Useful Boat Hacks thread

guywhofishes · Aug 10, 2015

After too many years of sticking cigarette-lighter-to-USB converters into the 12V cigarette plug near the floor and then routing the USB cord into the phone that's sitting in the dry cubby I decided to order a dual lighted marine USB outlet and install it. Took about 1/2 hour.

Geez for dumb waiting so long! ;:;banghead

installed it right next to the hour meter I had previously installed inside the cubby

$10.99 with free shipping on Amazon.

johnr · Aug 10, 2015

What are you running off those?
I haven't used a charger for anything in the boat. My ipod last the weekend, rarely take my phone (as I seem to drop them in the lake), everything else is direct hooked up

DirtyMike · Aug 10, 2015

If I had a cubby on my tiller, I'd do this. However, you should let the people know of the new weighted hat brim for those fierce ND winds.

guywhofishes · Aug 10, 2015

johnr said:
What are you running off those?
I haven't used a charger for anything in the boat. My ipod last the weekend, rarely take my phone (as I seem to drop them in the lake), everything else is direct hooked up

for phones - I've never lost one in my life

lots of friends/family want to charge their phones too

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DirtyMike said:
If I had a cubby on my tiller, I'd do this. However, you should let the people know of the new weighted hat brim for those fierce ND winds.

I'll let my ex-friend wags post and explain that system

Enslow · Aug 10, 2015

Phones should be tucked away in the glove box while in the boat. They should only be taken out for pics of fish or to look at the doppler radar.

DirtyMike · Aug 10, 2015

Haha. To be fair to Wags, I'm the one that commented on it. He only sent me a picture of you holding a fish.

guywhofishes · Aug 10, 2015

DirtyMike said:
Haha. To be fair to Wags, I'm the one that commented on it. He only sent me a picture of you holding a fish.

yeah, all innocent - he probably didn't even realize it at the time?

then again - when he took the pic and yelled "ba ha ha... I got a pic of your mini pearl hat" I suspected otherwise

MuskyManiac · Aug 10, 2015

I had posted this a while back, but sticking some foam noodle or pipe insulation material under your depth finder cuts out a lot of the vibration. At high speeds in rough water my unit would bounce around a lot, but this trick takes all that away and makes it real easy to read.

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By the way, I just ordered a dual USB from Amazon. Non-lighted, however. Thanks guywhohacksboats!

Auggie · Aug 10, 2015

I use cheap extension cord holders (~$1.00) from Walmart to wrap my rope around. I use rope in 25ft increments and have a 1/2 dozen of these in the boat. Noodle toys make great rig holders and rubermaid tubs might be the best tackle box out there. I have tubs filled with only rigs, plastics, or whatever else. My spinner/rig box has planos filled with components. I then cut the pool noodles to the appropriate length to fit in the tub.

H82bogey · Aug 10, 2015

A great way to keep your hook organized is a safety pin. Put the safety pin through the eye of the hooks. Can keep a bunch on one safety pin in a nice clean way.

For crank baits or any lure with multiple treble hooks, I use a rubber band to wrap both hooks pulling them towards each other. helps me keep multiple cranks in the same compartment without getting completely messed up.

cpete00 · Aug 10, 2015

Don't go to Mills with your credit card..... That's my useful boat tip. Your welcome

guywhofishes · Aug 10, 2015

MuskyManiac said:
By the way, I just ordered a dual USB from Amazon. Non-lighted, however. Thanks guywhohacksboats!

I chose lighted so it would be easy to insert the USB without fumbling in low light - and it will act as a nightlight when it's dark

I ran it through the fuse panel which has a main power switch that's always powered off when boat's not in use so LED power draw (which is near zero) isn;t an issue

I'm pretty sure they size most of them so you could replace the cigarette lighter with a USB if you so choose - that would be an easy swap!

I kept my cig plug for spotlight, underwater camera, yadda

MuskyManiac · Aug 11, 2015

guywhofishes said:
I chose lighted so it would be easy to insert the USB without fumbling in low light - and it will act as a nightlight when it's dark

I ran it through the fuse panel which has a main power switch that's always powered off when boat's not in use so LED power draw (which is near zero) isn;t an issue

I'm pretty sure they size most of them so you could replace the cigarette lighter with a USB if you so choose - that would be an easy swap!

I kept my cig plug for spotlight, underwater camera, yadda

Yeah, I need to keep my cig plug for my portable XM and spotlight as well. USB will be nice for phones, iPads and the GoPro. Don't know why I didn't think about installing one of these sooner myself.....thanks again guywhohasgoodideasineverthoughtofmyself.

Captain Ahab · Aug 11, 2015

This is pretty much captain obvious, but I like a lure rack for a few quick "go to" baits.

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/boatm...e=&network=g&gclid=CLK33cfFoccCFYwYHwodgQUEow

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I have mine hard mounted to the boat vs suction cups.

SDMF · Aug 11, 2015

Ishmael's Boss said:
This is pretty much captain obvious, but I like a lure rack for a few quick "go to" baits.

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/boatm...e=&network=g&gclid=CLK33cfFoccCFYwYHwodgQUEow

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I have mine hard mounted to the boat vs suction cups.

Gear Grabber Magnetic racks work very well too. Lures don't fall off in big waves or @ high speed. I've pulled my boat from Fargo to Devils and back many times and all of the lures on the magnets stay put.

DirtyMike · Aug 11, 2015

I've thought about having a rack like that. I don't trust suction cups though.

SDMF · Aug 11, 2015

The adhesive used to hold on the magnetic racks must be the stuff they use to glue the heat shields onto the space shuttle or something because they haven't even considered a wiggle in the wind, waves, or 80MPH towing.

DirtyMike · Aug 11, 2015

SDMF said:
The adhesive used to hold on the magnetic racks must be the stuff they use to glue the heat shields onto the space shuttle or something because they haven't even considered a wiggle in the wind, waves, or 80MPH towing.

just ordered one. slow days at the office cost me money in so many ways

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