Northwest Fishing Reports

As some of you may know, the GF and I recently bought our 1st boat!
I want to tweak it to make it better suited for me.... uhh i mean us.
It is a Lund WC14.

Now I dont know if it's possible, but I want to make a front platform for it.
It currently has a few plywood boards held up by brackets along the benches from the previous owner. It's just resting on top of it. Easily removable.

I feel the current setup is not very strong. Afraid of the boards breaking in half if I stand on it wrong. Carpet would be nice i think..




And a standing swivel seat on the front bench. If you look carefully, you can see 4 mounting holes for it already. Also is a front trolling motor with pedal possible?

I dunno.... so confused.

...and so it begins :jocolor:

FishingFool you've come to the right place! Congrats on your purchase. You will absolutely love your set up. Anyways, I have a Lund WC16 that I made a front deck on. It provides ample storage, strong enough to stand on, and provides a good sun/fishing deck. Here's some pics of it. PM and I'll tell you exactly how I did it. the deck/storage hatch is by far the best improvement that I've done to the boat. Having the free floor space is very valuable.

I also was able to hide my battery in that compartment and added a 4 switch panel and trolling motor plug in the rear. This also helped free up floor space and made the boat ride more level with better weight distribution.

FishingFool PM if you have any questions.

Looking at it from the middle bench seat.

From the bow of the boat. The deck is level with the front seat. The deck is about 48" long and wide.

Here is the underside of the deck. The front is screwed into the front step on the boat and the rear sits on an angled aluminum piece mounted to the front of the front bench seat.

Are either of you going to add carpet (or a poly coating) over the wood? I know some dont like it due to staining and odor holding ability but compared to wet fiberglass, it gives much better foot hold.

We just did a deck in our open bow with 3/4 outdoor plywood. Works great, no flex. Adding the onboard charging stuff to recharge the trolling batts. (managed to suck them dry and now way to recharge till we got back to the hotel)

Staying in fresh or thinking about salt? Were looking at downriggers, not that Id consider them bling. GPS would be nice for trolling since the paddle wheel spedo doesnt give accurate readings at 1 mph. A radio, need tunes.

Lets just say I try to stay out of the boat section when Im shopping.$$$$$$$

It looks like FishingFool already has some downriggers on the back of his boat. I do as well. I run the Scotty's Lake Troller downriggers. Nothing big but they get down there and just clamp to the side of the boat. As far as covering the deck, I've thought about carpet but just haven't. I'm not sure I'm going to though. However, after all the holes were drilled and everything was mocked up, I took the whole deck assembly apart and covered it with epoxy resin. The deck got 3 coats top, bottom, exposed sides, and screw holes. I put a little sand in it so even when wet it still has a very gripping surface. The deck on my boat is 48" long and has no flex to it at all. I used 3/4" marine grade ply.

Initially, it did cost a little bit but it is holding up extremely well. Water just runs right off of it. I wish every small v-hull or jon boat had storage like mine.

FF,
how thick is the plywood you have?.looks like a good setup if it's 3/4" ply.
I would think it would make good storage if it's bolted down. keep in mind that a pedestal seat up front will change your Center of Gravity some.

Maury wrote:FF,
how thick is the plywood you have?.looks like a good setup if it's 3/4" ply.
I would think it would make good storage if it's bolted down. keep in mind that a pedestal seat up front will change your Center of Gravity some.

Looks like 3/4" ply. It's stained with something too.

Question about the trolling motor. Will it fit on my bow? I dont know how they are installed or their size....:batman:

Similiar setup Clark. How is your board supported against the boat? Is it just laying on it? Or do you add some support up front?

They make a metal bracket that mounts to the bow you attach the motor to. It also depends on which motor your using. Hand control? Foot control?

Scratch carpet. Use a roll-on/spray on bed liner or similar non-skid material for your decking. I re-carpeted mine and wish I would've gone the other route now. Way easier to clean (just hose it off) and far more durable.

If you like the look of carpet by an industrial adhesive and use carpet to run up the sides of the boat instead of the floor: looks sharp, dampens sound, and provides a convenient place to stick lures not in use other than on the floor!! Lowes sells outdoor carpeting for cheap, got enough to do my whole boat for only 50$, the adhesive is where the $$$ comes in, about 80-90$ per gallon for the good stuff.

Matt

RaMcVey wrote:They make a metal bracket that mounts to the bow you attach the motor to. It also depends on which motor your using. Hand control? Foot control?

I'm looking for foot control. One of those fancy Minn Kotas unless I should go with something else?

I'm confused as to where it has to be installed. I see most of them installed on the very top "point" area.




I labeled that as 1. But on my boat, that's where the anchor loops through at the very tip. I dont even know what you call it, but is my anchor plate removable? I havent even touched the anchor itself yet.


Or can i put it on the part where I labeled 2.

Also, how do you wire up a trolling motor? I understand the different volts will require multiple batteries. But I plan on sticking with a 12v.

Basicly, just connect motor to battery and that's it?

The one I saw was for a transom mount trolling motor so that you could mount it to the bow.

When we put a bow mount, foot control motor on ours, were going to use a quick disconnect bracket

You need crawfish-scented fuzzy dice and curb-feelers to properly pimp this out.

What about the black light disco ball for night fishing?

wow, now this is an awesome job.

Xzibit would be proud.


http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=320389


I'm loving that troller mount and front deck. But I dont have that much time on my hands or the skill to do that...

Cutting and installing that deck wouldnt take more than an afternoon. If you have a good place to run the wires then your set.

You'll have to probably drill a couple holes in the top edge of the sidewall lip or I bet a clamping setup could be found/devised to hold the motor deck in place. If done right It shouldnt interfere with the ancor guide. What about that ancor guide...??? Have you thought about an electric ancor motor? Could set under the trolling motor deck or on it possibly.

For running wires, I hole-sawed holes in the bench seats near the top of the seat. I used 3/4" PVC to protect and run the wires. I also added a string in there for future running of wires or components.

Hey FF- what kinda wires are you running? let me know what awg and size quick connects, and what size diameter you need for conduit and I can hook you up with flexible stuff instead of hard PVC, easier to move around. I do cable assemblies for a living and our office is right at the bottom of the hill in Auburn-

I can help you with curtains for your boat.It depends on how pimpy you want it to look. A gold trailer ball with those gold rims for the trailer.If you gonna capet it use some nice shag.Then name it the Ho-Boat.

i build boats for a famuos boat builder. the wood you are using needs to be marine grade then resin coated if you want it to last. i cant see in your pic how you are attaching it to the hual. its great fun to build boats for your own custom specs. any questions--c.m.kubeck@hotmail.com i dont read mail but once a week