There comes a time in any project when you have painted, drilled, coated and applied vinyl or carpet to everything and it is time to put all the parts together. That happened on Friday.
Last post I was putting vinyl on the panels below the windshield. Following that, with all the deck installed, we put vinyl on the deck that was not covered by the foredeck. The deck and boat that would be covered by the foredeck, we painted white as well as the underside of the foredeck. I have a bug-aboo about accessibility and sight. If I have a hatch, I want to be able to see and touch anything I put in there. Painted these surfaces gave us plenty of light and numerous hatches gave us the ability to get at anything.
The first picture shows the foredeck roughly assembled. The second picture shows the deck in the bow with the sides of the boat visible. The third picture shows the same deck painted white. The fourth picture shows the bottom of the foredeck after the hatches were cut in and reinforced. It was painted white as well so the inside of the lockers were all white making everything easily visible.
That done, it was time to put the vinyl flooring on the deck. I had decided to go with vinyl after reading several posts here on IDO. I have always had carpet, but I fish mostly for catfish and sturgeon which causes some seriously slimy carpet. These big bare knuckle brawlers can be a serious handful until you get them on the deck where you can control them. If I fished for wimpy fish like walleye, bass and northerns, I would probably stick with carpet because they are small and easy to handle. 
Sorry guys, I’m not really a very good walleye, bass or northern fisherman, I just could not pass up the chance to get in a friendly dig. You’re perfectly free to put in a few digs about the slimy crowd and I’m sure you will. 
The same rules apply to vinyl flooring as apply to paneling and other parts of the boat. This picture down the boat shows the flooring in place. It was easier than I expected except for being a bit sticky which necessitates a lot of hand washing because you certainly don’t want to smear it all over the boat.
Next came the front panels, then the foredeck and it’s vinyl covering. The next picture is the shot down the boat with the covers off all the hatches including the rod locker in the middle of the boat. The anchor locker let us use a sort of left over part of the boat and keep the anchor out from under foot when not in use.
The last two pictures are the whole thing buttoned up and ready to roll. The side hatches are cocked a little bit to keep the glue from the vinyl from making them permanent.
In a month, we had transformed the old boat into this sparkling new one that will last my life time.
Last thing left to do is put in the batteries and head north. Sturgeon fishing in exactly nine days.
