Come laugh at the stupid woman

[anchorpuller]

It's alright. I know y'all love me anyway. I can take it.

I decided after trying to mount my new rod holder in rotten plywood, that it is time to revamp "The Lunker Express"

Mind you now, this is a girl...yep me...trying to do what I've never done before. In fact, I'm not sure what some of these tools are supposed to do, but I'm making them do what I want em to.

Here she is before I started:



In fact, I had removed the seats because of the rotten wood. I just didn't realize how rotten.

Today, in between rain showers, weeding flower beds and helping hubby in the yard; I got the rear seat cleaned off. The plywood had been applied with toggle type bolts and they were rusty. Most were impossible to remove, so I hacksawed them off.



I plan to replace the plywood and mount a seat on the rear bench. I'm also going to put plywood in the floor to make it easier to move around in the boat. I'm thinking about doing away with the front deck and mounting a seat to the plywood floor. At least if I can figure out a way to mount my transom mount trolling motor to the front of the boat. It would make it nice to fish from the front for a change.



I'm so open to suggestions and comments. Remember, I'm a boat redoer virgin and could use the help.

[FisherMike]

If your going to do this yourself,,,,,, I already love you.
Keep us posted on your progress.

[yikess]

This is how I set mine up.

[foul hook]

What you are doing sounds good. Whatever you do dont get your seats too high. It will make your boat top heavy,and more likely to tip over. Use marine plywood and seal it good b4 you screw it down .Use ss screws if possible. It will last for years.

[Ronnie]

You tell your husband to get his tail out there and help you with this.

[anchorpuller]

yikess,

Can you tell me how exactly you put the seat mounts in? Is the floor outdoor carpet covered plywood?
And the trolling motor. What is it mounted to?
Jerry Blake told me I could turn the head of the trolling motor around and use it on the front, if I remember right. I'll have to check with him again about it.

Thanks for the pics and help!

[anchorpuller]

You tell your husband to get his tail out there and help you with this.

My husband doesn't fish and I've waited long enough for him to start on his honey do list. I can do this!

[yikess]

Yes I used indoor/outdoor carpet. The benches are treated plywood and the floor is aluminum with foam between the ribs that I bought from Lowes. The seat mounts are offset to allow good visibility when driving and in the middle for fishing. The seat bases are mounted using stainless steel screws that go thru the wood and the top of the bench.

[Jerry Blake]

Hey Laura:

All you have to do to turn your trolling motor around is take the bolt out that holds the top part to the shaft, turn it 180-degrees and put the bolt back in. There are wires running down the shaft so you may need to poke a small Phillips screwdriver through the hole first to work the wires out of the way.

You can mount a good solid, treated 2 x 4 to your front deck with angle brackets or bolts that go all the way through the deck and put your transom mounted TM on that.

You can do it - just be careful with those power tools - some of them will hurt ya!

[anchorpuller]

Hey Laura:

All you have to do to turn your trolling motor around is take the bolt out that holds the top part to the shaft, turn it 180-degrees and put the bolt back in. There are wires running down the shaft so you may need to poke a small Phillips screwdriver through the hole first to work the wires out of the way.

You can mount a good solid, treated 2 x 4 to your front deck with angle brackets or bolts that go all the way through the deck and put your transom mounted TM on that.

You can do it - just be careful with those power tools - some of them will hurt ya!

I knew you would come through again for me. I sorta remembered what you had said. Can you believe I'm just now getting around to it?!?

Those power tools are something I've .....nevermind.

Yikess,

Thanks again for the pictures. They really help.