My custom aft bench seat bait board!

Gary M

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I made one of these for my old Sailfish, so when I got the 2001 Marlin two years ago, I went right out and had one made for the HEY MON!.

It's made of 1/4" Starboard and I used the bottom seat cushion as the template. I took that to a custom plastics shop and for about $85, they nicely cut the bait board.

When I got it home, I drilled the 7/8" hole in the top corner and smoothed that out with some sandpaper. The hole is big enough for my thumb to fit into so that I can hang it overboard to clean without fear of it slipping out of my hand.

Baitboard2.jpg


I chose 1/4" because it's thick enough to be sturdy, yet thin enough to still place the bottom cushion over it. On trips to the islands, I store it under the cushion and place a rubber mat on both sides to keep it all from slipping around. Works great!

bairboard.jpg


To keep it from slipping around when I'm using it, I place a thin, rubber no-skid mat under it. And here it is in action......

LocalFish002.jpg


It also serves well as a fish cleaning table. I will sometimes take it up to the Marina fish cleaning table to give me a cleaner surface to clean my fish on other than some nasty looking wood table..... Or, pull up a bucket, pop open a beer and clean the fish right on the boat!