1801 Refit - the good, the bad, and the ugly

I am a new Parker owner. I bought an 2000 1801 with 2002 Yamaha F115 (500 hours) in early February. I located this boat in the Philly area, had it surveyed, and drove from California to test drive and pick-up the boat. Bit of a hike to drive back to California in winter weather... but arrived without any problems.

I selected Parker for it's excellent layout and fishing space for (mainly) fly-fishing in the local bays and Delta waters, but will take the boat to Baja for three weeks in June. So I needed to make the boat mine by doing some work on her to fit her out for my needs.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...

The Good - the boat is sound and the engine is good, compression is in spec and it runs very well. Overall a nice, fishable boat.

The Bad... the factory cooler/pilot seat is useless to me - I needed a quality live bait tank with leaning post that would make optimum use of the cockpit space. If you fish the West Coast or Baja, live bait (for chum) is almost always essential. Second, the electronics were crap- no surprise there. Third, I need rod racks to protect fragile fly rods and a good trolling motor to fish the way I do,.

The Ugly... the black bottom paint is functional but far from smooth. It is really ugly.

Cleaned the boat, got it registered, and ordered some bits and pieces from the Parker dealer - O rings, Parker decals, and a set of replacement rear seat cushions. Then I bought a Humminbird 898C si (side imaging) sonar/sounder/GPS, and Minn Kota Riptide ST 80 + iPilot w/ quick detachable mount, two Deka 12V AGM batteries, a Stealth charging system, an Offshore Marine Products oval 30 gallon bait tank, a Rule 800 GPH bait pump, washdown pump, and a ton of marine cabling, wire, fittings, and oddments.

With this pile of valuable material in hand, or nearly so, I called Stan Pleskunas of Moss Landing. Stan is well known for his skills in fitting out boats for fishing - and understands the needs of flyfishers. The weather finally calmed down enough to get busy on the boat this week.

First we cleaned up the boat and stripped out the cockpit seat, the old electronics, and most of wire to make room in the chases for a new wiring layout. The two AGM batteries for the trolling motor were mounted in the console with the Stealth AC/DC charger (is charges off the Yamaha AND off 120 AC). The charger will charge/maintain the two switched starting batteries and the trolling motor batteries. I will have 4 12V batteries in two banks - plenty for 'juice' for all starting, trolling motor, and accessory needs. We ran the new wiring Tuesday and yesterday, hooked up the new electronics, made a custom double battery tray and cover, and mounted the batteries and charger system. This is pretty straight forward work, but it helps to have two people when running wire through the chases.

The bait tank will arrive early next week via UPS and we have designed a compact and handsome leaning post that will attach to the bait tank - this unit will replace the cooler/swing back seat the the factory provides.

I left my camera over at Stan's shop, but I will have some pictures and a further report early next week.

PLease do post pics when avaialble. Sounds very interesting!

Mike,

Congrats on your new boat! I have an 1801 that I keep on Martha's Vineyard for use in the summer. Having been raised in Orange County and travelling in Baja to surf and fish, I think the 1801 is a great boat for the Baja and also for striper fishing up north.

If you dont already have them, get rid of the stock cleats and put in pop up cleats and nav lights. I have them and a low bow rail on mine and it is great for flyfishing. I also have a cooler in the front of the boat, jsut forward of the console seat that I added a rod holder for the flyrod storage with line stripped out waiting for the next spot. I think Stan P. is a big advocate of the VLMD buckets, so this might obviate the need for the added cooler.

I added a custom mount to the left of the console to store 3 flyrods in a vertical orientation, to handle the 10 weight with a 450 grain sinker and also an 8 and a 9 with intermediates. In addition, i replaced the under gunwaler storage with TACO rod holders with spring loaded clips for extra rods. I can handle 4 rods in these holders, which is where I keep my trolling rigs for bonito and skipjack.

Finally,

I got rid of the worthless cooler seat and had a custom leaning post installed. With a 45 quart Yeti underneath, this is a great place for additional rod holders. The leaning post has room for rigs, where I keep the spinning outfits. I am thinking that i can also add 2 more vertical rod holders in the seatback.

Parker made a stock leaning post/livewell, but you might think about having a custom one made and then adding in a 40-50 qt. kodiak for sardinas and mullet for Baja.

Enjoy the boat and post some pics when you have them. Let me know if you have other questions.

Buena suerte,

T-Bro

T-Bro -- your 1801 is a well outfitted boat and handsome.

My boat has the low bow rails and pop up cleats and nav light. I added a 24" long stainless grab rail on the gunnels between the two rear rod holders on each side. I will add a swim platform and step on the transom like the one on your boat.

Stan and I have been working on the boat... as you know, a good live bait tank is required for West Coast fishing so we have removed the factory pilot's seat and dry box and plumbed in a 30 gallon Offshore Marine live bait tank in it's place. This fiberglass bait tank is about 30" wide and 16" front to rear and 30" tall. We are in the process of fabbing up a tank top that combines a leaning pad and a cutting board. This REALLY opens up the back of the boat for fishing. The hardest part was drilling the hull for a through hull fitting and three holes in the deck. The difficulty was largely emotional -- I find punching holes in a boat counter intuitive. All the deck holes were sealed with epoxy - the deck is 7/8" thick. This boat is built like a tank!

The rest was plumbing and fitting.

Stan in his shop preparing snug fitting mounting base for the bait tank:


Base fitted to deck:


Plumbing the tank through the deck:


We also added raw water washdown pump and fitting in the rear to keep the deck clean.

We set up two AGMs in the console to provide 24V for the trolling motor and ran power lines under the gunnels to the bow. We're making a landing pad for the trolling motor mounting plate puck next to the anchor box. The boat also has two starting batteries and switch. The TM AGMs in the console will provide additional emergency staring power. All the batteries now have a Stealth Charging System, which charges the TM and starting batteries off the Yamaha 115 OR 120AC when in storage. The Stealth system includes a digital meter on the console dash.

AGMs, Stealth charger and TM 60 amp breaker in console:


The bottom paint will be soda blasted off and repainted black with a boot stripe when I return from Baja in July. I need to get some fishing time on this boat before June departure.

Beautiful.
I love how you have made this boat your own! 8)

A little update...

The trolling motor (Minn Kota ST80 with iPilot) is now mounted to a quick-release pad on the bow.



The leaning post / bait tank is being built now - we started with a 'plug' for the fiberglass part that will become part of the tank...



The leaning post that will be integrated into the top of the tank is exactly as wide as the console (32") and will feature a leaning pad, rod racks and a space to hold tools - pliers, crimpers, Boga, etc. The top of the tank will be a flat Starboard cutting/rigging space. The plug provides a good idea of how the leaning post part will fit the tank - an Offshore Marine Products 30 gallon oval tank. The entire assembly will be gelcoated with Parker gelcoat to match the rest of the boat.





Fiberglass work starts today.

Here is a photo of the rough fiberglass part off the mold. It is the first rough grind and will be finished smooth, then gelcoated with Parker gelcoat. Nearly done...

Sorry - my photo hosting site wants to display this photo sideways, and I have no way to convince it to display differently...

Approaching completion.

The bait tank leaning post is shown primed, sanded and ready for gelcoating. The holes are built-in rod holders and slots for tools. Bait tank top is 1/2" Starboard for a cutting and tackle prep surface.



Here is the bait tank/leaning post after gelcoating with Parker gelcoat. When fulling cured, we'll polish and install. This unit takes up a lot less space than the original Parker swing back seat, and I get double duty from it.

What does the boat look like a week later?

boondoggle":22vmxu4x said:

What does the boat look like a week later?

Click to expand...

In the water test for all systems tomorrow at Moss Landing on Monterey Bay. Will post wome pictures.

Rod racks for two trolling/spinning rods with tip protection tubes buit-in and three racks for flyrods up to 10' longwith tip protection tubes installed and gelcoated. We installed the swim platform and ladder yesterday. The platform was built by Teak Isle and the platform itself is 'fish white' Starboard - nearly perfect match for the Parker gelcoat. Link: http://www.boatoutfitters.com/store/p/3 ... adder.html

After installing the swim platform, we put the boat in the water on Elkhorn Slough at Moss Landing on Monterey Bay. The sea outside the breakwater was blowing up some stiff chop, but the boat handled it just fine. We tested all system - Humminbird 898si, NMEA connect to the radio, raw water washdown, bait tank and pump, and the Minn Kota ST80 trolling motor with iPilot.

Here is the happy skipper:



Trolling motor test - the ST80 was tested in a fairly strong incoming tidal current with wind of about 15kts. In these conditions the motor could hold position ('anchor' function), remin on a given heading, and at max power could do about 4.5 MPH. This motor is very quiet. The Stealth charge quickly recharged the dual AGM 12V batteries and they were topped up when we took the boat out.



The live bait tank - an Offshore Marine Products OS30 - has been modified to include a fiberglass leaning post and work surface with two vertical rod racks and a tool holder. The tank top is a cutting and rigging board made of 1/2" Starboard will a tapered foam plug to hold it firmly in place. This combination takes less space than the original swing back seat and dry storage provided by Parker. The tank has a constant flow of 800 GPH (13.3 GPM) supplied by a Rule bait pump located in the bilge. This pump shares a bronze through hull (w/petcock) with the raw water pressure pump. The intake and outflow for the tank are plumbed with through sealed deck fittings located under the tank. The outflow is plumbed through the bottom of the scupper well, and the scuppers proves capable of exhausting 13.3 GPM without pooling on the dec - except in reverse. I am getting no water in the bilge. This seems to be a functional design and provides a place to brace the skipper's arse when driving. It is strong enough to sit or stand on. The tank and leaning post are gelcoated with Parker-supplied matching gelcoat. Nice and clean.



We are still investigating whether the radio or aerial is fully functional - couldn't get a radio check, but there could be a number of reasons for that. The radio is receiving GPS position signal from the Humminbird FF/plotter - which allowed us to meter bait and fish and side scan the bottom quite well. Nice tool!

Beautiful job!
She looks ready. :wink:

Regarding the antenna...
I had a similar one on my 17 Dusky and transmit and reception was always hit or miss.
The antenna is in the travel position on the left of the photo below.



I discovered that the 36" loaded base antenna was actually a sailboat mast antenna, and it was very directional.
I replaced it with a 4' fiberglass antenna and my problem went away.
Might be something to consider.

Mike S":1oedhq91 said:

Rod racks for two trolling/spinning rods with tip protection tubes buit-in and three racks for flyrods up to 10' longwith tip protection tubes installed and gelcoated.

Click to expand...

Looks great. Any chance you could take some photos of your rod racks and tip protection tubes?

Kevin -- thanks for the antenna advise. I need good advise.

I'll take some photos of the rod racks on my next trip - in a few days. I'll post them up here.