Your New Boat Ideas for 17'-18' FISHING Boats

[Rick]

Great ideas so far.

What do you guys think about bright red lighting option? Doesn't ruin your night vision.

What other options do you guys have specific to the Fishhawks?

[SteveWilson]

What I've been trying to do is get light down low with nothing directed at my eyes. I found that the two cabin lights in my Fisherman, although yellow, are rather anoying. I would like to see a row of red or amber directed down on the deck along the entire length of the gunwales. That would provide enough illumination for walking around, landing large fish, etc. without directing any light directly at your eyes. Around the consoles I've installed some white led's pointing down that provide decent light for picking lures or thumbing through the trolling book without negatively affecting my night vision.

[Duffman]

Rick...

I've been researching putting some LED rope lights under the entire length of my gunnels on my boat. I can't find the color I'm looking for in LED's, but I can find it in the bulb rope lights. But I don't think the bulb rope lights would hold up to the pounding of the road (trailering)and water. I have some red rope lights that are Christmas lights, and I put them under my gunnels to see how this idea would work out. They looked pretty neat, I can't see the ropelights themselves from a sitting or standing position in the boat, but they provided a soft red glow on the entire inside of the boat.

It looks like red might be the color I go with in the end, I want to be able to plug them into my 24v trolling motor outlet in the front of the boat. Now the tough part, finding a source for 14' precut red LED ropelights in 24v DC. LED ropelight is at least twice the $ per foot as the bulb ropelight, so that is holding me back somewhat on my go-ahead with this project. It sure has been fun pimpin' out my new boat, I think this lighting idea will look cool yet be functional.

[hanson]

Maybe not quite what you are looking for Rick but...

17-18' Mod-V Jon (camo color is a bonus)

- small front casting deck

- big wide open floor (no benches)

To this hull, I would add a forward, center console. Real men do it standing up!

-Marcum LX-5

-Vexilar Edge

-Lowrance color GPS of some kind (bigger the better with the screen)

On the bow:

-PIAA foglights (lots of light!)

-Rodholders everywhere

-No need for rod storage since 9' rods don't fit in anything anyway

-Good baitwells w/ recirculating pumps

-Super large livewell somewhere in the boat for the Cat's Incredible tournament with good aeration systems. Needs to hold (2) 20lb channel cats.

-I do like the idea of red interior lights with an "easy button" to turn them on quickly at night.

Maybe not the boat you were looking for but works for me nicely.

[Corey Bechtold]

Why not sell the boat with 2 headlamps. Petzl makes some good ones .

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Rick]

Great ideas and/or comments Steve, Duff and Hans!!

Still looking of more.

What changes on a Fish Hawk would you want to see?

[eyepatrol]

Earlier today I was looking at my Crestliner brochure, thinking about this post and came up with another "hair-brain" idea. I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but my net always seems to be in the way. Now, I know there are mounts that can be fastened to the insides of boats and such where the net rests vertically, but IMO, it would be nice to get it completely out of the way. Not when I'm fishing for larger game fish such as walleyes, bass, pike, etc. But many times when I hit the water, I'm on a multi-species outing where I'm after larger game fish but also panfish. It's when fishing for pannies that I wish the net was completely out of the way. Where to put it? Well, the one thought I had (which is a lot of thought for me on a Sunday ) is to perhaps put it in the rod locker storage area(?). Maybe elevate the tubes and put a shelf in for the rods and reels, then have a little grab handle where you could lift the whole thing enough to slide the net underneath? That way it basically has its own compartment stored under the rods and not over them where the netting could get tangled in lures, etc.

Of course, if you're like Harvey Lee and catch 26" walleyes on your crappie gear, this wouldn't work out so well.

[G_man]

How about a locking device on the rear battery storage compartment. And not having to turn the key on to listen to the radio.

[marine_man]

Quote:

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And not having to turn the key on to listen to the radio.

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That's just the way your stereo is wired... should be a quick job to take care of that... just move the power wire to either a location that has power all the time (the risk here is that the memory feature on the radio will kill your battery), or to a switched power location.

marine_man