Intex Mariner 4 modifications and Tips

[intexbros]

I think I fixed my boston valve leaks! I ended up taking some fine sandpaper to the female connection of the valve to smooth them out so there were no more divots or marks on the ring. That rubber material it's made of is actually pretty soft. (Had to tear off small pieces of sandpaper because there isn't much room to work in there.) Back to the water for me!

 

[flukesofnature]

AK great story and testimony.....You should receive your commission check from INTEX any day now >>>LOL
You might consider sending that story to Amazon on their review page for the Mariner 4..it's a great selling point...the portability
BTW...and I swear this as truth,,,caught a 24 inch rainbow trout last week end,,,,,Shallow lake called Takhlakh at foot of MT Adams.
My cheap phone service won't let me send or up load to a computer...but for this one I will find a way to show the world!!!!!
**** I figured it out***see pic
Just trolling along with my little mariner 3 on a wedding ring and some power bait......BOOOOOOOM.
I am considering retiring from fishing as I have reached the pinnacle....Wow what a fish

Rdiddy
Good job on the solution.I hope that settles the annoying leak for good.Just a thought...since some of the thick- ness of the valve material was taken off with the sanding..I am wondering if a small bead of PVC cement just on the area you sanded might be a precaution.

 

[flukesofnature]

AK this ones for You! Those are 1 and 1/2 inch links on the stringer......

 

[flukesofnature]

No Title


And finally a pic of the Mariner 3 with following mods
1.Seats sit on the side tubes, supported by PVC columns, all break down for portability,opens up space for stowing gear, battery etc.. 4 inch styrofoam pads reduce weight and stress on side tubes, height( including length of PVC support) designed for length of my knee to foot/ 90 degree angle..no cramped leg positions for all day( I am 6 ft 4in)Easy to put feet up on side tubes if desired
2.Front and rear seats have bungi connection to floor with eye bolts , prevents rocking, not really needed but added feeling of security
3. 2 piece carpeted wooden floor w/pipe insulation all around..plastic toilet flange supports 3 inch PVC pipe...mounted with Butteryfly nuts for easy take down
4. Rubber drain connector on Minn Kota for use with 1 inch pvc pipe...sitting on front seat and looking backwards..easy to sit sideways and steer without being forced into cramped forward position only
5. Position of swivel seat,attached to floor by PVC columns allows for one floor board to be used at best position for rowing if needed. Easy solo fishing set up...still enough floor to stand if needed
6. Oars extended to 6 foot length, 1 inch wood dowel 4 foot long attached to plastic oar sleeve(Painted blue in pic)
7. Swivels seat can be popped off PVC columns and turned lengthwise and placed directly on one piece of floor only(no PVC Pipes) for easy day of rowing and swimming ...1/2 of floor left out...easy fun set up
8. If I decide not to bolt the bottom flange to the floor, I can move either cross tube seat forward or backward to just about any position the length of the floor allows...that is what the eye bolts on the seat and floor are for..attach bungie wherever you want the seat/s to be. My only mistake with this was not using a 1/2 inch or better PLYwood..and not OSB...without the PVC supports the seat sags. and the swivel seat catches just a little on rotation..not too bad though...do-able but not quite as solid.
I also might replace bungie with small strap that doesn't flex...even though I know the bungies won't give way ..just the little surge of the rubber stretching is a little un nerving on a boat.They make zip ties 3/8 inch wide and 2 1/2 feet long....that might work.....or just tie them with a piece of rope and a truckers hitch.

 

[flukesofnature]

a better view

 

[flukesofnature]

Drain connector with one inch Pvc cap..to attach to PVC handle

 

[mrdrh99]

Nice.... What's your setup time on this?

 

[flukesofnature]

MRDR About 20 minutes....Most times I go out I leave the PVC posts in the bottom flange and the just pull that piece of floor out. I am fortunate to have a small ranger..so space is a plus..but I also have a mercury sable sedan and proved to myself that every piece will fit in the back section of that sedan, with back seat down.

 

[sadarahu]

No Title

Getting ready to cut my hard floor. Could anybody give me a hint for the dimensions. I plan to have Home-Depot cut the widths for me, and also let them cut it into 3 or 4 pieces. My max space lengt in a car is 4' so I'm not sure what is the longest piece. I don't have a boat dimensions at the moment. I was thinking about using original floor as a template but it seems from the posts that the wooden floor need to be a bit smaller.

As far as motors I would not go for gas. The reason is simple. The gasoline is available everywhere and to refill a small 1LB gas tank from the large one you need to coll off empty container first or you get only up to 30% refill. That is a big downside. I was wondering what is the difference between air and water cooling ? In sense of practical use and reliability. I know the air cooled motors are a bit louder on the other hand water cooled have more parts to fail.

As far as anchor use I would love to figure out some method to run the anchor line so it does not rub the tube with every move. Haven't figure that out yet. I also know that from some activities I would need to use 2 of them so I probably take one 12LB and one 15LB. Is seems like the mashroom type works the best as it is always possible to get it stuck. I hope that 25ft line would be enough. I wonder how you guys manage the line. The line I use now is pretty thick so it is easier to pull out of the water but I cannot see how to manage it once it on the floor, and it often gets messy.

I attached a photo of my M4 bag. It fits perfectly and I can carry it as a backpack. It is also much more durable than oryginal bag. I fit the floor, oars and pump in the other one like this, so for 2 people going on the boat it is a perfect solution. You can still have your hands free to take your fishing stuff or other camping gear.

Arthur

 

[mmperry]

Attention Mariner 4 owners,

This thread has been fascinating! I have a question concerning the practicality of dual use for the Mariner 4. I have never seen one close up and therefore hope to get some recommendations and opinions from you. I love the idea of modding it for all day lake use but what about using it as is for a river float craft?

I live near the Yakima river in Eastern Washing, popular for floating. It moves at a moderate pace with some occasional white ripples but nothing that requires a white water raft. I've been down it a few times in generic Sevylor rafts and others use little more than pool toys. Would the Mariner work in your opinion for this purpose? Would the slats be a detriment and not flex enough for a comfortable river float? Can the boat be used without the slats, but instead sit directly on the inflatable beam floor? Any other comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

mmperry

 

[Brusac]

@mmperry: The slats in the floor are spaced so there is plenty of flex and give for river use (I have taken mine on a couple of rivers here in Wisconsin, one with small rapids and the only problem I had was some very large boulder in the water that were just inches below the surface and I would come to a stop on top on them if I did not steer around them quick enough). You cannot use the floor without the floor insert; the bottom is designed so that when you inflate the center beam it pushes the floor up into the tubes while pushing the bottom down into a small v-hull shape to improve tracking. The center beam is not connected to the main tubes and is only about 4' wide. If you were to use it without the floor the bottom would be very saggy and your weight may be sufficient to displace the water underneath if you were not fully perched on the beam putting undue stress on the seams sealing the bottom to the tubes (I have seen some comment that they don't even inflate the center beam all the time, not sure I would be comfortable with that in my boat). It should also be easy enough to make a seat mod to allow you to have a fishing style seat without losing very much of the boats natural flexibility. There are youtube videos of the M4 being used on rivers, one in particular shows a father and son who took a 50 mile trip down a sizable river. If you enjoyed taking the river in a Sevylor raft then you would love taking the same trip in the M4 (at least that's my opinion).

 

[flukesofnature]

mmperry
A ma zon has a review site for the Mariner 4...there are several reviews regarding the river use of a Mariner. If you look at the Mariner 3 review site there is a reviewer, CaptainBasic who has specifically written about his river experiences....his is with a Mariner 3( M4 little brother) but you can make the jump. BTW I have wanted to float the Yakima for a long time( I am in Vancouver WA) Could you private message me with an email? I'd like to talk about put in locations .worse spots on the river..and take out locations. LOTs of reviews on satisfaction of M4 as a river runner...with wisdom....she is not a class three capacity,occasional but not very often, from what I have read.
I did a mod for an M3 ( above posts a few back) with a sit on top of the tubes config. If I detach the cross seat from the PVC tubes, and just set the cross seat, turned lengthwise, on the floor it is an easy , comfortable use of the swivel seat in an on the floor position, easy for paddling(you can convert your oars into a kayak paddle) or rowing. The width of the seat, turned lengthwise on the floor rocks a little ( left and right) and you are far enough down on the floor and the boat is so stable it won't tilt ..but the rocking is a little unnerving, With the M4, you could easily attach a strap over the cross seat that runs under the slat floor( between the inflatable floor and the slats) that would cinch up the cross seat on the floor and stop the rocking..making it that much more stable.
The guy in Oregon, Captain Basic just kneels on the inflatable seat cusions when he rafts, or sits on the side tubes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUqnEhMuDWk

 

[Brusac]

Went out on the lake on Saturday and Sunday afternoon as I always do I inflated my M4 in the front yard to hose it down and get all the plant material and dirty water off. I then leave the M4 inflated while it dries in the sun. Much to my dismay when I went back 2 hours later and found chamber # 2 was low. I assumed maybe I didn't have the valve fully closed (done that before) so I set it up in my garage and really tightened the valves and re-inflated. Sure enough yesterday morning #2 was very low. I went over the entire boat with soapy water checking for leaks and found nothing. I then opened up valve #2 and found a couple of small nicks very similar to what rdiddy801 posted recently. Thanks rdiddy for following up with your resolution. I just finished sanding down the valve seat and have the M4 inflated in the garage. Hopefully tomorrow morning I will find a fully inflated chamber. I suspect the nicks are caused by opening the valve to deflate the boat and then leaving the valves open to fold the raft up and push out more air. Using my pump to remove the air with the valve closed will obviously not work as the check valve is there to keep the air in. I believe I have 2 options for future deflation: 1 - open the valve and then use the pump to suck the tube flat and then close it again and hope the pump does not mar the threads in the valve or 2 - the local Farm and Fleet has a 2 pack of boston valves for $4.50, I could pick up 2 of those and remove the check-valves and then when it is time to deflate open the valve and insert the newly made deflater-valves and deflate the raft (either by pump or the just pushing down on the tubes like I had been doing before) and then fold it up with the deflaters in place to protect the valve seats.

 

[Slayer33]

Can anyone please help me?? this is chaos!... where to begin...?

So I currently have a pre-2008 model Seahawk II. I decided to get a Mariner 4 a couple weeks ago as I picked up a Minn Kota Endura Max 55# to use and there is no mounting locations on the seahawk. The cheapest I could get one here was from Amazon.ca for $329 shipped. I ordered it a couple weeks ago, I found out last night that the shipping company (CEVA logistics) lost the package. They called on Friday saying it was here for pickup but now they can't locate it. I had to call Amazon and they confirmed the package was lost and have now shipped out a new one. Crisis diverted for now....

So I couldn't find anyone who could sell the new composite mount to me in Canada, I found one on Amazon.ca but this one pictured the new composite mount, but in the description is states it is wood and in a review someone posted they said they got the old wood one. So, I bit the bullet and ordered one off eBay from the US. It was shipped last week, I had to pay a premium, $68 for this to be shipped to me. Last night I got an email from eBay customer service and they said the item was seized by customs and it wouldn't be sent to me or returned to the sender!!!! seriously?!?!

Now I am desperately trying to get a mount shipped to me to have it in time for a big annual fishing trip on Aug.16th... can anyone help me find a composite mount that I can get sent to me and make it here in the next 2 weeks????!?!

This is turning into a nightmare...

 

[flukesofnature]

slayer33
What a cluster.....I don't know how handy you are, but take this for what its worth. Go back in this thread..to the beginning.Page one
Desode and later, MRDRH99 show picture of their modified mariner.Desode for sure built a custom motor mount. It is a simple concept....two half inch(or what ever the inside diameter of the motor mount holes are on the M4) electrical conduit pipes, some U bolts, and a piece of 2x12 pine lumber, or (2) 3/4 inch thick pieces of marine plywood. You can see the shape and size, and any good plumbing supply (or plumbing contractor) can put the bend in the pipe for you. the rest is just putting legos together. You could do this ..seriously.
#2 possibility..call around local river rafter outfitter, ask them if you can rent one till the situation with Ebay resolves, after the fishing trip.
#3 follow craigs list canada in your area for a used motor mount, modify it( see #1 suggestion)to fit the mariner
#4 big box stores..wallmart, BIG 5, fisherman's supply sell thses same composite mounts, also the old wood one which in most opinion is pretty much as good as the composite, call or google these stores and order next day delivery fed ex from them. Do an on line search and deal with Canadian outlets..maybe even wallmart.com
Hope this helps.
If you also google INTEX MARINER videos on youtube,,those guys that modified their boats also show how to do the motor mount.

 

[Slayer33]

No Title

Thanks Flukesofnature. I'm pretty handy, but I didn't want to make my own mount, especially not one as big as desode's. I need all of this to pack up nicely into my acura integra. I will call intex to this morning to see if there are any distributors in my area, but I feel that its unlikely. I had been waiting for the Mariner 4 to come instock at amazon.ca, when it finally did a week ago there was 12 available, and as of last night I got that last one, so it seems that Intex doesn't sell much up here for some reason? I see the seahawk 2s etc at walmart but nothing in the mariner series...

I've seen one at a local store that might work, its a universal one and its $50. Do you guys think this will work?

 

[Slayer33]

Well, I just got off the phone with Intex. I think they are based out of California? I ended up ordering hopefully the new composite mount. The person I spoke to had pretty bad English. But the mount was $24.99 plus shipping to me ended up making it $50.99. Which is cheaper than any eBay option.

I really hope that this is the new composite mount, I asked several times to confirm that this was composite/plastic and not wood. I would assume Intex wouldn't sell the old wood version... I hope. The model # is 68624E. I should have it in 1-2 weeks! Fingers crossed it doesn't get seized by customs again... still have no idea why they would seize a motor mount... unless the seller from eBay sent something illegal?

 

[flukesofnature]

Imagine,improvise,introduce, innovate

BTW slayer....if the local store has the universal take a few measurements and see if the dimensions are close.
What could go wrong if you had to move a couple of 1/4 inch holes to make the universal fit the mariner?
Or better for 1/3the price follow the pattern for the universal and build the simple version...not quite as complicated as DESODE's but it'll work Cap'n!
For the record.the universal looks like a solid answer
Sarcasm....what in the world did we do without the composite motor mount 5 years ago...sarcasm end..LOL

 

[FishinAintEasy]

Brand new here, and this thread (and others) convinced be to buy a Mariner 4. While I wait for it to show up (probably the longest 5-7 business days of my life), I've been trying to decide what mods to tackle first and I think I'd really like a more solid floor.

Has anyone attempted to make a fiberglass one? I saw the attempted plastic tables mentioned, but it sounded like those were awkward and heavy. I'd prefer to save weight if possible, and making a custom one sounds like a fun project.

 

[flukesofnature]

Easy
There have been a few thoughts towards a composite type floor, and the discussion seemed to show that the cost , and near equivalent weight factor turned everyone off.....could you get enough strength with fiberglass w/out having to go to the 3/4 inch thickness range?
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=aaplw&p=marine+composite+board