Hello all, I have noticed a few threads about the Intex Mariner 4.
For those of us that are Poor or just starting out, I feel its a Good boat for the Money.
Now I have currently 2 seasons in with my Mariner and I have made a few modifications to it so that I could better enjoy my "pool toy".
I thought that I might share these on here so that other Mariner 4 owners could see what I did and why I did it.
So here is some of my wisdom from experience.
As far as material problems they have only been with the Inflatable keel.
It looks like the seam on my keel ,when factory pressed,, thinned the material, I have had 2 pin holes at the front and back of the keel in the exact same spot on both ends.
I believe this was a manufacturing issue on mine.
They were a easy patch though. I am however considering reinforcing the keel seam. That maybe one area you might want to watch. Other then that the Boat is pretty tough, I have even hit a couple of floating logs on the Ohio River with it and they did no damage, and I can say I'm actually pretty impressed with the strength of the material for this price range. It really is a tough little boat for the money.
(Mods)
One of the first things I did was modify my Mariner with a Hard wood custom floor and custom Motor mount.
The slat roll up floor that comes with the boat is Ok, But it's NO where near as good as a Hard floor.
The Best you can do with the original floor is stand up but you won't be walking around with ANY ease, especially if your a bigger guy.
For my custom Hard floor I just took plywood and treated it with a acetone and resin mix, and Made a 4 piece custom Hard floor. I then painted it with a good water proof paint.
The difference in the Boat was Like Night and Day !!! It's way more rigid and you can literally walk around in the boat with No problems at all. It also added to the overall stability and rigidness of the craft.
As far as walking around in the boat, I'd say its now pretty darn close to the stability of a small bass boat.
When I say that, I mean you can do jumping jacks in the boat and even stand on the tube and it wont flip.
The Custom Floor also allowed me to Make a Custom Motor Mount.
The Motor Mount is Bolted to the custom hard Floor of the boat and it also keep pressure off of the rear tube.
This way the motor is pushing on the floor and not the rear tube.
Now building a custom motor mount depends on how much of a engine you want to use.
The original factory motor mount works great with a trolling motor and even Ok with a 3 hp, however a 3 hp will push on the factory mount pretty good and you have to accelerate slowly or the torque pushes the motor somewhat down into the water.
I wanted to use my 6 hp Johnson on the Mariner so that's why I built the custom motor mount.
Doing a custom floor also lets you really install Bass seats too, and you can even put in pole holders if you want.
I use different setups depending on where and how long I'm out fishing.
If I'm just going out for the evening then I will just use the Factory motor mount and the trolling motor.
Half a day, I take a 3 hp outboard and the 3 gallon tank, and if I'm out for a whole day then I take the 6hp and the 6 gallon tank and trolling motor.
That's also one of the great things about the custom motor mount, I just put the custom floor in backwards and then I have 2 motor mounts on both ends of the boat, one for the 6 hp and one for the trolling motor.
Also I have a Fish finder/GPS on the boat too. You can mount the transducer on the Bottom rubber handle via zip ties.
It works Great,,,and Stays in position,,,it even folds up in the boat when your done so you you don't have to keep putting the transducer on each trip.
I mounted the Fish finder on the top of a tackle box so when I unroll the boat I just set my tackle box down and plug the transducer in.
If you like to night fish Like I do, I also Highly recommend a fish finder with GPS.
There have been Many a Night where I was in some Major fog, and I was able to drive back to the boat ramp with pretty much No visibility. I just followed the trail that I had plotted via GPS mapping and I'm safely back at shore.
I can also say this, I'm a Old Flathead catfish junkie ! and there is Nothing like being on a small inflatable while hooked into a 60+pd Freshwater Freight Train ! Its very much kind of like deep see fishing ! and I have had some Major battles that I will Never forget.
So , to wrap this up,
If you want to do something to make your mariner 4 better, By all means make a full custom floor.
You will Not believe the difference. Its like having a whole different Boat !
Second, keep a eye on the keel seams, and maybe reinforce them.
Third, if you want to go with a engine bigger then a 3 hp, you have to make a custom motor mount.
Yes there are videos on YouTube of people using bigger motors on the original factory mount but it will bend very quickly.
Also I would suggest throwing a small hydrofoil on your outboard. It made a Big difference in the tracking of the boat, and if you stick with the original factory motor mount, it will keep a 3hp from pushing down into the water and you'll even gain a little speed,, because,,, it will raise the rear end of the boat and keep the front down when accelerating.
The beauty of this little boat, is that you can get it without spending a lot of money, and in no time flat your on the water.
Then If you want to spend a little time, you can you also improve your mariner to the point where if feels like a different boat.
Plus I Love the fact that I can have a 11 foot boat, Trolling Motor and 6 Hp outboard in the back of my Chevy Metro and still get 40 MPG !
AND,, Yes,,,,,, I have Won quit a few beers on that Bet ! HAHAHA
Anyhow, I leave you all with a couple of pictures, Sincerely Desode
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I have been hard at it, working on my floor and frame, just got done applying the fourth coat of poly. 
