My Boat

bAcKpAiN · Post by **bAcKpAiN** » 03 Jan 2008, 22:04

***NOTICE***
All original pictures of the build were lost in a horrific photobucket accident. For pictures of the final outcome please see final page.

Ok, I am heading out to Home Depot Tomorrow to get the lumber and carpet for my conversion. I hope to get the decks done in between tomorrow and Saturday, I will be updating with pics to show progress as I go along.

The Plan:

I do not want to deck to the tops of the seats because of my son being on baord with me at different times, my wife likes the high gunwales to keep him high and dry. So, with that in mind as well as fishability I am planning a front and rear deck to the bench tops. I am going to do something similar to Joey Bag o Donuts on the front, only difference I am going to add some bracing beneath and split it with a hinge so I can store stuff underneath with easy access.

I am going to add a rear deck from the transom to the front of the rear bench seat for another place to flip, pitch, and work topwaters on lakes. I am going to leave the mid section around the motor open for ventilation and access to safety equipment etc.

For the mid section of the boat I am going to leave the benches as they are, and build up a floor in between them making for a flat stable surface to walk on and have storage underneath. If I am drift fishing this will also allow better manuverability making the benches easier to step over if needed. These floors will be framed out using 2x3's for joists footed to vertical boards from the floor to the bottom of the joists and screwed into the existing benches. The floor will come up just a tad higher than the middle seat support bracket as seem in the pictures. I am thinking because of the 2x3's as braces I will be able to get away with thinner plywood. I am leaning toward 1/2".

I plan on taking the existing swivel seats out for now, and seeing what I can come up with as time goes by. Spring fishing usually means mobility more than comfort. I can tackle that challenge come the warmer, longer days of summer. After the decking, I plan on installing a bilge pump, livewell, and the fish finder wiring everything into a nice neat switchboard. Any ideas, feedback, and or criticism are certainly appreciated.

Any guesses on weight I will be adding with this project? I have to push it by hand up a slight incline for storage, so if I am going to be adding too much weight I will have to rethink some things to make the decks removable. I have some ideas for that too.

Post by **Jim** » 03 Jan 2008, 22:16

Seems like you have everything covered and well thought out.! I like the top on your boat. That must be a huge plus for days its raining or even a scorching sun. I cant wait to see the progress.

Good luck man!

alumacraftjoe · Post by **alumacraftjoe** » 03 Jan 2008, 22:21

Good luck and post plenty of pics. I am going to be doing a similar project on a 14 foot v bottom alumacraft in the near future so I am soaking up all the ideas on here.

Captain Ahab · Post by **Captain Ahab** » 05 Jan 2008, 07:33

Nice stuff man - does that Bimini get in the way when you have it folded?

I fished the Del. Bay for many years in a 19' Sea Nymph with a Bimini and it posed little problems, but then again there was very little casting involved. I have a 16' Mirrocraft and was considering adding a Bimini but I am concerned about crowding the decks with snaggy crap.

Post by **bassboy1** » 05 Jan 2008, 14:34

Esquired, I had one on my 12 foot Grumman. I never used it. The boat was too small as it is. Also, it acted like a sail on windy days. And, it was just one more thing to have to strap, and unstrap at the launch ramp. I say get a good hat.

His only has 2 bars, like mine, so it cannot fold up, and stay vertical. It has to fold down to the stern, and then it will really get in the way. To get one to fold + stay vertical, you need to find one that has 2 bars that attach to the gunwales on each side.

bAcKpAiN · Post by **bAcKpAiN** » 05 Jan 2008, 20:26

I would say the bimini, would work in a few settings. One if fishing alone, would provide a place to retreat to in times of rain, or hot sun for a few. You could stand in the front and cast and all would be well. It would work as well if you were fishing from the bow and had a non fisherman with you just to hang out. The other way it would work again is if you were alone anchored in current and fishing out the back without casting. I fished with it on all of one time, and took it off afterwards.

ps will update boat progress after kids are in bed.

Post by **Jim** » 05 Jan 2008, 21:17

I think the bimini is awesome! I would love to have one.

bAcKpAiN · Post by **bAcKpAiN** » 05 Jan 2008, 22:28

Last night, I only had enough daylight to get to Home Depot for lumber and get the boat emptied and prepped. Here are the cleaned out pics, notice the nice rust stains from the swivel seats being in there for a few years.

Today I was able to get an earlier start so I was able to actually make some progress. With a little help from my lil buddy and a friend (I am showing him the new invisible step).

I was able to make some progress. What I did was made rails out of the 2x3's for support braces. I am going to screw cross members into the plywood flooring to make the floors two large hatches for storage. Near the transom, I split the deck so I can store the gas tank and everything underneath and the middle section is going to stay open so fumes have a place to evaporate. Again, both decks will open as a hatch.

As darkness fell, and my batteries died in my cordless drill I finished cutting out the basic shapes for the bow casting deck. I have since decided I will probably cut it down and make it more like the middle decks and have it lower than the seat. I am going to do this simply because I am pretty much stuck in the back of the boat because of the tiller steer motor and the transom mount TM. This will make mounting a front seat easier as I can just mount it on the seat again. Hopefully the forecast is correct and I will have three nice warm days this coming week to get the front half decked, the bench tops cut, and all of the lumber water sealed and carpeted.

Post by **Jim** » 05 Jan 2008, 22:35

You made great progress in one day! It looks good!

Post by **bassboy1** » 06 Jan 2008, 00:05

bAcKpAiN wrote:

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I wouldn't do that too much, if I were you. last time I tried that, I ended up hitting the concrete head first.

Good work so far. Don't forget to leave space to sit and operate the tiller, on the outboard.

alumacraftjoe · Post by **alumacraftjoe** » 06 Jan 2008, 00:16

Looking Good!

Captain Ahab · Post by **Captain Ahab** » 06 Jan 2008, 04:13

WOW - great job that boat is gonna be a sweeet river smallie eating machine.

We need to get you a Bucks Co. Park Sticker and I will show you Lake Galena in the spring!

bAcKpAiN · Post by **bAcKpAiN** » 06 Jan 2008, 15:58

esquired wrote:WOW - great job that boat is gonna be a sweeet river smallie eating machine.

We need to get you a Bucks Co. Park Sticker and I will show you Lake Galena in the spring!

Sounds like a plan! How much is one of those stickers, and where could I get one? I have been dreaming of fishing Galena in my boat since I got it, but didn't get much chance last summer/fall to venture out.

Captain Ahab · Post by **Captain Ahab** » 06 Jan 2008, 16:28

bAcKpAiN wrote:
esquired wrote:WOW - great job that boat is gonna be a sweeet river smallie eating machine.

We need to get you a Bucks Co. Park Sticker and I will show you Lake Galena in the spring!
Sounds like a plan! How much is one of those stickers, and where could I get one? I have been dreaming of fishing Galena in my boat since I got it, but didn't get much chance last summer/fall to venture out.

$10.00 for County resident (like me

) and $20.0-0 for you out of county folks. Get them at Ranger office and they are good for all of the Bucks Co. park lakes. PM me if you need more specific info and I will do my best to help.

Waterwings · Post by **Waterwings** » 06 Jan 2008, 18:23

Progress is looking good, and you're gonna have some good fishing times with it!