What's the best way to close off the rear section of an old Double Eagle where the batteries and bildge is?

[smokedvw]

I'm trying to figure out the best way to close this area up so while fishing, fish don't end up in the bildge.



I thought of cutting a piece of plywood then hinging it to the floor with a latch where those rod holders are or having it sit in a channel on the floor so I can take it out when not fishing. I'll want water to flow back there for cleaning etc.

I know back in the day they used to put vinyl snaps there.

I'm sure many others have figured it out so I'm curious on suggestions.

I know when we caught some larger lings on a friend's boat I realized I have to sort this out ASAP as I can't be having one bite my hand off as I try to fish it out back there

Thanks

 

[ship happens]

What about hinging it from the top so your not making holes in the floor, and putting a latch so it can stay up when you want it to?

 

[smokedvw]

What about hinging it from the top so your not making holes in the floor, and putting a latch so it can stay up when you want it to?

I was originally thinking that with some kind of stop so it won't swing back which I could probably do on each side of the boat VS floor.

I might just have to cut some plywood and try to see what would work best.

 

[N2013]

I’ll give you my 2 cents that will eventually address your question. DE 185s have poor fish storage. I run a ‘99 and have played around with a few options; fish tub with a burlap sac on top made a mess under my motor well, a kill bag under the motor well, and a hard cooler up front in the front step into the cuddy. I find the kill bag works best for day trips. Multi day I’ll use a cooler up front. Downside is that it blocks the drainage into the bilge. Ideally, having the kill bag up on the rubber flooring you have, would help alleviate any drainage issue. For my setup, it’s important to have that area open (access to fuse block, kill bag, kicker gas tanks). I do have a fabric cover I usually have dropped down that keeps some of the mess out. Sometimes when it’s rough, I’ll have my knees against motor well where your rod holders are, thus my toes are under it as well. If you had a flap extending down toward the floor, it would have to be high enough for your toes to get under and possibly a fish. That area is a good space for fish storage in my experience and wouldn’t want anything hanging down in front of it. Try a kill bag before you go drilling more holes. Mine is a 36” bag. Plus you could probably gain some more space under there by tidying up that area as well (shorten some lines, re route some wires, not sure if that port side battery is secured or not). You’ll be amazed how much more space you’ll have. Plus I found some old holes that needed to be sealed up. Hope this helps.

 

[smokedvw]

@N2013 my thought was to put a cooler up front in the step down area by the driver and passenger seat to store fish. Maybe I should just look at a long tote for under bed storage that runs the full way across. We rarely go out for long so I can just throw fish in there and it's tucked away. I did some cleaning up of wires recently so it shouldn't be a issue.

I have a battery on each side and they are tucked back. In that photo it's not secured properly as I was charging them and doing some maintenance.

 

[Corey_lax]

U channels top and bottom and some cheap plastic lattice. Nice and lightweight.

 

[RiverBoy]

What i personally do in my DE185 is bonk fish and bleed in the engine well area. i run a short rope thru their gills so they don’t flip out or get lost out the stern. once bled i transfer to an iced kill bag like N2013 does. the front drop down area is for my food / bevy cooler.

btw my DE is a 2007 and still has the vinyl snap cover, i just don’t use it as i like to see what’s going on back there with bilge etc

 

[JohnS]

So when a fish is flopping around, throwing slime and blood.. it's getting all over your guys batteries/fuel filter etc? How do you keep that clean? When that crap drains into the bilge, how do you keep that clean??

 

[Chinookslayer]

So when a fish is flopping around, throwing slime and blood.. it's getting all over your guys batteries/fuel filter etc? How do you keep that clean? When that crap drains into the bilge, how do you keep that clean??

1st world problems! Unless you have a self bailing deck this is pretty normal....

 

[scott craven]

Throw your fish in a tub or a fish bag, problem solved !

 

[Fisher_dude]

Could always add in more storage. My dad and I built this for his boat.

 

[RiverBoy]

So when a fish is flopping around, throwing slime and blood.. it's getting all over your guys batteries/fuel filter etc? How do you keep that clean? When that crap drains into the bilge, how do you keep that clean??

i have a sponge and a collapsible bucket. deck gets a quick rinse and when i get home i pull the plug and rinse and sanitize. fish gets bonked, gills bled in sternwell of boat.

 

[wolf]

small boat your quite limited be thankfull that getting too much fish is a problem we run the same boats at lodge kill bag or we use strofoam box inbetween seats or in well is really the only solution yeah it sucks

 

[SpringVelocity]

small boat your quite limited be thankfull that getting too much fish is a problem we run the same boats at lodge kill bag or we use strofoam box inbetween seats or in well is really the only solution yeah it sucks

Lol

 

[Ancient Mariner]

I'm trying to figure out the best way to close this area up so while fishing, fish don't end up in the bildge.

View attachment 94723

I thought of cutting a piece of plywood then hinging it to the floor with a latch where those rod holders are or having it sit in a channel on the floor so I can take it out when not fishing. I'll want water to flow back there for cleaning etc.

I know back in the day they used to put vinyl snaps there.

I'm sure many others have figured it out so I'm curious on suggestions.

I know when we caught some larger lings on a friend's boat I realized I have to sort this out ASAP as I can't be having one bite my hand off as I try to fish it out back there

Thanks

Make your own fish box out of plywood and fiberglass the inside edges and it will never leak. You can make to fit the space you have under the well.

 

[wolf]

Or if you know a fab guy in aluminum get one custom made a great fab guy coulc have that done in no time.

 

[sasqman]

I made a removable platform out of plywood and painted it on my old double eagle.
Cooler went on top and just starpped the handles with bungee coards.
Cloth fabric worked well for keeping items out of the bilge.