[BML]

Finally getting around to posting our boat project. We just started bowfishing in March and quickly new a boat was in our future. Took a while but we found this SeaArk for a great price. It's a '99 ZX180 in mint condition.

Took her to the fab shop to have the platform built. My tight ass struggled with the design and choice of materials for a while but finally decided to suck it up and go aluminum. I've done projects in the past and regretted some of the cost cutting and didn't want to go through that nonsense again.

I didn't get many pics of the welding progress since I didn't build it. Here's one a couple days before it was finished.

It's 24" high from the boat deck and 16" high from the side rails. Re mounted the troller down the middle and put a trapdoor in the platform.

More pics to come!

 

[BigSwole]

What are the bars in the rear for that are high?

 

[BML]

Verticle bars are structural support and have to flat "feet" on the bottom that rest on the deck. The horizontal bar is what I call the "butt bar". I basically designed it to be just slightly below my waistline and allows us to be able to lean back on it. It's a much needed addition to save our backs when standing and fishing 8-10 hrs a night. Especially for me running the foot pedal. I will also eventually have bow holders up there too

 

[BML]

For the deck I decided to go with 3/8 plywood. $20 sheet and $25 in fiberglass resin and I have a 100% waterproof, solid ass deck for less than $50. Beats the heck out of a $300 sheet of aluminum.

I haven't yet decided if I want to throw hydro turf or matting up there yet. In the meantime I picked up a few $6 cans of black textured spray paint to give it a solid non slip surface.

 

[BML]

My welder had some extra diamond plate in the shop so he fancied up the recessed troller pedal box. Hinged bottom makes dropping it in and out a breeze. I don't know how anyone can fish all night without a recessed pedal. I tried it once and it sucked big time. My balance was constantly out of wack and my left foot and back were shot by the end of the night.

 

[BigSwole]

Look into hooptys sexy stick

I made one in about 15 mins. They are awesome additions!

 

[BML]

Yeah the sexy stick will be on my boat eventually. I've got a couple other things above it on the "priority list" though.

 

[BigSwole]

Take my word. Move it up on your list

 

[BML]

A closer one of the trap door for the troller. It works well but I'm still on the fence with the hinge set up. I'm sure it's going to rust up on me eventually.

 

[crafty]

Looks good man..

 

[BML]

On to the lights! I scoured this site and others trying to decide on what lights to go with. Learned a ton about mh, HPS, LED and the likes. I shot one night with a buddy who had the biggest ******* light system you could imagine. PVC, garage lights, lots of extension cords...you get the idea. Haha. Shot off another buddy's boat with 5 or 6 halos. Never got the chance to shoot off a boat with HPS. For me it all came down to the genny. I'm not a fan at all of the noise and I knew if I was going to use a genny I would have to drop some serious coin on a Honda for the peace and quiet (sort of).

Decided to go with the LEDs and no genny mainly just because of costs. So how many became the next question. Aw screw it! I'm going all out with 10. Haha. My thinking went back to "only do it once".

So 10 50W LEDs and a 6 switch panel were ordered. Here they are on the platform. I removed it and flipped it upside down in my garage to make the wiring easier.

 

[BML]

For battery power I went with a 6V system that I think a lot of guys overlook. 6V golf cart batteries have a 232 amp hour battery life compared to I think 105 was the highest ah on any marine 12V I looked at. Interstate Batteries has a really good used battery program too. I talked with them for a while and ended up with 4 used batteries for $65 each. And for the critics, they put their used batteries through 2-3 weeks of charging and testing before they sell them and each battery comes with a 3 month warranty.

I'm running 2 12V banks (2 6V in series x2). If you split my platform down the middle there's 5 lights on either side. I'm running each side to its own battery bank. The front facing light and first two after that are run to one switch. These will be on 100% of the time. The other 2 lights facing to the side will each have their own switch. This gives me the flexibility of being able to turn them off when I don't need them. Great for saving battery power.

Ill get a picture of the batteries when I get home if anyone wants to see them.

 

[BML]

The wiring was an interesting chore. Haha. I'm no electrician but following basic rules it was pretty easy. It just took forever. I soldered nearly every connection. Again, "only do it once". My girlfriend came out one night to help and saw this:

She handed me a beer and went back inside!

A couple nights later it was all cleaned up and looking good!

 

[BML]

The only real snag I ran into in the whole project was the switch panel. The flange wasn't big enough for my welder to be able to build me an aluminum box so I had to improvise. Went with a plastic 4x4 switch box. Cut a template out of the lid and in it went. Took a little dremel work but its snug and waterproof.

Crappy pic but you get the idea.

Wiring up the panel

 

[DonArkie]

I like it, solder all the connections are great. I done the same. Looks great, clean build, I like clean builds. Very nice

 

[P&R_Carp_Slayer]

man that thing looks clean! good job!

 

[Joe V]

Nice build

 

[louisianaflatbottom]

Looks good. I have that exact same 6 switch panel but it is in my center console to control my driving lights and other 12v LEDs, I love it.

 

[BML]

Moving my troller to the middle covered my NAV light socket up front so I added a couple LED strips up front. Couldn't run them any longer because the platform feet are in the way. Probably not visible by 130 degrees but I'm confident the glow and reflection off the aluminum will keep me out of trouble.

 

[BML]

After all the wiring was done the last thing to do was get her mounted back up and make sure everything worked.

Here's just the left side from about 40 yards away.

Last weekend we fished two nights and I never once thought to take some pics on the water. We did shoot a bunch of fish one night, including an unofficial new AZ state record Amur.

Here's a pic of the nights tally. 25 commons. 1 striper and one boss hog Amur!