new project fishing machine

[gmreeves]

That thing is sweet! Great work.

[MadisonBoats]

Originally Posted by Troutman

Finally finished up the boat and now all it needs is an outboard motor. I've looked at a few used 10hp, but may end up saving for awhile and buying a new one.

Wow! You have done a fabulous job! I love your boat and the heart and soul you put in to it! This is the quality of a restoration job for competition.

If you do not mind; I will try and add a few suggestions that I have learned the hard way. You may want to make the middle table a drop or collapsible table. If you get in and out of your boat to wade; this could get in the way and if you are fishing in the boat; your line will love to wrap around it. I had those oar locks that you have and ended up removing them too. Seems like fly line loves to wrap on anything exposed.

You might want to add some flotation depending how your boat sets and moves in the water...? Take it out a few times and fish it how you plan on using it. If it sets deep in the back and is stable; you can flip the boat upside down and spray in a few cans of extra expanding foam. Also, you can always put some old orange life jackets under the seats. Cut some metal coat hangers a little longer than the width of the seat-base and they will hold the jackets up off the floor.

I would look for a 60-80# thrust trolling motor and skip the boat motor. It would be pricey; around - $600-700. However, no gas tank-silent running, easy start and correction, extra accessibility. You can run upstream on one generator with that type of thrust. I run a 40# thrust and I avg about 8-10mph on gps in slack water. However, I can just inch up during one generation.

Make a nice dry place for a boat tool box. Always a must for the river.

Again, fabulous boat and great idea on the floor texture.

*Oh rod tubes are a must in my mind. I always put my rods in them. The do leave a residue on your eyelets at times, but, I have never broke a rod. 1 1/2 seems to work well for me. Too small and the last eyelet cannot fit. I drilled a hole about 4" up from the opening and added a small bungee sling to hold the reel in place while in transport. There have been three rods broken in my boat on floats and all of them have been left out in the open. You could get creative and saw the tubes at about 1/3 width and mount them flush too...

[Troutman]

Thanks for the compliments. Its been a fun job working on this. The shelf and cupholders are definetely line grabbers so I plan on making a stripping barrel to sit on the floor. probably a tall collapsable leaf basket that I can sew a pocket into the bottom and add a sand bag for weight. The floor of the boat is slightly curved, it should sit stable enough. if that doesn't work, I'll use a trash can! If you've ever seen the documentary "BASS, the movie", the fly guy uses a stripping barrel to control the fly line in the bass boats.

Both of the bench seats have the original solid foam floatation underneath the wood. I may build a shelf table about 4" high and put it in the stern behind the rear bench to sit the gas tank when I get a motor. I could add extra foam inside of it, if I find that the weight of the motor and gas tank cause the stern to ride low. I'm also thinking about mounting the battery underneath the front bench in the bow and running wiring thru the gunnel channel from the bow to the stern. I pulled the nose cone off to check for clearance and someone had done this in the past for bow lights , just need to replace with a high gauge wires for the trolling motor. may buy a cheap pair of battery jumpers and use the wire for this.

[Bran]

Gary, just saw this, that thing is sweet!!!!! Super job on that boat! Hope you enjoy it for many years to come, now you have to get some fish slime on it!!