Converting Open Tinnie to Forward steer

[budgebass]

Hi Everyone

I have an open tinnie, I was wondering whether or not anyone had converted an open tinnie to a forward steer with side or centre console.
Any tips or advice - greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Budgebass:-/ :-/

[Noelm]

thats a pretty easy conversion, but can sometimes end up very costly, console purchase, motor controls and conversion, steering setup, cables and stuff, as well as the fact that unless you Boat model was also available in forward steer you can run into balance/trim problems

[STUIE63]

My brother did a stacer 4m open boat to a c/c it worked good but it took alot of room out of the boat with the c/c in the middle can only fish two up now.
Stuie

[horitira]

I was thinking of doing the console thingo on a 4.2m until i saw one and Stu is correct, you lose a fair bit of room and as i have wife/2 ruggies it was not feasible for me.
If you put the steer up on the bow it wouldnt be so bad, i didnt get any prices as my other half asked me to buy a cabin.;D

[moater]

G'day,What size tinny have you got?

I had a 4.2 that I was going to convert to CC with the console up front against the forwad seat.I was going to leave the motor as a pull start as it was only a 20hp (bit underpowered I know but I was mainly fishing by myself) and also manual tilt & just shift gear around to help with the trim when necessary.Anyway I ended up selling the lot and put my money toward a 4.55 Sea Jay Magnum - still gunna convert it to CC and hopefully get in some fishing with it by Christmas.It's got so much more room :)

With consoles I've seen them put on top of the front thwart but that'd be a tad bumpier,probably better than mounting the steering on a plate coming down from the foredeck as I've seen on a 3.95 tinny,made it more like a runabout.You can pick up all the gear for the conversion for a few hundred all up and you've gotta have a sturdy console to fit it to + a bit of reinforcement won't go astray.

When I had my other boat and was planning on converting I found that looking through ebay and saving pictures of various setups gave me a bit of an idea.Just do your homework on the room factor,stability,COSTS,and try to envisage how you want your boat to end up.You want better visibility,handling etc without losing too much room or getting into dangerous situations with stability.

Have fun;)

[Chas & Clarry]

If you put the steer up on the bow it wouldnt be so bad

Be a bit careful with this too. I'm sure it can work, but we did it on our first tinny after having tiller steer for a couple of years.

The tinny was about 4.2, but had pretty short fore deck, and frankly the ride up front after the conversion was pretty bloody bumpy.:-[

[Jeremy]

I converted my 4.3 (4.5 m LOA) Stessl from tiller steer to centre console. Cost me around $2000 all up from memory. Very happy with the result in terms of space and ride. I have posted details on ausfish several times before in response to similar questions. Do a search. or if you have specific questions, fire away.

Jeremy

[peterbee]

I converted a 3.9 m stacer to a front steering. I mean a front not centre console. I have plenty of room and with a windscreen attached very happy with the results. It was professional done for $1200 plus $400 for the windscreen. A console would have take up too much available space.

[trev1]

I wouldn't do it un less your tinny is at least 4.5 long, you lose too much room. I put my console more to the rear for ride, the eskies up the front can take the bashing better than me

[peterbee]

The front steering is a bit bumper but a lot dryer. I was in the sandy straits on Tuesday with a fair N/Easterly blowing and I can assure you the trip home to TCB was a lot better than it would have been at a console or steering at the back.

[Matt_F]

Trev1,

I agree with you. I am also looking at converting my 4.5 to a cc with the console towards the stern. Would you have any pics availble to post?

Cheers,
Matt.

[moater]

About the room factor,there's also a fair bit of storage in a console to keep stuff safe & dry and you can have rod racks/tubes on the side/front etc.

Should really be a separate thread but I've been pondering this for awhile - How much useable,safe,uncluttered space do we have on average with our boats??

When you look at it there's not a lot of room in the average 4m to 5m boat...especially with your mates (I don't have any so no problem;D ) and all the rods,reels,bags,eskies etc etc.

Be interesting to find out the average of 'available' personal workspace needed to enjoy your fishing...just a bit curious.::)

Darren

[mjbpjk]

I converted my front steer 4.0m tinny with great sucess but only cos i turned the thwart seats into casting platforms.

It can be done and is a great idea but on a small boat a side console like what i did is the go. The console is just an ally box thats narrow to give plenty of room up front.

The boat turned out so well and i loved the design so much that i bought a new boat designed pretty much the same, Just have to put in the casting platforms now.

cheers pete

[Kleyny]

i converted mine. the console cost around 150 smackos i think.

[trev1]

When I first got my boat it had a side console , but the console weighed as much as i do ( I'm a big guy) and so the wholr setup was useless as I couldn't balance the boat. Seeing as how I do a lot of fishing on my own I made a center console out of alloy and mounted it more to the rear ( it was as much cable length as anything in the placement). Iwould post piccys but am a little technically challenged in this regard.