the base

These lights also come in real handy when backing the trailer into a dark or not so well lighted a storage bay as described below.

Corroded Wheels ; After numerous years of fishing in saltwater, the trailer wheels became corroded even though they were galvanized. Initially I wire brushed them and then painted them with used 90 wt rear end differential oil. That helped for a few years. Then after I did the motor steering column repair and got the boat back fishable, I installed new tires. While this was down, I wire wheeled with a angle head grinder both the inner and outer side of both wheels, then repainted them. With a good primer, and outer gloss gray paint with numerous coats, this should last me a long time, considering the galvanizing is under this paint.

Under the Floorboards ; After numerous years of fishing on or near saltwater (some ocean, but mostly bays) and washing the deck down with this water, (but always rewashing with fresh water at home) I noticed possible corrosion at the juncture of the floor and the sidewalls. I scraped/wire brushed it out as much as possible and repainted that area. Then one winter, I tore the floorboards up to inspect and fully clean/repaint this location of the lower sidewalls.

   Surprisingly, the area where I was concerned was not bad at all. HOWEVER, I found that the poured in floatation foam under the floor sides (the center area contained the fuel tank) was WATERLOGGED BADLY, which required total removal.

   In my ocean fishing, I would occasionally come across floating debris, and if it was large chunks of dock floatation, I would bring them home. From this, I cut, and fitted new full floatation under this flooring. Even adding some to a cavity in front of the 35 gallon fuel tank and up under the bow storage where there was none.

   Also while there, I found at the rear, blockages where the floor stringers needed larger holes drilled to allow any wash downed debris to pass through and into the center cavity behind and under the batteries to able to be pumped out or drained out thru the drain plug.

Using Wheel Chocks On Slippery Ramp ; One thing can be obvious, but many times overlooked when backing down a ramp with a pickup truck for recovery is that as the trailer starts down the ramp, if it is narrow enough and the ramp is steep enough, is that you the vehicle driver looses sight of the trailer when you are still on the top of the ramp and the trailer passes over the upper edge, then momentarily going out of sight as it goes down the ramp. This can be disastrous to the trailer tongue (and embarrassing) if you are not straight to start with and the trailer jack-knifes. A simple solution is to lower the tailgate (if there is clearance).

OK, for you guys who can afford payments on a newer 3/4 ton 4 wheel-drive pickup, with an automatic transmission, you can skip this section. Some of the older even classic pickups, (like my previous 1969 Ford F250 4 speed, 2 wheel drive) using the emergency brake that is foot activated and released by pulling a Tee handle under the dash that you can not feather it out, as it releases all at once can be a challenge. It is impossible to play the throttle, slip the clutch and feather the emergency brake for a smooth ride up the ramp towing a boat of any size. But with these chocks behind the rear tires, I could let the vehicle rest against the chocks while letting off the emergency brake.

There is usually no problem with the unloaded trailer because of the lighter weight. The recovery being the hardest, as you need to stop on the ramp, load the boat and then drive up a possibly wet/slippery ramp. Even with a limited slip rear differential, depending on the weight of the boat, you might need 200 - 300# of concrete weight in the back of the bed of an empty pickup to add to the traction.

This may also apply to those who are towing even a smaller boat with a 4 cylinder compact vehicle with a standard transmission.

So, my solution was to take a couple of sections of a 6" X 6" pressure treated wooden post about 12" long, sawed it diagonally lengthwise with a chain saw and made them into a set of triangle wooden chocks. Then screw a large screw eye in one end, then attach about 3' of 3/8" nylon rope to the eye. On the outer end of the rope put a large snap.

The front of the rope has a snap for attaching to an eye or hole under the rear bumper of the truck. When I get backed down to the low recovery point on the ramp, stop, put the emergency brake on, shut the engine off, and put the chocks behind the rear wheels, attaching the snap to the attachment point under the bumper. Now when the boat is loaded, I can start the engine, let the truck rock back and rest against the chocks, take the emergency brake off and drive up the ramp in low gear. The chocks follow me up the ramp like a well trained puppy.

With a newer pickup and smaller boat, I decided that only one chock should be sufficient, and place it behind the drivers side left front tire. For this usage, the rope needs to be longer than used if placed on the rear bumper, but not long enough to tangle in/under the rear tire when going up the ramp. This rope's end has a loop large enough to go over the drivers outside mirror. Place this loop over the mirror when you stop to reload the boat then when you drive up the ramp it will be drug up the ramp outside the vehicle's body and away from the rear tire.

Here a single chock under a front wheel is sufficient on this
muddy slimy bay ramp

Backing the Trailer Into a Dark Building ; The situation I have is that my driveway is not square with my RV bay in my barn. The driveway goes all the way alongside my long shop/ garage & then divides to go past one side of the barn to the corral behind and the other into my RV bay on that same side of the barn. The posts on the bay are 9' 6" apart so this leaves me with about 7" to clear on each side. Getting the pickup backed into the bay STRAIGHT all the way back is the chore. No problem getting the wheels into the opening, however getting the trailer STRAIGHT and parallel once it is in the slot is something different.

Now to locate the initial position of the trailer as compared to this crooked driveway, and laid out lines into the driveway extended from the posts, painted white stripes on the gravel. I now measured from the center of these stripes then calculated the distance from the center of my pickup to the center of the steering wheel and painted another stripe, but this time in blue. Now extended out across the lawn and into the wife's rhododendron bushes is a wooden blue 2"X 2" in line with the blue mark on the gravel. Beyond this reference post in the neighbors property is large limb extending off one of his large fir trees that I can now align these 2 to see to back straighter into the RV bay.

I then came up with using reflective tape in the rear of the bay just inside of the posts. Now to see the fenders is another thing. I just happen to have a set of Hitchin' Rods mentioned above. They have a magnet on the bottom, since my trailer fenders are plastic, I simply sat a 1/2" X 4" X 6" price of steel on top of the drivers side fender and plunked the Hitchin' Rod on it at the very outside edge of the fender. This gives me something to locate the outside of the fender with.

Now in the mirror, I can see both the rod and the reflective tape in the rear of the bay. And by using the painted rocks in the driveway and the alignment post in the flowers, this helps lower the blood pressure considerably.

Then I place a wood block on the floor which will be behind the trailer tire to stop me from going in too far and bumping something expensive, (like the motor).

If you have added a set of backup lights to your trailer as described above, this will help illuminate what is behind you.

Here are the alignment rocks painted white extending the sides of the barn posts & the reflective tape inside	Shown here is the Hitchin' Rod on the fender & the reflective tape in the rear of the bay

Backing Up to Align the Trailer Hitch ; I have tried numerous inventions to cut down on the getting out, looking, backing, getting out, looking, etc. But at a Sportsman's Show a couple of years ago I bought a set of Hitchin' Rods sold by www.qwrks.com. The reasonable price of $20.00 a set has sure saved much time and numerous get out and looks to see the progress. These are a set of 2 hollow fiberglass rods 48"long. They are finished in a bright greenish yellow and are about the size of the front part of a pool que. There is a magnet attached to the base. In use you just place one on the top of the trailer hitch ball and the other on to the top of the trailer hitch coupler. Back up aligning the 2 rods in your center rear view mirror, then if the coupler is high enough to clear the ball, when the trailer coupler knocks the rod off the ball, and you are there.

One word of advise, do not leave a lot of height gap between the hitch and the ball, otherwise since the rod has a magnetic base, the hitch will just push it forward and over-ride, trapping the rod between the two and the rod result will be the rod will be shattered near the base.

Here the rods are aligned by viewing thru the center rear view mirror & the coupler is almost ready to knock off the front one

Compensation ; Another thing to consider, is that there is a big difference between an invitee on a private boat than booking with a guide, in that the guide is licensed and getting paid (many times beforehand) for his expertise and use of his boat/rods/reels/bait. He will often bait your hook and may even cast your line out. He may even set your hook if you are preoccupied (bullshitting with other clients).

A private boat owner/fisherman should not have to deal with all of this for an average invitee. The invitee may have his/her own tackle and hopefully knows how to use it and do their own baiting. On occasions the invitee could be a total novice, which would be known beforehand and taken into consideration.

Guiding without a license is illegal in most states, so when someone who is not a licensed guide, and offers an open seat in his boat, he's not (or should not be) expecting to be paid the price of a guide for taking you fishing. However IF, after being pushed, and skipper even sets a estimated price, he can be nailed as at times IF the recipient may turn out to be a undercover law enforcement plant. How I try to get around this question IF PUSHED, is that I explain my average fuel consumption for the boat and towing vehicle, insurance costs, AND that I maintain my equipment constantly.

Just the same, it's common for fishing buddies who fish together to share some of the expenses. If one drives his vehicle and brings the boat, his buddy brings lunches, ice, beverages, and bait and they usually split the fuel bill. There are any number of ways to make the relationship one of mutual benefit, one being trading trips if both have different types of boats or a hunting travel trailer if the trip is extended.

I have, been on numerous occasions, where the invitee was oblivious as to expenses incurred in the boat, gear and transportation vehicle, OR they thought that I was Mr. Nice DEEP POCKETS Guy. This being from saying he offered no compensation, but said as he walked away that he left some snacks in my cooler. Or another to offering $15 for a full day of fishing, where he lost some of my gear, I covered all the expenses including use of my rod, fuel for both the boat and towing vehicle and he took home 2 salmon (me none). Then there was the doctor's wife who would NOT use the onboard Port-A-Potty and I had to take her back to the dock twice. At times like this, some names seem to slide to the very bottom (if not off the of the invite list).

Of course, expenses will be different, depending on where and how you fish. If you run 15 or 20 miles + at sea and then have to search to find fish, spend a whole day, and have to buck a wind on the way back in, would be different than if you fished a bay or river and only ran a few miles, trolled and ran back to again troll which would use a lot less fuel. And if you were using bait as compared to lures, all makes a difference on expenses incurred.

However, on the whole, I have found that there are considerably more good invitees than bad. We seem to remember the bad times, more than the good ones.

I have found that by placing a TIP JAR with a long/wide slot on my dash right in front of the passenger seat, thereby no verbal explaining the situation was needed. And after a couple of seasons, the donations have considerably improved (and some surprisingly so).

Here is one suggestion that I have predominately displayed on my boat

Here is The Finished Product ; I have spent many hours scratching my head, and then carrying out these ideas of outfitting this to fulfill my fishing needs as compared to when originally getting the bare boat.

Obviously as you can see by this long article, this is not my first fishing boat. And with my many modifications, it has proved itself as a fishing machine many times over, it's small enough to be used on most lakes, yet large enough for ocean usage if conditions are favorable, it will handle considerably more of somewhat unfavorable water conditions than I want to be aboard it in, (Been There-Done That) and not by choice. And by lending itself to easily accommodate a couple of invite passengers, or a solo fisherman (me), if timing and conditions warrant, I am quite proud of what it has turned into.

And as you may have guessed by now, my boat is crammed (BUT NOT CLUTTERED) with lots of items that can make boating/fishing more enjoyable or safe, like tools, charts, spare parts, fuses, extra rods, rain gear etc. to name a few.

Shown in the photo below is proof that this boat does what it was designed for.

A nice day's catch of Chinook to 16# & a Coho,
myself & my son on September 9, 2011, Willapa Bay

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Originated 02-05-2021, Last updated 03-13-2023

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Here is the original Starboard "step".	Shown the Port "step" is removed for more floor space.

Note the wasted space under this seat on a pedestal	After -- Here the same boat & seat as on the left photo, but using a Lazy Susan type swivel setting on top of a 16" X 20" welded aluminum storage box with a hinged lid

Here the Port under seat storage, safety dry box, tools in dry box, spare engine parts, spare starter rope, First Aid kit, distress flag, Dee handle gaff & 2 drift socks	Here the Starboard under seat storage, 5 gallon Port-A-Potty bucket, sea anchor, mooring bungee, poncho, cooking pans, towels & TP in zip-lock bag, & other miscl.

Here the Furuno Radar & Furuno secondary sonar screen are seen	Here the helm Lowrance GPS/sonar & VHF radio

Rod holder bases used to mount removable docking lights	Here the lights from the left photo were moved to the top front of the new radar arch

Shown from the rear, is the lip all the way around the rear and sides with rubber protective molding on top & blood slots in the back lip	Shown from front, the cleaning / work station / cushion with the removable cushion in place

Shurflow wash-down pump installation in a pre-existing boat location behind a fold-down door & nestled in with the fuel tank fill / vent lines.	The coil hose, nozzle & rocker switch mounted on the front panel, the switch itself is protected by the rod-holder when the hose is off.

A view of the original scupper drain hole	Clamshell covering the larger scupper hole

Here is a small mid LED light installed in the starboard side rail	Here we have rear deck lights mounted on the radar arch's outer corners