The only specialised marine publication in Oceania that focuses on the maritime industry, from super yachts to small craft to large commercial ships, including coastal shipping, tugs, tow boats, barges, ferries, tourist, sport-fishing craft
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FISHING SIDEKICK A SEAWORTHY FRIEND (PART 2) BY CAPTAIN ASPARAGUS L ast issue I started my tale of fitting out my new old little boat, a 35 year old, 13ft 6in Condorcraft skipjack. Just to recap, I acquired the hull and trailer package from a young mate, Mike, who decided it would really be far easier, cheaper and less hassle for him to flick it off to me. Now it was mine, my first decision was just what to power it with. I really only wanted this as a small and easy to launch lake and estuary boat, I never intend to take it more than a stone's throw from the shore, so all I really need is about a 40hp motor. After some thought and a lot of financial angst, in the end I decided to go for a four-stroke 40hp motor. Decision made, I wombled my way down to see Ken Watkinson at Matamata Marine and after a little idle banter, I soon walked out again with an expensive little chunk of metal on its way to Matamata. Ouch. I went with Ken, as he has always given me great service fitting out my three other boats, and I totally trust his experience after more years than he cares to admit in the outboard motor trade. Then I began looking around for the other bits and bobs to put into and onto the boat. The idea is always to keep it simple, hell it is only a small, glorified dinghy after all. Yeah, right. This is me I am talking about here, someone afflicted with all the restraint of a magpie when it comes to collecting shiny toys to line a nest (well..., boat) with. Bilge pump and nav lights were the obvious start. However, on a visit to Thompson Walker one day, I was shown some of their new LED lights. Now I am very keen on lights in boats. I like to see what I am doing both inside and outside the boat, and as trout fishing on lakes is to be one of the stated uses for the new toy, I can see fishing in the late evening will be a common event. That is when trout tend to come on the chew, you see. Returning at night So, the back of the truck started filling up with boxes of boat stuff. First were five sets of smaller 6-LED lights, followed by three 500mm long 30-LED panels. The long panels are to go around the deck and under the foredeck, as I hate having to fumble blindly in the dark for stuff like anchor ropes and wiring looms, and the smaller clusters are to be used...well, all over the place, really. I have two mounted under the waterline at the stern to use as bait lights, with a third (a blue one actually so I know immediately which light it is), facing for'ard on the cockpit well wall, on the same circuit so that when I have the underwater lights on I have a cockpit light, on too. This is so I don't inadvertently leave these lights on for long, battery-draining, lengths of time. The for'ard facing light should be sufficient tell-tale even for a blind old coot like me. I have decided to mount two others for'ard, indeed, as far for'ard as I can get, right under the "chin" of the bow beside the fairlead. Why? Well, I have always been slacked off coming into shallow 50 Professional Skipper May/June 2012 Plenty of space inside for two The captain with his new Sidekick water or the ramp in the dark, and not being able to see exactly what is directly under the bow in front of me. A torch gives you an inky dark, bow-shaped shadow when easing up to a boat ramp, almost always followed by a crunch as you hit something hiding in this shadow. Chin lights should, I thought, rectify this little problem. They will also be great lighting for handling the boat on the trailer in the dark. Fishing for trout, you do a lot of this! So, what next? A small colour sounder, an Eagle 320C, is now stuck to the dashboard, but I think that is all for the fitted electronics. I do not see a need for GPS or VHF in a small lake/ estuary boat like this, but I do have handheld options to cover those bases when I need them. If I want a better GPS, I have a small car GPS onto which is loaded the marine charts of the upper North Island, so that is always another option to use as well. Now all these electric gizmos need power, which means a battery, which in turn means a battery box, and I had seen a real doozie of one of these at a store in Manukau. Quite a nifty thing it is, with a battery tester in the top cover, along with a ciggy plug power plug on the side, and two external anodes connected to the battery to which I can clip a solar panel charger. I have this dead centre of the boat to try to keep everything well balanced. I had been thinking of keeping the seating very basic, just planning on using an Ice Kube ice-box from Gourocks as my seat with a squab on top for a little extra cushioning, perhaps. However, knowing me, sooner or later I would be wanting to have something a little more comfy to give some backsupport (sometimes it can take a looooong time for a trout to wander past a lure) and these seats did look very comfy. What the hell! I tossed that into the truck as well. However, I am very leery of pedestal seats. I have had these damn things fall over on me before. Rather more to the point had them fall over with me in them, so I made a little trip out to a local aluminium boatbuilder who in no time at all sorted me out a nice 800x400 sheet of 6mm allie, onto which we bolted the seat base. The idea is that this in turn will spread the load across as much of