Modifications you're proud of...

[TenMile]

Had my brother make me some very cool rod holders out of some walnut hardwood from a tree on his property:

View attachment 4109

Added a new cockpit awning to keep the rain off along with a new storage cover for the flybridge. Decided to mount an 85W solar panel on the awning along with a Charge Controller to keep my house and start batteries topped off. Like one of the earlier posts, I also have an ACR so the panel ensures that both batteries are fully charged and allows me to run my fridge without having to plug the boat in...

Also added this TriMetric 2025 battery monitor. It monitors the Amps in/out to my house batteries and the overall % State of Charge based upon the juice that the solar panel pumps into the system. It's directly based upon the number of Amp Hours you set in the monitor for the size of the system batteries. Also monitors the voltage of my start battery so that I can be sure it's also well charged. This photo shows that my 85W panel (rated to produce about 4.8 Amps) basically operates at close to full capacity.

Added a second mounting station for my HDS-10 so that I can see it from the cockpit while fishing -- otherwise, while travelling it's mounted at the helm on the flybridge.

No photos of this one, but it was a cool mod. The boat slowly accumulates rainwater in the engine compartment bilge area and it totally bugs me. The level is too low for the bilge pumps to remove it, but it's about 1" deep across a long area and probably adds up to 2-3 gallons. It was a major pain climbing down into the engine compartment with a manual bilge pump to get the water out. Anyhow, I got hold of a cheap washdown/diaphragm pump and rigged it to a switch in the dash -- plumbed it so that I can turn it on, and it sucks the bilge completely dry in about 5 minutes.

All these mods are above and beyond what I needed to do to make the boat fishy (riggers, rod holders etc) and to replace all the pumps and electrical components that were neglected by the previous owner.

 

[Hookin'up]

Hey Ten,
would you mind posting a link to that washdown pump, I have the same issue and it bugs me too
curious about the pump you used tho, what kind of pick-up does it use to suck that close to the bilge floor
Tim

 

[TenMile]

I got the cheapest one that Westmarine sells -- don't need pressure or speed as there really isn't much water for it to suck up. Most of the washdown pumps are diaphragm type pumps that can self-prime and run dry without damage.

On the intake side, I plumbed a pipe that runs into the bilge and has a 90 degree elbow so it basically sucks the water right off the floor.

If you want to improve on this mod, you can get a timer made by Water Witch that turns the pump on over a regular schedule -- e.g. once a week for 5-10 minutes to keep the boat dry.

 

[Hookin'up]

Great Idea, Thanks

 

[Fisher_dude]

My dad and I finally got sick of steering the boat from the back so I fabbed up a steering system. Bought a steering arm with quick connects from Can Tire for $35 and some stainless gear clamps for $10 from Princess Auto. A couple hours in the shop and this is what I came up with. Works awesome and is easy to connect/disconnect while on the water.

 

[Hookin'up]

Hey FD you should put some water pipe foam insulation on it, if you were to ever accidentally drop it out on the water it would float,
or use a piece of kids pool noodle slice it down the middle and slide it over the rod and zap strap in place

 

[Fisher_dude]

That's an awesome idea. I'll do it tomorrow when I go out laker fishin.

 

[Sharphooks]

Nothing like bombarding the fish with 1 kW of transmission power---Airmar M260 mounted as a shoot-through on the floor of my Arima, with a smaller Airmar shoot-through just behind it for extreme shallow water reading :

Creative chopping of the helm position: routered out a nice hand-rest for feathering the throttle---actually, one of the best mods I did to the boat!

Really sexy marine-ply transom for my fixed bracket---I don't even want to think how many hours went into that mod

Anchor bracket for my Rocna Anchor (best anchor I've EVER used on a boat)

 

[Finished Business]

Rocna Anchor...a buddy has one and showed me just why its his favorite anchor of all time. gauranteed righting, sets immidiately. Nice mods!

 

[Sculpin]

Wow nice mod's sharphooks! I like that cut out for the throttle control. Good idea. I'm very jealous of that transducer.

 

[Sharphooks]

Hey Sculpin

Thanks for that. And just so you know--there's a guy on THT who's handle is SemperFifishing who got a volume deal on transducers from Airmar---his prices for both the M260 shoot-through and the TM260 (transom mount puck style) are considerably below normal retail. He also has the new through-hull SS264"W"'s .

 

[staying alive]

My mod I'm proud of

was cleaning the boat up on the weekend and decided to take a few pics of my invention from last year and share it with the forum. So Basically I had 2 problems where to stow my fish cleaning tray, and where to mount my barbeque when running, and have it all functional ,so here's what I did

 

[Mighty Sylvan]

New addition

My new radar. Replaced the electronics cupboard with a flush mount setup to fit the new display. My stuff is not top of the line but functional while on a budget.

 

[finaddict]

well done, James.I like the upgrade to your dash, Very professional look.

Cheers

 

[Mighty Sylvan]

Thanks Steve,

Now to get out and use it. Since Toquarht is gone. Are you interested in an anchor out trip in the broken group? Earl too? Pm me dates and I'll make it happen.

 

[finaddict]

Hey James, your PM is full. Scrub it out and I'll send you a PM

Cheers

 

[Mighty Sylvan]

After a season with radar I realized it is more important to be seen then it is to see in the fog. There are lots of sportfishing boats out there (with radar) that do not put out a strong signal. It is ugly but it can be taken down on the days without fog and put in the cuddy.

Sorry, I tried to rotate.

 

[Mighty Sylvan]

Ok this should work

 

[Highliner]

View attachment 11564

Ok this should work

Ah, that makes my neck feel better.

 

[finaddict]

I had mentioned the fish cleaning table previously, but now that the weather is finally good, I took the pics to show how I designed it. starboard is a terrific product to work with. I wanted a cleaning table that I could stow on the side of the cockpit and also use as a shelf to store the gaff in a special custom bracket that I built, club and steering link between the motors. It also ends up holding a lot of crap during the day when we are working the gear. You will notice the handle I cut into it. Definitely recommended. It makes the whole handling of it so much easier. The table is built with 1/2" starboard and counter sunk s.s. # 8 wood screws that are 3/4".



The table mounts to the side and also to the cockpit coaming with 2 Magna barbque mounts.





When I first built the table it was too sort and after cleaning several fish, my back would be killing me so I added the short extensions and raised it up about 5".



This pic shows the table in its mounts. I have both freshwater and raw water hoses that I can have at the table (this only shows the fresh water hose) and I added a beverage holder as it is usually a celebratory pop during the cleaning




This pic shows the table from above with the aluminum ruler riveted to the edge. Coincidentally the table is exactly 83 cm, not that that means anything anymore....... You can also see the drain hole at the back which is far enough outside of the boat to not drain onto the hull.

The final pic shows the detail of the knife holder as well.


The table has worked great and I find I prefer to use it rather than many of the cleaning stations at the docks which are usually not well maintained, unsanitary and full of bacteria and flies.