Intex Mariner 4 modifications and Tips

[TonyMIowa]

Hi all! First of all - thank you everyone who shared their ideas on M4 mods. It is great forum with very inspirational concepts.

I am planning to buy M4 in a month or so. It is very cold here (Iowa) and I don’t want my boat to be shipped during this freezing time as it could damage the material(10-20F this week).

Now to the point : after going through all 90+ pages I decided to do following:
Motor - 50 Minn Kota Endura Max (lakes I am planning to fish on are electric motor only); according to reviews it seems that 50 lbs has better balance power/efficiency/consumption than 55
Floor – since I am 240 lbs, 6'’3” and will be fishing with my wife or my buddy, I will use 3/4 inch plywood (2 pieces), seal with deck sealer (left-over from previous project), no carpet, but with some rubber/foam edge protection (after I sand it down); will be using without original floor
Battery – Duracell? AGM Deep Cycle Marine group 31 – probably overkill but since it is my very first boat and battery I want to go with AGM; you can buy it not much more expensive than regular Walmart battery. Also it should still fit in Minn Kota battery center

Questions:
Would anyone post detailed description how exactly to extend the cables as I will need to put battery in front? I was planning to buy 6 G jumper cables but not sure how to connect them to original wires. Should I open trolling motor and connect new wires removing original completely (probably shouldn’t be doing that as it will kill my motor warranty?) or cut them at the end? How to protect connections? How to connect to the battery (Minn Kota center)?

Since I will have plywood floor, I will be installing 2 swivel seats on pedestals. I will have to reattach them every time I load/unload from the car. I was thinking about using some bolts and nuts through holes in plywood but after giving it a thought I am afraid that eventually this process with tear down plywood. You have to tie fairly strong and it won’t take that long for plywood to crack.
Any ideas on how to connect swivel pedestals to plywood, taking in consideration that I will have to reattach every time I go fishing?

Once again – thank you for great ideas!

PS: sorry if you find some grammar mistakes, I am originally from Europe and English is my second language
Tony

 

[Moneymakin]

Hi from Germany,

I used speaker cables to enlarge the cables.
For the plus i used one complete (2 vains) cable and also for the minus cable.

I connected them with a waterproof Connection i could still disconnect very easy.
But i did Not ever needed to ;-)

 

[Moneymakin]

I have used the speaker cables now for 2.5 years and it still works fine.
And to connect the cables to the battery i used crocodil connectors as it is the easiest way to connect or disconnect.

 

[TonyMIowa]

Great idea on wateproof connector! Although I am not sure how safe would it be to use speaker cables. I will probably stick to jumper cables.
Any ideas on pedestals? What do you use for seating?

 

[Ffclaws]

Someone makes a quick release for a boat seat pedestal. Do a Google search and I'm sure you will find it.

 

[TonyMIowa]

Someone makes a quick release for a boat seat pedestal. Do a Google search and I'm sure you will find it.

I already was looking for those and not sure if they are connected to the pedestal base or to seat? If to the seat then they will not work as pedestal will be still attached to the floor, making it very difficult to transport

 

[Brusac]

No Title

TonyMIowa - I am in the middle of building my floor. I am using T-Bolts (or T-Nuts depending on who you talk too) to secure the pedestal to the floor. Just have to make sure the T-Bolt in inserted into the bottom of the floor and the pedestal screwed down from the top so that the bolts pull everything together. If you have the t-bolts inserted in from the top they could pull out of the wood as you move around in the seat. Makes it very easy when you have to remove the pedestals every time you take the boat down after a trip. I believe the quick release mentioned in the earlier post is meant to go on top of the pedestal to remove the seat, they may not be sturdy enough to put on the bottom of the pedestal as they would be exposed to higher levels of torque as you move around in the seat. As far as moving the battery to the front of the boat, it would be wise to use wire that is at least the same gauge as the battery cable of your motor, heavier gauge would be wiser. A pair if jumper cables would work well with one end modified for the motor connection. You could run the cable under the floor so it is out of the way.

When I get my floor done I will post pictures. Will still be awhile since I don't have much time to work on it. And since I am in Wisconsin it will probably be May before my M4 see the water again so I have plenty of time before I need to have it done...

 

[TonyMIowa]

No Title

I think TNuts should work! I will probably use something like that:

 

[Mr.Victor]

I haven't been in this thread in a long time. I said I would share a video of the mods I did to my boat but I haven't quite gotten to that yet...I will put that together in the spring. But I did just finish up a fishing promo video for a handmade rat lure company out in Cali, and my modded Intex Mariner 4 is one of the stars of the show lol. As far as my mods, you will see I added a 3 piece plywood floor with a big removable marine carpet that lays down over it. In some scenes you will see the padded swivel seats I added and the rod holder that runs down the side of the boat. There is also another board that runs down the other side of the boat which I have two lure cases and a fish finder mounted on (not featured in this video though). It's all modular so, depending on the session and my needs I can attach what I like. Check it out in the link I attached!

 

[sadarahu]

Rule #6: You may not post in the forum to promote any personal enterprise, advertise a business or product, or to solicit responses for contests, polls, or similar. This includes directing members to social networking sites.

 

[Ffclaws]

Art, we know. Please STOP!!!

 

[robdogj]

I haven't been in this thread in a long time. I said I would share a video of the mods I did to my boat but I haven't quite gotten to that yet...I will put that together in the spring. But I did just finish up a fishing promo video for a handmade rat lure company out in Cali, and my modded Intex Mariner 4 is one of the stars of the show lol. As far as my mods, you will see I added a 3 piece plywood floor with a big removable marine carpet that lays down over it. In some scenes you will see the padded swivel seats I added and the rod holder that runs down the side of the boat. There is also another board that runs down the other side of the boat which I have two lure cases and a fish finder mounted on (not featured in this video though). It's all modular so, depending on the session and my needs I can attach what I like. Check it out in the link I attached!

Nice mod there. I especially liked that rod holder that you had on the side of your boat. Just curious, what kind of anchor are you using?

 

[Mr.Victor]

Nice mod there. I especially liked that rod holder that you had on the side of your boat. Just curious, what kind of anchor are you using?

Thanks! I will show the mods in more detail in a video once the snow melts around here...the rod holder is my favorite...it attaches securely to the boat in 10 seconds or less...as far as anchor I use an 8 lb mushroom anchor with a rope tied to a carabiner...then I clip it to the front or back handle on the boat (and occasionally on the grab line around the boat) depending on which way I want to position the boat.

 

[Mr.Victor]

Great thread here! I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a Mariner 4, and the mods outlined on here are awesome. Just want to say thanks for everyone who's taken the time to detail what's possible.

Question: does anyone happen to have a video, showing the stability of the M4 with the wood floor? Specifically, I'm looking for a video of someone standing up and/or moving around on the wood floor while out on the water.

Again, thanks all.

Check out my video a few posts up. Should give you a good idea of how stable this boat is with a modded floor. Way more stable than any of my friends other small cartopper boats!

 

[TonyMIowa]

Mr Victor, what kind of plywood did you use?

 

[Mr.Victor]

Mr Victor, what kind of plywood did you use?

3/8" plywood...3 pieces with barrel bolts (4 total) to link the pieces together...if you look closely in the video on the parts where I'm alone and the seats aren't in you can see them (you can also still see them next to the seat bases in the other clips too). I have one big piece of carpet that I unroll and lay over the whole floor (with cutouts where the barrel bolts and holes for the seat pedestal bolts go)...it gets pinched (for lack of a better word) between the floor and the air chambers and that keeps it in place pretty well.

 

[TonyMIowa]

3/8" plywood...3 pieces with barrel bolts (4 total) to link the pieces together...if you look closely in the video on the parts where I'm alone and the seats aren't in you can see them (you can also still see them next to the seat bases in the other clips too). I have one big piece of carpet that I unroll and lay over the whole floor (with cutouts where the barrel bolts and holes for the seat pedestal bolts go)...it gets pinched (for lack of a better word) between the floor and the air chambers and that keeps it in place pretty well.

Did you put it on top of original?
by the way I watched your video 5 times. It is awsome.

 

[Mr.Victor]

Did you put it on top of original?
by the way I watched your video 5 times. It is awsome.

No, the original floor would probably be too thick with the plywood floor and it's not necessary anyway...the 3/8" plywood is solid as a rock. And thanks for the compliment on the video! My friend and I put a lot of work into it so it's great to know people are enjoying it. There's more to come!!

 

[300winmag]

Has anybody found a way to have a nice comfortable inflatable floor to sit on while floating down the river? I'm more of an explorer then a fishermen lol

 

[Ffclaws]

300winmag, try a float.
http://www.surfoutlet.com/ProductDe...&gclid=CKa1uryen8QCFQeNaQodYGQAlw#color=25825
Blow it up and sit on it.