upgrades for parker 1801

[ehfisher]

Hello All,

I have a 1801 which i purchased last september primarily for fly fishing the waters of eastern long island. After using the boat for a few months there are some changes i am thinking over. First, I am thinking of replacing the high bow rail with the low profile bow rail. I would remove entirely but i have small kids who occasionally like to go for a ride. any thoughts one way or the other here? anyone know a good place to purchase the rial on-line? i have done some google searches but have not found much.

Next, i want to install some pop-up cleats. anyone have any advice/recommendations here?

Finally, i need more under gunwhale rod storage. I purchase some Taco bungee rod holders to try something like the picture below which i found searching the web. I would need to purchase some plastic sheeting and cut. any ideas where to get that stuff and the best way to cut it so it looks nice?



any help is greatly appreciated.

Ed Fisher

 

[Mike S]

We installed THESE fly rod holders in my 1801. They are made from StarBoard and PVC pipe, then gel coated with Parker gelcoat. The tips are protected by 1-1/4" PVC tubes...

 

[Leader]

Oh Boy.. Don't get me started... I am in the middle of refitting my 2004 1801. It has a 115 Yamaha 4 stroke, and I just removed the bow rail and replaced with two very low profile short grab rails like the Jones Brothers 1910 has. I also took all the cleats off and replaced them with pop ups as I want to start doing some skinny water fly fishing in addition to my typical bay and light offshore stuff. The rails I am using are 18" forward and a 12" aft, but I have left the casting deck clean even adding a pop up bow light. I have a six year old girl and a 3 year old boy and worry about nothing to grab onto as well.
This is the bigger issue though. Without doing a lot of thinking I decided to add a Minn Kota 80# Rip Tide 24v with a 60" shaft. This required the addition of two group 27 batteries. Couple that with my existing 2 Group 24's, and the Minn Kota Talon 6.5 ft power pole AND I MAY HAVE A BOAT THAT WON'T GET OUT OF IT'S OWN WAY!!
I failed to consider the fact that I am loading the boat down with extra 225 lbs of weight. Looks like my dad can't go fishing with us anymore.
I will update you on the loss of speed and hole shot. I am not so worried about scuppers, as the weight is center mid ship in the console.
Anybody have any input here? It looks like "The Truck" is now gonna way in like 3150 lbs loaded. I hate to put the trolling motor in the attic. :shock:

 

[Megabyte]

Can you make the trolling motor and batteries removable?
At least that way you only carry the extra weight when you know you are going to be using it.

 

[ehfisher]

thanks for the replies. i emailed parker about the bow rail. a dealer got back to me. low bow rail is $325 plus tax and shipping. a bit more than i figured but will make fishing a bit easier.

what pop-up cleats did you get? are you happy with them? and were they easy to install? i assume you did yourself....

i was thinking about a trolling motor as well but that may be a future project.

 

[Leader]

If you can wait until the latter part of next week I can show you via photos what I did with the bow rail issue. I think you should look at doing series of low bow rails in 12 or 18" around the gunwale caps. Look at the Jones Brothers 1910 for reference. Actually a 1801 owner turned me on to this and I feel it is perfect for this boat.
I bought the Accon 8" pop up cleats (202-8-S) with the studs underneath and no screw heads. They look really clean. It is easy, but you have to have a router. They supply you with the base plate as a template. The pop ups will cover your old holes; you just need to lay out the template and decide to use one or two of the previous holes.
You may can go with the 6 inch version and save some money, but I boat a lot with friends who have much more boat money than me and tie up to their boats and needed bigger cleats for larger dock lines.
The trolling motor is easily removable, so I can reduce (at leisure) over 48lbs of this issue.

 

[Mike S]

...This is the bigger issue though. Without doing a lot of thinking I decided to add a Minn Kota 80# Rip Tide 24v with a 60" shaft. This required the addition of two group 27 batteries. Couple that with my existing 2 Group 24's, and the Minn Kota Talon 6.5 ft power pole AND I MAY HAVE A BOAT THAT WON'T GET OUT OF IT'S OWN WAY!!
I failed to consider the fact that I am loading the boat down with extra 225 lbs of weight. Looks like my dad can't go fishing with us anymore.
I will update you on the loss of speed and hole shot. I am not so worried about scuppers, as the weight is center mid ship in the console.

In my 1801 I have two G27 AGM trolling motor batts and ONE G27 AGM starting batt in the console. also have a Minn Kota ST80 with 60" shaft on the bow... putting all the batts in the console helped quite a bit with boat response, but with 2 people, full tank of gas and 30 gallons of water in the bait tank, it stops out at about 34 - 35 MPH with the 115. But I find few times when I want to go faster that that.