Well I finally got this thing painted after trying several times and having to redo the deck because of love bugs, etc. Although the final finish is still less than great. If Dangermouse’s paint job is a 10 footer then this is a 20 footer. The epoxy has a tendency to sag and it is too easy to put it on too thick. Anyway I may sand it down later and finish it again with varnish like I am supposed to do.
Here is the finished product after I rinsed it off from fishing.
Another shot.
The bottom showing the scuff marks left by encounters with oyster covered rocks. It made some horrible grinding sounds but the scratches are not as bad as they look in the picture. They are basically just scuff marks.
This is the worst scratch (dead center of photo) where it actually went through the graphite but came no where near the wood. I have 3 layers of glass under the graphite.
In the bed of the truck. I made up a little tail light which works better than a flag, I think.
From another angle, I made a cradle for the boat to sit in.
A view of the cradle. This helps keep the boat in one place and supports it a lot better. When I add a huge weight like the battery I will need good support. I am also going to make a cradle with wheels so that I can transport the boat over a long distance if I can’t get close to the water.
The boat loads and unloads easily with the cradle set up too. I just have to get the back tires 10 or 12 feet from the water and she is in with out having to drag it across the ground.
Low tide at Rocky Creek, an hour later and this was all dry land out to ¼ mile.
Fishing was fairly good I landed 4 reds from 17 to 21 inches a large lizard fish and several trout up to 17 inches. I had a large redfish on that managed to get off and a large trout probably 22 inches up to the boat that also managed to get off. Why do the big ones always get away? I guess that is why they are big.
It was very windy in the morning, blowing at around 15 knots steady. The boat was blown around quite a bit by the wind but I could handle it okay as long as I was paddling. If I stopped to fish it would immediately breach the wind, which is to be expected. It still handled the wind a lot better than a standard canoe. It paddles fairly slow, slower than my 12’ kayak which has a slight V bottom. I also did a lot of poling and the boat was very stable for me to stand in and fish from. This was a big plus from my kayak. It is very easy to get in and out of in 3’ deep water too. The wind died down by noon time and the boat was a lot more tolerable however I can’t wait to put an electric motor on the boat. That is what I intended to do anyway. It was good to get it out and test it without the motor and battery.
I think I am going to install some horizontal rod holders on the sides. I had 4 rods with me and it is tough to keep them out of the way lying on the floor. If I get the motor I will eliminate the paddle too, although I may take a small one for emergencies. It poles easily and I really liked that. This is another thing that I really liked over my kayak. I can pole along and see a lot better, in the kayak you are too close to the water and visibility for sight fishing is very limited.
I still have some rigging to do like install some holders for my push pole and a few more cleats. I want to keep that stuff to a minimum though. I have tought about an anchor trolley but not sure how I am going to do that yet. I may not do it since I was standing up while fishing most of the time and if the boat is facing the wrong way all I have to do is turn around. I think I am going to do a lot of fishing form this rig. Oh yea I will need a bigger anchor too that little 2# job didn’t hold very well at all. Probably get one of those vinyl covered mushrooms with the slots.
