This post is a somewhat non-cohesive set of pictures from the work I’ve done on the snowgoose this summer and stuff that I never have shown pictures of – final pictures are safety stuff to get people thinking.
After this summer re-working the snowgoose exterior, I repainted and made some improvements to the interior to increase functionality. I added the console and some attachment points to capture some chronically loose stuff like anchors boxes and decoy weight boxes that I have to fight with to hopefully make things more organized.
Console with decoy weight box strapped underneath. I love the console, it works great when running and hunts well too, so I'm very happy. I still need to wire a few things into it (like my tach, which is on my tiller now), but it is good for now.
One of the things I did was to add teak wear strips to the shelf fiddles, this gave me a way of attaching hardware and will eliminate wear on the fiddles, which get scuffed up from the crates rubbing on them.
The “rope” is 5/16 shock cord and the hardware is a spring loaded cam lock cleat, I also put teak stops, so all the shock cord needs to do is hold stuff in place. The cleat works great and to tie the boxes in is one a one motion one hand job – very nice. The cleat is a little cheesy plasticy, but I used them for a couple years to support my blind previously and they held up well, so I reused them for this function.
Anchor boxes in place. I can stack my longline anchors and lines on top of the anchor boxes when I’m longlining.
I made mounts to tie in and support my kicker inside the boat. I like the kicker in the boat rather than on the transom, so it doesn’t get salty and it is protected and moves the weight forward. I’ve always had it tied in the boat, but the bottom tended to kick out and it would chew on the fiddles. These new mounts have worked well so far, they hold it offset from the fiddles and are secure when roped in.
Here is the transom mount for the kicker, I’ve had it for years, but I don’t think I ever posted pics. Motor gets attached and the mount is affixed to the transom by a pin in the stern eye. Mount indexes to the stern eye and over top of the transom – it goes on well and works well. I’ve used it some to break in the motor, for trolling some and twice to get to shore with when I had water in gas problems. I usually lock the kicker steering and steer with the main – wouldn’t work in a strong wind, so I would have to steer with the kicker over the back which is not as comfortable.
On the bow transom I added a pair of bronze cleats to serve two purposes. The first is a simple, if not overly expensive, wear protector – as the roller digs the bow transom up. The main purpose is that when I hunt the coast I hunt from shore and ditch the boat a lot – very deadly compared to a boat blind. Tides here are 8’, so when the tide is moving the boat needs to be repositioned a lot, more than every hour. The boat is anchored from the stern (out) and bow (in) and as the tide rises or falls, the boat needs to be pushed out or in. Having cleats on the bow will allow me to push the boat out as far as possible on a falling tide and cleat it off standing in the water (giving me more time to hunt) and be able to retrieve the boat in as deep a water as possible. I can walk out up to my armpits and uncleat the boat, rather than waist deep if I have to walk out and climb in the boat from waist deep water to tie the cleats on the deck off.
I made this push pole years ago and it has served me well. I never push pole the boat in classic manner (or much in mud), but stumble along picking through rocks and shallows with it and use it to ward off impacts with rocks and docks. Works to retrieve decoys too with the hook on it. Head is oak faced with aluminum, pole is 9’ and doug fir and the works is treated with linseed oil.
Safety stuff. I was in my bucket yesterday when I had my camera out. The bucket is a completely water-proof food grade bucket with an o-ring sealed threaded lid (McMaster Carr). I keep all my day-to-day stuff in there as well as safety stuff (not flares though). It serves as a ditch bucket in the event that I go in the water. In the bucket are space blankets, VHF, compass, flashlights, water, cigarette lighter, asswipe, PLB etc… Bucket has worked and held up well – it works as a seat too, needs painted this season, though. My other safety gear plugs are for my Mustang Bomber float coat (won’t leave home without it) and my Dry Pak that wear around my neck with my cell in it. Other things that are on my must have safety list include: secondary propulsion (kicker and paddle), a proper rode for anchoring in bad weather (not the wimpy short lines I use for hunting day-to-day – I carry a 150’ piece of quality 3/8 line) and an extra prop for the main.
Dry Pak. I really like having my cell phone attached to me. I don’t hunt anywhere in CT that I can’t get a call out, so having the phone protected offers great protection. I have a Spyderco rescue knife on there to clear lines in a hurry, a cigarette lighter and a light in there too. I tuck it into my waders with the knife clipped to my wader top for fast access.
Tool box with extra spark plugs, lights, drain plug, hose clamps and all the tools to do any fix I’m capable of on the water.
After this summer re-working the snowgoose exterior, I repainted and made some improvements to the interior to increase functionality. I added the console and some attachment points to capture some chronically loose stuff like anchors boxes and decoy weight boxes that I have to fight with to hopefully make things more organized.
Console with decoy weight box strapped underneath. I love the console, it works great when running and hunts well too, so I'm very happy. I still need to wire a few things into it (like my tach, which is on my tiller now), but it is good for now.
One of the things I did was to add teak wear strips to the shelf fiddles, this gave me a way of attaching hardware and will eliminate wear on the fiddles, which get scuffed up from the crates rubbing on them.
The “rope” is 5/16 shock cord and the hardware is a spring loaded cam lock cleat, I also put teak stops, so all the shock cord needs to do is hold stuff in place. The cleat works great and to tie the boxes in is one a one motion one hand job – very nice. The cleat is a little cheesy plasticy, but I used them for a couple years to support my blind previously and they held up well, so I reused them for this function.
Anchor boxes in place. I can stack my longline anchors and lines on top of the anchor boxes when I’m longlining.
I made mounts to tie in and support my kicker inside the boat. I like the kicker in the boat rather than on the transom, so it doesn’t get salty and it is protected and moves the weight forward. I’ve always had it tied in the boat, but the bottom tended to kick out and it would chew on the fiddles. These new mounts have worked well so far, they hold it offset from the fiddles and are secure when roped in.
Here is the transom mount for the kicker, I’ve had it for years, but I don’t think I ever posted pics. Motor gets attached and the mount is affixed to the transom by a pin in the stern eye. Mount indexes to the stern eye and over top of the transom – it goes on well and works well. I’ve used it some to break in the motor, for trolling some and twice to get to shore with when I had water in gas problems. I usually lock the kicker steering and steer with the main – wouldn’t work in a strong wind, so I would have to steer with the kicker over the back which is not as comfortable.
On the bow transom I added a pair of bronze cleats to serve two purposes. The first is a simple, if not overly expensive, wear protector – as the roller digs the bow transom up. The main purpose is that when I hunt the coast I hunt from shore and ditch the boat a lot – very deadly compared to a boat blind. Tides here are 8’, so when the tide is moving the boat needs to be repositioned a lot, more than every hour. The boat is anchored from the stern (out) and bow (in) and as the tide rises or falls, the boat needs to be pushed out or in. Having cleats on the bow will allow me to push the boat out as far as possible on a falling tide and cleat it off standing in the water (giving me more time to hunt) and be able to retrieve the boat in as deep a water as possible. I can walk out up to my armpits and uncleat the boat, rather than waist deep if I have to walk out and climb in the boat from waist deep water to tie the cleats on the deck off.
I made this push pole years ago and it has served me well. I never push pole the boat in classic manner (or much in mud), but stumble along picking through rocks and shallows with it and use it to ward off impacts with rocks and docks. Works to retrieve decoys too with the hook on it. Head is oak faced with aluminum, pole is 9’ and doug fir and the works is treated with linseed oil.
Safety stuff. I was in my bucket yesterday when I had my camera out. The bucket is a completely water-proof food grade bucket with an o-ring sealed threaded lid (McMaster Carr). I keep all my day-to-day stuff in there as well as safety stuff (not flares though). It serves as a ditch bucket in the event that I go in the water. In the bucket are space blankets, VHF, compass, flashlights, water, cigarette lighter, asswipe, PLB etc… Bucket has worked and held up well – it works as a seat too, needs painted this season, though. My other safety gear plugs are for my Mustang Bomber float coat (won’t leave home without it) and my Dry Pak that wear around my neck with my cell in it. Other things that are on my must have safety list include: secondary propulsion (kicker and paddle), a proper rode for anchoring in bad weather (not the wimpy short lines I use for hunting day-to-day – I carry a 150’ piece of quality 3/8 line) and an extra prop for the main.
Dry Pak. I really like having my cell phone attached to me. I don’t hunt anywhere in CT that I can’t get a call out, so having the phone protected offers great protection. I have a Spyderco rescue knife on there to clear lines in a hurry, a cigarette lighter and a light in there too. I tuck it into my waders with the knife clipped to my wader top for fast access.
Tool box with extra spark plugs, lights, drain plug, hose clamps and all the tools to do any fix I’m capable of on the water.
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