Rocketvapor

The rub rail will act like a house gutter without a downspout. Only held on with a few screws, water will get under the rail and if the hulls aren't totally gooped will leak into the inner hull space. Rain, splash even if stored upside down and the rub rail will collect water and allow it to find any hull gaps. The recommended method for draining inner hull water is to pull the 'Drain' plugs and turn the boat on it's end. Ouch. I assume that is with everything removed Tilted down a little you can insert a Tygon hose and fish around to find the low spot in each pontoon and syphon the water out. Yuck. I plan to install a bulkhead fitting above the water line (in a sort of dry spot) and a plastic line to the 'low spot' to make pumping the water out (and there WILL be water).

Pull cord may be stretched and soft binding in the wraps. New cord stay in nice spiral.

The scupper can be seen in one of the pics above but I improved over most others I've seen on the interwebs. The inner/outer shells have a 0.4" gap between them. I cut a short section of PVC pipe, heated it up, coiled a little and used as a spacer between the shell halves. Then tightened the drain and cut off the end.

Old guy and wife, retired just starting out fishing, in the small rivers and bayou's in Southeastern Louisiana. I opted for the 10 foot long plastic Pelican Bass Raider 10E as something small enough for the wife and I to manhandle but still have room to fish. Reviews showed it to be stable enough we shouldn't drown and more room than a two person Kayak. It wasn't long before I got the bug to start modifying it though. One trip with paddles (better than a gym membership), then a 30lb Mini-Kota, and now a 3.5hp Mercury. (this may not be the last in propulsion). My first modification, which I recommend to anyone putting an outboard on the back of the 10E, was to tame transom flex. Using my GoogleFu i saw that flex was a common problem especially with the 3.5 (or bigger) and two people and lots of necessary stuff. A couple pics of my mod, using standard aluminum mill strips and angles, attached to the inside vertical plastic with slotted well nuts (open into a cross on the inside). Since these would have the tendency to 'pull out' of the plastic in tension, all loads should be seen as shear. I still had a little flex so I extended the aluminum to the seat rails so my weight would help. The wood is exterior ground contact 3/4" ply. It is connected to the transom with an aluminum angle and 3 diagonal braces in tension. Looked good but needed testing To test the Transom mod, which came in under 7 pounds, I attached a rope to the motor at the prop centerline and using a small digital crane scale applied forward force in increments of 30lbs up to 150lbs. Here is a link to an edited Youtube video showing the test.

Guess I'll start the thread on my adventures, leaving this picture here;

Thanks for the warm welcome. Really looking forward to becoming a validated Bass fisherman Even if it doesn't turn out great the wife and I are already enjoying little trips with the plastic boat. It took a few weeks for one to show up in my area and had to drive about 50 miles to pick one up that had not been damaged in shipment. I made a slide for the pickup, short bed with tonneau and tool box so we could get it to the water. No TMs in stock so we took off with paddles. About 5 miles round trip and this thing is much more work than a pirogue. Finally a 30lb TM showed up at our local Academy. Now we could cover some distance. With a pair of 29 deep cycles we made a couple of exploring trips zipping along at 2.5mph on a fresh battery, less against the wind and current. Looked faster in the narrower streams but felt like a crawl in the wider rivers with passing boats. Pointed the wife in the direction of a mail order 3.5HP Tohatsu, out of stock and they offered the Mercury. (I know, Sam Ting). Now we be cooking with gas. Loaded up with stuff, the wife and I, one deep cell and the Mini-Kota 30 just in case, 7mph with favorable wind and current, 5 mph against the current. Zoom Zoom We made a run down the river from the 12 mile marker to Lake Pontchartrain and out to the Madisonville light house. A 24 mile round trip. That's when I noticed the first deficiency in the plastic boat. The transom is not strong enough for a 3.5hp and a lot of weight, going upriver, into the wind. In turns that put us into the wind I had to back off on the throttle. The transom allowed the motor to lilt back, a lot. Adjusted the tilt and the motor just tried to go bvack to the same angle. That's when I started searching and found transom flex is a common issue. When I start my new thread (hope that's OK) I'll show my reinforcement and a pull test (up to 150lbs at the prop). I've added a drain and an easy method to drain the cavity between the hull sections that doesn't require standing the boat on end. A short deck and some rod holders. Our one little fishing trip so far got us (her, not me ) one tasty catfish.

Finally joined this forum. Retired rocket scientist starting another hobby. FISHING !! I live in Southeast Louisiana, Sportsman's Paradise, and haven't fished since I was a kid. I tried boat building but gave up on a half finished wood boat when other issues halted the work. It's now upside down and serves as a work table Wife just hates my 'projects' so I bought a Bass Raider 10E, a 3.5HP Mercury, and an 8 ft utility trailer. Somehow managed to even turn that into a project. I've been scanning the various threads here and expect to spend time reading as well as posting the 'Mods' I've completed on this BR 10E. I read all 129 pages of the Any Pelican Bass Raider Owners Out There? But thinking about a new thread about my modifications and fishing progress as we learn. Anyway, thanks for having me, I promise not start fights about politics and such RV