Hello everyone.
I've been haunting the boards here for a while and finally decided to redo my small boat. Last year my father in law gave my wife and I a small 12' boat he had and didn't use anymore, I'd never owned or even driven a boat before last summer and had a lot to learn. I bought a 2012 Merc. 9.9 four stroke and had the boat out as much as I could on the lake we live on which is rather large but has some of the best Walleye fishing in Canada. The boat is fairly light and was decent on days without much wind or waves but in any kind of rough water it was pretty scary. I did use a GPS to track it once and on a calm day it read at 18 mph with myself my wife and her friend plus fishing gear. The boat did initially have a bit of trouble planing out so I added a Doel-fin and that seemed to help a lot. There was no trailer with the boat so I ended up taking it in and out of the back of the truck all summer which was a pain.
My plan is to add a storage compartment on the port side for rods and longer items. A front deck the same height as the current seats with storage for coats and other items. A pod seat at the back instead of benches, I would like two seat mounting plates and at least one good cushioned seat. Somewhere in there I would also like to incorporate a battery to run the following, bilge pump, A few LED lights a stereo and one or two speakers, a 12v Powerport and USB plug and a fish finder. I also purchased an inboard waterproof charger unit as the 9.9 doesn't have any way of charging the battery I would like it to be as simple as plugging the boat in when I get home to recharge the battery. Along with everything else a new coat of paint should make this old boat look new.
Here are some pics of the boat as is.
I've been haunting the boards here for a while and finally decided to redo my small boat. Last year my father in law gave my wife and I a small 12' boat he had and didn't use anymore, I'd never owned or even driven a boat before last summer and had a lot to learn. I bought a 2012 Merc. 9.9 four stroke and had the boat out as much as I could on the lake we live on which is rather large but has some of the best Walleye fishing in Canada. The boat is fairly light and was decent on days without much wind or waves but in any kind of rough water it was pretty scary. I did use a GPS to track it once and on a calm day it read at 18 mph with myself my wife and her friend plus fishing gear. The boat did initially have a bit of trouble planing out so I added a Doel-fin and that seemed to help a lot. There was no trailer with the boat so I ended up taking it in and out of the back of the truck all summer which was a pain.
My plan is to add a storage compartment on the port side for rods and longer items. A front deck the same height as the current seats with storage for coats and other items. A pod seat at the back instead of benches, I would like two seat mounting plates and at least one good cushioned seat. Somewhere in there I would also like to incorporate a battery to run the following, bilge pump, A few LED lights a stereo and one or two speakers, a 12v Powerport and USB plug and a fish finder. I also purchased an inboard waterproof charger unit as the 9.9 doesn't have any way of charging the battery I would like it to be as simple as plugging the boat in when I get home to recharge the battery. Along with everything else a new coat of paint should make this old boat look new.
Here are some pics of the boat as is.