This boat has been a nearly four year journey to this point. In my thread about trailer work, I offered up that I might submit a build thread that spanned several years; a number of forum members indicated they would be interested in seeing it. This thread is that build process.
This boat is my first boat. I bought it in May 2020, two months after I retired, as the Pandemic was turning our world upside down. I wanted to fish more, and I wanted a boat for small and medium sized lakes; that boat needed to be easily handled by me alone, and I had NO experience launching or recovering a boat, ever.
Disclaimer: I offer up my example as ONE way to do things. It’s not necessarily the best or easiest. Some solutions I found on YouTube, other solutions came from inquiries here. Some solutions, like a new outboard and new electronics only needed cash to get done. Other solutions like new decks, seat mounts, and a solution for mounting the trolling motor required some ideas that I came up with and “looked like” they would work.
I decided on an incremental build approach, never taking my boat out of service for more than a few days at a time during the fishing season (April through October).
Guiding principles of the build were that changes had to be affordable and doable largely by me. I was paying cash for stuff as I went along.
My fishing buddy helped with the welding for the trailer. Otherwise, I did what I could, when I could. It would be done in stages over the course of years, four years to this point, in fact.
2020
This is the boat I dragged home in May 2020. It’s a 1979 Lund. When I bought it for $1200, it had a 1990 Johnson 30HP motor that I saw run before I bought it. It was pull start only. There was a MotorGuide 43# cable-controlled trolling motor. It also had a Lowrance Elite 4 DSI fish finder.
![Boat.jpg Boat.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/tinboats/data/attachments/101/101370-5b7654ef5aeac64086401458895977f8.jpg)
Obviously, the boat had some rough spots. I was confident in the structural integrity of the boat. Here’s a pic of the interior of the boat. The seats seemed in OK shape. Note the mounting clamps for the seats on the middle and rear bench. More about those later.
![Original Boat deck.jpg Original Boat deck.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/tinboats/data/attachments/101/101371-ec6ae441667ffc274840dd8659aa9b2b.jpg)
I really HATED the paint. I’m not normally motivated by cosmetic things, but the rough paint on the boat became a serious distraction every time I looked at it. So I stripped the paint:
![boat pre-paint.jpg boat pre-paint.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/tinboats/data/attachments/101/101372-f4fabc014ca2383026c7f9ad0086d1e1.jpg)
I used Krylon Farm and Implement Paint with hardener. I rolled and brushed the previously-painted red portion of the hull. I decided to put off painting the lower half of the hull for later since I’d have to pull it off the trailer. Here it is after painting and the application of registration numbers and replica Lund decals obtained from online sources:
![boat painted 2.jpg boat painted 2.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/tinboats/data/attachments/101/101373-90723d9d89824900e44e959ca7b5566b.jpg)
I was also working on the motor at the same time I was working on the paint. The Johnson was extremely hard to start, and often, after starting and running for a few minutes, it would die and I couldn’t get it started again. I also started looking for a kit to convert it over to electric start; that was unsuccessful. I tried rebuilding the carb, the fuel seemed OK, and I fixed some leaky fuel lines. I was also beginning to doubt how many times I’d take the boat out and try to pull start it with my Medicare-eligible shoulders.
When frustrated with the engine, I would do something else, like repack the bearings:
![bearings.jpg bearings.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/tinboats/data/attachments/101/101374-f7c033b108813a45280f940eb196e6e1.jpg)
All of this part-time work consumed months, and when all was said and done, I missed all of the fishing season with this boat. I’m sure my wife was thinking this boat was a disaster.
This boat is my first boat. I bought it in May 2020, two months after I retired, as the Pandemic was turning our world upside down. I wanted to fish more, and I wanted a boat for small and medium sized lakes; that boat needed to be easily handled by me alone, and I had NO experience launching or recovering a boat, ever.
Disclaimer: I offer up my example as ONE way to do things. It’s not necessarily the best or easiest. Some solutions I found on YouTube, other solutions came from inquiries here. Some solutions, like a new outboard and new electronics only needed cash to get done. Other solutions like new decks, seat mounts, and a solution for mounting the trolling motor required some ideas that I came up with and “looked like” they would work.
I decided on an incremental build approach, never taking my boat out of service for more than a few days at a time during the fishing season (April through October).
Guiding principles of the build were that changes had to be affordable and doable largely by me. I was paying cash for stuff as I went along.
My fishing buddy helped with the welding for the trailer. Otherwise, I did what I could, when I could. It would be done in stages over the course of years, four years to this point, in fact.
2020
This is the boat I dragged home in May 2020. It’s a 1979 Lund. When I bought it for $1200, it had a 1990 Johnson 30HP motor that I saw run before I bought it. It was pull start only. There was a MotorGuide 43# cable-controlled trolling motor. It also had a Lowrance Elite 4 DSI fish finder.
![Boat.jpg Boat.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/tinboats/data/attachments/101/101370-5b7654ef5aeac64086401458895977f8.jpg)
Obviously, the boat had some rough spots. I was confident in the structural integrity of the boat. Here’s a pic of the interior of the boat. The seats seemed in OK shape. Note the mounting clamps for the seats on the middle and rear bench. More about those later.
![Original Boat deck.jpg Original Boat deck.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/tinboats/data/attachments/101/101371-ec6ae441667ffc274840dd8659aa9b2b.jpg)
I really HATED the paint. I’m not normally motivated by cosmetic things, but the rough paint on the boat became a serious distraction every time I looked at it. So I stripped the paint:
![boat pre-paint.jpg boat pre-paint.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/tinboats/data/attachments/101/101372-f4fabc014ca2383026c7f9ad0086d1e1.jpg)
I used Krylon Farm and Implement Paint with hardener. I rolled and brushed the previously-painted red portion of the hull. I decided to put off painting the lower half of the hull for later since I’d have to pull it off the trailer. Here it is after painting and the application of registration numbers and replica Lund decals obtained from online sources:
![boat painted 2.jpg boat painted 2.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/tinboats/data/attachments/101/101373-90723d9d89824900e44e959ca7b5566b.jpg)
I was also working on the motor at the same time I was working on the paint. The Johnson was extremely hard to start, and often, after starting and running for a few minutes, it would die and I couldn’t get it started again. I also started looking for a kit to convert it over to electric start; that was unsuccessful. I tried rebuilding the carb, the fuel seemed OK, and I fixed some leaky fuel lines. I was also beginning to doubt how many times I’d take the boat out and try to pull start it with my Medicare-eligible shoulders.
When frustrated with the engine, I would do something else, like repack the bearings:
![bearings.jpg bearings.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/tinboats/data/attachments/101/101374-f7c033b108813a45280f940eb196e6e1.jpg)
All of this part-time work consumed months, and when all was said and done, I missed all of the fishing season with this boat. I’m sure my wife was thinking this boat was a disaster.