Intex Mariner 4 modifications and Tips

[HeffD]

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[HeffD]

Here is the latest updated on my M4 modification , my new M4 finally came ! Let me know what you guys think !

 

[Threshweld]

Has anyone made their floor out of a single piece of 4?8? How does it fit? I'm trying to save a little money since a 4?8 of marine plywood is $77 locally. Thanks for your help.

 

[Starkonian]

Yep, I did. I doesn't cover 3-4' on either end. Not where you stand anyways. Fyi, "pressure treated" plywood is also water resistant Worth looking to see if the different label goes for cheaper at the store.

HeffD--Looking good!.

Scottish_ Nice Pike!! I wonder if you're over inflating the boat? I caught a couple personal best black bass this summer, I'll post pics soon..

 

[Threshweld]

[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Thank you guys for your help, One more question ( I Hope). It looks like people have been using regular plywood that has been sealed/painted. Has anyone had any problems arise using the regular ply as long as its well painted? I have two sheets of quality plywood sitting in my garage but they are not marine or treated. I was hoping I could just use something like [/FONT][FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]BEHR Premium DeckOver to get the water resistance i'm looking for. If not I still have the receipt for the regular plywood. Any help is greatly appreciated, I'm trying to get this done by Sept 5th for my trip to Pagosa Springs.[/FONT]

 

[ScottishScript]

[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Thank you guys for your help, One more question ( I Hope). It looks like people have been using regular plywood that has been sealed/painted. Has anyone had any problems arise using the regular ply as long as its well painted? I have two sheets of quality plywood sitting in my garage but they are not marine or treated. I was hoping I could just use something like [/FONT][FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]BEHR Premium DeckOver to get the water resistance i'm looking for. If not I still have the receipt for the regular plywood. Any help is greatly appreciated, I'm trying to get this done by Sept 5th for my trip to Pagosa Springs.[/FONT]

Hi Thresh,

I never bought marine grade ply myself as the price was ridiculous. I used something that was mildly treated but certainly not water resistant. I then gave the two floor sections a couple of coats of fence/decking treatment and it's worked fine for me.

Just make sure the second coat you apply is lighter than the first, otherwise it has a tendency to run once the water hits it. First time I did it my boat was chocolate brown for a while.

Don't over think it, the floor just has to fit moderately well and have smooth edges, the treatment gives it a little extra life.

 

[ScottishScript]

Yep, I did. I doesn't cover 3-4' on either end. Not where you stand anyways. Fyi, "pressure treated" plywood is also water resistant Worth looking to see if the different label goes for cheaper at the store.

HeffD--Looking good!.

Scottish_ Nice Pike!! I wonder if you're over inflating the boat? I caught a couple personal best black bass this summer, I'll post pics soon..

Hi Stark,

No I don't think I'm over inflating, I'm wondering if using the boat in freezing water may have done something.

I've stabilised the situation for now, but still have to pump the boat up on the go a few times during a 12 hour session.

I can live with it.

 

[Threshweld]

Thanks ScottishScript and Starkonian! Also to everyone else with all the helpful info! Happy Fishing!

 

[TonyMIowa]

[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Thank you guys for your help, One more question ( I Hope). It looks like people have been using regular plywood that has been sealed/painted. Has anyone had any problems arise using the regular ply as long as its well painted? I have two sheets of quality plywood sitting in my garage but they are not marine or treated. I was hoping I could just use something like [/FONT][FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]BEHR Premium DeckOver to get the water resistance i'm looking for. If not I still have the receipt for the regular plywood. Any help is greatly appreciated, I'm trying to get this done by Sept 5th for my trip to Pagosa Springs.[/FONT]

I used regular 3/4 plywood (2 pieces) and put 2 coats of exterior paint on it. Since floor is not really exposed to water, it works perfectly fine. It gets few water drops but as long as you don't fish while it is raining, thats pretty much all the water that you would get. If you are planning to store your floor inside (garage) then there is no need for marine grade material.
The width of the floor should be much less than maximum width of the boat. I believe you can make floor about 35 inches wide but it will damage the boat. Use 1/2 plywood, paint it, and make it about 30-31 wide. Also don't forget to make edges round.

 

[CopperFox]

Threshweld: I was one of the original posters in this thread and have had 5-6 years experience with wood floors I have made for first my Sevylor HF360 and then my Intex M4. Eventually I outfitted my M4 with removable pedestal swivel seats and was very comfortable throughout. Both times I used 15/32" standard plywood, well sanded, with 2-3 coats of quality outdoor primer paint. I fished in the rain and often got the floor soaked. Occasionally the wood got minor chips in places though that was probably from storage, transport and assembly/disassembly on the shore, as I never used a trailer, often fishing several weeks in a row. I think I did one other coat a year or 2 into it, to spruce it up. Wood splitting or warping was never an issue, nor was the paint coming off or wearing through. I'm sure I have several photos of my floor boards on this thread. I know I just located some for my HF360 on page 4. I wouldn't change a thing, including having no piping, no hinges and only a 2 piece floor. I did add a small (~12"-18" x ~6"-12") 3rd piece for the nose of the M4 from leftover wood, to tighten it up a bit. Depending on how much you plan to stand in your boat you MIGHT want to go very slightly thicker with the wood, though I wouldn't have. Much more is overkill only adding weight. Good luck. Dave

 

[Starkonian]

Good info CopperFox. Pressure treated plywood at Home Depot, 4' x 8' 1/2", in my area is $26 so it was a no brainer for me. If were to use regular plywood I would use a outside deck water treatment stain. I highly recommend going with 1/2" if you want to stand up at all. There were various crack/imperfections in the sheet I bought, they all had them, and heard a little cracking the first time I used it and walked around. I trowled in some wood filler in all the cracks and holes and that made the boards much more rigid. I did a light sanding, beveled the edges slightly and ran a single layer of duct tape around all the edges. I typically throw them in the lake after each session and scrub all the mud off I envitably track in and they have been rock solid. Make sure they don't wedge too far under the side tubes because they will stress the floor seams and cause a leak. Very important as that happened to me. Good old Marine Goop took care of that.

 

[Starkonian]

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Here are some of my big catches in my 1st full season in the M4. Season's not over yet

 

[Brusac]

Those are some nice catches there Starkonian. If you are into the social media scene you should download the Fishing Crew app for your smartphone, those would be some popular posts there.

 

[Starkonian]

Thanks Brusac. I don't have a smartphone though, still old school, and cheap, with a tracfone that sits in my glove box. I did post the bass pics on Facebook tho and it did get quite the reaction. The story is, I caught a 4lb'r, not posted, and then a 7.5 lb'r and then a 10.5 lb'r, all in a 30 minute window. My previous best was 6 lbs caught over 10 years ago. I never thought I'd forget catching a 7.5 lb bass so fast but 10 minutes later the 10.5 made it old news. You can see on my son's face the crazy nirvana place we were in. I can palm a basketball and could put my whole fist in that big one's mouth. It was turning the M-4 in circles.

 

[ScottishScript]

Here are some of my big catches in my 1st full season in the M4. Season's not over yet

Lovely fish mate, wish we had bass over here. Is number 4 a cod?

 

[Starkonian]

Lovely fish mate, wish we had bass over here. Is number 4 a cod?

That's a catfish. Channel catfish I think.

 

[KingPhoenix]

Hey guys, got my Mariner mods almost complete. got the hard floor and seats finished for an evening on the water yesterday and Holy the difference in stability with the hard floor is amazing.
So excited i forgot to take some pictures lol.

for anyone wondering I have a 55lbs trust motor and with 2 adults and gear i get a top speed of 5-6kmh

Thanks to all the posters for the inspirations!

 

[Jiggyjay]

Wow! Just read all 102 pages! Great info on here.. it's sad that the thread isn't active anymore but glad the info is still there. I just bought a used M4 for $50. Guy said only used it a couple of times since he got it 4 years ago. It's the older one with the yellow lettering but still works great and so far no major problems yet but I've only had it out once for about 2 hours since I got it. I actually have the excursion 5 and was modifying that to be a fishing boat I can use on a local lakes but found the M4 for cheap that I couldn't say no. Love the ruggedness
of the M4 compared to excursion 5 but miss the space of the 5. But I mostly fish by myself and it's much easier to setup the M4 solo compared to the 5.

When I got the excursion 5 I actually bought a suzuki 2.5hp motor for it and had to modify the intex mount to be able to even get half throttle with the 5. The M4 however doesnt need the mod. Works great with it. Im gonna try and modify my M4. Probably do the wooden floors and maybe a table to be able to hold rod holders, fish finder and maybe a down rigger. Anybody got pics of their down riggers setup on here? I know somebody said they have down riggers on here but they didn't have pics. Hope we can get this thread active again! =)

 

[Starkonian]

Welcome to the club. I don't know why people only come to talk about mods and not just post recent trip stories etc. I don't have any down rigger ideas.
I've been using my drift sock a lot on recent trips. That is a game changer. I made my own harness for it. I'll try to post pics of it soon. Fyi, there's a Facebook group for the M-4 you can join which sees regular traffic. I think it's against the rules to post the link but you can search for it easily enough.

 

[Jiggyjay]

Welcome to the club. I don't know why people only come to talk about mods and not just post recent trip stories etc. I don't have any down rigger ideas.
I've been using my drift sock a lot on recent trips. That is a game changer. I made my own harness for it. I'll try to post pics of it soon. Fyi, there's a Facebook group for the M-4 you can join which sees regular traffic. I think it's against the rules to post the link but you can search for it easily enough.

Hey thanks I just sent a request hopefulky its the right facebook group. Made a little video on my mariner with my suzuki 2.5hp.. watch it here if you like.

https://youtu.be/JtbSkhD5JTI

Also for my first mod I ordered extra stock rod holders. I have the excursion 5 and loved that it had 4 rod holders. 2 in the back 2 in the front. Im gonna do the same thing and maybe just put an extra one in the back by the motor mounts. I like to troll and those mounts actually work great for me. So ill probabky glue that bew mount. As for glue, hh66 would be good to use right? Another thing.. anybody have experience using these scotty glue on pads?

https://www.austinkayak.com/products...xq5BoC-7bw_wcB

Scotty makes accesories you can use to mount a bunch of things one od them being a downrigger.

Edit- what kind drift sock are you using? Im lookong at getting one too since I like to drift fish.