Re: Aerator/Live well Question.
The splashwell drain, I took it out and just went at it with a collection of sharp tools, digging out all the wet wood I could get at. Then I poked at the transom with a screwdriver from the inside, it pierced the rotten parts easily. I ended up with a cavity about three inches side to side extending five or six inches down from the top, a quarter- to half-inch deep.<br /><br />Filled it with
3m Marine Premium Filler, sanded it smooth, and covered it with 3 or four layers of fiberglass mat. You have to be sure to remove all the rotten wood.<br /><br />I won't go into all the how-to's on fiberglass repair here - plenty of advice on that in the boat restoration forum. My efforts are all pretty rough-looking anyway.<br /><br />Bought a new flange & installed it with 5200. I got a plastic one with an end that screws on, since I don't have a tool to flare the end.<br /><br />The deck, I'll photograph next time I have the boat out. Here's a crude drawing of the frame, built from 2x4's:<br />
<br /><br />with a 3/4" plywood top.<br /><br />The black circle is the chair pedestal, the red lines show where the two 6-gallon tanks are stowed, and blue lines indicate a partition, so the fuel is isolated from the battery. the fuel compartment has a 1/4" plywood "ceiling," which reduces the area where fumes might accumulate to effectively nothing - it's in compliance with USCG regs, not that I'm an inspector or anything but I'm convinced it's safe. I use plastic tanks without gauges, so I have to be able to see the fuel level.<br /><br />I cut a hinged lid in that port section over the tanks, made a handy 4" deep box for tools, drain plugs, lures, maps etc. I added some framing so that the lid over-hangs the walls of the box, which keeps water out.<br /><br />The entire back section of deck is hinged from the center for easy access from outside the boat. the hinged section folds back completely with the seat removed. The starboard storage bin and the battery area aren't "dry" storage - I might have to work on that.<br /><br />I attached the frame to 4 legs made from 1/2" galvanized pipe, with floor flanges on both ends. The floor is held up off the hull by 8 legs fabricated from cross sections of PVC pipe, 2" tall in the center and 1" tall on the sides, and some small-gauge galvanized wire and fiberglass resin. And I put a PVC drain under the floor back to the bilge. Haven't decided whether to glass it in. Right now it can be removed without tearing anything up.<br /><br />It's an believable improvement for fishing over having battery & fuel underfoot, and the outboard staring you in the face. I just haven't worked out passenger seating yet, since the back seat fisherman can't sit in the tall chair while under way. You have to sit on port side storage locker.<br /><br />I also put a six-rod storage holder
like this on the front of the console, and my rods stand up there all the time, haven't stepped on a reel since (I broke two spinning reels last summer).<br /><br />I've decided not to replace the carpet - it looks pretty rough but it's easy to hose it down. And it's a mean fishing machine; 44mph with the 70hp with one passenger (a buddy in his boat clocked me with GPS). And I'm not afraid to take it into shallow water, standing timber, stump fields, bumpy dirt roads, pretty much anywhere.
