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Guide Boat
Profile: In Search of...Capt. Conway Bowman
San Diego's Favorite Son & his ride..
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
Hull & Fishing
Features
Conway's weapon of choice - the
Triton 240LTS - is technically a large bay skiff, not an
offshore boat. As such, it has some features that are not normally
associated with an offshore boat - fairly low freeboard, raised casting
platforms that are at or near the top of the gunwhales, and no high rails. BUT
Captain Bowman has found that, for his typical conditions, the 240 LTS is
actually an exceptional choice.
Prior to the 240 LTS, Conway ran a
Parker 1801 center console with a 130 HP Yamaha
4-stroke. The Parker was a great boat, but Captain Bowman has found that the
240 LTS's 8'6" beam, coupled with the addition 6' of length, makes for an
incredibly stable platform for his clients, even when the boat is running in
the trough of a large swell . The lack of freeboard has not turned
out to be a problem, as the boat is self-bailing and exceptionally dry. If a
client feels uncomfortable on either of the immense casting platforms, there is
still plenty of room to fish from the cockpit deck.
The 240 LTS has an incredible amount of protected storage. Starting
with the bow platform (far left), we see a large anchor locker, and the
starboard compartment is large enough to house some built-in rod racks (left).
In addition to the rod racks in the starboard casting platform compartment,
the 240 LTS has 6 under-gunwhale rod racks (3 per side). The tip
tube design allows rods to be inserted facing both forwards and backwards,
resulting in the ability to hold a total of 12 rods in these
horizontal racks.
The center console can hold a total of 8 rods vertically (4 per side),
the leaning post accodates another 4, and there are two
gunwhale rod holders for trolling. This gives a total rod
holder capacity of 29 rods.
The center console has a huge amount of storage space, easily accessible through
a door in the front on the console (left).
Here's look at the back of the center console, which has the obligatory drink
holders, plus plenty of room for electronics and gauges (right)...
Instead of the standard Captain's chairs as helm seats, Conway's boat has a
huge leaning post / storage box (left).
As you can see from the rear view, there are a grab rail and a large
lockable storage compartment in the back, plus it has these nifty
side tilt-drawers (right, and below). These drawers have small latches in the
back, which, when released, allow the drawer to tilt completely out of the
console.
Since the boat is used for fly fishing, it has the usual pop-up cleats
(left)....
And here is a close-up of the scupper treatment (right). Note the grate over
the opening, which prevents the scupper from jamming with debris.
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