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Forum nameFreshwater Fishing in California
Topic subjectRE: New boat pics
Topic URLhttp://www.calfishing.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=3&topic_id=8711&mesg_id=8824
8824, RE: New boat pics
Posted by Phil, Fri Mar-21-03 11:03 PM
Bassphisherman, Sorry for the late reply, i've been a little busy. The trolling motor i'm using is a MinnKota 40# all terrain. It's got plenty of power for my boat and is one of the most inexpensive motors out there. I wasn't really planning on going cheap on the motor, but it was actually what I wanted and they had it at walmart for $280.00.

The deck is made of 3/4" plywood. I was concerned about the weight factor and figured I had two options. One was to use thinner plywood, but then i'd have to use more supports and that would bring the weight up anyway. The other was to use thicker plywood that could basically support itself, with minimal supports underneath. That was what I ended up doing and it didn't seem to throw the boat out of balance at all. With everthing else I added, i'm still well below the weight limit of the boat. Even with everything I have in the front of the boat, it still sat nice in the water. I'm sure with more time on the water I will be changing things often until I get it excactly how I want it. Until then I would recommend taking advice from someone more experienced, like Muskyman. I obviously don't have much experience as far as customizing boats go, and i'd hate to steer you down the wrong path.

There is also one difference between our boats. Mine isn't a deep v. I used to have a 12ft Valco V bottom and it was pretty sensitive to weight distribution. I think Muskyman's idea of glassing the wood might be a good option to cut down on weight for your boat.