Thread: 16' crappie boat rigging suggestions?

Nice. Good job so far. First, you need to decide which type of crappie fishing will be the primary usage. This will determine type of rod holders, number of rod holders, and location of rod holders. Some rod holders are designed to easily be removed and reattached to other locations in the boat by utilizing multiple base plates.

If if you decide to put a back deck in and get into trolling, you can counterbalance the added weight by putting your extra batteries underneath your front platform. Good luck, half the fun is daydreaming how to make it better.

And that is the thing... As you can see from my rod assortment, I fish in a number of ways, including fly fishing, tossing jigs, live bait on structure, and pulling across the flats. I think I've gotten the rod holders figured out. I'm going to put a couple more on the gunnels, and then build a removable bar to go across the back. I've seen some very nice ones here to copy my design from.

The rear deck is looking more and more desirable. I went fishing with a friend, and he had the front deck, and I had the back, and it would have been a lot nicer having flat deck beneath my feet. I think I'm going to add some angle aluminum across the front and drop in some carpet and ply! I might be able to get away with 1/2" here, since the span is not too far. And good thinking about the batteries. They will be moving forward soon.

Thanks for the feedback!

If you move the batteries forward it will open the back up for a larger size gas tank also. Keep us updated with pics. I'm enjoying this thread. Remember when you lengthen the distance from batteries you might have to go up in size on wiring.

Looked at your pic again. If do increase fuel you probably have to add second tank and connect the two tanks with a fuel line.

Believe it or not, that 35 is surprisingly fuel efficient. I've taken it out three times, and still have about 2 gallons of fuel left in the tank. This is like my other boat.

In my other boat, the bigger motor gets much better fuel economy than the little 15 HP, probably because the smaller motor is constantly running wide open, whereas the larger motor jumps the boat up on plane in a few seconds, and then sips fuel the rest of the time.

But even so, I think your advice is good. The rear deck will be the next project. After that, I'll probably go ahead and extend the front deck back to the middle bunk, and add storage underneath. That way, I can put both the trolling and the starting batteries under there, out of sight, and out of the sun.

Thanks!

-TH

I worked on this rig from Jan-March you should have seen the before pics! new seats ,deck,carpet,tachometer,rod racks,spider rig new and homemade, trailer steps tires,LED's.........etc

That is some good-looking rigging. I love that T-bar, and the bent post seat base. I am leaning toward doing the back platform even more now, after seeing your setup.

Thanks for posting!

-TH

The rear deck has rod holders made from 1/2" pipe, floor flanges, "T"s and driftmaster rod holders also......my nephew loves 'em! The offset seat post takes a little getting use to, all movement is exaggerated.