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Reader Boat
Profile: The Metal Man - Jim Day
What kind of person converts a 14 foot aluminum skiff to an offshore fishing
machine?
Background
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Overview
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Neat Stuff-Part 1
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Neat Stuff-Part 2
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Parting Shot
SLAGIATT (Seemed Like A
Good Idea At The Time)
Given Jim's analytic nature and feel for design, there aren't a lot of things
that he did that he regrets (on the boat, at least). Here are a couple:
When Jim put his skiff together, one of his main concerns was whether or
not the boat would be too heavy. He spent a considerable amount of time
weighing things out, and trying to make the boat as light as possible. In the
end, he notes, he probably went a little to far. The whole boat draws 6 inches
of water with the motors up! Now he wishes that the floorboards were
a little thicker...
Another thing he would have done differently is the bottom paint. During the
course of the interview, we asked why he had bottom paint at all, since
the boat is trailered. It turns out the bottom paint is purely cosmetic. As
mentioned earlier, the original hull was in need of some repair when he
received it, the bulk of the work being centered around fixing electrolysis
damage near the waterline. The bottom paint was mainly to cover the many
small welds. It looks good, but there were problems with the primer in a
few areas, and as a result, he is seeing some crevice corrosion in the areas
where the paint came loose.
Parting Words of Wisdom
At the end of the interview, we asked Jim if he had a parting thought for our
readers, or some words of fishing or boating wisdom (this is the "If you were a
tree, what kind of tree would you be?" question). He said:"Small boat fishermen
have a unique relationship with the ocean, and can get to fish that people with
larger boats can not. They should take advantage of that and
spend more time learning to fish the waters they can
reach effectively."
Then he laughed, and had to rush off to meet a client.
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