The Sailfish 218's center console is large — nearly as large as a Jiffy-John. In fact, there is a small portable toilet included with the boat. But, I'd much rather use the internal space for dry storage of gear and tackle. So, I bought a 6-foot section of close-mesh wire shelving, some stainless steel hardware, and went to work.

Taking into account that there is an access hatch in the rear inside of the console, I decided to make the shelves collapsible. I bolted two 24" pieces of 1/2"x2" oak to the starboard inside wall of the console. The rear edges of the upper 2 shelves are anchored to the oak boards using standard wire shelf wall-mounts. These mounts allow the shelves to hinge up and down. The shelves themselves are mounted upside-down so that the lip at the front edge angles up. This helps to hold items in place.

To support the front edge, I anchored two eye-bolts to the ceiling of the console. Two lengths of chain with clips on one end were hung from the eye-bolts, then attached to the shelves. This allows for a hanging support of the front edges. With gear removed, the clips can be disconnected from the eye-bolts, and both shelves will fold down flat against the starboard wall. This allows plenty of room to open the access hatch, which leads to the electronics and hydraulic control systems within the console.

The bottom shelf was cut to fit along the inside deck lip. Nothing fancy here. Again, the wire shelving was mounted upside-down to take advantage of the lip at the front edge. The shelf is held in place by two short lengths of chain, zip-tied to small clips that already exisited to hold the cargo nets.

The end result is far more user-friendly and organized. Much better than piling all the gear at the bottom.

Three other additions were the fire extinguisher mount, a cupholder that I use to hold an iPod, and a U-bolt in the console door. The extinguisher and cupholder are mounted just inside the door, against the rear wall of the console. A 3/8" hole above the cupholder allows for a headphone jack to pass thru the wall, and connects the iPod to the auxillary input on the boat's stereo. The U-bolt is used to lock the console. I simply pass a chain thru the ring, around both legs of the T-Top, and then secure with a padlock.

All drilled holes were sealed with a marine-grade silicone caulking to prevent leaks and fiberglass delamination. All exposed bolts and washers are stainless steel to prevent corrosion and rust. In addition, the eye-bolts are secured with acorn-style nuts where they pass thru the top of the console, leaving no threads exposed.

-->Bill Buckley

parrothead1973@mac.com

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