Thread: New to me boat - soliciting ideas

Thank You Sir. Will look into them. Have you had better luck with T-Bar or Single?

I bought the rod holders and bases and made my own T- Bars

Current state of boat. Frame and deck complete. Used "rivnuts" for the first time, to mount the seat base and 2x2's to the benches.

Put EVA Foam on the floor, the cheap stuff from amazon. $67 a sheet, used two sheets (bought three), some scrap pieces left over. Eventually I'll find a use for the third sheet.
As we speak, I have mixed feelers about this stuff. I bought this, instead of carpet, as I am not a fan of carpet in boats. Had vinyl in one boat, liked it, however, no cushion when standing. Otherwise, the vinyl was great. That is what I put on the bow plate.
It was my first time using foam, so keep that in mind. My cutting skills are not the best, that doesn't help matters. Did it by myself, another set of hands would have been helpful. It cuts easily with a sharp utility knife.
I unrolled it, put scrap boards and weight on top of it, for about a week prior to install. It still wanted to curl up. I even flipped it upside down for a couple days.

I read some reviews, saw on some videos, that if your putting this on wood, to paint it, seal it, something. That it would stick better. That is NOT my experience!!! I sealed the wood on the deck, hit and miss where it stuck.

The clamps you see, are where I put construction adhesive. I did this on the other three lids, it's on there now! The vertical piece of wood (with the oval cut in it, that I did not seal - cause I was lazy!), the foam stuck and is not coming off. Where I put it on the aluminum benches, again, it's not coming off easily.

Did you note the different shades of grey? Yeah, me two! Prior to install I set the sheets side by side, flipped them around, couldn't tell a difference. Obviously I missed something. Too late now.





This is a scrap piece. I watched a few videos of people routing the foam. Which, in my mind, is a plus to this stuff. Your imagination is the limiting factor to customization.
I decided to play a little. Broke out the dremel, printed and cut out a picture of a LOWE image, and traced it on the foam. Also made marks for a ruler.
Yes, I know, it looks like a kid did it. My free hand stuff has never been good!
Note on the "ruler", it looks cleaner? I went back and forth. On the LOWE part, only went one direction with the dremel.

My current thought is to outline\route the lids, come in an inch or so from the edge.

Put the ruler and LOWE logo somewhere. If I feel brave, try to trace and then route a crappie on it? Please give your input on where to put these.

Looks very nice to me. I like the way it turned out

I like the Lowe logo and ruler. Adds that custom factor to it.

Logo looks great. Congrats on your new fishing machine for sure. I'll be watching for follow-up picks on your progress.

Got brave, did some "routing", with a dremel. As you can see, even with a template, my free hand isn't the best.

Trying to figure out if I want to put anything on the hatch in between the ones with the crappie and bass on them. Angled lines, 45*, something else?

Need to go around the hatches also, they're rubbing.

I did some scrubbing on the foam, in a couple test spots, the dirt came out.

Looks great to me.