# Built a rod locker for my aluminum boat



## PolymerStew

So I've been out of work since June when my postdoc fellowship ended. To keep myself occupied while I search for a job, I've been making some improvements to my boat. I bought my dad's old boat last fall when he upgraded to a new boat. It was a 14 ft aluminum row boat that he already modified for bass fishing by removing the front and middle benches, installing floors, and a bow mount trolling motor. So far it was a really nice setup, but I wanted to make a few changes to suit my needs.

One of the main things I wanted was to add rod storage. I had a couple rods get busted in the bed of my truck last season from gear sliding around. I like to carry a lot of gear when I fish, but I also like to keep things organized in the boat. The locker would also give me a place to store the bump board, boat lights, etc.

When I got the boat, there was a board running along the port side with rod straps on it to secure fishing rods. 


I removed that board and cut under the front of the rear seat to give some extra length so I could run the rod handles under the seat, giving me room to carry rods up to 7'6". The floatation foam chunk that I removed from under the seat was relocated to under the flooring to keep that emergency buoyancy in the boat. I couldn't run the locker all the way to the transom because I needed to keep room in the rear port corner behind the seat for a fuel tank. 

I picked up a 6 ft continuous aluminum hinge from McMaster-Carr for about $9. I got stainless steel screws and aluminum 90 deg angle pieces from there as well. I was going to use plywood, but it turned out that for the amount of material I was going to use, it was cheaper just to get 1" pine boards than to buy a sheet of 3/4" plywood and have a bunch of excess material left. So I used 1"x10"x8' cut down to length for the vertical side, 1"x8"x8' cut to 82" length for the hatch, and 1"x4"x8 ft cut to length and cut to the curvature of the boat for the fixed portion of the top. The trickiest part was getting the curvature and angle of the hull correct on that 1x4 board. I ended up using foam weatherseal tape to fill the small gaps that were left on that edge. I added a locking T handle for the latch; won't stop a determined thief, but it should deter someone from making a quick grab and run. 

I protected the wood with several coats of spar urethane. I had enough left over that I went ahead and sanded the floor decks and gave those a coat too. I was a bit worried that the semi gloss urethane would make the floor slick when it got wet, but as it turns out the sand and silt I tracked into the boat from the launch at LaDue was slicker than the floor deck. 







I also added in a small U series battery so I can run my sonar off a separate battery from the trolling motor. I was getting a lot of electrical noise from the motor.


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## missionfishin

Looks nice man.Have been wanting to do same thing with my boat.


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## meats52

That's a pretty good idea and it looks really nice.


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## James F

I like it! I wish I had a way to do that on my boat, without spending a ton of money, if I removed the seats I lose floatation and support along gunnels.


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## PolymerStew

James F said:


> I like it! I wish I had a way to do that on my boat, without spending a ton of money, if I removed the seats I lose floatation and support along gunnels.


Yeah, keeping the flotation and rigidity in the boat is always a concern when making modifications. I know my dad took that into account when he removed the benches and put the flooring in. The floatation foam that was under the seats he put in under the flooring; the floor sits a few inches off the hull of the boat to make room for that. He welded together a steel brace that runs under the floor and bolts to the old bench mount brackets to give support to the gunnels on the middle section of the boat. It also gave something to bolt the floor in the middle of the boat down to. He made a metal brace up front and the plywood deck that the trolling motor attaches to bolts to the gunnels to keep those tied together in the bow.


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## mike oehme

looks real nice.


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## James F

I like an open floor plan, makes moving around the boat very safe and easy. The bottom of my boat doesn't have anything to attach a floor to. I like the boat and the price was right, I'm sure I can come up with some thing once I get back to work, being injured has not helped much. I think in my case having some aluminum welding might help to tie a few support areas to work from.


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