Stinson's next ride...

[Steve Stinson]

Work has begun on the next boat for the Stinson family. Andrew and I worked last week pulling the motor, wiriing, electronics, and everything else out of the old boat. Once we had the stuff loaded in the garage, I chained the old boat to a tree in the back yard and pulled the trailer out from under it. Here's a pic of the injured boat - I believe one of my employees who has fished on it with me in the past is going to buy it and try to bring it back to life. I hope he succeeds, because it's sort of sad to see it down and out after catching so many fish over the past several years.


Along with stripping down the old boat last week, I also went to see what Fred had on his lot at Parkway Marine, but did not find anything that I thought my motor would be able to push. His aluminum boats are really well built but heavy, and would require me to replace my motor. After searching through a dozen or so different types of aluminum boats, I found a Tracker 1860 jon boat hull that I thought would be a little bigger than my old boat, but light enough that my motor could push it. Saturday morning Andrew and I left the house early headed to Boyd's Marine in Dothan, Al. Along with the hull, I also bought a new cranking battery, fuel / water separator, and bilge pump to replace the damaged ones. We had moved our the bunks on our old trailer up and out as far as possible, and barely managed to get the new, larger boat strapped down for the ride back to Tallahassee.

On the way back, I called a fellow named Pete in Crawfordville who had advertised a larger galvanized trailer for sale. He agreed to meet me when I got back to town, so we drove directly from Dothan down to his place. We managed to get our new boat hull slid off of our trailer and on to his, then proceeded to adjust all the bunks and winch stand to fit. After some minor negotiations, I headed back to Tallahassee with the larger trailer and new boat. He agreed to bring my old trailer back to me on Sunday when he came into town. Here's a pic of the larger trailer and new hull -





More updates to follow....

- Steve Stinson
President
NFGFC

[tallykenj]

Congrats.

[One Keeper]

Nice Ride Steve, Hurry up and get her ready, 11days until next tourney. Gotta think of a good name for it.

[silverking]

Looking good, Steve. Lots of skinny water adventures sitting there.

[Steve Stinson]

Sunday, after church I did enough honey-do's and yardwork to make sure my wife was happy, then headed into town to pick up my old trailer from Pete. After getting back home, I settled in to work on mounting the motor. This consisted of about 14 trips from backyard to front checking and double-checking measurements, height of motor, etc. There's nothing more nerve-wracking than purchasing a boat one day, then drilling 1/2 inch holes in it the next. After making a spacer out of some plywood and a 2x4, I worked up the nerve to start drillng. You can see my homemade spacer clamped to top of the transom and the motor getting ready to go back on.


I started with a smaller bit, then worked my way up to the largest one I had in my collection, which happened to be exactly the right size for the mounting bolts. Here's the first one in place, and ready for some sealant.



I really appreciate Fred and Quinn at Parkway Marine lending me the engine mounting hoop you see in the pics. It threads into the top of the flywheel and makes handling the motor a lot easier. I made a lot of small adjustments before I finally started drilling the holes. Once I had the top two bolts through and tightened, I tilted the motor all the way up and used the bracket itself to center up the bottom bolts. I ran into one small problem with the placement of a transom bracket that came on the boat. For some reason Tracker boats puts the brace right down the centerline of the hull, which put two of the brace bolts between my motor bracket and the transom. I was worried about cracking the aluminum motor bracket as I tightened the over sized mounting bolts, so I relocated the smaller bolts on the transom brace so that the motor would sit flush against the outside of the transom. Ended the day with the motor and trolling motor both mounted, but the pics didn't turn out.

I will post more when I get home this afternoon.
- Steve

[Badbagger]

Nice nice nice. You may want to venture over to tinboats.net and have a look around. Lot's of folks there who do some incredible things with tinnies!

[Steve Stinson]

Not a lot of progress tonight.... I kept getting phone calls, and I am little unsure about how the put the console together. I can bolt it all together here at the house, but if I want it welded, I need to take it down to Wavel. Anyhow, here is a pic of the outboard all mounted up and ready to go again.



I pulled the rear deck and console out of the old boat all in one piece, then set it in the new boat to see how the console would size up, you can also see the trolling motor in the second pic below.






I worked this evening on cutting the rear deck down to slightly larger than the console, then using the pieces I removed for stands on each side. This makes it almost the same height as the existing bench seat in the new boat. I plan to attach it to the face of the existing bench seat. This sure would be easier if I could weld aluminum.

I plan to carpet the rear deck and paint the console green to match the rest of the boat. You all are up to date through this evening, so I will have to work a few days to get ahead again.

Steve Stinson
President
NFGFC

[charlie tuna]

Where are your batteries and fuel tank(s) located?

[Steve Stinson]

Charlie -

I worked on the console last night. I cut the rear deck down just wide enough to fit two 6 gallon tanks underneath, then used a portion of what used to be the rear deck as legs (side pieces) to stand the whole thing on.



I believe I am going to put the cranking battery under the console, but on top of the rear deck. You can see the back side of the console in this pic.



I plan to attach this entire contraption to the face of the rear bench seat in the new boat. Right now, it is plenty capable of holding my weight and pounding over some waves, but I am worried about the strength when it tries to shift side to side. I have it in the back of my truck and plan to go see Wavel Porter down in Woodville today if I get a chance. We will see what we can do to firm it up a little with some welding.

- Steve

[charlie tuna]

I have an 18 foot tunnel hull and i was thinking you might have a lot of weight in the stern by placing your console so close to the transom? You are going to have the engine, fuel, batteries and YOU right near the stern. That is going to effect just how skinny the boat can operate in.

[Steve Stinson]

I thought about the same issue. My old boat was set up like this and rode fine. It was not as wide as this one, so I am hoping this one will be even better. In addition, I didn't have the trolling motor or trolling motor battery in the old boat, which will add weight to the front.

If it doesn't ride good when I get a chance to test run it, I will detach the console assembly from the face of the rear seat and move the entire thing forward. That will require new shift, throttle, and steering cables however.

I really wasn't planning on sinking the old boat and buying a new one, so I am under some budget constraints right now and trying to re-use everything I can.
- Steve

[charlie tuna]

The tunnel hull i have is a Sea Ark and i had two 18 gallon tanks in it. One was under the console and the other is against the transom. I used this boat for three day trips back up into the Everglades but always deep water and thats why all the fuel. Now i am using it in the panhandle where i don't need all the fuel, but very concerned about the draft. My latest "brainfart" is to hold ethonol free gas in one tank, and ethonol gas in the other. and use the ethonol free gas on the way in. But only fill the tanks half full. I carry four batteries and they are bow mounted. The console is near the middle of the boat, and the boat is level when it is sitting in the water without power. I am thinking thats what you need --minimul draft while dead in the water or at idle to get into the skinny areas?

[Steve Stinson]

If I had a large bankroll, I would have a Sea Ark 1872 MVJT with a 115 hp jet foot on it.

I am not sure what length of SeaArk or motor size you are running, but my motor is relatively light wieght. Minimal draft is ideal for where I run, but too much weight forward on a jet foot motor makes the boat slide all over the place in a turn. My old boat, with the coolers shifted forward and my over-sized Nephew sitting on the rear of the front deck would take off in almost nothing. I am hoping this one will do the same.

There may be some adjustments in the future. Right now I am just trying to get back on the water.

- Steve

[charlie tuna]

I have zero experience about these "jet drives" ?? How is the efficiency? I have a Honda 90 which is the difference in the performance. I have just added a motorized jack plate and haven't checked it out yet to see just how shallow i can pump water in?? I have been fishing Ecofina in a 14 foot skiff with a 10 HP four stroke Merc. And i am contiplating using the bigger boat there too?? Just have to take it easy until i get some faith in the operation??? Maybe i should be fishing Keaton Beach instead with the bigger boat. I really like the inside fishing since i am an artificial fisherman and target reds???

[Steve Stinson]

A tunnel hulled Sea Ark with a Honda 90 is fine for the Econfina, but take my advice with a grain of salt since I just sunk...

The jet foot motors run very shallow since they barely hang below the bottom of the boat. The sacrifice you make is in the efficiency - there is more slippage with a jet than a prop, so you lose about 1/3 of your horsepower. My motor is a 60 hp powerhead, that is rated at 40 hp by Mercury due to the jet. They also turn a lot of rpms, and floating grass mats can bring you to a stop by clogging the intake. If you don't mind all that, then you can pretty much run anywhere that looks wet as long as you avoid the ROCKS.

Normally, my boat runs so shallow that I can see the rocks before I hit them, but this year the water has been the color of burn't coffee all Summer.

- Steve