What did you do with your boat today.

[Old Ironmaker]

On 4/4/2020 at 7:51 PM, Hack_Fisherman said:

Looked at it out the window and wondered if I’d even have it in the water this year with all that’s happening. 

You too eh. I have been watching the rain bead off my brand new custom made Sunbrella cover and watching the grass turn green for the last month of self isolation. I don't know why I waited so long to do it. I would have saved the 750 bucks in 3 years worth of shrink wrap. I was given that price 6 years ago by the Mom and Pop team in Dunnville and they honoured the same price. Good folks. I mentioned to him they may be an essential business if they ever did any OPP or Coast Guard boats. I don't know if he is open now. I hope so. 

[Hack_Fisherman]

18 hours ago, Old Ironmaker said:

You too eh. I have been watching the rain bead off my brand new custom made Sunbrella cover and watching the grass turn green for the last month of self isolation. I don't know why I waited so long to do it. I would have saved the 750 bucks in 3 years worth of shrink wrap. I was given that price 6 years ago by the Mom and Pop team in Dunnville and they honoured the same price. Good folks. I mentioned to him they may be an essential business if they ever did any OPP or Coast Guard boats. I don't know if he is open now. I hope so. 

Yeah. But it might be the right time to do my floors. I bought the Nautolex and seats last year. I need swivel seat bases, plywood and styrofoam SM. And some hinges & recessed latches for compartments. 

I’m up Updating a 70’s Starcraft Supersport to a more fishing oriented boat. And if I get it done and still no launches open, I’ll sit in it, drink beer and practice casting on the lawn. 

Your cover peeps sound like a good go to. Might be worth the drive. I want a good winter/travel cover. The mooring covers I have don’t last long at 90kmh

[Terry]

I finished installing the Electric trolling motor
installed two fishfinders. One more to install

[Old Ironmaker]

3 hours ago, Hack_Fisherman said:

Yeah. But it might be the right time to do my floors. I bought the Nautolex and seats last year. I need swivel seat bases, plywood and styrofoam SM. And some hinges & recessed latches for compartments. 

I’m up Updating a 70’s Starcraft Supersport to a more fishing oriented boat. And if I get it done and still no launches open, I’ll sit in it, drink beer and practice casting on the lawn. 

Your cover peeps sound like a good go to. Might be worth the drive. I want a good winter/travel cover. The mooring covers I have don’t last long at 90kmh

You have a big job ahead of you. What are you planning on doing to make it more fish oriented?

I also was trying to decide if I should rip the carpet all out. If I do I will also choose Nautolex to replace it. Highly recommended by many of the 100,000 members of iboats.com. I don't think I will be doing much on the boat tomorrow, we got about 3"s of snow this afternoon and into the evening. It is more snow than we have had all winter long. 

I have to smirk when I read folks are bored stiff staying at home. I have a good weeks worth of chores I can do around inside our little shack and I know everyone has things that they can do as well. And that doesn't include what I can do with the boat. We just choose not to do them. Now I have snow to make an excuse not to detail our boat. 

When I bought the boat in 2008 it was early in the season and the water was rough here on Erie where we live so I didn't take it out for a few days and that was brutal.  A pal was here and when my wife got home we were sitting in the boat having a pop and listening to some tunes. She brought home a jug of Rum and made us boat drinks including little umbrellas complete with pineapple slices and all 3 of us sat in it until it having proper boat drinks until it was time for dinner. I will never forget those few hours. And I never burned a drop of fuel!!! A few neighbors walked past and must have thought we were bonkers. 

Here is our 1994 Star Craft 190 Superfisherman 190. I keep her as clean as possible. The pic was taken in 2019. 

Edited April 16, 2020 by Old Ironmaker

[Hack_Fisherman]

41 minutes ago, Old Ironmaker said:

You have a big job ahead of you. What are you planning on doing to make it more fish oriented?

I also was trying to decide if I should rip the carpet all out. If I do I will also choose Nautolex to replace it. Highly recommended by many of the 100,000 members of iboats.com. I don't think I will be doing much on the boat tomorrow, we got about 3"s of snow this afternoon and into the evening. It is more snow than we have had all winter long. 

I have to smirk when I read folks are bored stiff staying at home. I have a good weeks worth of chores I can do around inside our little shack and I know everyone has things that they can do as well. And that doesn't include what I can do with the boat. We just choose not to do them. Now I have snow to make an excuse not to detail our boat. 

When I bought the boat in 2008 it was early in the season and the water was rough here on Erie where we live so I didn't take it out for a few days and that was brutal.  A pal was here and when my wife got home we were sitting in the boat having a pop and listening to some tunes. She brought home a jug of Rum and made us boat drinks including little umbrellas complete with pineapple slices and all 3 of us sat in it until it having proper boat drinks until it was time for dinner. I will never forget those few hours. And I never burned a drop of fuel!!! A few neighbors walked past and must have thought we were bonkers. 

Here is our 1994 Star Craft 190 Superfisherman 190. I keep her as clean as possible. The pic was taken in 2019. 

That’s a great looking boat. If I could have my time back I would have held out for an 18’ over the 16’ I have. 

I did the transom and rear floor under the SW last year. I’m keeping it retro looking with blue on white scheme

I’m putting seat socket bases under the sleeper seats and making the sleeper seats pull out with hidden hardware. 

Reworking the bow area with storage lockers under seat pads and a drop in casting deck. Hinged compartments in bow that use space under dash. Probably rod locker in floor

Eventually I’ll ditch the big splash well tub for smaller centre tub and 2 jump seats or steps to get over the back. 

I want it to be a retro family boat that quickly converts to a more serious fishing boat that has a lot of the goodies that more modern boats have. 

Eventually I want an Etec on it. Saving my pocket change...

 

[Old Ironmaker]

3 hours ago, Hack_Fisherman said:

That’s a great looking boat. If I could have my time back I would have held out for an 18’ over the 16’ I have. 

I did the transom and rear floor under the SW last year. I’m keeping it retro looking with blue on white scheme

I’m putting seat socket bases under the sleeper seats and making the sleeper seats pull out with hidden hardware. 

Reworking the bow area with storage lockers under seat pads and a drop in casting deck. Hinged compartments in bow that use space under dash. Probably rod locker in floor

Eventually I’ll ditch the big splash well tub for smaller centre tub and 2 jump seats or steps to get over the back. 

I want it to be a retro family boat that quickly converts to a more serious fishing boat that has a lot of the goodies that more modern boats have. 

Eventually I want an Etec on it. Saving my pocket change...

 

Good looking barge there Hack Fisherman. What make is it? That transom looks familiar but I don't want to guess. What I like about my boat is it is so convertible. I seldom go out with more than 2 of us. If it's 3 it's for Perch only. I take the casting butt seat out of the bow and put in one of the swivel seats, then only have 2 seats at the helm for traveling and 1 on the bow. That way my 1st mate can sit in the bow seat and monitor the 4 trolling rods while I drive and monitor the electronics. A perfect set up for us. 

You can never have enough storage space. Personally I would chuck the sleeper seats completely and install removable swivel seats. When you get an 18 footer you would have wished you got a 19 footer etc. etc. etc.

Good luck on your upgrade. Good plan. 

[AKRISONER]

Pop’s alumacraft has a nautolex floor. I have two complaints about it. 1. When it’s cold it’s slippery as hell. 2. The side compartment etc where the liner had been folded in, the OEM glue and staples have started to fail as the stuff tries to straighten. So if you have spots that are folded, you will definitely need to give them some extra attention as the stuff tries to straighten out. Nothing I’m sure that by taking extra caution that can’t be fixed.

on the positive side of things, holy hell its 1000000% easier to keep the thing clean. It actually seems to somewhat just clean itself. While my carpeted boat is constantly covered in sand and required vacuuming etc, the rain etc just seems to wash all of the sand fish blood and poop etc out of his boat.

if you aren’t insane like me and clean your boat more than you do your house and truck and then the vinyl is a great idea!

[Pigeontroller]

I sat in it an cried...

[LostAnotherOne]

Said goodbye to my 96 Yamaha 20hp today.  Bought 5 years ago with zero issues until a few weeks ago.  Now I can get something newer and head off the grid with no worries.

[Hack_Fisherman]

13 hours ago, AKRISONER said:

Pop’s alumacraft has a nautolex floor. I have two complaints about it. 1. When it’s cold it’s slippery as hell. 2. The side compartment etc where the liner had been folded in, the OEM glue and staples have started to fail as the stuff tries to straighten. So if you have spots that are folded, you will definitely need to give them some extra attention as the stuff tries to straighten out. Nothing I’m sure that by taking extra caution that can’t be fixed.

on the positive side of things, holy hell its 1000000% easier to keep the thing clean. It actually seems to somewhat just clean itself. While my carpeted boat is constantly covered in sand and required vacuuming etc, the rain etc just seems to wash all of the sand fish blood and poop etc out of his boat.

if you aren’t insane like me and clean your boat more than you do your house and truck and then the vinyl is a great idea!

 Good to know about its drawbacks. I’ll have to watch for that and take special care and doing over the edge wraps.  I’ll probably make aluminum flanges to wrap the perimeter of hatch openings.

I like the easy clean feature 

[Hack_Fisherman]

19 hours ago, Old Ironmaker said:

Good looking barge there Hack Fisherman. What make is it? That transom looks familiar but I don't want to guess.

What I like about my boat is it is so convertible. I seldom go out with more than 2 of us.

Personally I would chuck the sleeper seats completely and install removable swivel seats.

Thanks, it’s a 70’s starcraft supersport  your basic early aluminum bowrider. 

 Convertibility as what I like about all the modern boats. Family boat or a well rounded for fishing. 

 Mrs. Admiral likes the sleeper seats.  But I’m pretty sure that the swivel seats will stay in at 90% of the time while the sleepers get tripped over in the garage... eventually to find themselves on Kijiji.

[Old Ironmaker]

17 hours ago, AKRISONER said:

Pop’s alumacraft has a nautolex floor. I have two complaints about it. 1. When it’s cold it’s slippery as hell. 2. The side compartment etc where the liner had been folded in, the OEM glue and staples have started to fail as the stuff tries to straighten. So if you have spots that are folded, you will definitely need to give them some extra attention as the stuff tries to straighten out. Nothing I’m sure that by taking extra caution that can’t be fixed.

on the positive side of things, holy hell its 1000000% easier to keep the thing clean. It actually seems to somewhat just clean itself. While my carpeted boat is constantly covered in sand and required vacuuming etc, the rain etc just seems to wash all of the sand fish blood and poop etc out of his boat.

if you aren’t insane like me and clean your boat more than you do your house and truck and then the vinyl is a great idea!

Whom ever, or is it who? I never know, anyway the guy that thought carpeting in a fishing boat was a good idea should be brought back from his grave and re killed. 

The other thing I was warned about a vinyl floor was it gets hot. In my boat no shoes no ride, I know many guys go bear foot and they have the hook scars in their feet to show for it. 

If my posts get a bit sketchy we both quit smoking today, never a better time than when we are facing the possible end of our human race as we know it. 27 hours and counting but who's keeping track? I'm actually surprised how bad it hasn't been so far. Using the nicotine spray today. They suggest no more than 4 sprays per hour, I'm up to max. 

For some reason it's 2 AM and I'm full of energy, sleep tonight? I don't think so. 

As far as your 1st Mate liking the sleepers Hack Fisherman then you must like them as well. Happy wife et all. We love early model StarCrafts, ours is a 94'. 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Old Ironmaker

[AKRISONER]

it’s true, they are nowhere near as good to fish in barefoot for those that like to. I know Johnny, you give me poop everytime you see a photo of me fishing barefoot lol.

the alumacraft floor is light coloured so it’s not so hot on the feet. It still isn’t nearly as cushy as carpet so your feet end up getting sore after a few hours.

johnny, you know that high end bass boats now have padded front decks? I fished on one in South Carolina...I definitely broke a commandment that day...I was coveting my neighbors wealth big time!

Edited April 17, 2020 by AKRISONER

[Old Ironmaker]

On 4/5/2020 at 2:36 PM, Dutch01 said:

Mine is all dressed up and nowhere to go

 

Nice coffeeffee table Dutch. 

Please don't play ice fishing and drill a hole in that gorgeous floor. I'm trying to remember what those hardwood floors were called when they were in every apartment high rise built in the early 70's. Then in the 1990's they were all being ripped out. Now you can't afford to replace them. Please what were they called? Herring bone? Yes herring bone me thinks, thank you all. Sometimes you guys are of no help whatsoever. 

Here I go reaching for a cigarette. 48 hrs no smoke and counting. 

[AKRISONER]

13 minutes ago, Old Ironmaker said:

Nice coffeeffee table Dutch. 

Please don't play ice fishing and drill a hole in that gorgeous floor. I'm trying to remember what those hardwood floors were called when they were in every apartment high rise built in the early 70's. Then in the 1990's they were all being ripped out. Now you can't afford to replace them. Please what were they called? Herring bone? Yes herring bone me thinks, thank you all. Sometimes you guys are of no help whatsoever. 

Here I go reaching for a cigarette. 48 hrs no smoke and counting. 

Parkay flooring?

 

thats at least what I know it as. My first house had it.

48 hours? You’ve got this!

[Old Ironmaker]

14 hours ago, AKRISONER said:

it’s true, they are nowhere near as good to fish in barefoot for those that like to. I know Johnny, you give me poop everytime you see a photo of me fishing barefoot lol.

the alumacraft floor is light coloured so it’s not so hot on the feet. It still isn’t nearly as cushy as carpet so your feet end up getting sore after a few hours.

johnny, you know that high end bass boats now have padded front decks? I fished on one in South Carolina...I definitely broke a commandment that day...I was coveting my neighbors wealth big time!

I went barefoot a few times fishing and like I said have the scars to prove it. Nothing like ruining a week at the fishing camp when someone needs to drive you to Pembroke a 90 minute 1 way trip away to get stiches in  the hoof and not being able to put weight on it for another week to F up the Walleye opener. 

Padded front casting decks, come on man! City boys strapping 300 HP 4 strokes on 3 @ 4X8 sheets of plywood stacking them end to end.

That's funny you said that about being R.C. When I was a kid and an Altor Boy, (no all the rumours are not all true) I thought when they said "thou shall not covet thy neighbors wife" I pictured someone covering the next door neighbours wife in a nice blanket. 

Edited April 18, 2020 by Old Ironmaker

[Old Ironmaker]

27 minutes ago, AKRISONER said:

Parkay flooring?

 

thats at least what I know it as. My first house had it.

48 hours? You’ve got this!

Yes, yes yes, thanks mate. As far as the smoking you have to want to stop any addiction you have before it is possible to stop. I must stop for my wife Ticha. When we met a pack of cigarettes could last her a few weeks. She has quit for months when I did not. I have noticed she has been smoking more and more as of late, if I don't quit she won't. She is my rock. I don't know if it is a phycological thing but just after 2 days of a pac and 1/2 a day my sinuses feel better. Yes 30 a day, and some days more, what an idiot I admit. That's enough self emaciation for 1 day. 

Edited April 18, 2020 by Old Ironmaker

[Hack_Fisherman]

On 4/17/2020 at 2:03 AM, Old Ironmaker said:

 

 Hey Iron, what are the odds I could ask you  are the dimensions of your splash well? 

  Length x width x depth 

I love what you’ve got here. I’m wondering if I can do something similar, albeit in a more compact version

thanks

[AKRISONER]

8 hours ago, Old Ironmaker said:

Yes, yes yes, thanks mate. As far as the smoking you have to want to stop any addiction you have before it is possI don't know if it is a phycological thing but just after 2 days of a pac and 1/2 a day my sinuses feel better. Yes 30 a day, and some days more, what an idiot I admit. That's enough self emaciation for 1 day. 

Holy jeez, If you were smoking a pack and a half or more...give it 3 months you are going to feel like an entirely different human being. I thought that kinda smoking was only for the hardcore, one of my best friends being one of them. When he’s fishing there is almost always a cig lit. 
 

i think about that sometimes...I have a few friends that I would consider “close” even fewer are the type that prioritize fishing like myself. Sure enough both of them smoke like chimneys. One takes care of himself though, goes to the gym etc etc (I have no idea how you work out as a heavy smoker...I guess he’s still young) and the other doesn’t take care of himself at all. My brothers joke that he’s going to have a heart attack before the age of 30. The crazy thing is that unless he does make major changes to his life he definitely could. 
 

the most ironic thing, is that both do these guys are also conspiracy theorists and go on and on about how evil elitists are out to take their money and kill them...you get my point lol.

Back on topic what did I do with my boat today? The skeeter nothing, I can’t launch it, but today today i am going to modify the spanner wrench that I bought off of amazon to fit my ram seals so that I can fix them once I finally get my parts from the states. It’s been 2 and a half weeks and they are still in the mail. I’m trying to have some understanding that my boat parts aren’t technically essential at all and it’s a blessing that we still can order things and have them delivered to my door.

got out in the tinner yesterday and caught a whack of perch and a few crappies too. Think I’ll head out again this afternoon at some point. Trying to get as much fishing in as I can before they potentially close it on me.

[lew]

19 minutes ago, AKRISONER said:

 

 One takes care of himself though, goes to the gym etc etc (I have no idea how you work out as a heavy smoker...)

I worked with a guy who was big into staying in shape, worked out at  the gym, was a  weightlifter, rode many miles on a bike and only ate healthy food.....but as strange as it sounds,  he was also a smoker.

We were sitting in the firehall one day and I was eating a donut and he told me if I knew how unhealthy donuts were I'd never eat one again...and he was smoking a cigarette while he was telling me.🤣

I smoked for many years but quit cold turkey 30 years ago.

 

[Old Ironmaker]

No problem Sir Hack. 

32" wide, 19" from transom to deck and 6" deep. It's cold outside but the snow is melting. Got about an inch that stayed last night. 

This laptop is about to die, same screeching noise as the last one we fried. NFG. Between isolation, quitting smoking and now this, ain't good but could be much, much worse. No murder suicides in our lane but it could get close. Can't get 4 years out of electronics today, phones, GPS, PC's, not much of anything. I have a 100 watt per channel Kenwood amp that I bought used in 1978. for $1000.00. That was a months salary then. Still use it today

[Old Ironmaker]

On 4/18/2020 at 9:19 AM, lew said:

I worked with a guy who was big into staying in shape, worked out at  the gym, was a  weightlifter, rode many miles on a bike and only ate healthy food.....but as strange as it sounds,  he was also a smoker.

We were sitting in the firehall one day and I was eating a donut and he told me if I knew how unhealthy donuts were I'd never eat one again...and he was smoking a cigarette while he was telling me.🤣

I smoked for many years but quit cold turkey 30 years ago.

 

That was me until I turned 40, right around the time I met my lady. There was no need to be buff anymore I guess because I scored big time when she decided to let me into her life. It was a Beauty and the Beast. 52" chest, 34" waist at 210 pounds, me not her, come on. Here's what happened. I won't go into great detail.

3 of my guys and I were working to determine where we had water infusion into one of our Blast Furnaces, there were 4 teams of 4 above the casthouse floor on the stack of the Furnace. We had what is referred to as an "iron breakout". We were unable to get to fresh air for a few minutes that seemed like a few hours. The air was thick with approximately 200F to 500F gases, rust coloured iron oxide, massive levels of carbon monoxide and very little oxygen if any. 2 of my guys suffered severe 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns to 80% of their bodies and never returned to work. One of our mechanical foremen suffered a heart attack, he was off work for a few years. 2 of our contractors fell off a 3 stage scaffold when the slag pit exploded and that resulted in several broken bones to the 2 construction workers. I didn't get a scratch on me. Why no one was killed still baffles the experts.When the furnace was secured some of the guys were passing around cigarettes, I took one. 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Old Ironmaker

[lew]

1 hour ago, Old Ironmaker said:

When the furnace was secured some of the guys were passing around cigarettes, I took one. 

Used to be like that with firemen back in the day too when it seemed most of us smoked. We'd come out of a hot dirty stinkin smokey fire and the 1st thing everyone did was light up a cigarette.

Yeah, the good ole days  LOL

[Terry]

Today I had to get my other boat out of the farmers field he wanted to work the field 

now I have four watercraft and no where to use them

 

well two don’t need ramps to launches to use and one fits in my swimming pool

just saying
lol 

[Hack_Fisherman]

5 hours ago, Old Ironmaker said:

No problem Sir Hack. 

32" wide, 19" from transom to deck and 6" deep.

Can't get 4 years out of electronics today, phones, GPS, PC's, not much of anything. I have a 100 watt per channel Kenwood amp that I bought used in 1978. for $1000.00. That was a months salary then. Still use it today

 

Great, thanks a million Iron!

I agree that electronics today don’t last. My old Nikko receiver from the early 80’s finally died so I sought out an old 1972 pioneer SX to use. It sounds so much better. Richer. It even has L&R tone controls. 

Im eyeing up a helix sonar. I hope it lasts like my old humminbird portable. Still ticking almost 15 years later