coleman crawdad floor ideas.. free floating plywood or screw

just picked coleman crawdad in good shape for $100 ..yes 100 $

needs a floor the foot pieces are missing , im assuming from the car topper tourneys on here someone may have one modded .

looking at doing a plywood floor 1/2 inch or 3/4 to stiffen and support

ideas ? one piece free floating ...whole saw seat tubes

or self tapping screws to tubes ?


any help greatly appreciated , Pics would be a plus on rod holders ..live well ect

Thanks
Andrew

Andrew the lighter the better when it comes to a car topper. 1/2 and 3/4 inch plywood is overkill. 3/8 is more then enough. The plywood will absorb water when wet and the thicker the plywood the more water it can absorb. I do 2 separate pieces, one for the front and one for the back. Before I do the floor I loosen the 2 seats and push them back. I take out the rear plastic pieces and the foam inside it. I push the rear seat back till there is about a foot left between it and the back of the crawdad. I push the front seat back that much plus a little more. I mount a 3rd piece of plywood behind the back seat and that is where I put my batteries. I run them the long way left to right not the long way front to back.
A question for you. Will you be using a transome mount TM or a foot control tm? If you are using a transome mount you can loosen the screw on the head and turn it 180*. You can now mount it on the front and make yourself a rudder for the back. if you are going to use a foot control you can mount either two pieces of 1 1/2" angle iron to the top lip of the front and side of the crawdad and then mount the bracket to that or screw 2 pieces of 1/2 plywood together and mount it to the crawdad in the same way then bolt the bracket to the plywood. Do not use screws, use nuts and bolts with lock washers. I will see if I can dig up some pictures.

great thanks

are you leaving the floors floating for removle as well ?

If you go on my profile pics and look at page 5 you will see my "old" crawdad. Only use those pics to see the TM mount and the rudder. I learned a lot about how heavy a crawdad can get with that one. Ignore the floor and the battery position. My new crawdad has less floor and the batteries are behind the rear seat and turned 90* that plastic piece and flotation behind the rear seat is removed.

If you go to page 9 of my pics you will see a cooler livewell and how it is set up

great thanks

are you leaving the floors floating for removle as well ?

No floors are screwed into the poles running the lenth of the floor

thanks thats what i was assuming ....self tappers screwd into tubes

no issues removing rear foam ?

i am using a Transom mount trolling motor

trying to figuare rod storage as well

If you are going to be fishing out of the front of the boat ( I reccomend you do. You get better control of the boat that way) you will see a screw just under the head of the tm that holds the head in place on the shaft. Take that screw out, turn the head 180* and put the screw back in. You transome mount is now a bow mount hand control. You can make a simple rudder for the rear out of a cople pieces if plywwod and some angle brackets and use a wood clamp to clamp it to the transom.
No issues removing the foam. I know guys that remove both the front and rear foam. The foam just keeps the crawdad from sinking to the bottom if you do happen to flip. The front foam is more then enough to keep that from happening. ( dont ask me how I know )
For the rods guys place the butts of the rods on the floor and have the tips facing to the back on either the left or right side of the crawdad.

Try and keep it a simple as possible with maximum fishability. Too many bells and whistles in my experience weighs the crawdad down and complicates things.
Also note the guage of the wire on the TM. Any wire that is added to make the connections reach the batteries should be the same size( guage) You can also opt to store the battery under the front seat instead of the back especially since you are going with a 12v ( one battery) tm.

Check out this thread
Page 31 starts the build process on my crawdad

http://www.mafishfinder.com/phpBB2/team-beaver-fever-budget-bass-jon-boat-build-t5433-450.html

I opted for removable 1/2" floors, to keep it lighter for carrying and if I am going by myself I don't need the rear one.

Any lighting safety ideas for night fishing on the Crawdad?

You can get similar ones at wal-mart too

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Portable-ClampOn-LED-Bow-Light/product/1308240611384/
http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Portable-ClampOn-LED-Round-Light/product/1309031108/

Thanks looks for info ,

can i get away with 1 12v battery ? for fish finder and trolling motor ?

trying to keep weight down .


I removed rear foam last night , moving seat back 6 inches . leaving back open for plywood top for fish finder and storage underneath

Yes you can run the ff and tm on one battery. If you decide to add a livewell you should add a 2nd battery.

maybe at some point would love to get out and try one of the car topper tournys maybe next year

Thanks for the bow light info. Sure will beat having to use my headlamp!

Any recommendations on a fish finder for the crawdad - something in the mid price range.

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Lowrance_Elite-4X_Color_Fishfinder/descpage-LEFCF.html

If you go on Ebay, you can get this unit for like $130

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Lowrance_Elite-4x_HDI_Color_Fishfinder/descpage-LEFXS4.html

This one can be had form like $160 on ebay