More Bass Boat Rigging

In Geeking Your Bass Boat (http://nationalprostaff.com/report/283/Geeking+Your+Bass+Boat) we shared a few tips for rigging your boat with electronics. With the recent purchase of another boat, the chance to show some more in depth tips and methods used for rigging of my personal boat presented itself. Contained here are a few more ideas and pictures illustrating the process used in rigging a bass boat. Today's electronics are larger and heavier, as a result we'll want to utilize a large and solid mounting bracket. My preferred bracket is the RAM 109-HU, this horizontal arm bracket is a very beefy mount and adjustable for many positions. When mounting, drill your holes completely through the deck area and attach the bracket using large fender washers under the deck, nylok nuts and bolts “ all of them stainless steel. Suggestion/tip*if you use the same mount at both the bow and the console location, you can easily switch your electronics around. * to keep the bolt in the bracket base accessible should you remove the arm; apply a little silicon to the bolt head/bracket. *when drilling holes through fibreglass, be sure to carefully premark each location and hole to be drilled, check underneath for obstructions before drilling. *use masking tape to make those marks and to help reduce glass chipping when drilling. *use a piece of rubber matting between the metal bracket and fibreglass for added protection/vibration control. * due to access issues, I like to keep bow electronics closer to the centre of the deck so that access to the boat is not hindered when entering by the bow on the starboard side. Console areas are a great place to mount electronics as well. If you are mounting a unit larger than the factory created hole you need to be sure everything fits first, it is a good idea to print off mounting templates to test the area and use them to ensure you cut the precise hole needed to fit the electronics into the dash area. My preferred method for powering electronics is via a dedicated power buss. I prefer to run a dedicated power and ground wire directly from the cranking battery through to the console area, usually 10 or 12 gauge wire. Run the power wire through a marine power switch so that power can be turned off when needed. Another good idea is to run the power in to a marine power buss/fuse box, this should have individual power fuses for each circuit as well as a ground buss. *as with any wiring, it is very important to keep all wiring very neat, organized and fully labelled to aid in future diagnosis or new installs. Modern boats, like cars, have more than enough cup holders. I like to modify one to hold my pliers and cutters. I cut slots in the bottom of a cup holder, then next fit a piece of aluminum in the bottom and this modification allows the tools to hang safely but always in arm's reach when needed. In the bilge area, tidy routing of cables is also a very important feature to allow clean access and wiring diagnosis. Very important in the bilge area too is control of the heavy batteries. I personally do not rely upon straps and plastic hooks to hold my heavy batteries in place; when running rougher water, it is imperative to keep those batteries stable. I like to build metal retainers and to make these I attach metal clasps, as used in lock latch kits, to the floor area where the battery trays sit. I cut a piece of 1 steel tubing long enough to cover both batteries for the trolling motor batteries and also for the cranking battery as well. Drill holes in each end of the tube. Use regular battery hold down rods as used in vehicle battery trays and hook these into the claps on the floor. Run the threaded rods through the metal tube using the drilled holes and tighten down using nylok stainless steel nuts. When mounting transducers for Structurescan, using a mounting bracket from Transducer Shield and Saver allows for easier mounting but also added protection for the transducer. If your trailer did not come with a swing-away tongue there are many kits out there that allow easy conversion. Some requiring welding and some new ones are simple bolt-on kits. The tongue needs to be cut, the brake line needs to be cut and a rubber brake hose installed at the pivot point (don't forget to bleed your brakes). You'll also need to allow slack in the wiring for the pivot and the safety chains will have to be attached to the trailer behind the pivot point.