Took the rebuilt boat out for its shakedown cruise this morning. NO LEAKS!! No water came out the transom when I pulled it. The motor ran flawlessly. The outboard trim unit is fixed. My shallow water anchors worked just like I planned. The new steering ran perfectly. The rebuilt throttle and shifter now work. OMG I think I turned that hunk of crap into a viable duck boat!
I built a bunch of custom stuff for the boat because boating is weird and lots of things I’d expect don’t exist or are stupid expensive if they do.
This is a searchlight I made out of a Bogen tripod fluid pan head plus a Black Oak led light pod. This light turned out to be incredibly handy and made installing courtesy lighting unnecessary in my little boat. Most of my travel is before sunrise, so I use the light to see logs or other obstacles and to put out decoys when I get to my destination.
Custom hinged electrical distribution panel under the dash. Stays nice and dry and is easy to troubleshoot.
@LabSpokane neat!!
@LabSpokane Nice! 🥳 🦆
@LabSpokane Yippee!
@LabSpokane The spotlight installed on my boat sucks. I carry a handheld spotlight now, although I very seldom drive the boat at night.
@mlanger@mastodon.world@mastodon.world These days, for navigating at night, night vision cameras are now actually practical and compare in cost versus a massive amount of lighting. If I did it again, I’d do less lighting and add a camera.
My night vision is crap now. I won’t go over 10 mph in the dark. Too much chance of puncturing a hull and having a REALLY bad day.