Shew....
Sold my deck last spring and just got toooo busy to get the new one fabricated.
WELL......finally got a start.
New flush floor deck will make a drastic change in the look of my boat...
Finishing it in the nick of time as we're headed to Lake Eerie May 14th..
Old look/elevated...
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//555/boatrig.jpg)
New Flush look/design in progress...
Day 1 Fabrication
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//500/medium/My_Camera_12-2-09_395.jpg)
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//500/medium/My_Camera_12-2-09_388.jpg)
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//500/medium/My_Camera_12-2-09_394.jpg)
Day 2 Fabrication...Light/Knee Rails
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//500/medium/IMG00018-20100320-1109.jpg)
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//500/medium/IMG00019-20100320-1109.jpg)
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//500/medium/IMG00024-20100320-1454.jpg)
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//500/medium/IMG00022-20100320-1309.jpg)
Headed home for lights and wiring.....
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//500/medium/IMG00025-20100320-1643.jpg)
Lights....
4-400 watt Metal Halide lights...emitting near 45,000 lumens each..
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//508/medium/IMG00033-20100327-1842.JPG)
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//508/medium/IMG00031-20100327-1825.JPG)
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//508/medium/IMG00030-20100327-1354.JPG)
I still have a few more items w/ the new 15 hp kicker motor, driving and nav lights, tilt/trim, and wiring.....
AWWWWWW COME ON!!!!! Now I have deck (d-E-c-k) envy. And light envy. And hull envy. (Is that an 1872 or a 2084?)
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And workshop envy.
You lucky, lucky, lucky (lucky) man!!
:clapper: :clapper: :clapper:
One question though; Why the switch from raised to flush? I thought you got a better night-time perspective with a raised platform?
Excellent job!
Daaaayaaaaddgumm! Now THAT'S a bowfishing boat! Curious what you are going to put on the surface of the deck.
Sweet, great talking with you....
thats cool, you got some skillz! never bowfished myself. wouldnt an elevated deck give you an advantage though??
Got more pics coming...
I shoot a ton of tourneys and 99% at night.
The elevation is really only a daytime thing and only puts you 15" further away from the fiah when shooting at night. I've shot both...and owned both and just prefer the flush deck during night shooting.
Boat is a 2070 Xpress.
Got the 2-150w KC driving lights mounted and all lights wired.
Also got the tilt/trim for the big motor, seat pedestal monts, and the 12v spotlight jack wired and mounted.
For the time beign I have opted to put some anti skid 3M tape on the surface of the deck.
My plan is to cover it w/ Hydroturf which is a 5mm neopreme cover, but I've expended all my funds. Hopefully next winter.
Still got to get the Nav lights and Kicker motor controls mounted.
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//508/medium/IMG00083-20100426-1754.jpg)
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//508/medium/IMG00086-20100426-1755.jpg)
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//508/medium/IMG00084-20100426-1754.jpg)
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//508/medium/IMG00087-20100426-1755.jpg)
Love to see night pics. My little bro went out last night an d shot 15 of course he missed about 20. I can chock it up to the training wheels.
I wish you would hurry up and get this thing ready. Turkey season is almost over and I'll be ready to get out after some fish.
Oh yeah don't forget to weld on my beer holder. :thumbsup:
:thumbsup: Very nice!
How much power to run those lights? Great looking set-up. Flush deck keeps the boat more stable too! How shallow can you run like that?
very very cool... :thumbsup:
My goodness is that sweet looking. I drive past a smaller version of that boat(minus the deck but for sale) everyday, I have been dreaming about it. Just don't have the cash for it.
Hey OWLBAIT, maybe I should see if he wants to be my partner for caseville.
DANG! click on Lowebows profile and check out that fish!
I've always wanted to come up to Caseville...LOL.
I've been invited a ton of times, but it's just never worked out. Had a group of friends go up last year. One w/ an airpboat and one w/ a pontoon. The pontoon ened up chewing on a couple props. I've always heard it's a hoot of a shoot!
My wife is from outside of Detroit, so she always says to drop her off on the way up.
Kentucky TJ and I will be heading to Sandusky to shoot Eerie on May 14 for a couple days. Supposed to be about 10 boats meeting up at the campground. Last year was awesome!
Owl...I run a 5500 watt Honda genny, but those lights really only draw 1600 watts...I'm lookin to downsize down to a super quiet EU style Honda, but man are those things expensive...
Give us a shout if it works out this year for you to come to caseville. We can meet up and drool on your boat. Or have a coffee.
That is a sweet rig. Good job.
Here's one of the last pieces I have to complete....
It's the controls/steering for the 15 hp kicker motor whick will act as my trolling motor.
During the tourneys we run a troller on high for 12+ hours and they just don't last. So a bunch of guys are running "kickers" which allows you to do away w/ 2-4 batteries and run off your gas tank. Also alows you to run more shoreline a little faster. I owned a fan boat at one time, but it just wasn't very family friendly and my son was pretty small at the time. I ran this a couple times last year and like it, but it needs a little tweeking...
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//508/medium/IMG00097-20100428-1831.jpg)
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//508/medium/DSCF0995.JPG)
(http://www.orba42.com/photopost/data//508/medium/DSCF0996.JPG)
Soooooo, you are pretty serious about bow fishing eh?
Hey Mike...VERY cool boat!
Skyler and I followed the Build Thread for it and your Kicker over at Bowfishing Country.
Did you come down for the Muzzy classic last week-end?
Don and Skyler
Didn't make it this year....kinda glad I didn't..
Sounds like it was pretty rough and I'm just glad noone was hurt and all boats made it back in.
Great lake, just wish we still had grass like that in Barkley and Kentucky Lakes.
yeah the muzzy shoot was a little scary! tornado sirens and bad wind:)
Looking sweet Mike, can't wait to see it when we come up for the Cambell Challenge next month stop by and visit, guess we will be staying at the same place. Switched over to MH as well and a quieter generator, trying out a Ramsond but not real happy with it right now, but those lights are definitely bright. Went from 12-300watt at 72000 lumens to 12-150watt MH at 168000 lumens and they are bright! Got to get everything finished up and do some fishing. Wanting to come up sometime before the event and shoot some bigheads and scout, but don't know when I will get a chance.
Great work! That is one sweet rig.
Uh oh...looks as if my pic host has gone down......
I was wondering where the pics were? :confused:
Are those lights hot or cool? How do you angle the beam? Gotta see you kicker! Caseville is so dang shallow that it is hard to run fast with out a jet or an airboat. That set-up is just too cool!
Hey lowebow, any chance you could re-post those pics? Still looking for ideas to refit my boat for bowfishing.