The life of a 1981 Lund Pike Dlx 16

As origanlly built

What it looked like when I bought it 3 years ago ($800, boat, 60 hp Merc, & trailer).
After I pulled out the rotting red carpet.


Notices the holes in the floor. The boat needed a battery. The high speed side of the stator and the charging bridge were shot and some trigger wires had a bad case of insulation rot. The compression checked good so the motor got some minimal repairs and the 60 hp Merc chugged to life on the muffs.

I fished that way for the fist summer, enjoying the freedom to fish on waters away from home. Rabbit Lake, Big Sandy, Round, Big Tout to name a few. The Merc was coaxed to life on each outing. A used Minn-kota Power Drive v2 (off a pontoon) was added to the bow (Motor, 2 batteries, and an on board charger came off craigslist $200).

After rolling it home from the last outing of that year, I found that the left side wheel bearing had died on my last trip and the wheel was wobbling as I backed it into its winter home. New hubs and bearings on both sides were the order of the day and were added ($75 ebay) before the snow flew.

That summer had proven that the boat was worthy of breathing some new life into the beast.

In June, what I originally thought would be a reasonably short project began. The rod locker, drivers bench, stern bench, stern floor, bow plate, bow shelf, and console were removed to gain access to the crumbling floor. All the pieces that could be salvaged, to be used as patterns, were saved. I purchased three sheets of 5/8” marine plywood ($132 Menards) and two sheets of 1/4” hardboard ($13 Menards) to make patterns for the missing pieces and the floor. I also purchased two sheets of 5/8” baltic birch ($78 Sewiks) to replace the pieces that were exposed (rod locker top, bench tops, and console). The floor was about 5ft wide and 11ft long. I had the floor pattern in and out of boat untold times. Fitting, aligning, shaping and locating the mounting hole. The floor was cut out, biscuit jointed together, test fitted, more time than I want to remember.

I started collecting new and used parts for my dream fishing boat:
Seat pedestals ($250 Santa, Christmas presents from wife and kids),
Humminbird 899 (closeout $500 ebay),
Humminbird 859 (used $340 ebay),
Humminbird Ethernet Hub (used $180 ebay),
I-pilot Link head for PowerDrive (used $190 ebay Canada),
two ram mounts (used $30 ebay)
and the summer slipped away.

I rolled the skeleton of a boat into my work shop for the winter.




to be continued

Santa that year brought me some new boat seats ($460 from kids), carpet glue ($30 from wife), and a cutting board ($20 from wife) to make transducer mounts from.

A roll around motor stand was built ($24 Menards, $12 Harbor Freight) and the motor came off.

I visited most of the body shops in the area in January (snow and ice on the ground); pictures in hand; Searching for someone that would be interested in giving this old boat a fresh coat of paint inside and out. My responses varied from no boats to four thousand plus. The shop I used had it for a month and used it for partial day fill work for $1000 (Crow Wing Autobody). On January 27th the skeleton made the trip from my work shop to the body shop with one of the new boat seats to match the color (red for the outside and dove gray for the interior)

During that month I finished the fabrication of the bow plate, rod locker tops, and bench top pieces.

I also went through the old Merc:
cleaning years of neglect from all the spots I could reach,
replaced the water pump impeller ($43 ebay),
replaced the 1985 spark plug wires and boots (year printed on wire) ($21 ebay),
coil primary wires (some of the wires were down to one or two strands) ($15 ebay),
added missing pieces (air manifold ($35 ebay) and misc fasteners ($6 Fastenal)),
and ultrasonically cleaned the carburetors (two Merc rebuild kits, $23 ebay, ultrasonic cleaner $110 ebay, purple cleaner
$13 Home depot).



The body shop finished their magic and the boat hull returned home with a new sparkle.



The rebirth could now begin in earnest. The new console configuration was assembled. And the new bow plate and console were fitted to the hull.





to be continued

Spring had arrived and in May hull made its last trip from a warm heated garage space to it summer home behind my work shop. It turned out that it was going to live there for another five months while the metamorphosis took shape.




Parts arrived as I planned, configured, and envisioned the project ahead. My wife stopped asking what was in the delivery because the rely was blah, blah, blah .. boat parts.
To list those that I remember, there were the following:
three shipments of stainless steel fasteners (about $100 Bolt Depot). The project consumed over 350 bolts and screws.
thirty or more from all over the world that were a host of small items. Shrink tube, flexible plastic conduit, crimp lugs,
hour meter, voltage gauge, tachometer, fuse holders, LED light bulbs, stainless cup holders, lighter socket, USB
charger, stainless steel staples, braided expandable sleeving, switches, LED strip lighting, and rubber trim
molding. (about $300 ebay)
a box of assorted spools and pieces of wire from #16 gauge to #8 gauge (about $110 timmed marine wire.com)
a 30ft roll of carpet ($240 boatcarpetbuys.com)

My wife graciously volunteered to finish all the wood part of the boat. She IS an expert wood finisher. All wood surfaces were first sealed with two coats of “Old Timers Formula” (from tinboat.com). A mixtures of one part spar varnish, one part linseed oil, and two parts turpentine. You apply it until it puddles and then remove the excess. It soaks into the plywood like a sponge. Let it dry for three or four days and do it again. This process took almost 2 gallons (about $46 Menards). Then she applied a minimum of coats of Minwax Satin Spar Varnish (about $40 Menards). She took exceptional care of the Balic birch pieces which were to be visible when the boat would be done.

Enough text, now a collage of progress pictures. The boat cover was pulled back work began.

Fitting under deck flexible conduit. The conduits were then filled with the appropriate combinations of wires and cables before the deck was installed. The conduits were secured in place with stainless steel wire.


The sealed floor before carpeting. It was made from three pieces of marine plywood. Biscuit joined together every 6 inches. The unsupported joint was reinforced on both sides by epoxy resin and fiberglass cloth. Laying out the carpet before installation.




to be continued

Carpeted main floor installed the boat starts to take shape.




New bow plate and shelf, rod locker back in, drivers bench and Merc control mounted.






Rear deck back in place. Rod Locker tops, rear bench tops, seat pedestals, and tilt trim pump in place.




Bow bulk head, trolling motor, ram mount and transom saving transducer blocks in place.


to be continued

Console mounted, steering installed, seats mounted and wiring complete.
With the interior nearly complete it was time to remount the Merc and put the modern icing on the cake.

The modern Lund graphics are really expensive so I developed a less expensive version.



This graphic was made up three different pieces. The swoosh is a graphic cut in two (about $100 – Tsunami, Issusiongfx.com). The “Lund” (about $100 – Banners & Big Prints). The “Pro Angler 16” was actually created as “Pike Dlx 16” which is the actual model; and the registration number came from (about $100 – BoatUS.com). Enough text here are the pictures.



With the graphic on, it was time to install the cleats and fill the unused, remaining holes above the water line with short bolts and 3M 4200.

Water ready, it was time for its maiden shake down voyage.





The boat was rolled into the water and while it was still tethered to the trailer the final adjustment were made to the carburetors. The boat was then slid off the trailer for a two and a half hour test run on the lake in front of my home. The voyage was a tremendous success, smiles on my face, and feeling of accomplishment.



The boat returns home with a small list of things yet to be addressed.

In summery, adding in couple hundred dollars for some things I might of missed, I have a total investment of about $6000 for a near new boat. Which is a couple thousand more than I expected, but it is a boat.

Hope you enjoyed this journey.

What kind of wood did you use for the floor?

All carpeted surfaces are 5/8" Marine Plywood.

Treated with two coats of old-timers formula, and then at least two coats of spar varnish.

The carpet on the exposed surfaces were glued down with Weldwood All Weather Carpet Adhesive.

The carpeted floor and panels after two days were then flipped and the edges were glued down with spray contact adhesive and stapled with stainless steel staples.

Maybe a little overkill, but the results were good.

Looks gorgeous and definitely a labor of love.

Hope you get many years out of it.

Thank you very much! I'm considering wood for my floor...I'm checking out aluminum, wood and synthetics....just can't decide which will hold up better and that I can cut....

I used 1/4 exterior (non-treated) plywood covered with vinyl from Defender Industries.
https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1%7C2276179%7C2276198%7C2276202&id=23612

About the thickness of heavy vinyl wallpaper. Holds up well.

Nice work! Now you have something unique and fellow boaters will look at it with appreciation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you for the response. I keep my boat in the garage so hopefully it will last. I ordered the aluminum sheet for my floor today.

Wow. Such commitment. Congratulations on your project. Looks great. I am just starting to try to fix up one of these boats, no where near what you have done. I am missing the lights on the stern and wires back there have been cut. Do you have pictures of the lights and the wiring. A suggestion on where to get the lights from would be appreciated too as well as the Lund center piece in the steering wheel, that's missing too.
Thanks.

Shasta, that is a 2017 post that you are replying to. I hope the OP is still around. Welcome aboard. rich

I am still around.

https://www.wholesalemarine.com/content/PDFs/Attwood-5110-Replacement-All-Round-Boat-Stern-Light-Installation-Instructions.pdf

The mast is a 5100 series. The socket is a 911339 series.

The wiring is a two wire connect. I rewired the entire boat with the wiring running under the floor in plastic flex conduit.

I replaced the filament bulb with a LED.

The center piece of the steering wheel I made out of a laminated piece of inkjet printing and double back taped it to the wheel.

Lasts about a year and looks nice. I have been trying to find a local company that prints boat number to create me a more durable decal

Here is a capacity label:



View attachment Boat_Capacities.pdf

Thanks. I've been checking out the web for info about my boat and this was the best post that I found.

FishinLite said:

View attachment 94345
View attachment 94346

Console mounted, steering installed, seats mounted and wiring complete.
With the interior nearly complete it was time to remount the Merc and put the modern icing on the cake.

The modern Lund graphics are really expensive so I developed a less expensive version.

View attachment 94347

This graphic was made up three different pieces. The swoosh is a graphic cut in two (about $100 – Tsunami, Issusiongfx.com). The “Lund” (about $100 – Banners & Big Prints). The “Pro Angler 16” was actually created as “Pike Dlx 16” which is the actual model; and the registration number came from (about $100 – BoatUS.com). Enough text here are the pictures.

View attachment 94348

With the graphic on, it was time to install the cleats and fill the unused, remaining holes above the water line with short bolts and 3M 4200.

Water ready, it was time for its maiden shake down voyage.

View attachment 94349
View attachment 94350
View attachment 94351

The boat was rolled into the water and while it was still tethered to the trailer the final adjustment were made to the carburetors. The boat was then slid off the trailer for a two and a half hour test run on the lake in front of my home. The voyage was a tremendous success, smiles on my face, and feeling of accomplishment.

View attachment 94352

The boat returns home with a small list of things yet to be addressed.

In summery, adding in couple hundred dollars for some things I might of missed, I have a total investment of about $6000 for a near new boat. Which is a couple thousand more than I expected, but it is a boat.

Hope you enjoyed this journey.

Click to expand...

Good reading procedure and fantastic patience seen between the lines.
2023 now, and i am soon to test drive an ‘81 w/40 hp Evinrude. Can it still be ‘ good as new’ after 42 years....