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Cheap boat mods


CG RYAN

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Cheap and sturdy leaning cup holders.  Get the plastic recessed cup holders (about $2 from Wally World or $20 from west marine) and scrap starboard or cutting board. Cut hole for cup holder and shape like all the other $50 ones you've seen.  Screw them on through inside of leaning post top rail...  The plastic really screws on well, they are sold as a rock.

All in like $5-10 for both. Ill if I can come up with some better pics

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Cleaned up my dash, ditched my non-working compass, removed a useless trim gauge, removed my windshield and used the pipe work as grab rails. Tired of everybody grabbing my steering wheel to stand up, it has to be tough on the helm. A little coxcombing to help the look. Still a work in progress, would love to have one of the newer, higher consoles in the hpx to flush mount everything.

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15 hours ago, craSSh said:

When I bought my boat, the Yamaha oil reservoir bracket was rusted out. I replaced it with a plastic group 27 battery tray with nylon straps.  It fit perfect and was only like $8.  

Great idea. Mines rusted bad too. Beats spending over $100 bucks for a stainless one.  

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I have not done many to current boat but here are a few. 

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I like the idea of the light rings but only wanted them to shine down. A led strip hidden under the speaker did the trick and was cheap.

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Transducers are ugly enough so I had to at least cover the cables. Simple fiberglass mold and grey gel coat to match did the trick.

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While not to the boat a simple u bolt and a bracket on your hitch makes towing much smoother.  No more hitch moving around when towing.  

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2 hours ago, mulligan said:

I have not done many to current boat but here are a few. 

image.jpg

I like the idea of the light rings but only wanted them to shine down. A led strip hidden under the speaker did the trick and was cheap.

image.jpg

Transducers are ugly enough so I had to at least cover the cables. Simple fiberglass mold and grey gel coat to match did the trick.

image.jpg

While not to the boat a simple u bolt and a bracket on your hitch makes towing much smoother.  No more hitch moving around when towing.  

@mulligan

That sounds nice man can you show more of how you set up your hitch so it doesn't shift around?  Thanks!!

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It was just some scrap metal I cut to a "T" shape and bent it to fit. Then just tacked it on. Simple to do if you have the stuff laying around. They do sell hitches that do the same thing but are pricey. I have also seen some that bolt on both male and female parts. They are a bit bulky and mine was free. 

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I have kind of made a hobby out of the cheap and not so cheap upgrade.  I have added this stuff one piece at a time over the years as funds became available.  I kept the old school classic look of the guide console with analog gauges and compass.  Not much of the original equipment is left on the console.  Additions/replacements as follows:  Fold down, all around light for general illumination, Garmin GPS/sounder, gauges, compass, steering wheel, hook to keep spotlight in a handy spot while driving, shelf to hold GPS. hatch to access bait tank valve under console, 8 foot VHF antenna on stainless mountthumb_Image002_1024.jpg

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This is my latest addition, a box I made to hold soft plastics.  This keeps the smelly stuff in an upright position, out of my tackle bag, vehicle, house etc.  

 

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Short piece of line to stake out the pushpole

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I moved the house battery to the front compartment.  I screwed in a battery tray and wedged a piece of starboard into the battery tray to hold the switch/fuse.  

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I installed the best bait tank i could find, a 17 gallon Kodiak Pro Flow.  The Kodiak spins water around the tank and keeps a ton of bait and whatever you catch alive.  There are two pickups (one is a high speed pickup) each with a pump that feed the tank with raw water.  The tank drains via gravity while at rest with the pumps off.  Both intakes have either a shutoff valve or seacock at the transom for safety.  There is another valve under the console to keep the bait tank from draining if need be.  The built in baitwell in the stern has been relegated to storage, but I could easily hook it back up if I sold the boat.  The nylon sock on the intake if for a clothes washer drain.  It works great.  I amazed it holds up to being dragged 40 mph through the water.  I don't use a filter and have never had the intake clog.  Sometimes I have to reach down and pull grass off of it, but I do have two intakes and can just turn on the other pump and pull from the other intake.  THIS was a CHEAP upgrade. LOL  The bait tank has the added benefit of redistributing weight.  Between the bait tank, deep cycle battery, and trolling motor up front, the bow has enough weight to crush through a chop.  I upgraded the console rod rack from a three tube to a four tube.  I put the transducer on starboard so if I ever buy a new sonar, I won't have to drill new holes.

 

 

thumb_PICT0351_1024.jpg thumb_PICT0152_1024.jpg.  There is  I  uthumb_PICT0341_1024.jpg

 

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 I just wanna take a moment to thank MBG for putting an amazing finish on this boat.  This boat is 21 years old and THIS is why I put so much work into the upgrades.  You can see my kids bike and my orange road cone in the finish.  This is the original gel coat.  I don't use abrasives, cleaners or electric buffers, just whatever polish or wax I have at the moment.  I think I was using Collinite Fleet Wax when this was taken.  I occasionally strip the surface with Collinite No. 920 fiberglass boat cleaner.  

 

 

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