Yet another Crawdad Mod

[mkcrawdaddy]

After reading about other Crawdad mods on the site, I decided to give it a shot. I stripped the Crawdad down all the way today. I am thinking about reusing some of the aluminum tubing and framing, floating a plywood floor and boxing out the bow and stern. I want a compartment for the battery. I plan on installing 2 swivel seats, a live well and 4 rod holders.

I welcome any ideas, tips, or suggestions.

Thanks

Mark

 

[Jim]

Very cool man!

I just made two removable carpeted floors and 2 swivel back padded chairs on mine. What a world of difference!

I didnt do anything to the ends, I just lay my battery on top(It bends the cheap plastic. I might do it over though.

Are you going with a foot control or hand control?

 

[Waterwings]

Looking forward to the mods!

 

[mkcrawdaddy]

Hand. At least for now.

Thanks Waterwings.

I will be reinstalling the floor tubing along with the 2 sets of cross bracing in the bow and stern for rigid support and to box out the stern floatation/battery compartment nd the bow floatation/storage compartment.

I don't want too much weight in the boat so I am trying to come up with an alternative to plywood/carpet. Any ideas?

 

[poolie]

Can't wait to see what you come up with. All I've done with mine is 1/2" ply on the floor (with carpet) and replaced the rear seat with a swivel padded seat like Jim did. Those two mods alone made a 100% difference in the boat.

 

[dyeguy1212]

I don't want too much weight in the boat so I am trying to come up with an alternative to plywood/carpet. Any ideas?

Aluminum with antislip paint?

 

[Truckmechanic]

Looking forward to see what you come up with. Keep us posted.

 

[mkcrawdaddy]

As I mentioned in previous posts, the bow and stern will be boxed in. The stern will contain the battery and floatation on either side of the battery. The bow will contain floatation and storage.

I am thinking about boxing both in so that they rise about the rim of the boat. Not too high, maybe 6 to 8 inches. high enough to for some depth above the floats for additional storage for anchor, rope, tackle box, live well. Obviously I need to leave room at the stern for the TM.

Usable space between the bow and stern storage area will be about 8'. I would like to leave that area open except for 2 swivel pedestal seats mounted on a plywood base on the floor

Any thoughts on rising above the rim?

 

[poolie]

The flotation foam for mine is long gone and I haven't worried too much about it not being there. The boats are pretty darn stable. Because of that I use the front and back for storage and it works out great.

 

[Subie101]

pedestal seat in a crawdiddy, any one got pics? i've had those cross beams out of mine and it closed up 1"-2" and i imagine water pressure would push it in a bit more once you got it in the water.

 

[mkcrawdaddy]

I did a lot more work on the boat todat but ran out of daylight for pictures. Will take some tomorrow and post. But first, Trout Season!!!!! Going out on the lake in the morning. Happy fishing guys!

 

[poolie]

Looking good!!!!

 

[redbug]

it looks good.. What i did with mine was to add a floor under the battery for support. I also used the boat for trout fishing and used live bait. so i cut the rear foam to fit a bait bucket. other that that yours looks almost exactly like mine. I used sheet metal for my decks to keep the weight down the carpet covered it up.
as far as seats I used these https://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_10205170_225008005_225000000_225008000?cmCat=CROSSSELL_THUMBNAIL

i attached them to the floor with carriage bolts that went through an old street sign to add more support.
I talked to my brother in law and found out that he gave the boat to a guy for nothing.. i am not sure how it looks at this point my mod was 18 years ago...