# j12 carolina skiff ideas for mods



## Texas_Aggie (Mar 26, 2013)

I have a Carolina Skiff JVX16 and use a Bob's hydraulic jack plate with a Stiffy Shaw Wing ventillation plate for running shallow. In addition, to help plane quicker in shallower water, I also have Smart Tabs. 

If you don't have auto trim, I would not recommend the Shaw Wing and perhaps get recommendations from someone else on cavitation plates. 

The beauty of the Shaw Wing is it will get you on plane almost instantly, it appears to increase my fuel economy, speed and most importantly--did not require drilling holes into my new motor. 

With the Shaw Wing, however, you will have to trim your motor way up when the boat breaks over to ultimately reach max speed. 

Similarly, I run a Shaw Wing on my 20' bay boat, and it forces the bow down unless I trim the motor up...then jumps to max speed.  

Your J12 is 4- times lighter than my JVX16, so take this for what it's worth. I am close to the LA border (in Texas) where poling is not practical (wind howls most of the year). 

In my personal experience, the Carolina Skiff J-series just doesn't track that well when poling, and therefore would not be worth installing a poling platform. 

The most practical method that I've found to pole, however, is to install a Yeti 50 cooler on the front deck, and then turn your boat around and pole the boat in reverse...in other wrods, poling from the bow with the transom pointed forward...stop and stake when you see fish. I also have a Power Pole which is extremely handy on the CS. 

By this method, you kill 3 birds with 1 stone b/c you also have a cooler, casting platform & poling platform all in one. 

Along those lines, I have a bow mounted trolling motor and only pole on ice cream water days in shallow marsh + backwater areas...but not in the ICW, b/c marsh reds & trout here are accustomed to the noise, and don't seem to be spooked by a trolling motor. 

I use a Skinny Water Products pole b/c of it's modular design, and is more practical for me (floats, adjustable lengths & has flounder gig attachments). 

Finally, I have a Malone kayak carrier installed on my back deck for mothershipping.


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## Texas_Aggie (Mar 26, 2013)

Forgot to mention, Perko switch comes in extremely handy...even on a fiberglass boat where your not concerned with galvanic corrosion.


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## mudd_minnow (Oct 13, 2010)

I had a 17 ft CS and decked it out. Here are some pics but first thing I would do is these things. If yours applys

1. Change the front of the trailer bunk to look like this. The issue is the front roll bunk will catch the under side of the hull and rip it off.



Your CS is 12 ft long and no (out of the way) storage. I added a large deck (removable) to incase all my crap I had. This made for a better fishing trip.



YES THERE WAS ALOT OF CRAP


I did not have a polling plat form but it would have been nice.

The big white thing on the bow was my trolling motor/ charging connecting unit for my on board charger. I would do alot of fishing adventures and I could charge my boat batteries at hotels I stayed at by plugging in an extension coard to this box and into the wall outlet.



Also, my boat was fully lockable. You could not get into any compartment unless it was unlocked. I would just put a 8 ft all thread rod thru the hole and place a key pad lock over it. It worked very well. 



All the hatches were removable as well as this whole contraption.


This is the Bimini top I cut and could store in the hatch and use it as needed.


These hatches were so big I weighed 220 and could get inside and close the lid.  (no picture of that ). Here are pics of the top and my inventions.  PS, It worked very well.





This was my push poll. I used a wooden paddle, several aluminum extension polls from tools used to level out concrete floors. I only had 3 but could have used as minny as needed. The all connected together and I was able to take them apart and store them in my hatch. You can see it stored away in the picture where the ladder is and all the crap.

   

If I had a 12 ft CS, I would deck it again for all the storage cappacity but the main reason I decked my CS was I could fish off the boat in an elevated hight (for site fishing) and see a long way. This worked out very well for me. 

Believe it or not, my boat after I tuned it up would do 38 mph with a stelleto cupped 13 x 15  1/2  4 blade ss prop at 5500 rpm with all my crap in it with just me aboard.


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## fennellaustin (Apr 3, 2013)

thanks! yeah i didnt think about it but a j12 doesnt have much of a footprint so a poling platform probably isnt the way to go. the yeti cooler is a good idea. ive seen it done so i guess thats the way i need to go.thanks mudminnow on the front trailer bunk. just did it and its 10 times better. id love to post some pics but i cant seem to figure it out.any advise would be great.i like the storage idea but im trying to keep the weight down as much as i can but on the other hand i need the storage. is that a j12 or j14?


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## fennellaustin (Apr 3, 2013)

sorry mudminnow i just read it was 17ft


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## mudd_minnow (Oct 13, 2010)

I'll see if I can help ya post pics

1. Take a picture of your boat.
2. install it into your picture section of your computer.
3. Log into photo bucket. You will have to get a password and username.
4. go to upload in the photo bucket.
5. after you upload it to photo bucket then go to the picture and click on it.
6. Now, look on the right side of the screen in photo bucket listed as image links and click on it then the IMG code.
7. Now make another internet window and open the micro skiff site to this post and click on  reply. 

(You should have 2 seprate internets opened. One is to the photo bucket and the next to microskiff.)

8. NOW, click on the typing area of the post and right click on your mouse then hit paste and wala  click the preview down below and look at your picture in the post.

On the yeti cooler thing for a polling platform. Here might be a better idea. At home depot, or Northern tool supply they have a nice platform you can use on the back deck p/n 143958 for $59.00 or 158325 for $39.00. This can also be used around the house.
   The storage thing. If you made it light and removable like I did, I think you might like it.


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## fennellaustin (Apr 3, 2013)

thanks mudminnow! i m gunna try it tommorrow and see if it works. i will check out the platform too. seems like your on top of it.also im gunna try to fab some trim tabs for my cs j12. if anyone has some ideas let me know. im thinking of useing some ss hidges, some plates and turn buckles. just dont know what size tabs. from what i can read it looks like 7" by 8" would work well. i have a mini jacker jack plate on my j12 with a 25hp now and with my wife ,me, cooler and some gear the skiff runs 35mph from what my gps says but id like to get on plane quicker. not to worried about top speed


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## mudd_minnow (Oct 13, 2010)

Have you tried a hydrofoil on the motor. My skiff w/ the 60 hp yama got the boat on plain quick and it wouyld help drasticly in the turns (no sliding).


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## fennellaustin (Apr 3, 2013)

havent thought about hydrofoils. i had em on my last boat but didnt see much of a change, but it was a modifided tri hull so maybe on the cs it would. might be the way to go. you said it would help plane the boat and reduce the boat sliding in the turns?


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## mudd_minnow (Oct 13, 2010)

It did with mine. Have you tried the carolina skiff forum. They might be able to help you with issues they fixed with there skiffs. The site is www.carolinaskiffowner.com. This is where I found alot about the CS boats and issues with them.


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## fennellaustin (Apr 3, 2013)

nice. read up on the hydrofoil and ended up ordering one today. i ordered an se sport 200 . from what ive read they work great like you said with a cs and a cheaper solution to the problem. when i get it installed i will test it out and give you an update. thanks for all the help!


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