this should be better for fishing

[68C15]

this thread will take me a few days to complete. maybe more. but don't worry, I'll do what I can to show just how creative and cheap I can be while keeping safety and functionality in mind. I will post pics of before and after but the in-progress pics do not exist. apologies are in order

last summer I bought a 1970 Alumacraft Jamaica 15' trihull from the original owner. he used it for a total of 6 years. the rest of it's life has been spent in his garage and covered.

it worked OK for the last 1/3 of the season but a lack of front and rear casting decks made it somewhat inconvenient. also not having a livewell for the perch, smallmouths, walleys, and northerns was bad.

I spent 2 months sitting on the water waiting for a bite and plotting my changes. one criteria I absolutely had to adhere to was not drilling or cutting any holes in an unmolested and pristine boat.

after lots of thought and brainstorming with my neighbor (also an addicted fisherman) we came up with measurements and a game plan. all I had to do was convince my accounting department of the cost-benefit relationship. I kept the investment lower than the initial purchase price until she got involved with some of her recommended extras. I loved it when she said we need a good trolling motor.

the first thing I did was made templates of the pieces I needed made from plywood. all this was done using 3/8 foam board from Lowe's and many many strips of masking tape. 16 individual parts make up the front deck due to the boat's 3 different platforms and numerous angles. BTW, a box of 1000 1/4" crown staples and 2 caulking gun tubes of wood adhesive don't go as far as one might think. LOL

[68C15]

once I got the main structure built I started thinking about carpet. granted the official marine carpet is the best choice I opted for the less expensive choice and went with porch and deck carpet from Menard's. it was less than half the price and if it lasts 3 years I will be happily surprised. I have to say, the carpet looks good except for the one door where I didn't get the nap facing the right way and some random areas where my wife's cat used it as a scratching post. it's amazing how well one of those lint shavers for sweaters works on these spots. after 3 or 4 episodes of that I decided to start covering it all in plastic drop cloths.

then came time to mount the doors and piano hinges. what a PITA that was. have you ever tried to drive #4 screws through carpet into the end of 3/8" plywood? it aint easy while keeping the hinges and doors aligned. persistence paid off and all 8 doors were on straight.

up next was fabricating some way to position 5 Plano 3700 series tackle trays in the center front door of the rear deck. for this I used 1x1x1/16 aluminum angle and countersunk machine screws. the bad part is my original plans called fro 4 trays. with 5, I no longer had room for the door catch. oh well, I went with a barrel bolt instead.

for the door pulls I got these cute little things from the local boat dealer for about $2 each. Delrin door pulls is what they call them. most all of the new boats on their floor had them so I figured it must be OK.

[entourageguy]

yea this is all great but it's all still a story ....

[68C15]

they're coming. first I have to figure out the pic resizing. I used to have it down pat, but this new windows 7 has me thrown for a loop.