The problem with fishing offshore from small boats is....they're small! The well-prepared small boat offshore fisherman carries more stuff around than the average inshore fisherman, plus the gear can be bigger - bigger rods and reels, bigger lures. Space is a premium in small boats.

What can you do to gain more space?

One approach is to become a minimalist. Get rid of everything you can, without being unsafe. A good idea, but for most of us, this approach wouldn't result in much improvement. After all - if I didn't need it, I wouldn't have packed it, right? (HA!)

OK, so if the minimalist approach isn't going to work, what's left?

• A good starting point is to choose a hull with lots of built in storage. But as we discovered when we went searching for Toy Boat 2, finding the right hull on the outside does not mean it will be the right hull on the inside.
  
  When we finally found the Edgewater 175CC, we loved the exterior hull design and the fact that the boat was self-bailing and unsinkable, but we saw immediately that storage was going to be a problem. In our ideal boat, there would be several under-deck storage boxes with gasketed lids and gutters, and under-gunnel rod racks capable of handling fly rods.
  
  The Edgewater had none of these, so our challenge was to figure out a way to add storage without compromising the hull's integrity, and without breaking the bank.
  
  
• Another way to maximize space is to keep tackle carefully organized. For example, in most of the center consoles we have been in, there aren't any good places to store tackle above decks. Tackle has to go in under-deck storage (if there is any), or it is left to slide around the deck. Sometimes tackle boxes get stacked on the seat in front of the console, where they can fall onto the deck in rough seas.

The remaining sections of this article are devoted to going over what we did with Toy Boat 2. Hopefully, the ideas shown will help inspire you to produce some creative solutions in your skiff. If you have a good idea that you would like to share, feel free to e-mail us, or post to our message boards.

And just so we're clear - none of this stuff is required to go fishing ! We've done a lot of things to Toy Boat 2 because it's a project boat. We're trying a lot of stuff out so that YOU don't have to. If you see an idea that you like, try it! If you don't like it, don't try it!