Thread: My Lowe ST195 DC rigging

This is sure a good looking boat and seems to offer up a few fun projects at times!

Nice boat. Enjoying the read.

Great looking boat

Good looking boat and a good read. I spotted some things that you would want to change, and as it progressed you did. You're using the right parts and I don't think you'll be doing this again anytime soon. My boat is an '88 and one of my seats broke in a similar fashion, and I did the same repair as my seats are no longer available and still original. Speaks for garage kept. I used some of the white commercial cutting board material and it came out great, can't which of the 3 was broke. The rod holders is a tough one to get right. If I have my 4 rod holders on I have to rotate it to deploy or stow the TM but love the Hi-teks. With the 2 rod holders I just have to be careful of the angle of the crossbar and stow is a snap. Your boat looks better without the stickers and wont show age nearly as fast. You do good work. My question is; what you gonna work on when it's done? Rigging and figuring is part of the fun.......Skeet.

Fishfried, if you look at the front of my boat the nightmare i have up there, i just keep rod holder loose on the top bolt on the left side until i get the trolling motor and the da'ducer in the water then i arrange the rod holder where i need to be, only takes a couple secs to get it set, your boat is really coming along

Thanks for the idea of putting pool noodle over windshield.

I have a similar style boat cover (vented for traveling with cover on) and the pool noodle works great to keep the windshield edge from wearing on the cover. I don't trailer my boat with cover on, but it sure helps having the noodle while the boat sits covered.

... cp

Also ... I have Hi-Tek rod holders on my boat, as well. The left front holder is in the way of the TM deployment/retraction. And like you, I didn't want to have to drill more holes or move the angle of the TM. I also didn't want to have to constantly be looking for a wrench/socket to change the angle of the T-bar or the individual holders ... so I took the advice of several other Hi-Tek owners and ordered some knobs from McMaster-Carr, to replace the bolts to the T-bar & holders. Now I can change the direction of the T-bar and/or each individual holder with a twist of the wrist. I still use a wrench/socket to secure the T-bar to the mounting plate, but make the other adjustments with the knobs.

Even if you didn't replace ALL the bolts on your Hi-Teks ... the bolt holding the T-bar to the upright could be replaced with one of these knobs, and then you could simply loosen the T-bar and turn it out of the way of your TM.

According to your picture of the left Hi-Tek mount & TM mount .... you "might" be able to push the T-bar to the far left of the floor mount bracket & gain a little "wiggle room". Then with turning the top bar around to where the U joints are pointing inside the boat, you could deploy/retract your TM without having to move the whole TM angle or the Hi-Tek. The replacement of the top center bolt with a knob would make that a little quicker.

If none of these suggestions are going to work, with the Hi-Teks & TM placements where they currently are .... rather than move the TM angle, you "could" order another floor mount (or use the left floor mount) and place it closer to the center of the floor, so that the TM can be deployed/retracted without changing the angle. Drilling in the carpeted floor, for replacing the location of the Hi-Tek mount, would be better (aesthetically) than drilling in the top of the bow.

Here's the link to the knobs : McMaster-Carr

I don't have a picture of my own Hi-Teks with these knobs, but here's one I "borrowed" from HandiCrappie. Should give you an idea of how these knobs fit/look :



And as you can see, Handi is trolling cranks ... so the knobs can & will tighten down and hold, even under the force of this type of trolling. Just be sure to use the lock washers (that come with the bolts in the Hi-Tek holders) with your knobs.

... cp

I have a 175 stinger. How is the ram mount on the side of the dash holding up ? Did you use anything under the dash to help support it ? I'm wanting to add a 999 to my rig but worried about dash cracking