Lunker777

wells its a 14.5 aluminum with an 18HP merc on the back... I plan on using it in rondeau bay and small lakes up north when we go to the cottage.

Hey everyone. Well... there hasnt been much work done to the boat... other than all the cracks are now welded and ready to go. Nows its time to get the transom brace back into place. There were 20 rivets holding it on. You can kind of see in the pic what Im talking about.... this was the best one I could find, sorry ! Now we cant seem to find a proper rivet gun ANY WHERE.... only pop rivets.. and for obvious reasons, those wont work. Also neither myself or my Grandpa have ANY experience with rivets. I know everyone says "just use some heavy hammers." Well, as fun as that sounds I dont want to start pounding away and potentially mess up and have to drill out rivets and start over and My idea was to use stainless bolts inplace of the rivets. Sealed with some 3M 5200. Then with steel flex afterwards. My local dealer said that would be fine, I just wanted to get your opinions on it ? The other plus to doing it this way is that if need be, the brace can be removed fairly easily.... What do you think ?

hahah Thats insane ! I guess nets wouldn't work ? haha

oh SNAP !! hahahah Twitter eh ? Well I figure if its good enough for Mr. Mercer, I had better get on. Officially just started my twitter account So I'm guessing its just a matter of time till Facebook is dead !

hahaha yea I just saw it the last couple of time I was watchin it. I wish my pic was on the commercial ! hahah

Where were you 2 days ago ? hahah I think your a little far for a peice of wood.. but thanks ! Im going to get the sealer and get the maple ready tonight after work ! One more thing to check off the list !

SWEEET !

hahahah I just need to to be EXACTLY 1" thick... My plan was to go with Oak, but the store was selling me "green oak" so I had some questions about that. In the mean time this maple came up... Im going to use it I think... and about the welding... it hasn't happened.. YET.... still debating it .

Well..... Today was a great day! When I arrived to work on the boat with Granps for a bit. My uncle was just leaving and we started to talk about things I needed to do to get the boat water ready. The transom being one of them. He let me know that the neighbor has a PILE of hard wood that him and his father bought a while ago. So luckily enough, while we were standing talking Steve, the neighbor, pulled in his drive and we started to talk. I asked if he had any hardwood, Oak to be exact and he said they were running short on Oak, but he had lots of Maple ? Now... I didn't know what to say to this. I haven't come across maple as being used for transoms since I started my search for the right type of wood to use. I said to him that I didn't know if maple would work and he said "well its works if its free, right ? If it rots, replace it in five years! " ... To a point he is right... But on the other hand, I kind of wanted to do everything the "RIGHT" way on this boat if possible... regardless of free things or not ! Seeing as it takes 26 rivets to hold the transom support in place... I kind of wanted to next transom to hold tuff for many years to come... not just for myself, but the folks who come to own it after me . So... before doing any re-search on the subject... I gave him the old transom board and off he went to his fathers wood shop to get to work...... Hold on, I just wanted to thank Steve for all his help at this point because it was a huge surprise today, I didn't expect to find a replacement transom today which was one of the bigger things on the list. Thanks Steve ! :worthy: I figure that if the wood is sealed 3-4 times over after all the holes have been drilled... and if I use some 3M 5200 on the hardware holding it on. The piece of maple should be pretty rot resistant, no? What do you think ? Out with the old... In with the new... maybe... Thanks for tuning in ! hahah Have a good night everyone !

Yea Stover was telling me about a time he went out himself and caught 8 fish in about 30 minutes... I think its still early in the season... and the water was pretty muddy if that makes a difference ! I'll have to get to the Gander mountain then... his rod and reel combo was about $100.

Hey everyone... Well my buddy Stover and I decided to try the big river last night for some Eyes.... Well, all I can say for my first night fishing experience was it was awesome ! We were fishing in roughly 20' FOW about 90-100 yards from shore. We were using a new technique to me... Chugging... We have a three was swivel... 18" down was a 3oz pencil weight.... then off the back we had a 6' line to a pencil plug, off the back of the pencil plug another 6' of line tied to a rapala husky jerk. It was an interesting way to do things hahah a lot of line to get tangle, but if your careful, with the 2 of us on board. it went very smoothly. I'm curious.... for the guys that fish with this technique.... Where can you buy chugging rods ??? I don't see them anywhere... I have the BPS catalog and Ive looked and found nothing. As far as action goes.... Stover landed 1 good size walleye and had a few bites.... I on the other hand came up short ahah Oh well, it was more for the learning experience last night than anything... Now I know what to expect next time ! I didn't get any pics really.... nothing to be to excited about..... Well... The Lake freighters going by a few hundred yards away it pretty sweet... I must say ! Well... Time to go work on the boat ! Have a good day folks ! Tyler

Yea it can... thats another option !

No I dont think he sized it for that ! I kinda wished he did, thats the only down fall to it. But as the old saying goes... Beggers cant be choosers .... Im just happy he made it ! haah

You got that right !!! haha

Well... Grandpa was at it again.... While I was at work making plans and looking at different pictures to get ideas for a motor stand... Grandpa decided to get to work, Who needs plans eh ? haha This is what he came up with by the time I came back by lunch ! Oh ya, I dropped the wood off that morning around 8am ! I guess retirement = boredom for my Granps ! Its not to short and not to tall... I still need to add some wheels to it to make it nice and mobile !!! I wish I had the skills like my Grandpa... He does great work !

Yea its between the rear and mid seat. Its the only rib that is between them ! I never noticed the cracks... I guess I was a little excited because I found the boat and it was for the deal I got it at ya know ??? hahah If I would have noticed them, I bet ya I would have bought it for $6-700 ! Oh well, Live and learn I guess..... It'll get fixed and we'll move on hahah I just don't know the best way to go about fixing the problem... SOOOO an update of the progress as of today.... I still don't know the route I'm going to go with the transom material... I can get all the Oak I need for both pieces of the transom for about $50.... Which is a good price.. I know I was told to go with plywood but the problem is getting the EXACT thickness of 1" like what I need. The oak would be planed to the proper thickness. The cracks in the rib have been cleaned down to bare shiny aluminum... So we think we are ready for any welding that needs to be done. Also the transom support that needs to be welded is also all cleaned up and ready to go ! Once those things are taken care of, things will really start to move along I think ! Also, any gaps or imperfections in the outside braces of the boat were taking care of today so all the lines are nice and tight ! Another step closer to paint. Stay tuned for another update tomorrow... time to strip the bottom and prep for "Steel Flex"

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When you say midship... Do you mean right where its already splitting ? or is there more to it than that ? Im hoping that welding some braces in there will help the structure a bit ! Or at least stop it from cracking for a few more years

Agreed..... GO WINGS !

Hey.... Looking at the back of your boat it looks similar. But the floor has some grooves runnin through it that mine doesn't have. Mines a "Springbok Aluminum" and I think I have narrowed it down to the early 80's ?

Well, Little update on the boat. While I was at work, My grandpa went ahead and got rid of those rusty steel braces. I was thinking it was going to be a tough ugly job but he went through it easy ! Seems to always go that way with him haha In this gay man you can see the mess the guy tried to fix the many leaks Im guessing came with all those rivets. Im looking at putting "steelflex" on it once I have the rivets back in place and everything ! So that's the priority at the moment. Once that's done.. and the cracks are welded and everything is sturdy again. The transom will go back in. Then the steel flex put on, paint... once that's dry and I'm happy..It'll be time to work on the inside ! Thanks for tuning in everyone !

Evening everyone ! Well.... I guess you should always listen to your own advice .... I was taught this by a manager of mine when I first started selling cars.... " When you assume things, you make an out of you and me " hahaha Well I assumed the size, I prefer to use "estimated" the dimentions of the transom board as being 48"x12"x1" .... thats what the price of $30 for the Oak was based on, but really the dimentions are... 51"x8.5"x1" . So now I look like an idiot and I'm kind of worried about the price of the Oak gettin a bit more money, around the price of making the Marine look good aswell. There were some circumstances with cutting the piece of oak to the size I wanted... they were making an exception because it was an even number of feet. So hopefully I can still work something good out with them to get the size I need. So, the good news.... While I was at work today... My grandpa decided to take care of the steel pieces in the boat. He has drilled out all the rivets perfectly, even saved a few to know what size we had to replace with. I thought they would all be mashed by the time they came out ! Way to go Granps !!!!!! I have pics, but its late... and the wife and I need some time together... The boat has taken over my life !!!............................ :thumbsup_anim: I never thought the day would come till I could say that !!! HAHHAHA I love this stuff ! Good night Everyone !

Well, I just got back from the Lumberyard. I can get a piece of "green" white Oak for approx $30 bucks for the size I need... roughly 48"x12"x1".... It seems a shame, they only sell it in 2" thickness... so they are planing off the rest to get it to an inch !!! What a waste ! They don't sell 1" marine grade ply.... But I can get a sheet of .5" for I think it was $150... I left the sheet in my truck hahah Im thinking I can use the marine grade for the decking and floor... hmm... the price on the oak is good as well ! I think I better pick up that piece of oak, no ?

Good mornin folks, Thought I would do a little research on the boat this morning before work. Im definitely going to need to seal the bottom of my boat. I know there is a leak in the front and I have a feeling probably more since we stripped the paint and some bondo off the hull. I ran across this product from Fasco Epoxies (www.fascoepoxies.com) called .."STEEL FLEX" Ive read a couple posts on other sites about this stuff and it seems to be the best stuff going.... next to "Gluvit". Ive also read lots of guys having better experiences with it as opposed to "Gluvit" they have been using it on airboats since 1961 ? haha must be good stuff ! Its 2 parts and you mix together and then roll on bare/clean aluminum, and let it sit. It makes about a 1/8 thick rock hard layer on the bottom of your boat ? I guess the thicker you put it on though, the faster it dries. I'm 95% sure Im going to get some and give it a go, there is no price on the site but another guy said it was about $100 a gallon... :wallbash: Has anyone else heard of this stuff ?? Good or Bad ?!

Just curious what the best type of wood to use for a transom. It needs to be exactly 1" think. I was thinking of getting a piece of Oak ? But heard it rots faster than plywood ? Plywood is cheaper than Oak, so I guess as far as a budget goes, its the right way to do it.... but what will last longer ? Thanks