Anyone ever build a boat mounted cleaning station?

I keep my fish in the livewell until I'm ready to clean them, and like to clean them before I go to the ramp and load the boat, but sometimes it's hard to find a good spot. So, I decided I wanted a boat mounted cleaning station, so I could just clean them sitting in the boat, but keep the mess outside the boat.

I found some that were rod holder mounted and some that just bolted to the boat, but I really didn't like either of those, so I decided just to build one that hooked onto the edge of the boat out of a cutting board and pvc. Here are all the parts before assembly.



The cutting board is just a 12" x 18" plastic cutting board from wally world. I used 3/4" pvc, and four stainless steel bolts and nuts. I built a pvc frame, then bolted the cutting board to the top of it with the four bolts. I countersunk where the bolts went and siliconed over the top of the bolts so there wouldn't be holes to trap any leftovers. Here is the frame before I bolted the top on.



Here is the finished cleaning station on the boat.



A side view.



From inside the boat.



It will also work on my kayak.



I thought about leaving some of the pvc joints unglued so I could disassemble it and store it in a storage box in the boat, but I ended up just gluing the whole thing. I'm storing it under the console. It's really solid and works very well. Total cost: $21.

Sharp!

That's a great design.

I keep everything in the jeep and the smitybilt bumber
works well for holding the board.

You might ask around about cleaning fish on the water.
I think there may be some law against it.
I couldn't find it on the TPWD but I know we have discussed it
online before.

Very nice

very nice!



yes, now what they enforce or you can't talk yourself out of is another story. when I bought a boat house I talked to Fish & Game a few times to be absolutely clear on a few grey areas like this.

possession of filets on the water will get you in trouble especially since they can't tell minimum size. so I can't clean fish on my boat house, but I can do it on the shore. they didn't care about throwing guts in water unless local rules against it.

Can you clean fish that you have caught while you are still on the water in your boat?

It is unlawful to clean (remove the head, tail, fillet) your catch of fish until the fish is finally landed on the mainland (not including piers, jetties) and no longer transported by boat.

Taken from TPWD website under FAQ.

Good idea though.

Wow, I didn't know that. I guess I better be careful with it.

wouldn't do it, period.

Was at the coast once on the Colorado River and Game Warden came to the cabin (VIA BOAT) and asked about our catch. We had already cleaned the fish, so he asked to see the fillets. We had them in bags in the fridge and let him see them. He made a few measurements on the fish fillets ( mostly red fish ) and said they looked good. 1st and only time that has happened. Not sure how he could tell but I am sure he knew what he was doing. I wouldn't want to have ONE illegal because they are expensive. I too didn't know about cleaning fish on the water, but have always just fished on the water..cleaning fish just has to wait. Thanks for the heads up and A great idea in the fillet platform....just retrofit it to something land based.

Just keep it on the down low...

nice!

Make sure you don't try sneakin that by on Bob Sandlin or Cypress Spings. Heath Taylor the Game Warden for that area is a regular on this forum.

To the best of my knowledge once you load your boat and pull it out of the water you can clean your fish in the parking lot. Which is what I do sometimes at Cypress. Just make sure you don't leave a mess.

Steve

I've been looking at some of the ones on line, I really like yours. I think I just found another project for the new boat.

Thanks

Nice idea, but completely illegal to clean fish on the water.... Good luck!

Cleaning your fish on the water is strictly against the law in Texas.