In Part 5 we are still removing existing technology and amenities to make room for new and updated equipment.
August 27, 2025
By Thomas Allen
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Catch up on the series:
As we discussed in the opening part to this series, there were parts added to this rig that for the previous owner made perfect sense. But for us to fully turn this rig to a modern fishing machine, we had to remove the previous equipment and repair the holes they created.
To start, you can see that where the previous graph mount and heading sensor was placed was full of holes and ugly. We cleaned it up and added a sizable amount of JB Weld MarineWeld . We planned to sand the dried JB Weld down and cover it up with grip tape—more on that soon. You can see how the white MarineWeld did a fine job “healing those wounds.”
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This is where the previous two graphs were mounted, and the big ugly hole is where the cables were run. We planned to add JB Weld MarineWeld to the holes an cover the area with grip tape. There were also several holes on the back of the boat where the old transducer cable was attached—we added MarineWeld to those holes, as well. Of course, we sanded the rough finish down without damaging the clear coat. It took some extra effort to remain precise with the sanding, but it turned out great.
Here is the same area now cleaned up with MarineWeld applied. It's already looking better. Here's another look at the same area. This is big enough for a place for anglers to step when moving about the rig, so grip tape made sense for secure traction and to cover up the existing imperfections. This is the transom of the boat, there was a few transducer cable that ran up through this area, and there were clips screwed into the boat. We fixed this too. Here are the holes in the transom filled with JB Weld MarineWeld, but we hadn't wiped the excess off--and you can sand the dried, hardened adhesive to get it to where you want it to be. A Minn Kota heading sensor was added to the front left side of the gunwale, an odd spot, but we had a plan to repair the holes. There was also an old Lowrance heading sensor near the passenger console, and we worked to remove that as well. Again, we added a bunch of MarineWeld and eventually sanded the rough edges off after it was fully set up.
This is the front portside of the front deck where a Minn Kota heading sensor was placed. Not an ideal location, but nonetheless, we filled the hole with MarineWeld and covered it with grip tape. Here it is with the MarineWeld filled in and finished. Moving to the passenger-side console, this additional heading sensor was no longer necessary, so we decided to remove it, too. This is the underside of that heading sensor. At least it was reachable and easy to take off. We removed the old heading sensor and cut the cable to make life easier. Now we need to fill the holes and prep the grip tape. You can see how big that hole is, to add enough MarineWeld and not have it fall through, we added a piece of cardboard to the bottom side of that hole. The concept worked perfectly. I was able to remove the cardboard patch on the bottom side after the MarineWeld dried, but even if I had to leave it there it wouldn't have mattered. This shot shows the wet, preset MarineWeld. This image is the same spot with the fully set and dried MarineWeld. We had to sand the edges off, which was easily accomplished with some 80- to 120-grit sandpaper. Be careful in this circumstance to not mess up the clear coat, even though we planned to cover it with grip tape. This stuff was critical for our repair efforts. It was cold that particular night, so we loaded up the space heaters with propane and kept the shop warm so the JB Weld MarineWeld would effectively dry up and set properly.
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An audience of heaters. We ran these things to maintain a warmer temperature so the MarineWeld would fully set so we could carry on the next day. As mentioned above, we decided to replace existing grip tape and use additional grip tape for safety measures, but also to hide the ugly holes we repaired. I’m not going to lie, this was a good idea and it worked perfectly.
Here's some old grip tape along the gunwale that we planned to replace. To custom fit the larger pieces of grip tape on either side of the boat, we used cardboard and kept trimming it down until we had it exactly how we wanted it, which then provided us with a final template to trace the grip tape from. It took a few times to get the cardboard right, but the process certainly worked. And to be fair, the grip tape is not 100% perfect—so don’t look too close.
We used a piece of cardboard to customize the right shape of grip tape. It took a few times back and forth to make the fit as good as it could be. Trim and trim again. The fun part is removing the backing and applying pressure. You'll see how well you did with the trimming at this point. Not perfect, but not bad either ... and fully functional. And we repeated the process on the driver's side. And remember all the holes? Me neither. The holes here from the previous heading sensor are under that grip tape. I already forgot about them. I'll briefly explain this application. We step on the gunwale here when launching and landing the boat all the time. So the grip tape serves true double duty, of course covering up the holes, but also to keep us from falling in the drink when the boat is at the dock. It really works perfectly. Moving to the driver side front rod locker, the previous owner did a good job modifying it to accommodate more rods. We generally don’t store rods on the portside, which is just our preference, so we pulled the aftermarket custom rod tubes from the portside rod locker. We also removed a gear caddy that we had no intentions to use.
Now we're ready to remove unnecessary items in the rod lockers. The previous owner did a great job adding these rod tubes on the driver side rod locker, but we weren't planning to use it for rods, and we needed to run wires through there in an upcoming part. So, we pulled them out. A few screws and they came out real easy like. The next item to pull out was the stereo system—and that’s a generous way to explain it. Music is fine when we fish, but there just wasn’t adequate space in this rig. And since my son Tommy is 6 feet, 4 inches tall, he needed the leg room to reach the Hot Foot (we eventually installed) and the radio was directly in the path. The below photos illustrate why we pulled it out.
We also elected to remove the stereo. It took a little wiggling, but we got it to pop free. And this is why. My son is 6'4"(+) and needed this knee room to operate the Hot Foot we were planning to install. It's an ugly gap, but glad we were able to make extra room for those long@$$ legs. There were also a handful of decals on both windshields, old stickers we wanted to pull off. We removed as much of each as we possibly could, but of course there was a bit of residue that we needed to remove. In my experience the Goof Off cleaner is excellent for fully eliminating sticker goo.
We wanted to remove the older stickers and add new ones, so we went to work removing the existing decals and of course it left residue on the windshield. This stuff is legit. Let it soak for a few seconds and all that old decal residue comes right off. It worked perfectly so Tommy could add whatever decals he wanted to. You know, a little bit of personality. I like it. It worked perfectly.
Now, most of our disassembly and removal is complete. In upcoming installments we will be adding lots of cool elements to this rebuild. Stay tuned!
