Enclosure addition

Miles Offshore · #1 12-20-2006, 04:01 PM

My latest modification/add on to my ever evolving curtain creation. For some background I have had the standard 3 sided enclosure for 3 or 4 years now and it works fine most of the time. Just aint enough protection for an old candy a$$ though when it starts getting super cold and I catch that rockfish fever. Anyways a couple of years ago i purchased a heater from a guy that runs off the cooling system on my motor and installed it in my center console.(just like a car heater) It works great and love having it blowing on my legs even when its chilly but I wanted a way to "hold the heat in", so I decided to make a little 3 sided aft end enclosure where it hopefully will make it nice and comfy when running to and from and also when fishing. Figuring that since heat rises I didnt really need material low where it might interfere with getting to the pit, also wanted to leave the cooler under the leaning post accessible. (sammy's and chillies) Lastly I wanted to make it not to difficult to get out of to make it fishable as I can. check it out- the old lady says its ugly and i kinda agree but it will come off when it gets warm- heres a couple of pix- 30 gage strataglass and black acrylic (generic sunbrella)

dtmackey · #2 12-20-2006, 11:57 PM

Very nice. I'm in the process of making some covers (engine, console guages and leaning post) when I'm done with those I will make some curtains, but you idea is great for the colder climates.

D-

warthog5 · #3 12-21-2006, 07:55 AM

It's not bad looking. It is fuctionable.

The next step would be a pilothouse.

joey · #4 12-21-2006, 08:32 AM

Very Cool! It make's perfect sense to me and love the heater in the console,great idea.I remember my days living on the Eastern Shore and I know that set up will come in handy!

strick · #5 12-21-2006, 12:32 PM

I like it. One of these days I'm gonna do something like that.

strick

Miles Offshore · #6 12-22-2006, 12:10 PM

thanx guys- Joey, if you lived on the shore you know how cold it getsw.(and you guys up north as well)!!!those of you who live in florida dont have this problem and if it never got below 50° i wouldnt bother with the covers either. But it gets pretty damn cold here sometimes in the winter and the fish are still snappin!!!! i gave it a trial yesterday and I am pretty happy with it. the snaps instaed of a zipper to get in and out of work great and you only open what you need and its easy to pop them open to make quick work of grabbing a rod when its singing. The zipper on the aft end allows someone to lean in if they are standing outside in the cockpit,they can suck up a good amount of heat also. And the heater was actually running me out. I ended up turning it off and on low it was keeping me so warm. What I dont like about it is that it is somewhat harder to work around when doing the fish dance in the cockpit than it is without covers there but i think it is a tradeoff i will take this time of the year,lol.

We did have a running joke going that if it was real cold from our legs down would still be frozen but our torsos would be hot.

-and a fish report-we did catch a few rockfish in the 10-15 lb range but nothing specktacular.

riprunner · #7 12-22-2006, 12:51 PM

Miles,

Great idea with the heater/enclosure combo! Is it a little more difficult while fighting a fish?....sure, but it allows you to go out and do what you like to do in comfort espcially on days that you might have stayed home and that's what matters. Especially in the winter months I believe in function over fasion. I'm sure you'll be out on a few of those cold windy winter days looking at someone else in an open center console saying to your budddy "I wouldn't want to be them right now they must be freezing"

warthog5 · #8 12-23-2006, 10:07 AM

Quote:

And the heater was actually running me out. I ended up turning it off and on low it was keeping me so warm.

This will be a fairly cheap addition.

Go by a NAPA store and ask to look a several "Heater control valve's" form auto's in the '60's. You want one that would take a simple push/pull cable.

Mount the HCV and spilt the heater hose to plumb the HCV. The cable will be mounted in the console in a out of the way area, so it doesn't get snagged on when in the out position.

This would give you better heat control and I bet you can get the componet's for under $30.

It's pretty simple deal. Just look for a HCV that would mount easy for your place you want to mount it. On the car's/truck's in that era they were mounted on the inner fenderwell.