It's the Little Things

It is amazing how many little things you can find to do on a boat. I started making a list of repairs I need to make and improvements or upgrades I also want to do. I think I need to transfer my list to adding machine tape! I still have a long list of little things to get down...new rod holders, cup holders, binocular rack, hang the ditch bag, replace the batteries and all the other spring maintenance.

I did find a real ingenious invention that will probably work really well for cup holders but is a bit pricey. I saw a product called Sea Suckers at the boat show in NY this week. They have two size suction cups that use a vacuum pump to adhere to the surface. This will probably work really well for a pliers and knife rack as well as mounting the fillet table to the transom cap instead of burning a rod holder for it.

One repair I was all set to do until I realized I had the wrong size hose was to replace the bow deck drain hoses. They are currently not smooth bore hoses, very thin plastic an leaking around the fittings despite the hose clamps being tight. I have not removed them yet but suspect that the thin plastic hose is cracked.

I did get the external VHF speaker connected up and working as well as the CO2 alarm. I also installed a cooler tie-down system on the swim platform to get the cooler off the deck and provide more fishing space.

To top the day off I worked on the NMEA cables from the GPS to the sonar. I now have the data flowing in both directions and have the ability to pause the sonar screen put the pointer over a bait ball or good concentration of fish and have the GPS navigate back to it or mark a way point for that particular piece of bottom. This will also be very helpful in setting up on a wreck or piece of bottom, once I figure out how to do it. My initial testing was not successful.