The Bass Boat Project

About 6 months ago I got an itch for a boat. With a baby girl on the way, a three year old, and bad economy overall I couldn't afford much. I spent one thousand dollars on a 1985 beat-up Trophy Bayliner bass boat which I then gave away 50% ownership to James. Although only him and I had ownership several other people helped out a lot and I thought it would be appropriate to do an introduction to the team that helped make the bass boat what it is today.

The Crew:

James Evelyn
James was involved in everything. Sanding, motor work, stickers, fiberglass, paint, electrical, trailer etc... I don't think there was any work done he wasn't involved in. He would show up at my house and just start working. Some times I didn't even know he was there till I heard power tools going off in my yard.






David MCdonell
David volunteered to help out with all the electrical and some of the motor work. Cleaning up the spiderweb of cables was a big task. He also donated the lighting and some tools used to build the shop in my yard. David was also considered the expert on site. Having done this for a living he has tons of experience working on boats. He made sure to yell at you if you were doing anything wrong and his slogan was. "That's why I always say, YOU'VE GOT TO HAVE THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB!!!"




Ray Hinnat
Ray didn't come around much but when he did he was willing to lend a hand. He made sure to make a list of parts that needed to be purchased and damaged areas of the boat that needed fixing.








Chris Morales
Chris didn't actually work on the boat, but when it came time to build the tent for the shop he single handedly built and ankered the tent.










Fabio Parodi
Not having a lot of experience with motors I mainly worked on cosmetics and the trailer. I was responsible for cutting and putting in all the new carpet which surprisingly enough, it's still sticking. I still managed to get my hands dirty in some of the motor work.





The Job:

Motor:
rebuilt the carburetors, changed the starter, changed bad coils, changed lower unit oil, readjusted shifter, installed new trim and tilt.

Deck:
We disassembled the upper decks, removed old carpet, sanded every wooded surface down, replaced rotten wood in lower deck, reinforced stringers and bulkheads that were damaged, fiberglassed damaged areas, brushed resin on everything, put in new carpet.

Electrical:
Riped out all the old wiring, disassembled sanded and repainted old dashboard,rewired everything with new marine grade wiring, installed two new batteries with a battery switch to allow the motor to run on both batteries.

Body:
We kept the same paint job and only repaired with resin the small scratches on the hull. The body was cleaned well with compound and a coat of mother's wax was placed on top.

Trailer:
We sanded down the trailer and repainted it black with rust resistant paint. We also replaced the trailer lights. We debated for a while whether to use spray paint or buy a gallon of rust resistant paint and brush it on. We were afraid that if we didn't spray it wouldn't look right. I insisted on buying a gallon of Rustolion and brushing it on and to everyone's surprise it looked great.

Shelter:
A special thanks goes out to the donations of Motor Sports and More and Kim's cheerleader camp who donated the fans, lights, and tools as they went out of business. None of this would have been possible without some good shelter. We bought a tent at Pepboys they had for sale and stocked it with the hanging fans and lights. It kept us cool during the hot summer days and provided good lighting when working at night.




Costs:
These costs are obviously for parts and tools only. We didn't spend any money on labor.
Boat: $1000
Motor: $600
Deck/Carpet: $600
Electrical: $200
Body: $50
Shelter: $100
Trailer: $100
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Total: $2650





Grand Voyage:
After about 3 months we finally were ready to take it out for a test run. We first took it to my parent's lake where we ran it for a couple of weeks while we did the work on the trailer. It was great having it docked somewhere close to home where you can stop on your way back from work and do some bass fishing for a couple of hours. I love the seating arrangements too. You can't beat the comfortable rotating seats that allow for a great view of the water and easy casting on both sides of the boat while you drive the trolling motor with the foot pedal.

After sitting at my parent's lake for two weeks we took it out, cleaned it up then took it down to Flamingo. We were targeting snooks and spent most of the day looking for them. We headed west on the outside of Flamingo and went up and down several creeks and canals along the coast on the way to East Cape. We could see the snooks swim under us and even jump, but there were no bites. As we were about to leave I got a bite from one who twisted himself around Jamey's line and managed to cut the line in the middle of the crises. We had a good time anyway.

FOR SALE!!!
We are now ready to move on to the next project. We are selling the boat for $4000. If anyone is interested let me know. :)

Renting a boat at Flamingo

Back in June I took a fishing trip to Flamingo with my dad and I wanted to make sure to write something about it. I highly recommend this trip. You can spread the costs with 4 people and it's a good bargain for your money.

Costs:
$150 Boat rental for entire day
$30 Bait, ice, Drinks, lunch.
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Total $180

We arrived at Flamingo in Everglades National Park at around 7am. We rented a skiff and headed out. They only let you take the boat on the inside and there are some restrictions regarding how far you are allowed to go, but it's still plenty of space to get lost. We headed up the canal into Coot Bay then out Tarpon Creek.Unfortunately most of what you'll catch here is catfish. We started out heading West and made a circle back to Tarpon Creek. Then we decided to explore to the East side. There's a maze of creeks and canals that you can get lost in east of Tarpon Creek. Being low in gas we decided to not go too far and ankered in the middle of one of the first tidal creeks.

That's the spot we wished we had found first. We brought in some good size tasty snappers and several groupers that we threw back in. The fish were biting lake crazy for about an hour straight up until a small shark came by and scared everything away. Having spent enough time out there we headed back in with a good number of snappers in the cooler.

Chapmanfield Park - Saltwater Lake

One of my favorite places to go kayak fishing is the saltwater lake in Chapmanfield Park in Pinecrest. It's right in the middle of civilization yet remote enough to have a good time and catch fish. Although you can reach the lake from Chapman Field park by walking the long dirt trail it is very inconvenient for someone carrying a kayak and equipment. I tend to put in Snapper Creek canal at the water gate on 57th Avenue. There's enough of a sloped opening there to drop in a kayak and you can leave your car parked there without any problems.





From here it's about 3 miles to the lake. You first have to row straight out to the ocean then make a right towards the huge beautiful house. You have to cross the channel going into Gables by the sea. Stick to the edge of the mangroves and you wont miss the creek going into the lake. The lake is full of sea trout who love to teas you as they jump all around you, but the best fishing is right at the entrance of the creek. If you manage to sneak up and anker quietly you might see huge snooks swimming under you. There's also tons of mangrove snappers who will bite anything you throw at them.


Finding the Lake can be a little tricky since the creek splits several times on the way in and only one way is clear enough to make it through. My advice is to follow the path with the strongest tidal current. If you make a mistake don't worry. It will quickly become evident you went the wrong way when you can't get past downed mangroves. Don't force it. If a trail is bloked turn around and go down the next one.

In the center of the lake there's a little island that's a bird haven. In the winter you will be surprised by the overwelming number of birds nesting in it. THe entire island gets painted white by the birds.

When you come out onto the lake, if you make a right you will find a small opening where you can stop and stretch your legs. That's the dirt trail that leads back to Chapman Field. If you feel adventures you can drag your kayak over the trail and put in on the other side. Follow that creek all the way out to the ocean then make a left to get back to Snapper Creek canal.

If you plan on making the trip remember to take lots of water and keep the area clean.

Everglades City - Tiger Key

After months of anticipation the trip finally happened. Even though we had several conflicts of opinion regarding what to take, we all managed to compromise and reach a happy medium.

The trip consisted of four of us driving an hour to Everglades City where we rented additional equipment and one canoe. We then rowed 8 miles westward through a complicated trail of channels to a small isolated beach campsite called tiger key. (Part of the Everglades National Park) There we spent 2 nights and three days.
I was hopping for the type of camping trip where you pack light and count on catching your food or you eat very little. A couple of canned foods and a gallon of watter per day was the most food I was going to take. Unfortunately some in our party thought we were going on a tail gate party instead. They were hopping for a breakfast lunch and dinner buffet with an open bar. So after some compromises we didn't take the breakfast buffet but we did take the open bar. We took my two kayaks and rented a 17' canoe which we loaded with a cooler filled with 48 beers, tons of sodas, two bottles of whiskey and a good amount of food. There was another group leaving at the same time going up river who joked about changing their plans and following us around so they could drink our beers.

We Left the ranger station at about 11am which is late considering the tide was changing against our favor. We rowed for about an hour, then stopped on a small sandy opening in the trail when we found that when rowing our hardest, the best we could do is stand still against the current. We fished and waited there for the tide to change. We mostly just caught catfish, and considering we were arriving late at the campsite it didn't make sense to keep them. Jamey caught a baby grooper which he released after posing for a picture.Two hours later when the tide finally changed we headed back out. Man, what a difference it is when you're rowing with the current. It didn't take us long to get to Tiger Key after that. Although about a mile away from Tiger Key my brother Fulbio Saul switched with Chris into the canoe. He said his kayak was too heavy since we put most of the drinking water in it.

The last stretch before reaching our camp site consisted of the beach front of Picnic Key. I don't have any pictures to proof it, but on that stretch of beach I got bites from about 8 small trouts, of which I could only bring into the boat 2, of which I didn't keep any. We didn't feel like cleaning fish on the same night we were setting up camp. It's the first time I see so much trout activity. I don't have a lot of experience catching trout, but I found it very annoying that they would manage to get off the hook at the last minute before I could catch them with the net. I was using an artificial white jig I borrowed from Jamey. Which by the way, he was very upset that me and Chris were taking so long to traverse that last stretch of beach before reaching our camp site. I think he was just jealous we were catching all the fish...
As for the camp site... It didn't take nearly as long as I thought to setup. Before we knew it we had the 4 people tent setup, enough wood for the night collected, burgers on the grill, and we were chilling. The first night we all slept outside the tent in the sand. Half way through the night, when the fire started dying down, I woke up shivering in the cold. It most have been around 40 F. My brother had gone into the tent and Jamey and Chris were doing their best to keep the fire going. We had brought four thick starter logs that are suppose to last three hours and I three 2 of them into the fire that night. It was cold!!!















On Saturday we had an early start. Chris was up early and had breakfast going. It was nice to bring a chef with us to cook all our meals. We had scrambled eggs with bacon. And they would have been perfect had it not been for the sand I accidentally kicked into the eggs. By the time we were done with the trip we were so used to eating sand with every meal that we were missing it when we got back to civilization.

We loaded up the canoe and kayaks with everything we didn't want the raccoons to steel and left everything else behind. We went exploring around the near by islands. We didn't catch a lot of fish but I was able to bring in one trout and a shark for dinner. We had brought so much food that we hardly touched the shark. It was sad to see so much meet go to waste. Which by the way, it was surprisingly good. It tasted nothing like fish. It was more of a pork taste. The best part was bringing that shark in. The funnest catch I've ever had was that shark. Even after it finally got tired and we were able to bring it in close to the shore, it was still a challenge to lure it into the net. It looked like he suddenly didn't feel tired any more and wanted to take a bite out of my foot instead of letting me scoop him into the net.




That night we were so tired we passed out early. although not before collecting 6 times more wood than then night before. We had wood like the great wall of china stacked up right behind our camp. It looked like we had built a fort and declared war on the raccoons. We made sure that fire was going all night.

The next day we had breakfast and started packing up. We needed to make sure we planed our getaway right with the tides so we were rushed to get going by 11am to ride the tide in. Unfortunately since it was a rising tide we were trying to catch, when we left the tide was as low as it gets. We had to drag all our equipment and canoes a good 100 yards to the water's edge. It's incredible how much of the flats was exposed with the low tide.



We also ran into UF students that had lost a paddle and asked if they could borrow one of ours. Luckily we were prepared and had a few extra paddles or they would have had a really hard time getting back in.


We stopped for lunch half way back and still made the trip back in under 2 hours. So far, this is the best trip I've ever taken.