Earlier this spring my outdoors buddy Seth called me and said it was time to convert his boat, the Carp ‘N Quack, from Quack to Carp. The sixteen-foot, modified V-hull john boat with steering console primarily gets used for two things; bowfishing and waterfowl hunting. A little bit of “normal” fishing gets thrown in.
The Carp ‘N Quack “Before”
So, I met him on a Saturday afternoon and got to work vacuuming all the leaves out and off the plywood bottom deck. This deck is painted with haze-grey non-skid for traction and covers some construction foam for added insulation and buoyancy. Given my Navy background and aversion to being deployed the haze-grey non-skid gives me a few involuntary chills, but I try to focus on all the upcoming shooting. Next, we put in the combination extended shooting deck/storage area.
Constructed from two-by-fours and plywood, this home-built extension gives us about twenty inches more horizontal, elevated shooting room and a place to store the small kitchen sink I usually bring along on all my outdoor adventures. The deck extension and bow are covered with indoor/outdoor carpet for safety when things get bloody and slimy. While this whole area seems like a lot of standing room we do sometimes fit three shooters in the bow. Even with just two shooters I can’t tell you how many times I have inadvertently fallen off the back of it into the carp tubs in the heat of the moment. For the record the hardest beverage I’ve ever seen drank in the boat is Mountain Dew.
Installing the extended shooting deck and storage area.
The extended shooting deck installed and closed up.
Next are the plug-in strips that the shooting lights plug into. They are installed in the deck extension storage area with the cords run aft along the gunnels between the ribs and the boat’s skin to the generator’s general location.
The combination light bars/ankle-safety rails go on next. Although they look like a commercial product Seth constructed the rails from ready-made supports and electrical conduit. The rails get screwed to the gunnels. We ran the cords from the 300 watt halogen shop lights, four on each side, to the plug-in strips and tested everything. All went well.
Safety rail, lights and cup holders.
A custom made, three tube arrow holder is attached to the steering console (shown in picture above). Finally and importantly the onboard cup holders are functionally tested. Before we added those last year my sodas always rolled into and spilled in the storage area when we accessed it or they ended up “with the fishes”, literally in the tubs.
With the exception of firing up the generator we were ready to hit the water. Rumor had it that buffalo and suckers were running in some of Wisconsin’s rivers already. The excitement was mounting!
My biggest carp thus far for the 2009 season – 12.13 pounds.
First gar of the 2009 season.
happy bowfishing, dv
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Coming up on Mostly Archery
- dv’s 2009 Turkey Season Review
