Fitting out a 12 ft Tinny

[tiny_tinny]

Gidday Ausfishers,

About 6 months ago I bought a second-hand 12 ft (3.7 metre) tinny, intending to use it mainly for fishing. Bit by bit I have turned it into a useful boat for fishing the estuaries and close-in reefs along the western side of Moreton Bay. I had the idea of sharing my experiences in doing the modifications, and getting suggestions from others about what else I can do.

To kick off the story, the photo below shows what the boat looked like when I bought it - it was pretty much a bare hull, though it had lots of screw holes and a few fittings that showed that the previous owner was a keen fisherman and had done his/her own modifications. The boat did have a ply floor with a revolting green carpet that was well past its use-by date and was shedding green dust every time you touched it.

I would much appreciate suggestions for further improvements I can make. Catch you soon,

Mike

[tiny_tinny]

As I said earlier, the tinny already had a plywood floor, covered with a piece of revolting green carpet/artificial grass - quickly dispatched to oblivion via the wheelie bin. I lifted the ply (held down using self-tapping screws), checked its condition. It was perfect – no rot or serious cracking. The floor supports were aluminium angle, quite over-designed, and in good condition.

I sanded the ply before applying a coat of good quality primer and two coats of enamel. As I brushed on the two top-coats, I sprinkled washed and dried beach sand into the wet paint to make the surface anti-skid. I had done this in an earlier boat and it worked well, though it could be hard on bare skin. I left the underside of the ply with a single coat of primer. Experts reckon that sealing up ply too well encourages rot.

Before reinstalling the floor, I filled the space underneath with blocks of foam, plastic milk containers and soft drink bottles. They are so crammed in between the aluminium angle grid that supports the floor that they can’t move even if the boat is swamped. The total capacity of the bottles was more than 70 litres, therefore adding about 70 kg of additional buoyancy at nil cost.

Mike

[tiny_tinny]

One thing that a fishing boat must have is rod holders, and I reckon you can’t have too many. In my small tinny I have about 8, scattered about the boat. Most of them are made from PVC pipe, cut to size and with holes drilled for mounting screws. One of them is angled outwards and has an added support in the form of a saddle, this one can be used for trolling.

I also bought an adjustable rod holder with an extra mount. Having two mounts lets me use it on either side of the boat. To tell the truth, I rarely use it. I mostly fish with only one rod, using the PVC rod holders to store one or more extra rods with different lines and rigs.

[tiny_tinny]

Another pic - from behind

[tiny_tinny]

Storage is a problem in any boat, and the smaller the boat the bigger the problem. One approach is to use the principle “if in doubt – leave it out”. This is very true, but there are certain things you must take with you. As I was thinking about this problem, I wanted a solution that let me store things at home, away from the boat, for security reasons as well as in the boat. I got the idea of using a large plastic crate, fitting a lid to it to keep things dry.

In the end, I added a switch panel and some sockets to one end, a mount for the sounder and a few hooks and holders on the outside. At home, I can store the whole thing securely under the house. When I am going fishing, it only takes a minute to transfer it to the boat.

[tiny_tinny]

Lid open..........

[tiny_tinny]

Lid open..........

[tiny_tinny]

Switches and sockets........

[tiny_tinny]

I needed a 12V power source to run a few things on the boat – navigation and anchor lights, some general lighting around the boat, a spotlight and some electronics. #Ideally for this application you would have a deep cycle battery connected to the charging coil on the outboard motor. #As it was, I already had a portable 12V system I set up a couple of years ago to use camping. #I simply bought a conventional car battery, fitted it into a plastic battery box and hooked up a couple of sockets wired on separate fuses at the battery.

While a car battery is not the best in this application, it has one big advantage – it’s cheap. #To ensure maximum life, I added some of that battery “conditioner” stuff. #I also make sure that the battery is kept well charged. #I recharge it at home immediately after use, and also stick it on charge every couple of weeks if I haven’t used it to compensate for the self-discharge that lead-acid batteries are famous for.

To use it in the boat, I only needed to fit longer cables that allow me to make the necessary plug-in connections inside the plastic box. #I run two cables on separate fuses – one runs the spotlight and the other the rest of the loads.

[tiny_tinny]

One more.........

[StevenM]

Looks all good Mike,

keep the pics and mods comming

cheers

Steven

[Tinn]

You have some good ideas there buddy. For your spot light why don't you buy a rechargeable one saves you using power off your battery and you will have no cord to bother you ;)

[whiteman]

My 3.1 tinny is a lot less complicated as I wheel this down the beach on attached wheels so weight must be kept low:
I use 3 milk crates (2 rear, 1 forward) for things like emergency fuel, tackle and anchor. The motor is a 6hp Suzuki with internal tank and I get about 2 hrs of trolling from this. The anchor is attached to a float so if I need to release it in a hurry - as you sometimes do in a small boat, you can go back and get it. I've got a rod holder set in each rear corner as I troll 2 lures at different depths and usually get tangles but I double my chances of catching fish. GPS is a Garmin 12 with a mount on the side of the rear seat. No sounder yet but when I do I'll use a motorbike battery sealed in tupperware. No need for lights as I have a bigger boat for serious fishing. My esky just sits in the bottom wherever is best. I also carry oars as I need to row past the small break and fringing reef on my beach.

I like your simple PVC rod holders so will steal this idea to store the rods up the front when underway as they'll cop less spray.

[Crisp_Bee]

Thanks for the ideas Tiny_Tinney.
I am very new to the site. It is an awesome wit loads of good info.
I am about to enter the water and am currently reading up on all the tips that I can find.
Don't have a boat yet, I am still trying to figure what I need for my young family.
I hope to get out there soon. :)

[tiny_tinny]

Hi Tim - yes you have a good suggestion about a rechargeable spotlight, but I already had the old fashioned one. I'm waiting for it to pack it in so I can replace it. I have to take a few more pix so I can continue the fitout story.

Crisp Bee - it's a bit of a problem to find a boat that suits all things, every boat is a compromise. When our first child was born, we went for a 'glass half-cab. That was good for little kids. Ours grew up in central Queensland with trips to the Keppels a regular thing. Looking back, it was pure heaven. People pay thousands to visit a place we could visit any time the weather suited.

The half-cab wasn't a bad boat for fishing, though the cabin took up space and got in the way sometimes when fighting a bigger fish. The current choice of a 12 ft tinny was based on what I could afford, though my first boat was a small tinny. They have limitations but are tops in my mind when you think of fun per dollar.

Mike

[Crisp_Bee]

Thanks Mike,
A big part of my dilemna with boating is to make it comfortable, safe and fun for the kids as well as the misses , so they will want to come along too. But I also must try to keep the costs down to a dull roar.
The kids are 11 and 13, so not too young. Something we could sneak about the bay with will probably be ideal, maybe out to Coochie and Mud and Russell etc.
Any good ideas would be appreciated.

[tiny_tinny]

Gidday Crisp Bee,

Have you tried hiring a boat for the day? You can get small tinnies up to half-cabs at various places. To avoid the need for a licence they generally only have small outboards, but you could get an idea if the rest of the family will make use of a boat if you get one of your own.

One of my previous boats was a 14 ft tinny with forward steering and a folding canopy. The windscreen and canopy provide some protection from the elements, and if you folded the top forward you had the whole boat to fish from. With a 40hp Merc it got along pretty quickly, but I would rarely use more than 20 litres of fuel in a day. My 'glass 1/2 cab and 70hp Johnno could easily burn 40 litres, though I tended to venture further afield. That amount of fuel is getting a bit expensive today.

The other issue is towing your boat. If you have to trade up to a bigger car, the budget could end up HUGE.

Best of luck,

Mike

[tiny_tinny]

A major improvement was the side pockets. Very few small tinnies have them, but I reckon that they are a great idea. In my little boat, it is impossible to stand at the very outside edges of the floor along the gunwales without risking tipping the boat - especially for a big bloke like me. So the idea is to make use of this otherwise wasted space for extra storage.

Making them was simplicity personified – 12 mm exterior ply, painted as per the floor (but without the sand), held in place with some brackets made from aluminium angle. In the middle, I made a small bracing piece between the ply and a rib.

Along the top edge of the ply I fixed some more aluminium angle, which does a few things – stiffens the ply, protects the exposed edge from weather and making it all look neater and more professional.

The side pocket also provides a couple of flat surfaces thet can be used for other things. A couple of pix might give a better idea than mere words:

[Crisp_Bee]

Thanks again Mike,
More good ideas to chew on, it all helps me to figure it out.
Meanwhile I'll keep reading and talking.
Cheers

Brendan

[tiny_tinny]

Another.......

[tiny_tinny]

And again......

[SunnyCoastMark]

Well done Mike. Some nifty ideas there.

Where do you store your anchor/rope?

Generally a pretty messy problem in small tinnies.

If you have a foredeck there are some pretty good poly anchor wells on the market that pop rivet in.

Mark

[gunnabuild1]

Keep the photos coming Tiny tinny getting ready to do the exact same thing on my tinny the more ideas I see the closer I get to exactly what I want.I would like a bigger boat but the price of fuel is a deal breaker now and its not gonna get any cheaper.
Thanks

[tiny_tinny]

Mark - I found a broken milk crate and cut the top off it. It fits well on the shalf under the bows and the anchor rope/chain are looped and placed in the crate. The anchor sits on top. I will post a pic later.

Mike

[pilchardjones]

some great ideas there mike - good neat job.
i used to have a 12 ft tinny that didn't have enough storage space so i just built a couple of platforms using the same principal used in your floor support structure. just light alloy angle with ply exterior. it made things so much more comfortable being able to store everything out of the way.
steve

[pilchardjones]

another

[Geoff_Atkinson]

Steve,

How have you fitted that seat in the rear?

Mine is on one of those brackets and I find that I slip and slide all over the place so I am looking for ideas how to make it more permanent.

Cheers

Geoff

[tiny_tinny]

Gidday Steve,

I considered raising seating, but I was worried that this might also raise the centre of gravity (I weigh >100 kg). Did you find this was a problem?

Mike

[tiny_tinny]

Anchor storage.................

[pilchardjones]

geoff / mike,
the raised rear seat mount is a square of say 8mm alloy plate about 300 x 300mm with a 60mm dia hole cut in the centre. through this hole a piece of 60mm alloy tube runs all the way down to the floor, where it is welded on. everything is welded in place. the 8mm plate is welded to the piece of 25mm box you can see across the front of the original thwart seat, as well as stitched to the thwart itself.
the tube running through the old thwart is basically a tube for the seat pedestal to run in. these are a nice snug fit one inside the other. i made up a nylon pad for the bottom of the smaller pedestal tube so its not a alloy on alloy rotation point at the bottom. hope this makes sense.
mike the raised seating does make it a little more unstable, but this was not enough to cause any problems to me. it was predominantly a creek boat, but i did venture up to a few miles offshore from campwin beach (near mackay) in it over the years. those thick padded freely swivelling seats really made the boat. they are so comfortable.
steve

[tiny_tinny]

Steve,

Thanks for the reply. It sounds like a really rugged installation. So the tube that the seat mounts on goes through the thwart - it must have been a fiddly job to weld the tube to the floor of the boat.

I would really like to raise the seat a bit, because I get a bit sore in the back with my knees so high - the cost of being a greybeard I suppose.

Mike

[pilchardjones]

yes mike the tube goes straight through the thwart and onto the bottom of the boat. now that i think of it, i think we might have welded a bit of RHS say 50 x 25mm between 2 ribs than ran across the boat, and the bottom of the tube was welded onto the top of this bit of RHS. you wouldn't want to weld the tube straight down onto the thin alloy of the hull plate.
steve

[tiny_tinny]

Carpet:

I like the idea of a carpet floor in the boat, but I didn’t want to fix it down permanently using adhesive because I want to be able to clean it. #In a previous boat, I simply loose-laid some carpet on the floor. #This worked well, as the floor underneath had an anti-slip finish. #So I did it again. #The friction between the carpet backing and the sand finish on the floor prevents any movement.

A bit of good quality outdoor marine carpet, cut to size with sharp scissors did the job. #Be very careful with the cutting, nothing worse than an “oops” experience with such things. #It looks pretty good and works well.

After an outing, I used to remove the carpet and sling it over the clothes line to clean it with a blast from the jet setting on the garden hose. #Water restrictions have stopped that for the present, so I clean it with some detergent, buckets of water and a stiff broom. #With each bucket holding about 10 litres, I reckon that the ‘legal’ way of cleaning the carpet actually uses lots more water than hosing did – but I doubt the powers-that-be would listen to such logic if I was caught.

The rest of the story is in Part 2.......

Mike

[Sean]

Hi mate, I bought a second hand deep cycle battery from a scooter shop for $5. It is a 56Ah and was not good enough for the scooters, fine for what I want, runs lights bilge pump and sounder....really cheap. Sean :)

[ahoj]

Never could undertand why have a carpet in a fishing boat ...Simple Rubberised lino ( non slip) cost less more hygienic and easy to clean Boat carpet is not comfortable to bare feet... however --its a late fad --which will fade away
PS. your tinny looks nice and made a good job
Ahoj

[sasstein]

hi tiny,
sounds like good things your doing with your tinny. hope your getting enjoyment out of it aswell.

i have recently bought an allycraft 410 top ender with a honda 4 stroke. it pretty much is set up how i want it ( sounder, elec. start, power sockets. trawling rod holders etc.) but i am looking at changing from tiller to forward controls. do you know if there is such a modification around ??

[sasstein]

hi tiny,
sounds like good things your doing with your tinny. hope your getting enjoyment out of it aswell.

i have recently bought an allycraft 410 top ender with a honda 4 stroke. it pretty much is set up how i want it ( sounder, elec. start, power sockets. trawling rod holders etc.) but i am looking at changing from tiller to forward controls. do you know if there is such a modification around ??