fishinfool Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 I bought a boat last year and haven't been able to spend enough time on it to get it ready for the water this year yet. If anyone has any good ideas, please feel free to put them up here like where I will get a console and windshield to replace this old piece of crap that was in the boat and maybe whether or not to use carpeting or linoleum or ? I stripped the boat completely out and I am tig welding aluminum framework into the hull to install the new interior, I have lots left to do. Luckily I have a couple of fishing buddies that don't mind me tagging along with them most weekends so I can take my time on the boat. Here are a few before and during shots of the boat. Notice all the holes in the sides of the boat, there were stainless nuts and bolts through the hull everywhere supporting numerous gadgets etc. I have since tig welded them all closed and ground them down. You wouldn't even know they were there now. I am planning on building a casting deck on the front and back of the boat. Not sure about storage lockers yet, any ideas?? I picked up a Minn Kota trolling motor and will be mounting that when ready, it already has a live well so that's covered. I will need to rewire the whole boat over so any ideas here would also be appreciated. I stripped the paint and decals off the boat and she is completely down to the bare aluminum now, gotta decide on a color. Please feel free to post any and all ideas for the betterment of this fine vessel. (HELP!!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Looks great, coming along very nicely Joey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 (edited) great job on it Edited March 24, 2009 by Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinker Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Nice work! I think I woulda painted it before I put the carpet in there though. Just a thought......I'm sure it will catch fish either way. Sinker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinfool Posted March 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Here's a few more shots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinker Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 I'm confused......is the pic with the carpet from when you got it?? Or that is what you've done to it so far? Which pic is how it is right now?? LOL. Sinker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinfool Posted March 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Nice work! I think I woulda painted it before I put the carpet in there though. Just a thought......I'm sure it will catch fish either way. Sinker Sinker I haven't put anything back in yet, these are pics of the gutting of the boat. That lighter green carpet was underneath the dark stuff. I have since taken it out along with the console. She is pretty well an empty hull right now waiting for a new interior to be fitted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinker Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Gotcha.....I'd go with vinyl flooring over carpet. Carpet just holds dirt and water. The stuff never seems to dry. On my boat I used 1/2" cedar boards and left them bare. Its not fancy, but it works great, and will last for a long, long time. I put the boards in tight, and wet, and when they shrink a little, you get a small gap between them, just enough for dirt and crap to go thru into the bilge. I don't need anything fancy. I'd just wreck it anyways.......duck hunting is hard on equipment. Its kinda like having a deck in your boat.....I like it. Sinker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinfool Posted March 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Gotcha.....I'd go with vinyl flooring over carpet. Carpet just holds dirt and water. The stuff never seems to dry. On my boat I used 1/2" cedar boards and left them bare. Its not fancy, but it works great, and will last for a long, long time. I put the boards in tight, and wet, and when they shrink a little, you get a small gap between them, just enough for dirt and crap to go thru into the bilge. I don't need anything fancy. I'd just wreck it anyways.......duck hunting is hard on equipment. Its kinda like having a deck in your boat.....I like it. Sinker Nice job Sinker, that must smell real nice. I built a Sauna in my home a few years ago and the Tongue and groove Clear Western Red Cedar cost me $3000.00. Since then the cost has gone up about 6 times. Don't know if I could afford it. lol. Stan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinker Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 haha.......I got a deal on it. Cost me about $400 to do the whole thing. I also just used the cheap fence boards. No T&G.......like I said, nothing fancy at all. Just functional. Sinker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jigger Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Looks great stout fellow! I did my boat up a few years ago now and sometimes feel like getting an old beater to fix up just for fun. Too bad the garage only fits one boat... Truly one of the more rewarding things is getting out on a boat that you put in some good hours on. Makes for a real enjoyable time! Keep up the good work! Let me know when you want to put the front casting deck in there Sinker. That roly-poly cooler has trouble written all over it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinker Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Looks great stout fellow! I did my boat up a few years ago now and sometimes feel like getting an old beater to fix up just for fun. Too bad the garage only fits one boat... Truly one of the more rewarding things is getting out on a boat that you put in some good hours on. Makes for a real enjoyable time! Keep up the good work! Let me know when you want to put the front casting deck in there Sinker. That roly-poly cooler has trouble written all over it... Casting decks are for bass fisherman. Its a tiller, I fish from the back I can fit 14 goose decoys up there in the bow.......a casting deck would take up too much valuable space..... Sinker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Great stuff Stan... just go easy with that TIG welder. I was just sent pictures of a babied 4 year old tracker with 7 cracks in the hull... right beside welds for interior bracing...and Tracker is telling him to pound salt on their lifetime hull warrantee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinfool Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Great stuff Stan... just go easy with that TIG welder. I was just sent pictures of a babied 4 year old tracker with 7 cracks in the hull... right beside welds for interior bracing...and Tracker is telling him to pound salt on their lifetime hull warrantee. Hey Irishfield Thanks for the insight, but the framework I am building will not attach directly to the hull. I am going to secure it to the original Z bars that were in the boat and I was thinking of putting rubber between the two. The rest will just fit inside the rails. I will make it modular so that if I need to remove a section due to a leak or hole (god forbid) I can just undo some screws and lift that section out. Stan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lookinforwalleye Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Good job, it looks a lot better now than it did sitting on the bottom of Goreski`s canal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeJ Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 hey fishinfool maybe you'd get that boat done if you didn't spend so much time on this forum!!! JUST KIDDING, it's became addictive for me too. Looks like your boats coming along nicely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinfool Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 hey fishinfool maybe you'd get that boat done if you didn't spend so much time on this forum!!! JUST KIDDING, it's became addictive for me too. Looks like your boats coming along nicely I just had a little Deja Vu, my wife said those exact words yesterday. LOL Are you two in cahoots... SS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeJ Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Gotcha.....I'd go with vinyl flooring over carpet. Carpet just holds dirt and water. The stuff never seems to dry. On my boat I used 1/2" cedar boards and left them bare. Its not fancy, but it works great, and will last for a long, long time. I put the boards in tight, and wet, and when they shrink a little, you get a small gap between them, just enough for dirt and crap to go thru into the bilge. I don't need anything fancy. I'd just wreck it anyways.......duck hunting is hard on equipment. Its kinda like having a deck in your boat.....I like it. Sinker Hey Sinker I see that you used ceder on your boat, I recently found out that pressure treated lumber and aluminum have a bad reaction when side by side, the copper in the pressure treated wood corrodes the aluminum. I want to fill in between my casting decks and will be using cedar. Thought I'd mention it in case others might be considering using PT for various projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Good thing to point out George! The new PT preserving formula even eats the older style galvinized decking brackets and screws/nails. You have to use stainless now or the deck falls apart. PT has no place in an aluminum boat unless you isolate it away from the aluminum somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFSC Kevin Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 gotta love working on the boat! btw sinker.. doesn't the wood add some weight to your boat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinker Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 gotta love working on the boat! btw sinker.. doesn't the wood add some weight to your boat? Its lighter than the plywood I took out of it by far. I took out 3/4 ply.....the boards are 1/2". Sinker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeXXington Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Wow, excellent job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cast-Away Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 (edited) Personally I think that less is more with your boat. Here are some thoughts for you: My number once consideration would be whether or not to change the motor over to a tiller as this will dictate the layout of the seating (console takes up allot of room) The boat is not long, so don't add too much high storage that will impede your ability to move around Keep any decking low so that the centre of gravity is not too high when standing up to fish (especially on a windy day) If you put in a live well, have it closer to the bow for ballast and balance (again great on a windy day) Lastly, you will need more base floor supports than you currently have. Good luck! Edited March 24, 2009 by Cast-Away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinfool Posted March 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2009 Personally I think that less is more with your boat. Here are some thoughts for you: My number once consideration would be whether or not to change the motor over to a tiller as this will dictate the layout of the seating (console takes up allot of room) The boat is not long, so don't add too much high storage that will impede your ability to move around Keep any decking low so that the centre of gravity is not too high when standing up to fish (especially on a windy day) If you put in a live well, have it closer to the bow for ballast and balance (again great on a windy day) Lastly, you will need more base floor supports than you currently have. Good luck! Hey Cast-Away -I am not so big on changing over to a tiller, I normally only fish with one other person in the boat and there is plenty of room so it doesn't make sense to me to change. -I will be putting all the storage under the casting deck not above so "high storage" won't be a problem. -The casting decks that I build will be at the original levels since they worked so well previously at those levels. -The live well is already in place in the back of the boat and cannot be moved too easily so that is where it will have to stay. I will however, be putting the batteries for the main motor and Minn Kota at the front underneath to balance out a little. -You would be correct about more floor supports, I am planning on installing a good solid base of Z supports before I continue with the remainder of the cribs for the decking. I really appreciate all of your input, it's the ideas of the community members that helps me to avoid missing something or making a mistake and having to do things over. Anyone else have any ideas they would like to share? Thanks Stan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike the Pike Posted March 28, 2009 Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 Wow nice job stout fellow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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