A few Utility updates

Over the weekend, I finally had some time to make it back out to the lake. I left before sunrise to get on the water early & avoid the searing mid-day heat. While the early morning sun was still fairly low, I was also hoping to find a little shade.

On this trip, I also wanted to see how well my electric trolling motor would do with the Utility.

And here's my jammed-together mess. There is not much space on the transom where I can clamp the trolling motor. I knew handling the boat with this arrangement might prove awkward. It was.

Found a shady spot and tried out my new "anchor-in-a-bag."

While running the trolling motor, I locked the Nissan in its raised position to reduce drag.

I was actually surprised at how well the trolling motor moved the boat around. It won't plane, of course, but the near-silent operation is great and the highest speed setting will propel the boat comfortably. The limitation is short battery life. In a fairly short cruise, my battery power went from 95% to 35%.

All the while I was on the water, I kept thinking about several changes I want to make with the Utility. There are several. I got around to some of them on Sunday.

This is the plywood "half-cover" I made to go underneath the boat cover I bought. Its purpose is to prevent the fabric cover from pooling up with water & sagging down into the hull. The 3/8 plywood was starting to sag a little bit, so I added some 3-foot wood strips to give it more rigidity. I had a bunch of nylon webbing laying around, so I used some to make basic handles for lifting the piece & moving it around.

I also had a bunch of 1-inch wide velcro laying around. I used the "loop" part of it on the inside edges to reduce the scratching of the paint on the gunwale.

Here's the half-cover in place on the boat. There is a cutout in the front for the cover's "tent pole." 

I finally put a quick-clip connector on the nylon strap that holds the battery box in place. This is MUCH easier to use than the cheap / awkward / confusing / infuriating buckle that came with it originally.

Cupholders!

There are still several more updates & changes I want to make on the Utility, including some transom modifications so I can more easily use the trolling motor (which I enjoyed) and some improvements to the floor.