Jet Sled version 2 second edition
how to park a let sled on the river
So here it is. I’m actually glad my laziness got the better of me as I’ll be able to do this in one sitting versus boring you all to tears with each individual step. I assumed this would take much longer than it did.
First picture of my new boat. About 30 seconds later my wife was informed of our new purchase.
After a bunch of research I decided on a SeaArk 1652 MVT (tunneled hull version). 16’ seemed about the right amount of boat, length wise and the wider the better. The decision to go with SeaArk was made after talking to several smaller boat builders in the Midwest, as they all seemed to, at some point in the conversation compare their boats to SeaArks in build, materials, etc. Alvin and JD had already made a couple trips to Currant River Marine (CRM) and under their advice I called Freddy to see what he had available. Long story short I was soon on my way to Currant River Marine in Doniphan, MO with my engine in the back of the Xterra. After a 16 hour drive they hung the engine, we ran the Currant River for a few minutes, and I signed some paperwork. By 5pm I was checked in to a cheap hotel ready to get a zero dark thirty start for the 16 hours back to Austin.
Freddy and the gang were worth every minute of the drive and their knowledge of lower-unit-less engines and boats is beyond awesome. I look forward to my return for a new engine.
Like I said in the previous post, I was going to do the exact same thing to this boat that I had done to the blue one. The SeaArk had a slight V in the Hull and I decided that needed to be addressed first. I had 4”x 4” 90 degree angle aluminium welded into the ribs to create a flat surface to build the flooring on. The flooring was Cedar planks that I sanded, epoxied, sanded, epoxied, sanded, epoxied and then sanded one more time with a final coat of spar varnish for the UV protection. I love wooden boats. My grandfather used to build them. I couldn’t not have the wood floors again, however, they are a huge pain in the ass to fit. I’m a huge fan of brute force and ignorance and in my diving days solved many problems with the idea that if a hammer wasn’t working a bigger one would. Fortunately, I was able to use the same tools my grandfather had used in his boat building; unfortunately his knowledge and experience did not magically pass through the tools as I had hoped it would. He died many years ago and I thought of him a lot while using them mostly during my many moments of frustration in not being able to beat the wood into submission with a larger hammer. The floors look great, however I can see every moment of frustration when my patience (or lack thereof) got the better of me. Guests don’t seem to mind.
Supervision a year later...
Once the side pieces were cut and fitted to the ribs of the boat the rest went pretty quickly. I also can’t help but to think of my daughter, Poppy, who supervised the last boat, she was only a few months old and was pretty easy to occupy. She’s now almost 2 and has ZERO ability to sit and keep my company.
So that’s the floors. I was, at first, going to do lean bars and knee braces however after the first couple trips I’ve found out they aren’t really needed. It’s my opinion that maybe they create a false since of security for the anglers and without them my clients seem to have a better awareness of themselves and their movements while in the boat as long as I communicate my intentions while on the oars which is better for a lot of reasons. Speaking of the oars, I also didn’t have to create the “frame” like I had before. Oar locks u-bolt directly to the gunwales, which I need to move about a foot forward (boat forward) to give the front guy a little more room.
I, of course, have a laundry list of things to do still with rod holders being the first and some sea deck type stuff for the front casting platform (it gets hot) but since the boat was new there was no need to paint and do all that other nonsense that kept me so busy on the last project. Having the blue boat in my past made doing this boat so much easier, mainly because it was new…
Please contact me with any questions that I most likely did not answer. Alvin, JD and I would be more than happy to share what we’ve learned. We all run different rigs each having their own pros and cons.
Enjoy,
AWG
