Boating Fitout For The Older Fisho

[CHAPPY]

At 62 and still active as a fisho, I have come to realize that certain parts of my body are not as flex and agile as they were. As a result, I have had to modify my Quintrex 385 explorer to cope with single handed launch and retreive. Also the rear now carries a folding ladder, the seating is padded. and several other now necessary creature comforts. My question is, have other elderly fisho's made any modifications to their rigs? which are mobility related or do they just stop boating?

[juju]

Ive ran into a guy down the pine a few times, hes in his 80s...has an electric winch on his 12 footer...and a electric start 9.9....he gets in and out via the pontoon...between the middle and the front seat he has a flat carpeted area..so he steps up there then onto the pontoon...he even has a rod holder fix there that he puts a walking stick into to help him...

[tunaticer]

My old man last week bought a second hand half cab glass 14' boat and has set to making it creature comfortable. His tinny was getting too primitive for his years and the aches from bare alloy and being less stable so the move to a sheltered mobile fishing platform was a good move i think.

Jack.

[charleville]

A My question is, have other elderly fisho's made any modifications to their rigs? which are mobility related or do they just stop boating?



PSSSST! Don't say that 62 is elderly!!! ;D

At 56, I am only a boy, of course, but I am conscious of what you are talking about. I saw my father-in-law trade up from his little dinghy to a pretty solid Haines-Hunter many years ago at age 61 only to find that it was far too big a lump of a boat for him and his wife to handle at the ramp.

When I bought my 4.75m Quinnie about 6 years ago, I did so after watching older guys launch and retrieve boats and see what worked for them - things like the walk-through windscreen which made getting off the boat and anchor handling easy and the pod at the back which makes getting on the boat easy. Add to that bits and pieces like hydraulic steering and I think that my little runabout will be easy for me for a few years yet.

I did have an electric trailer winch but managed to bugger it and I have not fixed it as I reckon that hand-winching will help maintain arm strength as I get older.

I am interested in hearing what recommendations people have though as I have found my boating and fishing hobby a Godsend as I migrated from a heavy corporate work life into early retirement.

[CHAPPY]

Well it is good to see that I am not the omly one aware of this problem. That is why I limited my purchase to a 12 footer but went for the wider beam of the explorer for stability. When you are retreiving crabpots, you dont want the boat trying to capsize. We have had 2 blokes of 105+95 kg standing on one side at times with no worry. The ladder at the rear, alllows us entry on those long flats at Tin Can where you have to try and step over the high transon. (The explorer is designed for long shaft so is higher again) We have installed a level carpeted floor and cental built-in esky come cutting board, anchor roller, bimini, multiple rollers to the trailer, bilge pump and side pockets. And after 3 years, I think I have it right. One day I will learn how to post pictures but intil lthen, this forems comments are greatly appreciated. And pictures also.
regards
Bush Budah