U-96: A Little History

Over the Christmas holiday 2010, I came into possession of a 14ft fiberglass hull boat I once owned. I bought it new in the mid-90s as a two-seater, model 1448D, built by Water Mocassin of Louisiana. At right is a photo of model 1448T of this boat. With the exception of the dry storage hatches behind the rear seat, my 1994 model 1448D was identical, right down to the blue metal flake gel coat.It was powered by a 30lb thrust bowmount troll motor with a battery under the front seat and a livewell under the rear. Rod holders mounted on the inside of the hull, a very basic switch panel and it worked pretty well for a few seasons. Being the tinkerer I am, I was not content with the layout of the boat - I thought I could make much better use of the available space.

So I gutted it to an empty hull. Everything goes! Seats, livewell, troll motor, carpet......everything! After much pondering and abstract thinking, researching paint and materials, knucklebusting and swearing, problem solving and elation, I finished my little bass chaser.....U-96. Soon afterwards I came into possession of an 18ft Bass Tracker with a 60hp Merc on it's tail and alot more room. (After a season with this boat I did the same thing - gutted it and rebuilt it stem to stern.....but that's another story!) So I gave the little U-96 to my nephew as a gift. He had admired the work and I thought he might like it. He did like it, but he's just not the boating type so aside from one or two trips, the U-96 sat in the weather. Winter, summer, winter, summer for something like six years, maybe longer. Perhaps three years ago now I sold the Tracker....no boat. But as luck would have it, my nephew still had the U-96 and was willing to part with it for nearly nothing - hurrah! After several years of weathering the boat was structurally in very good condition. I over-build all such things and it only suffered from some oxidation and weather checking of the paint here and there. The battery was dead and the trailer needed tires, but other that that it could be put in the water. Since January, as the weather has allowed, I have been restoring the boat to it's previous glory. I once again stripped the hull empty and began work on U-96 for the second time. Lower hull paint was in good shape and just needed a bit of touch up here and there from encounters with rocks and trees. The upper hull needed a repaint - it's getting four new coats of Interlux Brightside (a most excellent marine paint, by the way). This boat was designed and built for efficiency of operation: a small, stable fishing platform that is expressly setup for a single angler, is very user friendly and very unique on the water.

......most current posting first in this ongoing saga.....skip to the bottom if you want to see a bit earlier on in the project first.......

July 4th, 2011: Happy Birthday, America!

Reconfiguring the U-96 for fishing the coastal bays

The long hot summer has settled in on the gulf coast and I, not being the spring chicken I once was, have taken shelter in the comfort of air conditioning rather than fry what's left of my brain out on the water. After a few bass fishing trips with the restored U-96 I began to long to fish the coast. If I had my druthers I'd fish the bay anyday, hunting for speckled trout, redfish and the mighty, mighty flounder in the backwater lakes and marshes. The U-96 has been to the bay on many occasions in her first life with me in a dual-battery configuration and it was my recollection that though she could handle it okay, I felt the weight of two Series 27 batteries was a bit much. She sat low in the bow with this power plant and I felt like the boat was "plowing" the water rather than cutting through it. Dual batteries was a bit of insurance for running the bay since the distances are much greater and, depending on the day and time, there was current in addition to wind to deal with. So I began to ponder how to reconfigure the boat for bay running without spending a second fortune in hardware and rigging......

First and foremost, the running weight had to be lowered.....substantially. To add the weight of a second battery without any alterations would again put the boat in plowing mode which was not acceptable. After careful consideration I determined to remove the console to slim down hull weight. The control console was built of 5/8" marine-grade plywood, sealed and coated with lots of primer and paint, and also sported a lot of hardware. Having hoisted the box in and out of the hull many times I estimate it's weight at 70-80#, and that's more than a Series 27 battery weighs. So the console was hauled out one last time and stripped of the components necessary for electrical system operation: the battery and it's tiedown, one fuse block and the battery charger. I removed a few of the control panel switches and reinstalled them in the gunwale for the nav lights and the bilge pump - this only required splicing the switches into the existing hull wiring harness at the proper places. All of these components are waterproof and will be fine in the open air and water. Voila! A lot less hull weight for the price of a few hours work. I was tired of sorry coolers than won't keep ice for more than three or four hours so I bought a good one: a Yeti Roadie 25 that fits the floor runners like it was made for it. These are absolutely killer coolers with a full 2" of insulation and an indestructable out shell. Expensive, yes, but worth every penny if you want the cold to last all day in the blazing sun.

At right is the completed bay running layout of the U-96. I simplified the rod holders considerably....very functional and a much smaller package. My tackle load is always the same, fresh or saltwater. I have two terminal tackle boxes, one loaded with freshwater hardware and the other with saltwater stuff. The larger box on the bottom of the stack is the bait box. I have a pile of bass fishing baits and a pile of saltwater baits I swap in and out of the box depending on the destination. On the left above the sonar unit is the new 82" Werner Advantage stand up paddle, intended for use in the new west coast sport of stand up surfing. I considered a kayak paddle but they do not come in long enough lengths to accommodate the height of the seat. This stand up is perfect: plenty of length for me to sit upright and have extended range with a single battery. Next weekend I will put it the test in the bay with one battery and the new paddle. I think the paddle will allow me to easily cover lots of open water, using the troll motor for boat positioning over reefs and for close quarter manuevering in the marshes. If I'm not in as good a shape as I think I am I can indeed add the second battery to the powerplant.

May 10th, 2011

First trip! In the ramp lot at Fayette County Reservoir after getting blown off the water by 20-25mph south winds. Nasty day. Whitecaps. Lost two good fish right at the boat but for the most part the morning was spent battling the howling winds. In the words of someone famous, I'll be back. Solved the nose-down attitude of the trailer by cutting the ball head off the hitch and pinning & welding in a 3" rise. Now it sits level behind the car and it trails very well. I can feel the added weight of the boat in the Magnum's ride, but the suspension and the Hemi have no trouble with this small package.

April 23, 2011 ...some closing thoughts.

The restoration process is done now; the boat is once more ready to ply the Texas waters in search of the wily bass. I spent many, many hours on this project and spent way too much money to make it happen. Some have told me I am crazy and call me a Gucci fisherman. Perhaps there is truth in that in the eyes of others, but to me it doesn't serve one to do less than he or she is capable of in any endeavour they may tackle. In the late 90's when I first set out to remodel the 2-seater Water Mocassin, I determined that I would spare no expense and cut no corners to make it into my idea of a custom, one-of-a-kind single seat fishing boat. I did my homework first. I read and closely examined everything I could find on materials, coatings, electrical components and anything else that might come into play during the job. I asked questions of manufacturers. I ran up some blind alleys and had to backtrack a time or two. I encountered new problems I had never run across before and had to figure a solution that was both effective and correct. I cut my hands, smashed fingers, painted my hair, aggravated an old back injury to the point of going down for weeks at a time. I spent about five times the money that I originally paid for the boat. I can see how some would think me crazy. I prefer to think I was driven, focused and determined to build something unlike anything else on the water. And in the end, I did just that. How much it cost had nothing to do with the project. For me it was all about doing it....making it happen....making what I could imagine in my head a reality I could put on the water. But at the end of the day it's just a little fishing boat they say. True enough, I say. But it's my little fishing boat. Built with my hands, sprung from my head and there is nothing else like it anywhere in the world. After I am dead and gone there will still be the U-96. It was built to last a lifetime beyond mine. Many, many years from now people will still say Wow! Where did you get that cool little boat?! as they do today. It is nothing if not unique. It is nothing if not a product of my imagination and labor. It is more than a boat: it is me.

April 22, 2011

Picked up the trailer this morning! Looks quite good, as it should for the money I spent.....sheesh. Good enamel paint job, new winch, new LED tailights and new 72" bunks to better support the forward weight of the control console. They mounted the bunks on a 72" long 3x3 angle - these should never sag in the middle! I had the shop extended the walking plates on the sides of the frame for easier loading at the ramp. This little boat doesn't launch and load like an outboard powered one does......sometimes it takes some frame walking to get the job done. I still have to place the non-skid tape so I don't bust my tail scampering around on the steel. Also had them 'V' the rear crossmember. In the past shallow ramps have caused the bow to strike the frame before the bunks pick up the hull......no more! The new aluminum wheels look nice and the radial tires will further soften the ride. And I'm a big fan of oil bath hubs. You can see what the bearing lubrication situation is without wondering if there's enough grease behind that cap. The shop removed one of the three leaves in the trailer springs and it's much, much better than it was before. I suppose it will take a road trip to tell for sure but I can flex the springs standing on the trailer now and I couldn't before. On the right I've got it all lined up to haul it back on board the trailer. I held up the trailer tongue, pushed it under the bow until the end of the bunks caught the hull then just winched it up into place. Went much easier than I thought it might. It slid over the boxes easy enough and pulled right up.

Pretty much ready to launch now. The rod holders do the job as intended. I would rather have a horizontal mounting but it just wasn't doable in this hull. In the background you can see the U-96 tow vehicle: my '07 Dodge Magnum SRT8.....425HP should be more than enough to power the boat to the lake! Sometimes I will carry the spinning rig just because it's so much fun to fish with, but most of the time I'll have three baitcasting rigs aboard with one 7' medium Loomis, one 7' 6" heavy Loomis and one 7'6" Kistler extra heavy for pitching in the nasty stuff. My reel of choice is the discontinued Shimano Chronarch 50Mg. I have four of them and hope that with care they will serve me the rest of my days.....I sure don't want any other reel in a baitcaster. They are lightweight, compact, cast great and are tough little buggers. The cam mount works well and should provide some good fish pictures soon....geez I sure hope so after all this! And the last piece of the project, the new Humminbird Piranha 190C sonar unit. There are certainly fancier, more expensive fish finders out there but I have never used one of these to look for fish......I look for fishing spots. I keep an eye on bottom contours, look for stucture and cover in deeper water and watch the temperature. This little unit will serve my purposes well.

Here she is, locked & loaded and ready to go. The hitch height on the Magnum is quite low, just like the rest of the car, and the boat sits a bit nose down. I will investigate a taller ball mount to try and level things up some. The nose down attitude is not a bad thing but a level trailer will make for better launch and load at the ramp. Tongue weight seems to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-70 pounds and the self-leveling rear suspension of the Magnum handles it well.

April 17, 2011

The boat is complete and ready to get back on the trailer and go fishing! I thought I might have to wait to install the rubrail until the hull was secured on the trailer but as it turned out it wasn't as physical a job as I had anticipated. To the left you can see a crossection cut of the 2-pc rubrail I used. It's made by Tessilmare, an Italian company, and is the easiest install rubrail I've ever seen. The white PVC rail is attached to the hull and then the black vinyl is rolled into the locking grooves. I used 3M industrial double-sided outdoor tape - powerful stuff. In addition, I cut a center strip out of the tape, exposing the groove on the underside of the PVC and ran a bead of 3M 5200 Marine Adhesive for insurance. The tape alone would likely hold the rail in place but when the 5200 cures overnight there'll be no doubt. On the right is the U-96 still in drydock but with the rubrail installed.

Here's the rod holder mounted on the console. This is the same style holder that was on the console after the first remodel back in the late 1990's. I tried to figure a way to mount the rods horizontally within the hull; even bought a set of very nice holders to try. But there just wasn't enough length in the hull for a horizontal mount without covering up a lot of legroom. The vertical mount will work fine, I'll just have to lay the rods on the floor when I venture into the trees. You can also see the lower half of the camera mount on the corner of the console. It's a R-A-M system and mounts the cam great for self-timed shots of a fish or two I hope to catch.

On the right is the control console hatch installed and propped open with the twist-lock arm on the left side of the opening. That's a laminated control console wiring diagram screwed to the underside of the hatch. All the tackle I will carry is loaded as well......I travel light. A box of soft plastics, a box of hooks, sinkers, etc. and a dry box for a spare reel, transistor radio (got to listen to the ballgame!), multi-tool and a few other odds and ends. I'm a single-hook soft plastic fisherman for the most part. I might toss in a little selection of cranks and maybe a spinnerbait or two but I much prefer foolin' 'em with plastic. I carry a wide variety of styles and sizes for all kinds of rigging, from dropshotting to pitching and everything in between. I have a lot of confidence in plastics and do quite well with them.

The trailer is to be ready Tuesday coming but it might be Saturday before I can get there to pick it up. Back on the water soon!!

April 9, 2011

The trailer was dropped off at the fab shop this morning for a makeover. I decided to lighten the leaf spring axle setup rather than install torsion axles. The guy is confident he can soften the ride for the lightweight boat that rides on it. New bunks, winch, oil bath hubs, primer and paint. There's a new pair of 5-spoke aluminum wheels with radial tires waiting in the garage for the trailer to return from the shop......about two weeks or so. In the meantime the U-96 sits on foam-filled boxes under the lean-to shelter I have made for it. You can really see the soft gloss of the wet sanded paint in this lighting. I will keep an eye on how it holds up without the high-gloss, hardness of an unsanded finish. Here's a shot of the control console with the nearly finished hatch lid in place. Installed the 3-screw stainless lift ring this morning, and you may notice I removed the ship's bell from under the rear deck. I decided I preferred the area behind the seat clear of anything but the bilge pump. The rub rail was shipped from the east coast just yesterday so I'll have it next week sometime. I may well wait until the hull is back on the trailer before installing it since it will take some pushing and shoving to mount it......better the hull is stable on the trailer rather than boxes. The 3-rod holder should also arrive this coming week as well as a camera mount to enable me to take photos of the fish caught - without photos it didn't happen, right? The rod holder assembly will mount on the starboard side of the console and hold the rods vertically. I made a good run at setting up horizontal holders but the boat is just not long enough for 7ft+ rods to mount in that orientation. When I venture into the timber I'll just lay two on the floor, out of harm's way.

So now I'm at the mercy of the fab shop, but it shouldn't be long now. Perhaps putting it in the water come early May is doable afterall.....

April 2, 2011

Getting near the end of the restoration and I must admit a bit of a sense of loss. What will I do now? Oh yeah! Go fishing! The boat is official now, sporting the same registration number issued when I first bought it in the 90's. My nephew never did register the boat in his name and an on-line re-up was all it took to get the two year sticker. And I added the U-96 to the back as well.....but I don't suppose anyone will mistake this for a submarine.

On the left is the "emergency propulsion device", otherwise known as a paddle, cradled in a board mount I made (that will also be the sonar mounting point) and clipped into a holder at the front. The bottom of the cradle is lined with rubber to reduce noise and prevent the paint getting gnawed up. Out of the way and secure, ready for emergency access should the troll motor fail for any reason (heaven forbid!). On the right is the seat finally back in the boat. It sat out in the weather with the boat and was particularly nasty but it cleaned up real well and survived the ordeal in pretty good shape. Just below the seat you can see the ship's bell installed under the rear deck. The little black ball hanging from under the gunwale on the left is the pull cord - ding! ding! You can also see the bilge pump mounting base below the bell - the pump clips into the base and once the adhesive is dry it will be installed.

Here's a good shot of the floor space available. Lots of open floor between the seat and the console for a couple or three small tackleboxes and assorted other items without having anything under foot. I knew I could make better use of the floorspace in this hull and this layout shows it. There's room behind the seat pedestal for a small Playmate cooler for keeping cold drinks handy and out of the way. You can see the outside u-bolts mounted through the backing plates for tying down the stern to the trailer. It originally had a two inch strap that ran over the top of the boat for this purpose, but I did not want a strap wearing on the paint.

And here's the 55-pound thrust Minn Kota mounted and plugged in, ready to push the U-96 to my favorite honeyhole. The extention handle makes the reach from the seat just about right for tiller control. Motor still works fine after laying in the bottom of the hull for several years.....a bit discolored from bleaching in the sun but it's still a workhorse. I've had both Minn Kota and MotorGuide troll motors and the former is my choice for construction and durability. This one is a saltwater model as I took this little rig to the coast many times chasing flounder and redfish back in the saltgrass marshes. No more saltwater trips though; it's too hard on the trailer.


And here's an overhead shot of the whole project as it now sits. Whew. All that remains on the boat is installing the rub rail (on order) and the control console cover, which is being reworked and should be ready to go in a week or so. Rod holders will be mounted tomorrow and the Humminbird sonar unit will be along soon. Next week I will dump the boat off on stands and deliver the trailer to the fabricator to fix what ails it. I am still pondering whether to change the axle to a torsion setup or just have the leaf springs lightened up so the boat won't bounce on the road. For certain the trailer gets new poly fenders, lights & harness, new aluminum wheels and radial tires (to soften the ride), a good sandblasting and a new paint job in white. So, with what is yet to be done, I hope I will be able to drop it in the water by early May, but that may be wishful thinking. The hard work is done and U-96 will soon ply the waters once more! Hurrah!

March 27, 2011 RED LETTER DAY

Moving right along then...... Yes, yes, I said earlier I was going to wait until next weekend to install any deck hardware - I lied. Spent most of the day sanding again. Upon seeing the wet sanded third coat of top color I decided I really liked that flat finish. It's more fitting the boat's name: U-96. A German U-Boat (the one in Das Boot) that would want to have a low profile on the water and a paint job that helps hide them on the surface. So I wet sanded with #600 first, about four trips around the hull, then I did one trip around with #1500 to give it that final polish. It has a soft gloss to it that, if I decided to do so, could be polished out with compound to a high gloss. For now I like it finished flat. On the right is the anchor mount assembly installed and ready for the road. The mount itself is bolted in with four .375" stainless bolts and has a .125" aluminum backing plate under the bow for good distribution of the load. You can see the road safety link clipped through the anchor's chain link and attached to an eyebolt in the bottom of the mount. With this feature I won't have to dismount the anchor for trailering - if the cam lock or rope fails the safety link will hold the anchor. (This is the only new feature I have added to the boat during this re-do......everything else was there in it's previous life.) The anchor mount is as old as the first rework of the boat, somewhere around seven or eight years, and it still looks brand new. I highly recommend stainless steel for all components and fastners even if you don't fish saltwater. The parts last forever.

Here's the magic. The photo at left shows the anchor stow/deployment system I worked out. The rope leaves the bow through a fairlead to keep it straight in the anchor mount regardless of pull angles. The locking cam mounted on the top rear of the control console secures the anchor in it's stowed or deployed positions: lift the rope from the cam and let it fall; set the rope back in the cam to hold at the necessary depth. Being able to deploy the anchor efficiently and easily makes one more inclined to fish at anchor in deeper water after scouting an area. I added the rope holder to stow the rope when trailering; when in use excess rope will lie to the left side of the console. I think I covered it pretty well with this anchoring system. The console hinged lid is being modified a bit and will be reinstalled soon.

To the right you can see the new AGM battery installed in the console, wired in and working. The battery charger is tucked in behind the battery ready to go with the plug in of an extention cord on the front of the console. There's room for my raingear, a drift sock (love those things!), a box or two of spare tackle and some crackers & sardines for lunch! On the left is the motor mount with T block bolted in. The troll motor plugs in the receptacle on the left corner. In the past I have not trailered the boat with the troll motor mounted but this time around I will study this possibility......

At left is the control console powered up as the sun sets in the west. The digital ammeter and voltmeter tell me what's going on under the hood, so to speak. All circuits were in working order, no repairs required. Switches are booted toggles and have LED indicators. The toggle to the right of the voltmeter changes the nav light scheme from bow and stern lights on (running mode) and stern all-around only (when anchored after dark). As you can see, with all lights powered up there is a 1.2A draw on the battery, and the battery is needing a charge after who-knows-how-long at the store and two weeks in my garage.

March 26, 2011

Final coat is on the topside hull this morning. It's touch dry in about three hours and while I will wait until next weekend to button any hardware to the new paint, I can sure proceed with other tasks. At left is the control console on the back porch as I was reinstalling the panel and hooking up the wiring between panel and console. The panel is hinged, held closed by two brass cabinet door latches and supported when open by the restraint on the left. Here you can also see the hollow rubber hatch seal that seals the backside of the panel frame to the console front. Fuse blocks sit directly behind the panel for easy access.

The drop cloth is out and the control console is reinstalled! It's at this point I start to get impatient and want to see this thing done, but I must restrain myself and not make errors during the reassembly portion of the project. I am certainly happy to see the console go back into the hull though! Small vent caps down both sides ventilate the enclosure and keep the critters out. The panel has 50A switching circuit breakers for two batteries (though I'm just running one for now), digital volt and ammeters to monitor the battery condition and toggles with LEDs for the bilge pump, sonar, nav lights and a set of LED interior lights mounted under the gunwales all around the perimeter of the hull. The photo at right shows the conduit connection between the control console and the hull. A very clean looking install if I do say so myself. The 12V accessory plug is visible on the lower corner of the console.....standard lighter style plug-in for any outboard gadgets I might use.

This is a sunshade hood that was made with the console assembly by the cabinet maker. Though all panel components are waterproof it does help shield it from rain on a nasty day on the water. I am not certain yet whether or not I will reinstall this part.

Prior to construction, I made full size cardboard models of the control console shell and the sunshade. I felt this was necessary to insure everything would work out as I wanted. From these cardboard models I made detailed dimensional drawings with my trusty pencil and ruler, double and triple checking everything before I took it all to the cabinet maker to build. I talked with several different guys about the project until I found one that, in addition to being a cabinet maker, had a little side operation restoring old boats with his father....yep, this is the guy I need! He understood wood and water and was willing to build what I wanted without asking a lot of why-this and why-that stuff. I covered the bases, he could see that, and he built it just as I laid it out on paper. Worked out very well. All credit goes to my Dad for the control panel wiring work. I shipped him the parts, the panel and a layout for things and he did the rest. When all hull work was complete I trailered the boat eight hours to Dad's house and the control panel met the console for the first time. He completed the wiring between the hull harness and the panel....everything worked the first time. Very good stuff, Dad! Thank you.

March 24, 2011

The topside hull needed a complete repaint as it had oxidized badly from sitting in the weather uncovered for so many years. It originally had two primer coats and about five color coats so I had a good base to work with. I sanded it good and brush applied three coats of Kingston Gray Interlux Brightside yacht paint - great stuff! Three coats gives me enough paint to wetsand with 400 grit paper prior to the fourth and final coat. I am a firm believer in wetsanding the next to last coat. It gives you a glassy smooth surface for the last coat, making for a good surface for the final to flow out properly. I have a plastic drop cloth taped high inside the hull to protect the new carpet and the new interior paint. The photo above right shows the motor mount. This structure had suffered the most from years in the weather. The outside upper edges had delaminated a bit but good gluing and clamping repaired the damage nicely. As part of the repair, I covered the arms with fiberglass cloth and resin for additional sealing. Did the same with the bow anchor base board.......glassed, primed and painted.

This is a shot of how I solved a wiring problem. I had routed all the hull electrical system - nav lights, interior lights, bilge pump, sonar, etc. - but did not want the wiring "fixed" to the control console. I thought someday I might need to remove the console from the hull for some unknown reason and I needed a way to disconnect the two without too much trouble. Voila! The hull harness junction board! All hull wiring is brought to this board and each circuit has it's own set of connections via the lower terminal block. All ground wires are terminated on the upper terminal block. The wiring is sent to the console through a flexible conduit with about a 1" ID. It was necessary to consolidate all the ground wires down to one - there wasn't enough room inside the tube for all those grounds! The 12V for the troll motor surges through the two #8 wires on the left. The end of the console conduit is secured in the u-shaped cutout, and the board itself tucks under the gunwale secured on two studs (through the washers you see on either end) with wingnuts for easy access. Works like a champ!

So with the final coat of topside color going on this Saturday, I might be able to reinstall the console, drop in the new Series 27 AGM battery and check all circuits on Sunday! Maybe.....you know how these things go sometimes.......