offdutyangler
Active member
Hello all, I'm glad to finally be posting my first post here. Like many others I have also been reading many of the prior posts and looking at all the great conversions you all have done. Now it is my turn.
My father gave me his 1968 14ft Alumacraft boat that he bought new. I grew up going out on the Wisconsin river with it but now I live in Madison WI and will be exploring the lake system here.
My first question (of many) for the experienced boaters out there;
If I add a casting deck (with pedestal seat) in the front (overtop the first two bench seats), take out the middle bench seat add a floor and add a aft casting deck (over the rear bench seat) will this make my 14ft boat less maneuverable in a lake?
I'm asking because today I made a bad rookie mistake. I took my two boys (7 and 4) out fishing and the wind picked up a little making fishing a little challenging (again 7 and 4) so they asked me to take them for a boat ride. As we left the shelter of a overpass (John Nolan Dr) we headed towards the Monona Terrace which is quite open to wind coming off the entire lake. Needless to say when we got to this location the boat was going all over in the swells. We were tossed around and the ol pucker factor was in full gear. I realized once I we were there I couldn't turn the boat around. Coming off years of river fishing when such a thing would happen the best thing to do is to hug the bank, however on the lake I realized that was no better. Needless to say finally we located a boat dock (on the opposite side of the lake from our vehicle and trailer) and I had to call in a friend to come get us. As my daddy nerves settled I thought to myself
"If I add the weight that will come with my conversion would have this experience been worse?"
The last picture (which I don't own) is what I'm planning own doing to my boat
My father gave me his 1968 14ft Alumacraft boat that he bought new. I grew up going out on the Wisconsin river with it but now I live in Madison WI and will be exploring the lake system here.
My first question (of many) for the experienced boaters out there;
If I add a casting deck (with pedestal seat) in the front (overtop the first two bench seats), take out the middle bench seat add a floor and add a aft casting deck (over the rear bench seat) will this make my 14ft boat less maneuverable in a lake?
I'm asking because today I made a bad rookie mistake. I took my two boys (7 and 4) out fishing and the wind picked up a little making fishing a little challenging (again 7 and 4) so they asked me to take them for a boat ride. As we left the shelter of a overpass (John Nolan Dr) we headed towards the Monona Terrace which is quite open to wind coming off the entire lake. Needless to say when we got to this location the boat was going all over in the swells. We were tossed around and the ol pucker factor was in full gear. I realized once I we were there I couldn't turn the boat around. Coming off years of river fishing when such a thing would happen the best thing to do is to hug the bank, however on the lake I realized that was no better. Needless to say finally we located a boat dock (on the opposite side of the lake from our vehicle and trailer) and I had to call in a friend to come get us. As my daddy nerves settled I thought to myself
"If I add the weight that will come with my conversion would have this experience been worse?"
The last picture (which I don't own) is what I'm planning own doing to my boat