gogittum
Well-known member
My new to me little 12 ft tin boat is neat an' all, but I found that it was pretty tippy and unstable with my big hind hoofs on board when I put it in the local canal. I'd built a tiller extension out of PVC but it wasn't rigid enuf for real support and balance.....so I built a grab bar. I wanted to be able to cover the boat with a simple tarp to keep debris out, but not make a huge project out of it, so I hinged it to fit under the tarp. That Did make a bit of a project out of it.
Right off the bat, I found that grab bars for boats are very spendy for this ol' retiree, so got to looking and found this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0734KH4KQ?ref=ppx_pt2_dt_b_prod_image Looked good to me, so ordered one. It turned out to be a very skookum, heavy duty component, 1" square.
Removing and dismantling the seat and flotation foam to mount the thing - then putting it all back together - was by far the hardest part of the whole thing, but we got 'er done. Heavy hinges from Ace Hardware were mounted with flat head bolts that I drilled countersinks for the heads to allow them to close up flat. Here, the bar is laid down onto the rear seat, out of the way. I left the pin in place to hold it for the picture.
I bought a push pin lock { https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0825VQ1S7/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) online to hold it in place in operation. It's a simple thing where you push the button on the end to retract the 2 tiny locking balls at the other end. I bought a 1/2" bolt and cut it to length with an angle grinder/cutoff wheel, then took a flanged nut and cut 2 sides off the flange to give a wing-like piece to fit inside the edge of the seat. The "wings" keep it from turning when tightened. A little blue loctite went in there, too.
When ready to drill the bolt lengthwise for the push pin, I measured the pin, JIC. Good thing - it measures 15/64" and those locking balls are tiny. This made a good, solid fit, where drilling it to the advertised 1/4" would've been sketchy. There Are fittings available for this purpose, but they were ferociously expensive - like 30 bucks and more - my way works at least as well. The lanyard keeps the pin from getting lost.
Ready to go....locked in place. In the canal, I did lose my balance and nearly did hand stands on this thing to keep from going overboard. I'm here to say, it's "Rock Solid." Didn't even creak.
That tin boat is very noisy and very slippery for Gladdy's claws, so I bought some stick-on carpet squares to put on the floor. They seem to stick well, so far water doesn't seem to bother them, tho' it's early days for that and they're much quieter. I learned a sad lesson years ago when I put a "real" floor in a 16 ft Ouachita tin boat I had. The extra weight turned it into a pig.
.....and here ya have it. Our hero in action. Putting the grab bar off to the side opens up the center of the boat and gives a good, solid, balanced stance. I tilted it back to a good angle for comfortable operation.
Here's the final result and just what I was looking for - with the bar folded down, no hassle with a standard $12 - 8x12 tarp and no big spike sticking up with a multi-$100 custom cover. So far, I've made 2 - 70 mile highway tows with it and no problems.
Keeps trash, dirt and greedy eyes out of the boat. The tarp clamps work great. The bamboo pole sitting in a simple folding X frame over the motor at the back supports it and gives water run-off capability.
Several other mods have been made and when done, I'll do a quick write-up of the whole thing. Then I'll sell it.
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Right off the bat, I found that grab bars for boats are very spendy for this ol' retiree, so got to looking and found this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0734KH4KQ?ref=ppx_pt2_dt_b_prod_image Looked good to me, so ordered one. It turned out to be a very skookum, heavy duty component, 1" square.
Removing and dismantling the seat and flotation foam to mount the thing - then putting it all back together - was by far the hardest part of the whole thing, but we got 'er done. Heavy hinges from Ace Hardware were mounted with flat head bolts that I drilled countersinks for the heads to allow them to close up flat. Here, the bar is laid down onto the rear seat, out of the way. I left the pin in place to hold it for the picture.
I bought a push pin lock { https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0825VQ1S7/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) online to hold it in place in operation. It's a simple thing where you push the button on the end to retract the 2 tiny locking balls at the other end. I bought a 1/2" bolt and cut it to length with an angle grinder/cutoff wheel, then took a flanged nut and cut 2 sides off the flange to give a wing-like piece to fit inside the edge of the seat. The "wings" keep it from turning when tightened. A little blue loctite went in there, too.
When ready to drill the bolt lengthwise for the push pin, I measured the pin, JIC. Good thing - it measures 15/64" and those locking balls are tiny. This made a good, solid fit, where drilling it to the advertised 1/4" would've been sketchy. There Are fittings available for this purpose, but they were ferociously expensive - like 30 bucks and more - my way works at least as well. The lanyard keeps the pin from getting lost.
Ready to go....locked in place. In the canal, I did lose my balance and nearly did hand stands on this thing to keep from going overboard. I'm here to say, it's "Rock Solid." Didn't even creak.
That tin boat is very noisy and very slippery for Gladdy's claws, so I bought some stick-on carpet squares to put on the floor. They seem to stick well, so far water doesn't seem to bother them, tho' it's early days for that and they're much quieter. I learned a sad lesson years ago when I put a "real" floor in a 16 ft Ouachita tin boat I had. The extra weight turned it into a pig.
.....and here ya have it. Our hero in action. Putting the grab bar off to the side opens up the center of the boat and gives a good, solid, balanced stance. I tilted it back to a good angle for comfortable operation.
Here's the final result and just what I was looking for - with the bar folded down, no hassle with a standard $12 - 8x12 tarp and no big spike sticking up with a multi-$100 custom cover. So far, I've made 2 - 70 mile highway tows with it and no problems.
Keeps trash, dirt and greedy eyes out of the boat. The tarp clamps work great. The bamboo pole sitting in a simple folding X frame over the motor at the back supports it and gives water run-off capability.
Several other mods have been made and when done, I'll do a quick write-up of the whole thing. Then I'll sell it.
View attachment 4View attachment 4View attachment 3View attachment 2View attachment 2
