Boat Fit out for 3.95 tinnie

[nakedeskimo]

Hi guys Im fairly new to the Ausfish forums and this is my first time posting so bare with me! I'm a young (18yr old) angler from the Townsville region who loves nothing more than being out on the water. (A few years ago now we (my father and I) purchased a 3.95 Clark Predator. We did some modifications to it when we first bought it and fit it out for use but we were never quite happy with it and have gone back to the drawing board and started from scratch to make it suit our needs better and make using the boat an easier and more enjoyable experience for all involved. I will be slowly updating this post over the next couple of weeks as things progress and now this post will be a fairly long one on what has already been done to the boat!

Thanks to all those who take the time to read my posts and any comments or ideas will be appreciated! If you have any questions please feel free to ask away!

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First things first was ripping the seats out and the plate on the front of the boat.
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next step was for the bait tank/live well to be welded in place. This bait tank is one which simply has holes drilled through the bottom and on the back of the boat. this allows the water to constantly be clean and aerated and also means that the tank is self draining when you get it up on the ramp and allows it to empty to a minimalistic amount of water to get the boat upon the plane.
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then the new gunnels were added at the bow and electric motor mount added.
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All the supports for floor boards and casting decks were welded in giving plenty of both floor space and storage room.

now i'm at my photo limit so will have to continue in another post within this thread.

[nakedeskimo]

And it continues...
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Now a rear step was added to make it easier to board, or take off whilst on your own,and finally make it easier to push when you hit that sand bar that you swear wasn't there last time you were in the creek!
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The boat on its first test run after all the welding was done! now time for the fun stuff to start!
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After 2 long hot days the wiring is in all soldered and heat-shrinked at the joints and everything run in split convoluted tubing as high as possible tostop water from getting to any joints at all.
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stereo unit and switches mounted in a panel with hinge lid for access to everything when needed. I then made another box which follows the same profile to sit beside which is fully sealed and acts as a good little spot to throw in the mobile phones, wallets and keys when out on the water. These two boxes simply sit in the aluminium pocket so if they ever need to be removed they slide out fairly easily.

All floor boards are now cut and we're now in the process of sealing them before we carpet them and put them in the boat!

Thanks again for looking at this thread and if anyone has any comments relating to either the boat or layout of this thread please feel free to let me know!

Signing off until next time!
Mooney

[bluefin59]

Lookin good so far mate , Matt

[back2boats]

I am impressed with the extensive work you are doing.

Can I ask how you are charging the battery for the electronics? On my little tinny, I just charge it before each trip, but there is a pair of wires coming from the motor that can be rectified to charge it. There's also the solar power option - although a big enough solar panel might tend to get in the way.

[nakedeskimo]

I am impressed with the extensive work you are doing.

Can I ask how you are charging the battery for the electronics? On my little tinny, I just charge it before each trip, but there is a pair of wires coming from the motor that can be rectified to charge it. There's also the solar power option - although a big enough solar panel might tend to get in the way.

Thanks for the good feedback guys! Suzuki make a little rectifier for their outboards that literally bolt inside the cowling and clip in to the existing wiring harness letting you charge the battery from there! cost about $50ish from memory and took all of about 5 minutes to bolt on and wire in!

[Funchy]

looks great mate. How much extra weight you reckon you will put into it with the additional metal work etc?

[nakedeskimo]

looks great mate. How much extra weight you reckon you will put into it with the additional metal work etc?

I couldn't really give you a number exact but considering it had false floor, seats and half the front deck before it shouldn't be too much extra weight! This is a concern for us as well so we are trying to be very conscious of this and are trying to keep the weight down as much as possible!

[Dignity]

Awesome work there, also great for a first post. My thought was also around weight and whether the motor would cope. How did your first test run go, also was the original floor a half floor or full width, when I changed my 4.2 dory over to a full width floor the additional weight was around a third extra. Did you have a leccy before, more weight with battery. Oh well with her looking so good she deserves a motor upgrade.

[nakedeskimo]

Awesome work there, also great for a first post. My thought was also around weight and whether the motor would cope. How did your first test run go, also was the original floor a half floor or full width, when I changed my 4.2 dory over to a full width floor the additional weight was around a third extra. Did you have a leccy before, more weight with battery. Oh well with her looking so good she deserves a motor upgrade.

OK thanks for that! that's good to know! did only have a half floor before and no leccy or battery! although even before boat lacked weight in the front anyway yet still had enough power! on the test run she went alright except still the front end pulled up leaving the back dragging. Will have to test it again once shes done and maybe play around with the trimming a bit! Hopefully won't need a bigger motor put on considering this was hasn't been used much at all and still looks like the day it was brought! But hey you never know

[Dignity]

It sounds like the motor needs to be trimmed out properly, have you checked the height on the transom, it may be too low in the water which will give you that kind of dragging it's heels feeling and motor working harder than it should. I had to have a piece welded onto the transom to raise the motor, made a hell of a difference in its behaviour, check where your cav plate lines up with your hull.

[nakedeskimo]

It sounds like the motor needs to be trimmed out properly, have you checked the height on the transom, it may be too low in the water which will give you that kind of dragging it's heels feeling and motor working harder than it should. I had to have a piece welded onto the transom to raise the motor, made a hell of a difference in its behaviour, check where your cav plate lines up with your hull.

Thanks for the advice! cav plate seems to be close to the bottom of the hull being about 20mm down. Yet motor seems to be trimmed in or prop facing the ground rather than shooting up in the sky. Yet shouldn't this in turn be pushing the bow of the boat into the water more than dragging the rear and shooting the front in the air? once it's finished will take it out fully loaded and try the pin in a few locations to try to correct the trimming.

[nakedeskimo]

So after a break to have surgery and being a bit busy preparing for Christmas the boat is finally done and went for a test run yesterday!

All floors have been carpeted and are in the boat with a few little fitting problems but they have all been sorted now and I think the hard work has been worth it!
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Floor boards were sealed up and carpeted being a process which took much longer then planned because we ran out of carpet with only a few boards left and had to wait until the next monday for the local floor coverings shop to open.
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Main floor area showing the 2 marine speakers
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inspection hatch for easy charging of battery
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Decided to include the esky under the floor of the front deck keeping it out of the road
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front anchor hatch
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Under floor hatch with life jackets and first aid kit leaving plenty of room for the cast net to be hidden away out of sight!
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Another under floor hatch this time holding oars,gaff, yabby pump, landing net,V sheet and bomby knocker!

All in all it has left us with plenty of room in the boat for both storage and fishing out of!

[nakedeskimo]

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Here's a few photos of it completed and as it sits now!

finished it off at lunch time yesterday and washed it out and loaded it up and was in the water by 4 o'clock! Not a bad afternoon with a few Grunter (Javellin) landed and a few nice Bream!

Was a bit surprised though when the biggest Bream for the day came from the cast net! Measuring in at a little over 30cm but that wasn't a bad way to break in the new cast net as well!
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Couldn't be happier with how the boat performs and the amount of room that is in it now runs well fishes beautifully the wait and time it has taken is oh so worth it!

[Dignity]

Looks awesome, want to come and finish mine off 😊

[Buddy01]

Looks fantastic, well done!