Rebirth of the Tin

TinBoats.net

Help Support TinBoats.net:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

CrappieReaper

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
49
Reaction score
0
I've been wanting for sometime to get back to an aluminum boat. I've been content with fiberglass for awhile, but I couldn't pass the deal up. This is my first post on this forum and thought I would share with you my current restoration of an aluminum boat from the dead. Thanks to CrappieDentist, who let me know about this place. He's one of the good guys, some might dissagree, but he's ok in my book.

The story...Another friend of mine had called me one day to let me know a customer of his asked him if he wanted a boat....FOR FREE! He doesn't fish and called me about it. After he described it, I told him to air up those tires and drag it home. It came with titles for the boat and the motor. I went over to have a look at it and it was a 15'5, 1980 "Traveler". Complete with a 12v 43lb Motor Guide foot control and a Humminbird LCR 4000 with ducer. I went over to have a look at it and it looked a lot like a Bass Tracker. Perhaps it was the predecessor to the Bass Tracker, just a guess. Anyway, I walked around it and just said, dang....dang....dang! They GAVE this to you??? He asked me what it was worth, I told him what the motor might sell for, the trolling motor, and even the Humminbird. I also told him that the guy he got it off of had most likely taken on more than he could handle. My friend had most of his guns in the pawn shop and wanted to get them out. I glady paid his pawn tickets, and hooked the thing up and hauled it over to my house.
The boat before pictures...

Connies5thBirthday092.jpg


Connies5thBirthday091.jpg


Connies5thBirthday089.jpg


The first thing I did was connect a water hose to the motor, put some fresh gas in the tank, hooked it up to a battery. I turned the key and VARRRROOOOM. Fired right up! Ran ragged for about 30 secs then she smoothed out and idled like a sewing machine. I was happy. The last year the boat and motor had a legal sticker was back in '02.

After looking the thing over, I had to remove an interior aluminum plate on the transom prior to replacing the wood. The only way to remove the aluminum was to drill out all the rivets in one corner of the back of the boat to be able to pull it back for enough to slide the aluminum out. I did just that. Now the transom is accessible.

BoatProject08004.jpg


boat005.jpg


I them gutted the rest of what I wanted out for now. I want nothing interfering with a future "leak test". This way everything is still accessible.
She's now stripped of what she once had in her hayday.

boat009.jpg


After cleaning her up, I took it down to the carwash. I've fabricated a front live well for it and have it installed, but still need to create a drain for it.

livewell002.jpg


I've built the new transom for it.

boat006-1.jpg


I used solid oak 1" x 12" along with oak plywood. The Oak will be strong, but will also want to crack, the oak plywood will give the solid oak strength from splitting and cracking. I used waterproof wood glue and plenty of 1 1/4" drywall screws. I then gave it two coats of commercial exterior gray primer. It's now ready to install, I've just been waiting for the right weather, and the time to do it.


I've been buy goodies for this boat for over a year now and recently have add 4 new Tempress High back Nav chairs, a Lowrance 520c, a Garmin gpsmap192c, and have two humminbird 300tx's in the wait. Ones a spare unless Jake buys it.
I hope you enjoy my progress, as well as my first post on this forum. I have no clue when I'll be able to get back into it, but plan to have it ready for it's rebirth voyage by the end of January.
Craig

This rig came with an aluminum console, aluminum sidewalls for the storage areas, two livewells in the back, and an aluminum floored storage under the back deck seat. I have a '98 60hp Merc tiller that I love. My plan was to eliminate as much clutter inside the boat as possible. My pnuematic drill was about to get a workout. I drilled out all the rivets holding the console and removed some topside aluminum as well.

I got busy in the last couple of days of November removing the console and other things. I discovered why the previous owner had given up. The backwash tray had separated from the transom allowing a whole bunch of water to enter the back of the boat whenever he shut her down. The factory plywood transom was also completely rotten.
 
I forgot to mention that I plan to turn this boat into a tiller model. I want as much room inside the boat as possible. I came close to modifying it into a center console, but decided a tiller would be best. I currently have a '98, 60hp Mercury tiller that will do the trick.
 
Jim said:
Awesome score! Looking forward to seeing the progress on this boat. Are you planning on adding a deck or just a floor? Storage?


I removed all urethane foam in the boat to make use of the area for storage. I'm not worried about her sinking. That's what they make bilge pumps for.

This is what it did look like once the deck was removed.

SkatingBoat08013-1.jpg


I am only going to deck the bow area and create storage doors between the ribs. I have three young daughters that I take out a lot. Twins @ 9 and a 6 year old. I want the siderails as high as possible.

Aft from there will be flooring. I bought the carpet for it over a year ago while it was on clearance.

BTW Jim, thanks for activating my account. I never did recieve the automated email to activate.
 
don't worry about removing all the foam - that only comes into play if you were to somehow flip the boat over
 
russ010 said:
nice find.. can you fix the leak at the transom?

There will be no leaks anywhere in this boat. I used to build jets for a living and am very useful with a rivet gun and a bucking bar. This is one reason why I prefer a riveted boat over a welded one. I know I can fix any problem that might occur. The last 14' boat I bought had a 2' long rip in it along the bottom seam on the port side. It was all mangled. I cleaned it up, straightened the aluminum, and fabricated doublers for it inside and out. With the help of a friend that also was a good sheet metal tech, we shot it all together one afternoon and it was one of the best boats I have ever owned.

During the "leak test", I will fill her with water and check every rivet and seam. If there is a leak, it gets marked with a sharpie and then gets drilled out ready for the necessary repair.

Jakes so called turd he posted about, will most likely call for him to make a house call to me with it. His boat will be just fine when said and done.
 
russ010 said:
don't worry about removing all the foam - that only comes into play if you were to somehow flip the boat over

True, I happen to have this thing about operating safely. Even though I'll get her out on a big lake that is not very wind friendly, I've got enough boating experience to be able to make sure she tracks safe. Now if a Tornado happens to hit me, that's a whole nuther story.
 
ilinimud said:
Very nice looking boat. I am suprised you are making it into a tiller steer. I would love to have a console.

I thought long and hard about pulling the console. I would much rather have a center console, and thought about reworking the existing console and moving it to center. Then I got to thinking about how much room it would take up. Not to mention, the cost of revamping my '98 Tiller into a remote motor. I've made the right choice to be functional, as well as frugal.

Thanks guys for the nice replies. When it's all said and done, I'll have the last tin boat I'll need in what's left of my life. I can picture the Crappie jumping into the boat just for a ride.
 
Welcome aboard.
A 60hp on a 15.5,I bet she'll really scat.
Nice job so far,keep up the good work.
 
CrappieReaper said:
ilinimud said:
Very nice looking boat. I am suprised you are making it into a tiller steer. I would love to have a console.

I thought long and hard about pulling the console. I would much rather have a center console, and thought about reworking the existing console and moving it to center. Then I got to thinking about how much room it would take up. Not to mention, the cost of revamping my '98 Tiller into a remote motor. I've made the right choice to be functional, as well as frugal.

Thanks guys for the nice replies. When it's all said and done, I'll have the last tin boat I'll need in what's left of my life. I can picture the Crappie jumping into the boat just for a ride.

Well that makes sense. It will look great either way!
 
Weather finally gave me a break enough to be able to slip the new transom into place. The original aluminum interior cover for the transom was beat up and had way too many holes in it from years past. I found a peice of .50 thousanths Aircraft grade aluminum big enough to cut a new one out. I was able to rerivet the back corner of the boat before darkness set in. Now I need to center the transom and interior plate and fasten into place. Next step after that is to re-install the backwash pan.

Boat003-1.jpg


Boat002.jpg


Boat004.jpg


Boat005-2.jpg
 
Today I fastened the bottom 8 bolts into place on the transom. Then I temporarily fastened in the old aluminum I removed with clecos so I can now figure out how I am going to re-engineer the back end of the boat into a Tiller model. I need to make sure I have room for a 6 gallon fuel tank while keeping in mind that I am going to need some room back there for a seat.

The solid side panels you see in place will be gone as well as the aluminum deck. I'll have to fab some support brackets for the backwash tray. I really wanted to be able to leave the rear side panels in place for storage. I might have to put on my thinking cap and make something happen that will allow some storage back there while allowing for the 6 gallon tank, batteries and so forth. It's going to take a bit more labor than I had intended on, but it will be worth it to get her setup like I want.

boat003-2.jpg


boat002-1.jpg


boat001-2.jpg


I've read over many mods and threads that are posted here and have seen several great looking boats come out of what was once someone elses nightmare rig. All of you should be proud of your accomplishments. I'm glad CrappieDentist told me about this site.

I have to concentrate on making a living for awhile and may not have any updates till I can start back on her, so stay tuned.
 

Latest posts

Top