15 Weeks in a Sneakbox

Craig F

Craig F

Well-known member
Well maybe not 15 weeks straight, but that's about how long our season is here in NJ if you hunt the North Zone opener thru the Coastal Zone last day.

If you hunt a decent amount your equipment needs to stay in tip top shape and with the little thaw we had today I was able to clean and winterize the sneakbox for it's warm weather slumber.

Over the course of those 15 weeks my poor little boat and 15 yamaha got used and abused but never let me down. I did break an ice runner the last month of the season but that's my only offseason repair.

A selection of shots from the pre-season through today:

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Freshly painted and tuned up, ready to go.

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Early season coastal

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An icy mess after my last hunt of the year

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Soaped up and cleaned, ready to be put away.

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A little collage of scrapes and wear along the way, another season in the books. And to think, this boat used to sit on display in a restaurant!
 
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[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Craig u have way to many shoes.. Good looking boat [/font]
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Ha ha no kidding Phil, and I usually just wear the same pair over and over again.

I pull the salt hay for the decoy racks usually the first week of October. This year I did it the week between the North Zone opener and South Zone opener so mid October.
 
I must have read that wrong. I thought you wrote "soaped up..."


LOL!


Very nice rig and photos! Gets me all fired up!


Thanks,


Jon
 
I have that same Fricke boat,,,I swear I feel safer in it than my 18' Garvey most times. Low center of gravity, a good amount of the displacement type hull (belly)is below the water, she's steady as they come..

Craig I think your's has the planked deck, my deck is plywood. I run a 2 stroke 15hp Yamaha also. Nice set up. I need some racks on the front tho.
I also have a Sail, for mine. A little bit of Water shoots up through the daggerboard void once in a while if I run the boat full speed
 
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Charlie - mine was the last one Bob built fully planked, the later ones have a marine ply deck and cedar planked bottom like yours. I made the front racks myself, they are a little lower profile than the ones Bob makes, but follow the same design.

Since mine was originally built to be on display the ice runners stop one rib short than normal, in comparison to ones owned by friends. As a result my ice runners have a tendency to catch on my trailer bunks and I broke one putting it back on the trailer late this season. I'm probably going to give Bob a call to get new, longer ones put on this offseason.
 
Craig,from the pics the cockpit loks small,how do you hunt out of it with your dog?Thanks for posting,great pics as always!
 
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[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Craig,from the pics the cockpit loks small,how do you hunt out of it with your dog?Thanks for posting,great pics as always! [/font]
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Steve - Very easy, I don't! Ozzie is my dad's retriever and stays in his boat so he's only with me if the two of us are out together. My dad did used to hunt one of his past labs out of his Fricke with the same sized cockpit but she was around 50 lbs as opposed to Ozzie, who is 85.
 
I also have a Sail, for mine. A little bit of Water shoots up through the daggerboard void once in a while if I run the boat full speed
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Charlie, mine is a sailing box too, and I had a similar water fountain through the dagger board trunk under power... I was able to seal it. I suspect there are some photos back in my build sequence a couple years ago.... but basically I built a full depth plug out of some soft Azek trim stock (I wanted to ensure that if there was any freezing, the plug would absorb the pressure and not put pressure on the trunk).....I then made a flange on the deck, gasket made of neoprene. I used 6 SS #12 x 3 inch wood screws... and to ensure I had not leak/rot issues. I core drilled the screw holes 3/4", filled with epoxy and cabosil. After cured, I re-drilled. No leaks now!
 
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