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The Cataraft Chronicles The following is a chapter from my running journal of the six month effort to redesign the rowing frame on our Kingfisher catarafts. Here you will find an almost daily update of my current sea trials / shakedown / vacation trip to the Gulf Coast to try the new design in several different types of fishing water.

You can find the other chapters here: Cataraft Chronicles, Table of Contents

Chapter 4, Lower Deck

Tuesday, March 16, 1999 Trying to improve planing with the frame further forward.
Wednesday, March 17, 1999 A thicker lower deck and a first real fishing adventure on the boat.

Tuesday, March 16, 1999

Today Rosie called in to her office and took a couple of days off cause she wanted to show me around the area and she wanted to catch up on the happenings with all her friends back in Sandpoint and mainly I think because she just didn't want to go to work. I'm afraid I wasn't the detailed news source she was hoping for but Rosie says Hi to everyone.

We had a great lunch at a seafood place in Jupiter, right across the waterway from the famous Jupiter lighthouse. Then we cruised around, stopped at a hardware store where I got a ratcheting tie down strap to use as a cheap come-along for lifting the boat frame off the pontoons (it's way too heavy with that big motor on the transom).

In the afternoon I used the ratcheting strap to lift the frame, one side at a time, and slide the hulls aft under the frame so the front of the frame came right up to the valves on top of the hulls.

I then found the local launch ramp just a few blocks from Rosie's house, put the boat into the water in what they call the Intercoastal Waterway, and tried out the new setup.

Lo and behold, no cavitation, even at full throttle. I'm glad it was that simple. Still the boat is not actually planing but it moves plenty fast enough for most purposes. I do think this may be too heavy of a motor for the fifteen foot model since even with the frame moved forward as it is the aft end of the boat is about six inches deeper in the water, at rest, than the bow. Under way the bow wave makes a trough near the motor which pulls the stern down even further and is probably preventing the boat from planing.

So I slow to idle, throw out a line and try trolling. This is a great motor. So much different from my last 5.5 hp 2 cycle. It slows way down and just purrs along - no noise, no smoke. A huge Manatee moves out into the channel as I circle into a small inlet that's surrounded by a golf course. An older couple are on the green and exclaim about the size of the Manatee. The motor's so quiet we carry on a short conversation with no need to shout. As I troll back to the ramp a small baracuda hits my fly. I release the toothy guy. Baracuda seem to be as easy to catch down here as whitefish are in the northwest.

Even though Rosie has an extra bedroom I'm really into my van space now. I'm pretty well organized after a week on the road and I know just where everything is. I can even reach the refrigerator without getting out of bed. So I sleep in the van in her driveway but still use Rosie's shower, kitchen, phone, etc.

Here's my new home base for the next few days - Rosie's driveway. Rosie get's to park on the grass.

I don't sleep much tonight wondering if I should go further toward getting the boat up on plane - which would allow even faster top speeds. Right now I'd guess the boat was doing 15 to 18 mph at full throttle. I'm also thinking about adding a chart fathometer which would be useful in almost all waters, maybe even a GPS setup. There's plenty of room on the boat for these niceties. I just have to figure out where to mount them, etc.

Wednesday, March 17, 1999

We've all seen the nature programs where the famous naturalist photographer expends great effort photographing the elusive Sandhill Crane, right? Well, this morning I wake up early as a pair of noisy Sandhill Cranes stroll by my van. These guys are big, almost four feet tall, walking, and they are noisy. Rosie says they've taken up residence nearby and have become real locals. I tied to take their picture but they were down the street by the time I got my camera ready. I'll try agian later.

First step this morning, after coffee, was a trip to Home Depot in Jupiter, about 6 miles south of Hobe Sound. I spend a couple of hours wandering the aisles, thinking about the possibilities and decide that it would be possible, with a moderate amount of effort, to increase the thickness of the lower deck. Hopefully, this would create a flat planing surface underneath the deck, especially back by the motor, which might help lift the stern out of the water at higher speeds.

Returning to Rosie's driveway I remove the motor, slide the boat off the trailer and tilt it up on it's side against her house.

Next I cut up one of the 4 by 8 foot by 2 inch thick foam sheets that I bought at Home Depot into squares that will fit between the lower deck bracing and insert the foam.

This takes a lot longer than it sounds and it's really hot out here next to the house. Finally, I squeeze construction adhesive on the first layer, add the second solid sheet of foam and secure both foam layers to the deck with 6 inch long 1/4 inch carriage bolts and two, 8 foot long, cedar 2 by 2 stringers (keels).

Finally at about 4:00 I clean up the mess, put the boat back on the trailer and with Rosie along to help me test the boat, we head back to the launch ramp.

Since Rosie would be with me to take pictures I thought this would be a great chance to show how one person can launch the boat. It's really pretty easy. These next few shots show the sequence.

First step, make sure the bow line is attached to the boat. Then back into the water so the rear end of the trailer is a few inches under water.

A gentle lift, since the heavy motor is back at the partially floating end of the boat, and the boat easily slides into the water.

With the stern floating and the bow end of the pontoons still on the trailer bed, I climb onto the upper deck of trailer and push the boat off.

And don't forget to secure the bow line to the dock. Good photography Rosie.

We head out onto the Intercoastal Waterway to try out the new deck setup. The new foam lower deck does create a good clean rear surface for the water to separate from the deck at higher speeds but the boat still doesn't plane. OK, maybe it's not in the cards. Let's go fishing.

Rosie tries trolling a large chartreuse Larry Tullis wiggle bug on my fly rod. I've just put a new Jim Teeny 8 weight salt water fly line on my 9 weight Lamiglas IM 909. The line has 30 feet of sink tip in front of a 70 foot floating section. At a slow troll the wiggle bug bumps the bottom occasionally in about 8 feet of water. We troll along the edges of the winding channels next to thick mangrove trees.

In a back channel I drop anchor to try out my new saltwater line tossing the 4 inch wiggle bug into the mangroves. I get a bump - I think.

Trolling again Rosie gets a solid hit.

It's a 20 inch Spotted Sea Trout . . .

. . . which goes into the cooler . . .

. . . and becomes dinner one hour later. Delicious.

Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of the "Cataraft Chronicles"!

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