1976 18x48 Ouachita Jon conversion, Pictures are back!

TinBoats.net

Help Support TinBoats.net:

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

Codeman

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2007
Messages
888
Reaction score
0
Location
Ozark Foothills of Se Mo
OK guys here I go boat is pretty well done as far as getting sea worthy now comes the fun part. I hope to start getting the decks built this week and getting it ready for some summer fun.

Just a refresher for ya.

Started here. Last September.

P7270030.jpg


Now its here. After months of rebuilding the trailer and tinkering with the motor shifter etc.

P3150024%20copy.jpg


P3130017%20copy.jpg
 
You should try backing it in to my yard/ shop. LOL

Also I might add. Since those photos it is cleaner. It has been to the car wash and I have started stripping the paint off.
 
Ok, I'm on a mission. If all goes the way I want it too decks will be started by the end of the week. I want to have this thing a little more "comfortable" before July 4th. I have been delayed by one thing then another, one of being that the welder that we used to rebuild my transom has been somewhat unavailable and I needed to make some repairs on the nose before starting on the front deck. So I started doing some research on whether on not my 110 mig would get the job done. I was always under the belief that you pretty much had to have a spool gun to get the job done. Not so. I found a nice tutorial on Lincoln's web site on welding aluminum. It said that it was very possible and the key was setup, and practice with wadding up the wire being the big deal to get over. My welder is a Clarke 130en. Far from top of the line but gas capable, that's all I needed, so I got a tank of argon and got busy. After one night of getting the welder set up and some practice I was off and running.
 
Ok first aluminum welding project. If I screw this up I throw it in the trash and start over. I changed out some of my controls and the shifter is now on the motor so all I need is a place for my switches. So I used the bracket that I bent up for the shifter box and started from there.

P6130160.jpg


It was as simple as cutting a couple of triangle pieces and starting to weld.

P6130162.jpg


Not professional work but hey I'm doing it at home in my shop and I have lots of grinding disks. :wink:

P6130165.jpg


After a little more grinding here was the end result.

P6130170.jpg


switch%20(1).jpg


Holes will be cut for rocker switches either on top or the side I'm undecided at this point need some switches first. That was Friday night's project.
 
And now on to the repair work. This is an old boat that was used hard in its former life. Its beat up, banged up and in need of a few repairs. The nose is what had taken the brunt of the abuse all those years and is in need of some serious TLC. I took it to my friends shop a while back, he does car restorations and is a master body man among other things. After a couple of hours he had beat the front edge of the boat back into a recognizable shape. It was still gouged up and a little wavy so that is where the welding comes in.

This huge hole was actually worn into the edge of the boat from being run into God knows what.

P6140160.jpg


So I took a piece of scarp that had laying in the floor and shaped it to fit the hole and started filling with the welder. Keep in mind I had not touched the boat with a welder myself. So after a few minutes of welding, filling, and grinding I couldn't be happier with the result.

P6140163.jpg


P6140166.jpg


The leading edge of the boat also had a pretty good split where apparently a cable had been dragged in and out of the boat what looked like thousands of times. This is where I worried about just blowing big holes in the very thin aluminum.

P5130071.jpg


But no problem just turn down the heat and go to it, and after a little grinding it headed in the right direction.

P6140168.jpg


Lots more to do but like I said I'm kind of on a mission. Stay tuned.
 
Codeman said:
willfishforfood said:
Don't forget the safty chain, I've seen a few boats on the ramp and side of the road over the years.
Nice job.
WFFF

On the trailer? They are there.

I think he means the safety chain that keeps the boat on your trailer in case your winch strap should break.
 
stinkynathan said:
Codeman said:
willfishforfood said:
Don't forget the safty chain, I've seen a few boats on the ramp and side of the road over the years.
Nice job.
WFFF

On the trailer? They are there.

I think he means the safety chain that keeps the boat on your trailer in case your winch strap should break.

Can you show a picture of this - I only use a winch :oops:
 
Nice job. Did you use a different liner for your Clarke mig or just use the argon gas. I have a Cebora mig and have a bottle of Argon, ordered a teflon liner and larger tips, that have not come in yet. Hoping to get set up and try some mig welding on aluminum. Is this much harder than steel?
Any tips would be appreciated. Again nice work, after it is painted your patch on the rail will not even show.

Tight Lines...Flintcreek
 
flintcreek said:
Nice job. Did you use a different liner for your Clarke mig or just use the argon gas. I have a Cebora mig and have a bottle of Argon, ordered a teflon liner and larger tips, that have not come in yet. Hoping to get set up and try some mig welding on aluminum. Is this much harder than steel?
Any tips would be appreciated. Again nice work, after it is painted your patch on the rail will not even show.

Tight Lines...Flintcreek

No I just left the liner alone. I haven't had any issues so far. I did read that they recommended using no smaller than .035 wire and a .040 tip which I did. Try to keep your lead as straight as you can that will help too. Only set the tension on your rollers enough to push without slippage, don't over tighten because if and when the wire flashes back in the tip it'll bird nest something fierce. As far as tips get a stainless wire brush and clean clean clean the area you will be welding. Only brush one direction it makes a world of difference. I also preheat any of the thicker stuff with a propane torch, I didn't find it necessary to preheat the thin stuff on the boat.

Good luck, I actually found it easier than I thought it would be.
 
Well nothing to really show but some healthy gains were made tonight. Broncoman came over and we flipped the old girl on her back and fixed some cracks up in the front and fixed a pin hole in the bottom at the back and then put it back on the trailer. Let me tell you an empty 18x48 ain't as light as you would think. LOL Couple more things that I need to fix with the welder and then I will start on the decking hopefully by weeks end. =D>
 
I'm making progress. Got my alum brackets made that my cross brace for the front deck sits in last night. Interesting bit of metal shaping going on there. I forgot the camera in the house last night and it was getting late so I didn't want to stop and go get it. Need to get my 2x2s cut tonight and get all of my bracing cut and made. Like I said the other night I'm on a mission and I hope to make huge gains tonight and tomorrow, oh and I'll try to remember the camera tonight.
 
OK only off work for 2 hours and I have made progress.

Pattern for the cross brace (truss?) brackets I made.
P6190161.jpg


Transferred to aluminum not an easy task. Bottoms will be welded and they will be riveted in place on the hull.
P6190162.jpg


2x6 will serve as a truss across the boat for and will be screwed in the brackets.

P6190163.jpg


P6190164.jpg


Still more bracing to be done under the deck itself, but the deck is cut and laying in place. I'll have more later.

P6190165.jpg


P6190166.jpg
 
Well not near as much done this weekend as I had hoped, but I am starting to make progress. Got a little of the deck bracing cut and laid out for seat bases etc. For now I am starting with a single base in the front of the boat and I am bracing for 3 in the long run so 2 people will be able to spider rig for crappie.

A few pics.

P6210161.jpg


P6210163.jpg


OK there will be 8 braces total running for the aluminum to the "truss" 6 for the seat bases and one on each side pushed out to the edges as far as I can go. There will also be 6 vertical braces from down to one of the ribs to support the seat base braces (say that 10 times fast). Should be plenty sturdy for my big ol' butt. LOL I'd like to get everything water sealed tomorrow night and give it a few days to cure before final assembly on the frame work.

Most likely there will be floor all of the way back to the front seat if you are wondering. It will be a large storage compartment when all is said and done, funny part is my wife doesn't want me to do that. She says that is where she like to sit. LOL We'll see about this one...................
 

Latest posts

Top