18' Duracraft Rebuild

I have a 1990 Duracraft 18X60 that arrived with a full length aluminum duck blind, built in corroded gas tank, three propane heater stations, a wobbly standup steering console and a completely rotted out plywood floor, and two 48 HP Johnsons on a boat rated to 50HP. My winter project is to take the boat down to the bare aluminum, rebuild the floor, add a steering console, put one of the 48s back on the boat, and generally rig it out for fishing. That would include livewell, pedestal seats, electric trolling motor up front and probably a 4 HP kicker if I can get it started. After the boat itself, I plan to rebuild the carburetors (never done that before) and do a water pump rebuild also. I have posted three photos as "before" and will post more as we proceed. I am looking for good ideas for floor material, console plans and suggestions, wiring ideas, storage ideas, and advice on how to proceed with the carburetors, and anything else.
Not sure what order the three photos will show up, but they are the intact boat as it arrived, how I got the blind off by myself, and progress to date (ready to pull out the old floor). Really looking forward to the exchange of ideas.

Thats an interesting motor set up. Some one put a lot of work into that thing. Going be a nice build, congrats.

Looks like you've got the basis for a really nice boat there. Welcome to the forum. :WELCOME:

Quite a duck hunting machine,almost 100hp,phew.
I like how you took the blind off,was the blind aluminum or wood?
Nice size boat,have fun with it and welcome to the site.

Hows it run with the twin motors?

Are the motors counter rotating like in the glossey mags?

Your killing me... I'd give a ton to have a blind like that on large boat like that and here you are taking it off to make a fishing boat...lol.
Totally cool though. Smart way to get the blind off man. Props there... Looks like it will be a great boat when your done.

"I am looking for good ideas for floor material, console plans and suggestions, wiring ideas, storage ideas, and advice on how to proceed with the carburetors, and anything else."
My ideas- keep it simple: Aluminum floor / decks with carpet... Front and back decks with chairs and a nice TM in front. Storage under the decks...

I thought the motors would be counter rotating also, but they are not.Seems to run OK that way, the carbs were acting up so I was only flat out for a little while. Some loose gear blew off and it was "scary fast" as my son said. I do not like exceeding the HP rating anyway. The floor is almost out, really rotten and wet. Styrofoam under is chewed up and a real mess. I will post photos soon. The blind is all aluminum. I just did not like a single use boat that was useful only 60 days a year. The blind is on craigslist for sale. After all the old wood and carpet is out I plan to powerwash and then paint as needed. Keeps me out of trouble anyway. Thanks for the comments, I need all the help and advice I can get. This is my 6th boat not counting the current pontoon boat, three kayaks, a 10' Jon and a canoe.

tccanoe said:

Are the motors counter rotating like in the glossey mags?

Click to expand...

I think the smallest CR you can get today is about 115HP. Man, I bet that thing is scary fast!

All aluminum blind.
Is it thick enough for flooring or any other mods your thing about?
Not sure what price your looking to get but may be worth more to you then what you'll get for it.
What was the hp rating on the boat?
Theres another person wondering about an all aluminum transom just wondering how yours is set up in the stern.

I am pretty sure the transom is all aluminum. I have pulled out the old rotten (and still wet) floor and all the styrofoam underneath. Critters had pretty well shredded the foam, I had little ghost t**ds floating all over. I picked up all I could then went to the nearest car wash for a good cleaning. You all should have seen the storm of styrofoam bits when the hi-pressure blasted them. Look like a snow globe from the inside. I have included a photo of the floor before and one after cleaning. Now the fun part begins with a clean boat.

Zum said:

All aluminum blind.
Is it thick enough for flooring or any other mods your thing about?
Not sure what price your looking to get but may be worth more to you then what you'll get for it.

Click to expand...

I agree with Zum on this one. I'd look at the all aluminum blind as a source for material before I went and sold it. With such a large boat, it may be hard to find a buyer for the blind who's willing to pay what it's likely worth and it may be hard to establish a value.

If you use the materials on your boat, you'll lose nothing.

The old floor is out, rotten 1/2 inch plywood, styrofoam floattaion and all.
Some inside painting done and new floatation in the floor.
I put in 2" stringers cut to level the floor. Anything wood in this boat gets two if not three coats of spar varnish.

Work in progress/ All wood in this boat gets at least to coats of Spar Urethane.

I was thinking about running dual 15's on the back of my 16ft fisher marine but was not sure how it would drive. Does it not fight each other? can you post the throttle controls for me to see how it is done

Look at my forum "Change Dual Controls To Single", there are two pictures there of my controls. Basically two sets of controls bolted together. One throttle arm has the two tilt switches built into it. Everything was duplicated and I found it unnecessarily complicated. Also my 18' boat is rated for a 50 and it had two 48s on it. I consider that dangerous so I am going back to one 48 HP motor. The two motors did not seem to fight one another. But it was so fast the one time I had it flat out I was too scared to pay much attention to anything behind me. Hope this helps.

I wonder if anyone else has ever had to completely change plans in the middle of a rebuild? I had the great fortune to have a friend visit and take a look at my boat with the front deck extension mostly framed in, plywood decking cut, varnished and ready to go in. I mentioned that I was build ing a console next. Turns out he had a friend who took a console out of his 18' Tracker to convert to a mud motor and another friend wanted it and put it in his barn. This was several years ago. Long story short, the guy gave me the console (built in livewell), steering wheel and cable, free. So, I no longer need the front deck extension to put my livewell in. I took all the framing out, Built a cooler stand and am in process of a battery box. Saved a lot of floor room and I think it looks better. Pictures next time.

Great find or fortune.
Every reason to change up there...

I'm a plan maker and generally like to stick to plans, but if an opportunity comes up for something better than what I planned, I'll change it immediately. It sounds like you've come into a great deal there and I think you're changing what you're going to do is a great idea. Love to see pics of the parts you got before you put them in.

if i got a deal like that, i would stop in the middle of my build and make new plans! cant wait to see some more pictures