Few questions I could use some help with...

[Jbrocious]

I'm heading down to the lake tomorrow and figured I would try to get some stuff done on the boat before I take the in-laws out for the first time on saturday.

1. I can't get the cover on that attaches to the windshield and goes up over the front seats (not sure what its called-I heard somewhere 'navy top')

It seems that the brackets on the windshield are wrong, or that aluminum rods of the cover are at the wrong angle. I can't get the set screw to attach to the 2 upright rods. Unfortunately I don't have a picture with me so its hard to explain. But if I force attach them, the bracket from the rod and the bracket on the windshield are at 2 completely different angles.

Any thoughts or anyone have a picture of yours??? Driving me nuts!

2. I would like to add a small table that screws into the floor. Since the 2 front seats swivel backwards toward the bench seat, it would be nice to have a removable table that we could eat, drink, cards, or whatever there. Before I start tearing apart the floor-- where could I find a threaded plate that I could mount to the floor and screw in a post and table?

3. Any recommendations for some cheap lighting options? Never boated at night, but thought a small spotlight could be helpful when navigating an empty lake. Do you guys have something mounted on the bow? or just carry something by hand? The mounted spots seem pretty expensive from what I see.

4. iboats has good deals on the sharkskin biminis... I'm about broke! but could get the sharkskin 5 yr bimini and support rods for $250. Good enough?

Here's an extremely crude mock up of my table idea. The seats would turn around and a small round table would give 4 people plenty of room to work with.

 

[airdvr1227]

Re: Few questions I could use some help with...



I think you might be talking about a convertible top. Each one is different. Just have to try and figure it out.

For the table you can purchase the mount, leg, and table and install it fairly easily. Check here.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Few questions I could use some help with...

3. Any recommendations for some cheap lighting options? Never boated at night, but thought a small spotlight could be helpful when navigating an empty lake. Do you guys have something mounted on the bow? or just carry something by hand? The mounted spots seem pretty expensive from what I see.

Ayuh,.... You neither need, nor want bright white lights on when boatin'....

Dock lights are for dockin' Only....

Boatin' at night,... Darkness is Good,... Lights are bad...
You should have On, only the Nav.-lights...

 

[Jbrocious]

Re: Few questions I could use some help with...

View attachment 159499

I think you might be talking about a convertible top. Each one is different. Just have to try and figure it out.

For the table you can purchase the mount, leg, and table and install it fairly easily. Check here.

Yup, that's the top.... Something doesn't seem right. I'm wondering if the previous owner had the windshield mounts off for some reason and put them back on the wrong sides.

Thanks on the tables... looks simple enough. I just have to worry about the gas tank underneath. I'll probably just need a surface mount that only needs small screws that wouldn't go all the way through the deck.

 

[Jbrocious]

Re: Few questions I could use some help with...

Ayuh,.... You neither need, nor want bright white lights on when boatin'....

Dock lights are for dockin' Only....

Boatin' at night,... Darkness is Good,... Lights are bad...
You should have On, only the Nav.-lights...

I can see that when the moon is shining... but what about overcast nights? Are my nav lights enough to see if I'm close to shore? Sorry new to this!

 

[spoilsofwar]

Re: Few questions I could use some help with...

My cockpit layout is similar (the same?) as yours.. I too plan on putting in a table, but I don't want to cut the deck to put in a recessed pedestal mount, and I dont want a surface mount sticking up and creating a high spot in the snap-in carpet... So I'm going with this table system:

Its a Garelick side mount table, available with stainless steel or aluminum leg. I'm going to mount it on the bulkhead below the rear bench seat, through bolted, and reinforced in the back with a backing plate. That will allow me to stow the table and leg when not in use, and leave only the mounting plate on the vertical surface of the bench seat bulkhead... nothing on the floor to trip on or stick up under the carpet Only downside, this table is more then twice the price of standard pedestal table systems; still worth it to me.

 

[Jbrocious]

Re: Few questions I could use some help with...

My cockpit layout is similar (the same?) as yours.. I too plan on putting in a table, but I don't want to cut the deck to put in a recessed pedestal mount, and I dont want a surface mount sticking up and creating a high spot in the snap-in carpet... So I'm going with this table system:

Its a Garelick side mount table, available with stainless steel or aluminum leg. I'm going to mount it on the bulkhead below the rear bench seat, through bolted, and reinforced in the back with a backing plate. That will allow me to stow the table and leg when not in use, and leave only the mounting plate on the vertical surface of the bench seat bulkhead... nothing on the floor to trip on or stick up under the carpet Only downside, this table is more then twice the price of standard pedestal table systems; still worth it to me.

That is a GREAT idea!! Would be much easier to install, just flip the seat open put in a piece of wood and bolt her down.. sweet!

 

[spoilsofwar]

Re: Few questions I could use some help with...

That is a GREAT idea!! Would be much easier to install, just flip the seat open put in a piece of wood and bolt her down.. sweet!

Thats the idea! Prepare for a bit of sticker shock when pricing this table system though; I could not find it anywhere online south of $200+ Also, no one seems to make a competing product; probably why Garelick can charge so much for it. But, it is a sweet setup, with quick disconnects at the mounting plate and where the tabletop mounts to the leg, to make for easy stowage.

 

[Jbrocious]

Re: Few questions I could use some help with...

Thats the idea! Prepare for a bit of sticker shock when pricing this table system though; I could not find it anywhere online south of $200+ Also, no one seems to make a competing product; probably why Garelick can charge so much for it. But, it is a sweet setup, with quick disconnects at the mounting plate and where the tabletop mounts to the leg, to make for easy stowage.

I think I could pretty easily fabricate the mount using threaded aluminum pipe (or stainless steel) and buy a table top. We also have a metal fabricator here in town that probably wouldn't charge very much to weld 2 pieces of tubing and a bracket to mount the table top to.

Looking at pipe and fitting costs.. probably be all in around $125-$150 with the table top!

 

[nphilbro]

Re: Few questions I could use some help with...

Ayuh,.... You neither need, nor want bright white lights on when boatin'....

Dock lights are for dockin' Only....

Boatin' at night,... Darkness is Good,... Lights are bad...
You should have On, only the Nav.-lights...

Well the day has come that I can disagree with bond-o from personal experience. If you're on a large reservoir or, in my case, the Puget Sound there are untold obstacles aka- LOGS - that can ruin a nice boat, evening, or life. ONE time I had to go about 12 miles against the tide after dark without light (unexpected, unforeseen circumstances). In retrospect I'll never do that again, I'll anchor and sleep in the rain first. It's hard enough to navigate sometimes during the day, let alone night. I had a 5ft x 3" diameter limb wrap around my motor one time at 8kts and it threw my boat into a hairpin turn. That was during the day! I've seen the same kind of debris in some of our reservoirs from mountain logging washout. I currently have a 1million watt rechargeable/plug-in hand-held for "just in case" night boating in treacherous waters + a lit up floor from the gunrails and full-on deck lights at the ready.

I'll concede, slow night boating on a small or natural lake with just the navs is really enjoyable.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Few questions I could use some help with...

Here's the thing J when you are running at night, you simply let your eyes adjust to the available light, they become hyper sensitive but then some yahoo comes by with a 6 bazillion candle power spot light and your running blind for the next couple minutes, not good. I have one of those spot lights but I can tell you I have used it only when I was involved in a pretty bad situation and we were searching for a person in the water.

Learn the water you boat on and file it in that crazy head of yours, you will learn to read the nav lights on other boats as it becomes second hand very quickly, your not likely to be breaking any speed records at night anyway even with a spot light. I have docking lights on the front of my boat and they are not any good for anything other then what they are named for anyway, they are not aimed like a head light in a car they are pointed down and they work great for that but that only.

Be patient at night since you have to read the lights on the water instead of the other way around its a bit intimidating but after a short while it will all make sense and its very cool I love running at night, others may not be as comfortable at night and may be on the wrong side and have no idea, you will have plenty of time to make adjustments by simply taking it easy and reading the lights.

 

[Jbrocious]

Re: Few questions I could use some help with...

Thanks Lipp... I figured it really was about adjusting, but I was worried about getting stuck and not finding my way back... I'm sure i'll get used to the lake, but there are a lot of fingers and turns that are a bit confusing right now!

Today was a great day on the lake! Unfortunately, we made a sacrifice to the sea.... my wife's iphone fell out of her pocket and is resting peacefully 35 ft below the dock. We had just gotten off the boat and were unloading everything... she reached for the boat while I was tying off and forgot she had it in her jacket pocket!