21ft flat bottom The "Bucket"

[Flat Bottom]

We call that a poor mans windlass.......a must when fishing offshore. One time we put the anchor down in 350ft of water and forgot to bring the anchor ball.......that will never happen again. The first thing I always ask my buddie is....did you bring the ball? Try lifting a 35lb danforth with 40' 3/8 ss chain up from 350' buy hand.......it really sucks....took me a day to recover. #-o

Last year when the columbia river was ripping and the dam was opened wide I couldnt get my old style anchor to keep hooked so I attatched a 75lb concrete block to my 26 lb anchor, it finally held and was great for catching lots of shad. When the time came to pull the anchor we didnt have the float so we pulled in 100ft of that heavy bugger... needless to say I went to the 30lb columbia river anchor with the ball float and have not looked back lol.

 

[Badbagger]

I bet you haven't lmfao.

 

[Flat Bottom]

Found some spare time today to work on the casting/bait deck. I picked up a 4 x 8ft 1/2 inch thick rubber mat from a feed supply store. It had dimples on one side so I put that side down to drain and vent underneith it. It is heavy, I'm guessing probably 40lbs worth on the boat which is what I wanted, the boats a little aft heavy. Let me know what you think.

 

[Flat Bottom]

A few pics from fishing today, the weather turned a little crummy, and a shot of the boat as it currently sits.

 

[Pweisbrod]

That thing is a barge yo. Love it!

 

[cgaengineer]

The Polaris engine stand is the same one I use!

 

[Flat Bottom]

cgaengineer » Today, 03:22[/url]"]The Polaris engine stand is the same one I use!

Yeah, its an 05 700efi engine stand lol.

Here are a few pics from todays fishing trip, things are picking up a bit.

 

[cgaengineer]

cgaengineer » Today, 03:22[/url]"]The Polaris engine stand is the same one I use!

Yeah, its an 05 700efi engine stand lol.

Here are a few pics from todays fishing trip, things are picking up a bit.

I have two 4 wheeled engine stands, both 500cc...plenty fast for me...sometimes I forget to ride with my brain turned on!

Nice looking fish you got there!

 

[Flat Bottom]

Been stressing the thermostate in the 140 suzuki lately. It appears to work fine, but it sat for 20 years and i cant afford another one so I decided better safe than sorry. So I ordered the new stat and gasket and decided to start removing the old one so I could have a while to drill out the damn bolts I knew were gonna break off. 2 came out like they were brand new, 2 broke nearly instantly... drilled out a small hole in one of them and the son of a ×$#@×÷ drill bit broke, like 2 inches of it. So I spent several hours with chizels and drivers making it worse before giving up. Came back later and used thin strands of cable from an atv winch to jam in the flutes of the drill bit twisted and pulled, after about another hour or two walaa drill bit came out. Happy as a clam now tomorrow I just have to finish drilling (more carefully) tap the wholes out clean up the surfaces get new bolts and she should be good to go. Ill report back when I #$÷× things up again.

 

[Flat Bottom]

It got worse.

 

[Flat Bottom]

So the preventative maintenance plan to improve the longevity of the ol suzuki went as planned... Horrible. After broken bolts and cracks and everything horrible I wound up with a broke tap in a drilled out bolt hole. End of story for that hole. With my luck gone I used all the naval engineering I could muster to come up with a solution that will hopefully work just waiting on the new thermostat and gasket. I drilled and tapped a new hole into the face of the water jacket and jb welded a small stainless stud in the hole sealing it back up. This stud will be the anchor point for that corner of the thermostat cover. An aluminum piece will run across the stat cover from the opposite bolt to the new stud hopefully allowing the cover to properly seal. The only good thing about this situation is that I didn't really even count on this engine working in the first place so the fact that its been going strong for several years is a bonus. Its not in very good shape and I'm going to eventually need a re power. Hopefully this fix will at least hold the suzuki over while I save for the re power.

 

[Flat Bottom]

What I find a bit humerous is that the inside of the water jacket actually looks cleaner and less curroded than the exterior of the engine. The 20 years of sitting out in the open really had a heavy toll on the engine. Tho she runs pretty good for the shape shes in, she is in pretty poor cosmetic shape haha.

 

[Flat Bottom]

Got the thermostat replaced and sealed up nicely hopefully it will hold out for a while longer.

 

[riverrat174]

Genius fix. Give me your brain for a couple weeks. you can have mine!!!

 

[Flat Bottom]

riverrat174 » Yesterday, 10:10[/url]"]Genius fix. Give me your brain for a couple weeks. you can have mine!!!

Lol... I have to be resourceful because I can't afford brand new shiny things haha

 

[Flat Bottom]

Added some rod holder's, plan on adding another 3 rod holder to the front of the console when I make some room for it.

 

[Flat Bottom]

Had an interesting couple of weeks. Played tug boat for a family of 8 people stranded out on the river in a big fiber cabin boat, pulled them a mile or more through the current to their launch then ran out of fuel 1/2 mile from my launch and had to use the kicker to get in the last bit. Also had the biggest fish ive ever hooked on the end of my line. Spent over an hour and a half in the fight, the fish tried every trick in the book and nearly out smarted me a couple times. It surfaced three times so we got a decent look at it. It was the biggest sturgeon I had seen in person. During the fight it never tired and eventually pulled us several miles from the anchor into a rocky bottom where it loded itself in the rocks and didnt move. The line eventually cut on the rocks and the monster remains at large. The videos dont do it justice, we have pulled 10ft sturgeon to the boat after an hour, this one however never slowed down. Cant say how big it was, but it was the strongest fish ive ever seen fight.

[youtube]EzkOXukf8pw&sns[/youtube]

[youtube]3SrU4yl3RqM&sns[/youtube]

 

[SCARNG2011]

GAH!!! FREAGIN MONSTER!!

 

[Flat Bottom]

Well were back for another year tinboaters! just went out the other day and started charging the batteries up. The weather in my part of the country is starting to warm up and I'm looking forward to getting out there and catching some sturgeon. This year I will be adding radio and hopefully some new seats. I was able to store the boat under cover all winter unlike the winter before, so the DIY plywood flooring will likely hold out for another year. Can't wait to get back on the water. Summer is almost HERE!!!

 

[Flat Bottom]

Well... Here I am yet again with another update... This one, not so good hahaha. The lower unit on my miracle 1985 suzuki dt140 that has been brought back from many deaths finally flat-lined. I went out today doing some preventative maintenance stuff, fired up the engine after sitting for a couple months and it had trouble transitioning from forward to neutral etc. it got stuck in reverse and the rest is history.

took the lower unit off and inspected everything, turns out that an internal sleeve that holds the shifting rod blew out (cast aluminum) and there is no way that it is fixable lol... engine still runs strong, however, no lower unit, and not much hope of finding one online cheap.

The future looks unclear for the Bucket as of now. newer 100+hp outboards are not cheap and finding a replacement lower unit that is cheap and in useable shape that doesn't cost an arm and a leg is going to be a real PITA!