Team Beaver Fever Budget Bass Jon Boat Build

These mods are so slick. Awesome work guys!

Someday I'd really love to invest in one of these Boats. For now I'll live vicariously through you guys

Spent some time in the shop yesterday and got the crawdad started. The previous owner tried to modify the boat and basically just rearranged the supports. At least he saved all the frame and hardware. The first half of the day was putting it back to its stock form so we could get a visual of what needed to be done. We moved the back seat and removed half of all the foam in the boat. The batteries are going to be under the seats in custom battery trays. The livewell and LED light controls will be on the back side of the front seat in a control panel. The connection to the livewell will be similar to Sam's boat. Still havent figured out where the LED lights are going to go but its a Beaver Fever Boat so it has to have lights somewhere. We installed front and rear transoms made out of PVC trim. There are more bolts on these transom than in my bassboat haha.










We will be adding on a fixed front deck to mount the TM and fishfinder. There will be a fixed slot for the livewell to fit between the seats and drop in floors will be added around each seat.

Awesome keep the details coming.

Looking good guy's.

Man those boats must be a lot trickier to deal with

Nice work yesterday Dan and Joe ,after we finally figured out the jigsaw puzzle it really came together!

I added a couple more before pics showing how it arrived to Dan, after it was stripped and cleaned, then reassembled back to stock, basically a boat in a bag! lol

After the stock configuration was figured out we decided to change the layout a bit, the best part was most of the changes were able to be made using the stock parts. We used prolly 8' of angle so far but overall the stock weight is pretty close to what it was.

Overall a lot of fun and I can't wait to fish out of it, but definitely a head scratcher at times on this one as this will be the first Crawdad I've personally ever messed with! Definitely love that it basically comes with all your wire races built in!!







Enjoy!!

really looking forward to seeing how the crawdad comes out.

I've been waiting to see what you come up with for this one!

If you look at my pics, you can see I removed the middle seat brace & added a pedastal seat. To make up for the lost support, added 2x4's that also double as rod holders.

Courios to see how you add the live well.

Looking good so far!

Hey Damon I was just reading about the powerdrive foot pedal and came across this. I was wondering if you've done any of these things?

http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/fishcast/2012/06/longevity-tips-for-minn-kota-powerdrive-v2-foot-pedals/

The power drive pedals are junk.When I had mine the first one crapped out so I bought another.That one was junk within a year.I still have the motor if your interested.You just have to put out $90 for the foot pedal,for however long it lasts then you buy another one.Maybe wrapping it in plastic will help.

Hey Dan how much will the crawdad weigh when your done?Let me know.Scotty has one with a leak,can you fix it?

I already have the motor. I had heard things about the pedal. I was hoping that either Minn Kota fixed it or there were preventive things I could do and that article sounds like he figured it out.

can those pedals be sprayed with something to protect it from dirt and sand? like a silicone spray?

one trick damon told me was to rely less on the power button and more on using the roller which doesn't need a lot of pressure. so keep it on constant and adjust speed from 0-max. using the speed roller.

The most I got out of that article and I've read before is that contact button wears down. Somehow the sandpaper and grease protects them. I'd have to actually see it to know what he means

agreed. that's why i was adjusting speed using the roller with my foot when we went out. didn't want to press any buttons if i didn't need to. it's actually a lot easier to use the roller. it leads to less boating and steering and more fishing.