My Custom Fishing Machine 18'-0" Flat Bottom

[richg99]

re cost...yea, I understand. However, if you ever need "crew" that will pay their share of the fuel, though...I might be tempted.

I am not in the Houston area during the summer months, though. Rich

 

[Jonboat Jerry]

That is a killer build Rod! Your work is very professional and the mod is well planned.
Does the Starboard sponson cover the HIN. Local law enforcement go crazy down here
if they can't verify the registration. I wanted to put sponsons on the back of my build
since we are in shallow water doing wade fishing and will be getting in and out the boat.
a lot. Great fish story about the Curado too, keep the pics coming.....Jerry

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Hey yea Rich, It does take a crew to pitch in and fund one of these trips. All of the trips we have been taking are in the summer months. Where do you go during the Texas summer?

Thank you for the compliment Jerry, coming from you that means a lot to me as you are quite the builder yourself. I have been keeping up with your build from the very first post. You've done a very professional job with your build, a lot of individually in taste. That's what makes this a great site, seeing everyone's different tastes and ideas. Your patience and planning have definitely paid off and it shows in your build. As far as covering the hull ID #'s, the float pod is just below the tag about 1/2" and it remained in its stock location. Are the id #'s on your boat stamped permanently to the transom? or is there a riveted tag? If there is a tag I don't think the lawman would say too much if you simply drilled out the rivets and relocated the tag higher up the transom. That is if the pod will cover the #'s up. Yes, you are right they are great for entering/exiting the boat, definitely safer also.

Ha, the Curado story, yea I got lucky on that one. Funny thing happened on Wednesday's trip, there was a boat with 5 anglers in it fishing along the bulkhead at the Yacht Basin (right in my casting area of course) when the same thing happened to one of their rigs unfortunately for that guy he wasn't able to retrieve his after several attempts.

 

[richg99]

I head up to Fox Lake, IL and fish Southern Wisconsin for bass; muskies and northern pike.

Weather can be in the 70's when we are in the 90's here in Hot hot Hot Houston. Not that cool last summer, though.

regards, rich

 

[Jonboat Jerry]

Thanks Don, It is a riveted tag that could probably be relocated without too much grief.
I'll have to move some stuff around, but those sponsons would workout great. Safe Boating...Jerry

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Rich, I see why you leave the blazing Texas summers now.

Over the Thanksgiving Holiday I was finally able to finish my fish cleaning table for the boat. I turned out pretty cool, I thought. It also gives me a place to set my grill on when we want to take a break and grill up some hot lunch. Whats also neat about it is that it is not permanently mounted so I don't have to take it with me all the time if I don't want to. Here's the pics.

Next mod for the never ending project will be fabricating a push pole and welding holding tabs to carry it on the boat.

 

[richg99]

You are an artist, not a welder. r

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Thanx for the compliment Rich.

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Happy New Year All

Now that the holidays are over I can get back in the shop and get back to work on projects. I planned on starting a push pole for the boat but I got side tracked into working on a bbq pit. I know this is not a section for "other" type's of projects but I didn't think anybody would mind if I shared some pics. Sorry if I am breaking any rules.

I built this pit over 11 years ago, the guy I built it for is a hunter and fisherman. He wanted a sportsman's theme for his pit. Well his ex wife calls me up a says she wants his pit outa there and would I doctor it up so she can put on super bowl squares. I kinda felt funny about getting "his" pit, but agreed to do the work for her. Here's how it came out.

Next post will be my push pole addition.

 

[fool4fish1226]

Super cool makes me hungry

 

[Ride_Klein]

Boat and BBQ Smoker both look great. I used to spend most weekends down on Texas City Dike. What a great boat to enjoy the bay.

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Thanks Fool4fish & Ride_Klein. Hey Ride, do you still come to Dike? They got it fixed up real nice since Ike.

This past weekend I got around to building a push pole for the boat. I realize most of you don't use a push pole or maybe wondering what one is and what do you do with it. Down here we use them to push the boat in the shallows, some guys use them while sight fishing where as you can literally see the fish and instead of a trolling motor you push yourself toward them. Comes in handy for tailing Reds within sight. I know you Florida guys use them.

They can come in handy also if you run aground or just checking water depth and bottom conditions ie. mud or shell bottom.

This pole was given to me by a friend who used to work on crew boats, they used them as grappling hooks for mooring lines. Originally it had a point and a barb, what I did was take some 1/4" aluminum plate and made a web foot and welded it to the end of the pointed end. I left the barb on thinking it might come in handy to grab a dock or something. The pole is 15' long (kinda long to hang off the side of the boat) so I decided to cut it in half and make it a 2 piece which would be easier to store on the boat. Here's what I did, after cutting the pole in half I took a 1 " threaded coupling and welded it to end. I then threaded a 12" piece of aluminum pipe and slid it into the pole and riveted it to it. Now you can just screw the two together an you have a full length pole.

My next thing to do is makes some mounts to store the two sections on the boat, I figure I can make some tabs and weld them to the rails to store the pieces. Here's the pics.

 

[Ride_Klein]

Haven't been to the Dike in a long time. I live up in the DFW area now and don't get down to the coast as much as I'd like.

Boat is looking good. That push pole will be your best friend in the flats. My grandfather taught me how to fish down in baffin bay a long time ago. He used an old cane pole to poke the bottom for the rock piles. He'd find one, then drift back about 50' and we'd catch 'em like it was going out of style. Glad to see people still know how to use the pole that way. Electronics are nice, but there are simpler ways that work just as well.

Keep up the good work.

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Ride, I see why you don't come to the Dike, Dallas is a good drive. If you ever plan on coming look me up.

O.K. I got the push pole mounted on the boat this weekend. While I was at it I mounted a rod rack on the boat to store my rods in. It should come in real handy tucking my rods out of harms way. Here's the pics.

 

[Poormans Boatright]

I don't know about some of you guy's, but I am tired of leaves getting sucked into my bilge pump and clogging it up. I have to admit my boat does have a small leak (where I don't know) Before I started this build I filled it up with water and located all the leaking rivets, then welded them up. Well anyway new ones must have developed and it does leak, no big deal to me, I just turn on the bilge pump whenever I am running so all the water runs to the back of the boat. No problem right? Well no sooner than the pump starts to work leaves get sucked to the pump and no more workie. Here's what I did to fix this problem. First I made some side panels to cover the small gaps where the plywood floor meets the side supporting ribs. I cut the plywood fairly tight but there was still small gaps between the inside of the hull and the edge of the floor. This was just the ribs towards the front, the bigger ones near the middle were tight. Leaves were finding there way through the gaps and making there way to the pump under neath the floor. I used stainless screws to fasten the panels to the support ribs and thus covering the gaps plus making the inside of the boat a lot cleaner looking.

In the back I cut some stainless plate to fasten the bilge pump in and made a stainless screen to fully enclose the pump in and tig welded the screen to the thin plate. Now if any leaves get in they can't clog the pump. Problem solved, here's the pics.

 

[Ride_Klein]

Great work once again. Has me itching for a warm summer night with some lights pointed at the channel.

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Thanx Ride, yea I know what you mean about those warm nights under the lights.
I am so ready to go wet a line. Though the weather on the Gulf Coast is not all that bad right now, fishing isn't all that great. Warmer weather isn't too far away, I'll get em then. I am gonna do a post on anodes in the boathouse section, check it out, I am looking forward to everyone's input.

 

[SNOOKED OUT]

Thats pretty sick I like what you've done.

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Thanx Snooked, glad you like my build. This weekend I plan on mounting a bow mount trolling motor to the boat. I plan on extending the shaft to allow the tiller control to be above the top rail. We'll see what I come up with. I'll post pics later.

 

[Poormans Boatright]

I added a trolling motor to the boat that I had to lengthen to clear the lights on the bottom rail of the front casting platform. I posted the trolling motor shaft modification in the boat house section:https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=24319