2019 Vibe Sea Ghost 110 build

[Bass Junke]

So I bought the 2019 Vibe Sea Ghost 110. I had a few goals in mind for 2020 fishing season: build an awesome fishing kayak (obviously), have everything on my boat locked down, add lights to fish pre dawn and after dark, and get on and off the water efficiently.  I did a lot of research and watched a lot of you tube builds. I didn’t see many if any, done with a fuse box. A lot of guys were using a cigarette lighter as the fish finder connection. I think there are better options. So here is what I did.

 

Here is my dashboard. The 3 switches on the left control: 1- bow running lights red and green, 2- stern running lights white, 3- interior/ mood lighting red. The thing in the center is a voltmeter and 2 quick charge 3.0 USB ports. The connection on the right is where the Garmin plugs in. The wire coming out of the scupper hole looking thing is the transducer hole. The wire goes into the body of the kayak and back out just to eliminate all the excess wire, added the grommets to help keep out the water. The transducer mounts behind a door safe and sound. In my opinion still the best transducer mount in the kayak world, worry free. I had a much clearer photo that showed the transducer wire better but it was 2.1mb, blurry photos are only .556mb.

[Bass Junke]

Here is a shot of my fuse box that I built inside of a Plano waterproof box. It is just velcroed to the bottom of the kayak. I put a grommet on the hole going out with wires. Tried to keep everything as watertight as possible. Right now the only thing kind of exposed are the connections on the switches, but if I’ve got water up to those switches, we have way bigger problems than a shorted out electrical system. Captain might just go down with the ship

 

Wiring was hard to keep tidy with limited access to some of the boats interior. Kept it as organized as I could. 

[Smalls]

Looks really good. 
 

I agree, keeping things tidy on kayaks is near impossible. 

[Bass Junke]

Here is a poor photo of everything running including the Garmin in demo mode. My battery is a 7.5 amp hour battery that is pretty small. There was a significant drain with everything running. A 12 amp hour battery will be more appropriate. Buying one will require me to build a new watertight battery box, which keeps me occupied, which makes spring seem to arrive quicker. 

 

I had a nice shot of the garage all lit up with just kayak lighting, 2.1mb, the clear one with the garage light on, .556mb go figure.

Couple pics of the lights. First one cabin lights are behind seat. Didn't want them shinning in my eyes, seemed like the best place for them.

[Bass Junke]

This is my new crate. It was much different last year. This year, I went with the shock cord theme. When I added the top cord to secure the lid and realized I could also secure my net under there, I was sold. hmmm , what else can I hold with bungies? So I added them to a couple of sides. There are home made rod leashes on each tube. Finally there are bungie hooks on the sides for a quick lock down to the tank well. The straps are already on those D rings I added.

 

Pic of rod leashes. 1 piece of bungie, 2 funky hook connecters, 2 tie wraps, and 2 split rings from the key dept. at Lowes. I like split grips only. Does anyone see a problem with this? Am I going to ruin my blank? Should I figure out a softer connection?

[SuperDuty]

Looking like some fun projects going on in the shop! I'll be wiring up some cockpit lights and other electronics when I get my new Kaku this spring. Being a licensed electrician and someone who installs and services electrical & data wiring as a profession, I have a tendency to be anal about wiring. 

[Bass Junke]

15 minutes ago, SuperDuty said:

Looking like some fun projects going on in the shop! I'll be wiring up some cockpit lights and other electronics when I get my new Kaku this spring. Being a licensed electrician and someone who installs and services electrical & data wiring as a profession, I have a tendency to be anal about wiring. 

Question. The fuse box needs to be secured to the bottom of the watertight box. Should I glue it? Does a fuse box with just LED's running to it get hot? Can I just velco it? I am not an electrician, and this is my first wiring project ever of any kind.  

Permanently (Velcro) mounted a first aid kit in the center hatch. The NRS Chinook PFD no pic necessary.  

 

Here is a nice cheap mod. A lot of kayaks have tracks and some come with track bolts. The ones that come with the Vibe are okay, but become awesome with some D rings added to them. 

 

 

[SuperDuty]

9 minutes ago, Bass Junke said:

Question. The fuse box needs to be secured to the bottom of the watertight box. Should I glue it? Does a fuse box with just LED's running to it get hot? Can I just velco it? I am not an electrician, and this is my first wiring project ever of any kind.  

Led doesn't draw much so it's not gonna overheat. Yeah you could use some silicone to secure it. 

[Hook2Jaw]

I'm a huge fan of the Vibe Seaghost 130 and I am impressed.  Your 110 looks very nice!

[Smalls]

4 hours ago, Bass Junke said:

My battery is a 7.5 amp hour battery that is pretty small. There was a significant drain with everything running. A 12 amp hour battery will be more appropriate.

Move to LiFePo4 batteries. Smaller, more efficient, and actually cheaper in the long run. 

[Bass Junke]

12 hours ago, SuperDuty said:

Led doesn't draw much so it's not gonna overheat. Yeah you could use some silicone to secure it. 

Thank you SuperDuty. 

 

10 hours ago, Smalls said:

Move to LiFePo4 batteries. Smaller, more efficient, and actually cheaper in the long run. 

Thank you. Just checked them out on Amazon. The 12 amp hour is about the same size as my 7.5. No brainer.

 

12 hours ago, Hook2Jaw said:

I'm a huge fan of the Vibe Seaghost 130 and I am impressed.  Your 110 looks very nice!

Thanks. I spent all year researching kayaks trying to come up with a reason to buy something better than the Sea Ghost. In the end the Sea Ghost is a great value, I don't want to stand up all day so I like the large center console, and the transducer mount keeps being the true deciding factor. I don't like sonar pods. Pretty much the main reason I did not wait for the Shearwater.

[Hook2Jaw]

10 minutes ago, Bass Junke said:

Thank you SuperDuty. 

 

Thank you. Just checked them out on Amazon. The 12 amp hour is about the same size as my 7.5. No brainer.

 

Thanks. I spent all year researching kayaks trying to come up with a reason to buy something better than the Sea Ghost. In the end the Sea Ghost is a great value, I don't want to stand up all day so I like the large center console, and the transducer mount keeps being the true deciding factor. I don't like sonar pods. Pretty much the main reason I did not wait for the Shearwater.

I would never touch the Shearwater.  That boat is going to be a bust, mark my words.

[J Francho]

Nice and clean.  I love that you added fuses. I would NOT have put port and starboard colored markers on it.  Other vessels might mistake you for an actual boat and not steer as clear as they might if they thought it was a canoe or kayak, with the one bright, white anchoring light, as specified by USCG rules.

 

p. 29 fig. 7

https://www.uscgboating.org/images/420.PDF

[Bass Junke]

12 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Nice and clean.  I love that you added fuses. I would NOT have put port and starboard colored markers on it.  Other vessels might mistake you for an actual boat and not steer as clear as they might if they thought it was a canoe or kayak, with the one bright, white anchoring light, as specified by USCG rules.

 

p. 29 fig. 7

https://www.uscgboating.org/images/420.PDF

Thank you. I was on a similar PDF last Friday reviewing boating regs. As the boats got smaller the regs got more sketchy. The way I read it the red/green nav lights were not required but recommended. Interesting point though. Not a concern yet, the waters I am planning on going on at night are very small waters. I will have the lake to myself.

[J Francho]

3 minutes ago, Bass Junke said:

I will have the lake to myself.

NICE!!!!

[Bass Junke]

Here is the original photo I wanted to include of my dash. Resized.

[SuperDuty]

10 hours ago, Hook2Jaw said:

I would never touch the Shearwater.  That boat is going to be a bust, mark my words.

 

what makes you think that?  Just curious because I've read a few dealers say they expect it to be a huge hit. 

[Hook2Jaw]

2 hours ago, SuperDuty said:

 

what makes you think that?  Just curious because I've read a few dealers say they expect it to be a huge hit. 

It's gonna be a huge hit, but everything I've heard about the models that were at iCast was bad.  Flimsy hulls.  The amount of time it's taking them to get them out worries me, as well.  Vibe has thin plastic in their hulls, less than my Old Town, and my boat has a thinner hull than a Hobie.  You're going to need a very built up area around the drive well in addition to a lot of plastic around the seat.  Kicking puts tons of torque on those areas.

 

Hobie Outbacks are having problems with cracked hulls every now and a again when people purely use the high seat positions.  If that can get past Hobie's QC, with years of experience building pedal drives, I worry for Vibe trying to get it right.

 

The Pelican Hydryve, the first Mirage Drive copy, had loads of issues.  Those steel fin spines have to bend or break before the drive itself does, and I have one friend who's Hydryve gave up on him about 3 times.

 

Vibe is being forced to toe some fine lines with the Shearwater.  I hope they get it right.  I've been a proponent of the Seaghosts for years -- awesome paddle yaks at that price point.  I just have little faith when it comes to getting a new boat right with the very first run.

 

Perhaps that's why it's taking so long to be released.

 

Native Slayers, Old Town Topwaters, and Hobie Compasses occupy that same general area as far as dollars go.  I would look to those before I'd buy a first run Shearwater.

[SuperDuty]

Good post man! I've read that a lot about the thin vibe plastic. That never crossed my mind though. Vibe has always stood behind their kayaks as good or better than anyone in the industry though. There has been many instances of the seats wearing through on some PADDLE kayaks so it's obviously pretty common knowledge to these manufacturers that it's an area that needs special attention. If they don't then it's pretty negligent on their part. 

 

I read somewhere about the Pelicans massive failure on their drive but also read they really cut corners producing it. Hopefully Vibe has paid close attention so they don't repeat their same mistakes. 

 

I am eagerly waiting to see people get these into their hands and get some real world use out of them. I had planned to pick one up myself until I stumbled on the Kaku line. 

 

Once you get a bad reputation for poor quality or customer service, it's extremely difficult to get away from that stigma. Vibe would be smart to put every effort in making sure this yak is done right because they have a real shot here of producing something outstanding for that price point. 

[Bass Junke]

On 1/18/2020 at 7:56 AM, SuperDuty said:

Good post man! I've read that a lot about the thin vibe plastic. That never crossed my mind though. Vibe has always stood behind their kayaks as good or better than anyone in the industry though. There has been many instances of the seats wearing through on some PADDLE kayaks so it's obviously pretty common knowledge to these manufacturers that it's an area that needs special attention. If they don't then it's pretty negligent on their part. 

 

I read somewhere about the Pelicans massive failure on their drive but also read they really cut corners producing it. Hopefully Vibe has paid close attention so they don't repeat their same mistakes. 

 

I am eagerly waiting to see people get these into their hands and get some real world use out of them. I had planned to pick one up myself until I stumbled on the Kaku line. 

 

Once you get a bad reputation for poor quality or customer service, it's extremely difficult to get away from that stigma. Vibe would be smart to put every effort in making sure this yak is done right because they have a real shot here of producing something outstanding for that price point. 

I've been drilling some holes in my Vibe here and there. I needed to order 1/2 grip pop rivets because the 1/4" rivets which made it through the side of the hull on my Skipjack, wouldn't even come close on the Sea Ghost. About 15 minutes ago I was trying to drill a 3/8" hole for a glange. ( Hmmm spell check? Thought that is what they are called). Well the 1/2" threaded area needed to screw the nut on to secure it to my hull, nope. Thankfully I drilled a nice hole and was able to just screw the glange into the hole, should be fine. My point, what is this thin hull stuff about Vibe. 

 

Now , the photo above of my dashboard, that plastic is pretty thin. The thickness of the plastic varies a great deal throughout the boat. Trust me guys this boat does not feel flimsy, it does not flex. The couple times I took it out in October it was so stable standing was incredibly easy. That floor didn't flex and the boat didn't change the way it sat in the water. I am not a big guy, however, 5' 10" 170lbs. 

[SuperDuty]

51 minutes ago, Bass Junke said:

I've been drilling some holes in my Vibe here and there. I needed to order 1/2 grip pop rivets because the 1/4" rivets which made it through the side of the hull on my Skipjack, wouldn't even come close on the Sea Ghost. About 15 minutes ago I was trying to drill a 3/8" hole for a glange. ( Hmmm spell check? Thought that is what they are called). Well the 1/2" threaded area needed to screw the nut on to secure it to my hull, nope. Thankfully I drilled a nice hole and was able to just screw the glange into the hole, should be fine. My point, what is this thin hull stuff about Vibe. 

 

Now , the photo above of my dashboard, that plastic is pretty thin. The thickness of the plastic varies a great deal throughout the boat. Trust me guys this boat does not feel flimsy, it does not flex. The couple times I took it out in October it was so stable standing was incredibly easy. That floor didn't flex and the boat didn't change the way it sat in the water. I am not a big guy, however, 5' 10" 170lbs. 

You're quoting the wrong guy. I wasn't the one who stated they had flimsy hulls. I've never seen a vibe in person or have any experience with how thick or thin their plastic is. I've read a few things about them and some have stated they weren't as thick as other kayaks. Ive also read reviews saying the buckled if left in direct sunlight for an extended period of time. But again, it's only what I've read and that's the extent of my knowledge about them. 

[Bass Junke]

Yes I did. Sorry bro. That's okay, Hook2jaw is on this site as much as I am. Pretty sure he will see it. Besides, just trying to maybe dispel some rumors. Not trying to put anyone on the spot. Unless it is the spot on the spot, we all want to be there.