Floor Grate upgraded needed – Best big water boat around

Ive been meaning to send this for a while. I am looking for a replacement, but better designed floor grate for my 03 Cougar. If you are smart you will replace yours too if you have the original. While I may sound critical of that grate, I am really glad I own a Basscat Cougar. If anyone really wants a boat that can handle big water, this boat has proven it absolutely can. Heres why: When I bought my 03 Cougar last year, I knew the one thing I really wanted in an upgrade was a boat that could handle big water. In Washington State we fish lots of big water. (ie the Columbia River) On June 23rd my club held an event on the Columbia above the John Day Dam. This area is one pool above the world famous Hood River area known as the wind surfing capital of the World. Always cautious of this area of the Columbia River Gorge, you plan your tournaments with some water close by to fish and then if wind permits you can make some runs. NOAA was calling for 5-9 MPH wind. No problem, probably nothing over a couple foot even if they were off by a bit. We made a 30 mile run ( daylight, 68 mph flat water, full take of gas) and had a good limit in the boat in the first hour. We hit a number of other places in the area and had what I thought was a winning bag in the livewell. At about 10am the ugliest black wall of weather came into view coming up the Gorge. We did not waste any time and started our run back to the launch, heading west into the direction of the weather. At about mile 10 we started hearing the roar of lightening and could see the strikes about 5 miles off, as the system moved across the top rims of the canyon. An Awesome sight of a clear blue day turning dark, and multiple lightening strikes 1000+ feet up the canyon walls on top the rim plateau. About that time we could see a white wall of rain water coming at us, and could tell it pack a serious punch of wind. It was less than a mile away and the rollers started getting serious. I had taken out my bloggie camera to capture what to that point was just some rough water, both my partner and I had been in plenty of times. When the rollers went from 2 foot to 6 foot, the fun stopped. ( the video ended, just like you see when the story goes “and they were never seen again” ) We pulled into a small boat launch, marina area to get out of the ruckus, turning circle after circle with no place safe to moor the boat without risking serious damage. We got rained on…. ok we got really soaked, still in shorts and flip flops, I grabbed a Frogg Togg top. Wind blowing hard, and the floor starting to show an inch or so of water, then the hail started… of course. Twenty five minutes of circle after circle and the rain, wind and hail started to die off. Not great running environment but better. We headed back out to the river to try to make it back, figuring it might take us the rest of the day to get back to weigh-in. It started out not to bad, and went down hill from there. What was good size rollers in the 3-6 foot range that are certainly navigable if you go slow, turned into the biggest rollers I have ever seen a bass boat in. These guys were 10 foot +, no fish story. With the bow going almost vertical on every wave, and then dropping and taking several gallons of water over the bow, ( not spearing… getting swamped).Its that moment when the water is covering your laps that you really wonder, are we gonna survive. See we had already moved as close to the shore as we could, just to stay out of the worst of the water, but with nothing but a 40 foot high riprap wall for as far as the eye can see ( water filled eye that is) we had little choice but keep working it. There was no turning the boat around, we would have went over in a blink. We shouted back and forth ( it was loud, the wind, motor, water in the face) that we may have to swim for it to the rip rap and say the heck with the boat and gear. The bilge pump was still throwing a full steady stream, but the floor just wasnt keeping up, and then we would hit a little calmer spot and the floor would empty a little, then splash, splash, splash and back to over our laps. I wondered if all the sudden my ETEC 225 would just cut out due to some electrical issue or just over worked. ( Did I throw that fuel switch?) After about 40 minutes of the worst pounding, drenching, breath taking, exhausting, scared sh$%*#$ time we got to Sundale ( Washington side) A small enclosed boat launch marina behind that rip rap wall. Calm water never felt so calm….. even though the wind was a solid 15mph inside, it was not the 25-70mph gusts we were in before. We got the boat tied off to the leeward side of the dock and got out and started drying off. As the wind calmed own, we talked about how much water was collecting in the floor. I pulled out a square drive, driver and removed the cover. The grate was quished together, so water could not pass quickly. I chose to leave it off the rest of the weekend. Will post a picture if anyone wants to see it. We were still 15 miles from the launch but we were safe. We knew we had a good bag of fish but nothing was going to get us out of that marina except a truck and trailer, or if the wind really cooperated. We phoned to check on the rest of the club. Everyone was in except us. We sat there for about 2 hours, poking our heads out around the rip rap to see what the River looked like every so often. Finally about 2:15 it laid down. We made a run for it, getting about 5 miles down the river and had to make the run across the river back to the Oregon side to get to the launch. It was still rough but only took water over the bow 2 times and was nothing compared to the prior. We made it back with 15 minutes to spare, only to find most of the boats out of the water, and the rest were fishing in the John Day riverWe won the day and the event. Paid a heck of a price. Learned to never go back to the John Day pool, nor trust NOAA, but if you want an exceptional big water boat, own a Basscat. Truly remarkable boat to withstand what it withstood, I am thankful. I wish I had the video, just to show people what this boat is capable of. Not recommended treatment of course but my buddy walked away from the day talking about how amazed he was with my Cougars performance in the worst water hed ever seen in 35 years of fishing. Hes lived on the Columbia at Tri-Cities for most of that 35 years. So while that floor grate was not the source of our problem,( The wind, water and what have you was) I want better performance and a permanent solution. Your help is appreciated. Thank you, Steve