My sons first bass rig!

My son and I bought an older pelican bass raider last fall and recently began upgrading with hopes of getting it ready for his 14th birthday. We added decks, carpet seat posts and new seats, new trolling motor, depth finder and an onboard charger. His birthday was Friday and we managed to finish it and get out on the water today! I put a lot of time and energy into but I really wanted him to enjoy and spend more time in it this summer then he does on his Xbox. We caught a few today and had fun. Great father son winter project!

very nice!

Awesome work with the boat and your son!!!!

Now that's just bad [censored]!!

Nice

Not too bad for a boat I paid $250 for. My son had to work all winter to pay for the upgrades. It looks cool and fishes really well. I keep telling him it’s miles ahead of my first boat lol

I had one of those and one thing that I can say, it is a VERY solid 10 footer to fish out of...Very stable for such a small boat. Very nice upgrades you and your son has done....ENJOY

Great job.

Awesome post and nicely done. "Mighty Fine"!

Now that’s just slick-Nice work Dad

Wow! Great work!

Awesome! Even though I pretty much have the boat of my dreams now, I look back on the days when my dad and I only had a john boat and those are the fondest memories! We had a 12 foot aluminum john boat with a 5 horse motor and that was all we needed!

That is awesome! Hopefully, many more years to come with sharing the passion with your son.

Sweet ride!

Great memories

That is just awesome! Great work, Dad!

This! Reminds me of my first jon boat. I tried so hard to make it a bass boat!

Very cool little project. Well done.

That's really cool y'all got to have a great bonding experience with the boat build and now get the benefit of catching fish out of it!!

Nicely done...both of you!

Nice project!

We did the same and finally gave up on it.

Very nice👍. Did the weight of the plywood and WAY higher seating have much of a negative effect on stability?

Outstanding! Have fun!

It is definitely not my Skeeter ZX225 but it is not any less stable then it was before the decking was added and where your butt is seated is virtually the same height as when standing in the boat before. I personally feel more stable because it’s a level flat surface with no give that Im standing on while before the bottom wasn’t stable and had some flex to it. For my son and I on our smaller HOA lakes it’s a home run.

that is amazing, put a power pole micro on the rear transom mount for him. Maybe a fish finder too

Edit: actually, check out those manual power poles anytide sells. You just stab it down yourself and clamp it in place, they are super affordable.

Great job!

BTW - what is that white stuff on the ground outside?

Sweet. Hope brings you and son many memories

Nice job

He has a Lowrance Hook2 5 on the front! He loves it!

I moved from Whitney Texas to Pagosa Springs Colorado but I’m still a Texas bass fisherman at heart lol. Not a lot of bass here but state record comes from a small lake next to town and several lakes in our neighborhood HOA and the Ute Indian reservation has a nice lake full of grass and good bass. My best colorado bass in the pic:

Very cool.

Great looking rig!

Well done!

Looks good. Since you have the deck covers (and can't easily bail), did you add a bilge pump? You could make it simple and just clamp the discharge hose over the side near where you place the pump.

Exactly what I did small bulge pump wired in the storage on the deck and a hose I can throw over the side. I made my son leave the plug out by the ramp so he could test it himself and understand how to taker care of it himself.

I hope you realize a 14 year old 5 ft 4 inch girl can look better to your son than new carpet and seats. You haven’t forgotten how that works have you? Hang on to the moment far it is fleeting. Been there done that as a father three times. You can learn to alone. Good luck.

Very nice! great father n son project. You will have those memories forever.

Priceless experience right there. Great work!