THE SNUBBY BOAT FILES: PART 3
Nice lines… and everyone comments on that SeaDek. The colour is called Desert Camouflage.
In this third part of my ongoing blog series about our new Beastmaster Boats Snubby 500 rig, I take a look at some of the accessories we’ve added to the boat. If you’d like to read Part 1, click here, and for Part 2, click here.
Batteries are something many people don’t think much about when it comes to setting up a new boat. However, they are vitally important components in a well-equipped rig. My fellow Offroad Adventure Show presenter, Jamie Hazelden from Jamie’s Touring Solutions (JTS) had been waxing lyrical about the new Lead Crystal Batteries, and after checking them out on-line, I could understand why he was so excited! Anyway, to cut a long story short, we ended up fitting two: a dirty big 120 amp hour unit up front to power the MotorGuide Xi5 bow-mounted electric and a smaller 80Ah battery down in the stern for cranking the Yammy and running the sounders, etc.
This thumping big 120Ah Lead Crystal battery in the bow powers out 12v 55lb thrust Xi5 MotorGuide electric motor.
It’s early days yet, to be sure, but so far I’m blown away by the performance of both batteries.
The major claims to fame of these state-of-the-art batteries are an extremely long shelf life with a very low discharge rate when stored (you can store them for two years without any top up charging!). They also have the ability to cope with high discharge rates, a very fast re-charging time, and deep discharge capabilities. As a bonus, they’re made to deal with extremely harsh conditions in terms of temperature range, vibration and so on… All-in-all, exactly what the doctor ordered for tough marine use! (Go to the very bottom of this page for a listing of the major advantages of Lead Crystal batteries.)
I’ll be sure to keep you up to speed with our observations about these batteries, but meanwhile, you can find out a lot more by clicking here.
We’ve fitted BerleyPro visors to both our Lowrance sounder/GPS combo units.
We’re running Lowrance electronics in our new rig (just as we have in all of our previous boats), and I’ll be telling you lots more about our pair of Lowrance HDS-9 Gen 3 units (both swung on RAM mounts) in coming installments of the boat blog. But I also wanted to mention the wonderful BerleyPro visors that we’ve added to both units. These neat after-market add-ons are pretty easy to fit (it took me about five minutes per unit) and provide a good degree of splash deflection and physical protection for the front and sides of the unit (including the all-important card slots), as well as noticeably improving the read-ability of the screen in direct sunlight, especially when wearing sunnies. They also look pretty darned trendy! BerleyPro do a niche range of very neat after-market doo-dads for kayaks and boats, but if you’re specifically interested in these tough, semi-flexible visors for sounders and GPS units, click here.
The Lecky Leg in its stowed position…
Speaking of cool after-market stuff, how good is the nifty little Lecky Leg? A uniquely Aussie invention, and the brainchild of Townsville-based angler, Peter Agapiou, this deceptively simple device fits to the shaft of your bow-mounted electric motor and can be swung down and locked in place when travelling (by road or over rough waters) in order to prevent violent bouncing and vibration that can potentially damage the delicate innards and circuit boards inside the head of your valuable electric motor.
… and deployed!
Peter ships the Lecky Leg with an allen key of the right size and fitting the leg took me about two minutes. However, it’s important that you provide Peter with an accurate measurement of the distance between your electric motor’s shaft (when stowed) and the deck below it at the point shown in the photo below. When you take the measurement, place something under the shaft to slightly lift it… just a few millimetres will do. I used a couple of life jackets. Send Peter a photo of the measurement for best results and he’ll work it all out… he was spot on with mine.
This is how you measure up for your Lecky Leg.
Oh. and he does both black and white Lecky Legs to suit whatever make and model of bow-mounted electric motor you’re running.
Peter Agapiou of Lecky Leg Australia also offers customised Lecky Guard nose cone and skeg protectors for a whole range of electric motors. Anyone who runs one of these motors will tell you that it’s the lower unit’s nose cone and projecting skeg that cops all the damage from repeated contact with rocks, sand, mud, coral, snags and so on. Eventually, this abrasion breaks through the powder coating, creating an easy access point for corrosion. By fitting Peter’s customised silicone protectors you’ll greatly extend the life (and improve the potential re-sale value) of your electric motor.
Lecky Guards from Lecky Legs waiting to be fitted…
As well as finding Peter on Facebook via his Lecky Leg Australia page, you can also call him on 0407 457 492. Make sure you tell him Starlo sent you and I reckon he’ll look after you extra well!
Of course, if you’ve gone to that much trouble to prepare your bow-mounted electric motor for the heat of battle, it makes sense to take things one step further and fit a cover of some sort while travelling and storing your rig. Fortunately, another keen angler, this time from the south coast of NSW, has come up with the perfect solution.
… and here they are in place!
David Johnstone, a big flathead specialist from Jervis Bay, is the brains behind Leccy Soks: a range of tough, well-tailored protector bags made from a waterproof marine material that are customised to fit different electric motors with varying shaft lengths. Even better, Leccy Soks can even be further customised to include a special Velco-closure opening to facilitate a deployed Lecky Leg! Naturally, that’s the option I went for (see the photo below).
To order a Leccy Sok from David, jump onto his Facebook page here and leave a comment or send him a private message.
David Johnstone’s Leccy Soks are an absolutely brilliant piece of customised, hand-sewn kit!
LEAD CRYSTAL BATTERY ADVANTAGES:
Just some of the advantages of Lead Crystal batteries!
