12 ft Sea King - Pics. Complete.

[haolehawaiian]

First off, I have to say that you guys have an amazing forum here. I am highly impressed with some of the mods done on your boats. Congrats! I hope to join the ranks very soon.

Second...I happened upon this site just by chance...only a couple hours after purchasing my jon. Honestly, I had no intentions of making any changes or even painting this thing until I ran across this site and saw the potential it has.

Thirdly - here come the questions.

This is a Montgomery Ward 12ft Sea King with what looks like a 450 lb weight capacity and 5hp motor limit. I noticed that a few of the 12 footers you guys have modded, are equipped with up to 9.8 hp.

Is this 5hp motor limit a thing of the past? Would I be able to use something bigger?

Looking for ideas/suggestions on mods. I'm not very creative with this since it will be the first time I've ever really modified anything. I'm ok with power tools of course, but what do do with this boat?!

After making all of these modifications to a boat such as mine, is it safe to put two people in it with all of that new material and live wells, batteries, motors, etc?


Those are actually my only immediate questions at the moment. Appreciate any help or suggestions! Thanks in advance!!!!
Pics of my jon below. FYI - the finish is what I would call a dimpled aluminum. I don't even know if that is standard or something unique.

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Welcome.
Your boat looks like it's a very light weight jon. It only has a few ribs and they don't go up the sides. The transom doesn't look like it was made to take to much hp. I think if you can reinforce the transom you might be able to run a 7.5 hp.

 

[haolehawaiian]

Welcome.
Your boat looks like it's a very light weight jon. It only has a few ribs and they don't go up the sides. The transom doesn't look like it was made to take to much hp. I think if you can reinforce the transom you might be able to run a 7.5 hp.

It is very lightweight. I'd guess around 80lb. Do you think reinforcing the hull might boost weight capacity? I was thinking I am going to have to replace the transom anyway...pretty used!

 

[haolehawaiian]

Ok, I realize that my jon is pretty lightweight so the opportunities for massive amounts of decking are slim to none. I would like to put at least a bow deck between the middle and front bench and floors however. hopefully this is possible. Any suggestions on how to reinforce the hull to carry more weight or stabilize more would be appreciated. I do know that regardless of doing anything else with this boat, I am going to paint it. So i ran down to harbor freight and picked up a few wire wheels to get started with. I also ordered some sawhorses on Fingerhut :lol:, which I needed anyway - so when those come I'll look at doing some more work. For now, I just took the wire wheel to a little bit of the inside of the hull.

 

[haolehawaiian]

Alright. Just pulled the transom off. Ya'll can chime in any time now hahah.

 

[taterosu]

Thats a tough little boat for any major mods. I would say be carefull with the bench seating. It looks like it is your only support for the sides. Removing either one could be really bad. I think if it were mine I would paint it, put in the clamp on style seats and maybe add some carpet to dress it up a little. Maybe build a bracket for a bow mount trolling motor if you plan on using an outboard. Add some lights.I would beef up the transom. Its a good looking little boat, it just kind of light built for any major mods. Anyways thats my opinion on it.Hope it helped out some.

 

[haolehawaiian]

A lot of what you said Is the direction I'm going. I wanted to do flooring and I was trying to figure out what kind of foam everyone uses under the wood. If you know, please advise.

Carpet, paint, maybe a front deck just for looks and storage? I was thinking about putting the battery up in this area to balance the weight and then running pvc along the sidewall channel for the wires.

I saw seat clamps on basspro.com but I really wanted to put seats on swivels. what if I reinforced the bench tops with wood? Also wondering if enclosing the areas under the benches would add strength to the sides or the benches....

I wasn't planning on ripping them out at all. Maybe on my next boat.


Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[taterosu]

Im in the process of completing my first build now. What I used for foam under my deck is just the sheet of builders foam from lowes. I bought the 3/4 in foam with the silver backing on it I put a very low deck in middle section on mine. The ribs are the support for my floor runners. it took two layers of the foam to fill in the gap between the boat and the deck. i would think you could make some storage under the seats fairly easy like you are talking about. As far as the pedstal seat, I would say just be careful not get the seats up too high or it may make the boat top heavy on the water. I cut my bench seats done so the pedstal wouldnt be too high up. Then reinforced it to make seats sturdy. I built all of mine out of aluminium to cut down on weight and it should last forever that way. It added alot to the cost but I think it will pay off in the long run.

 

[taterosu]

Sorry I tried to post some pics for you. I cant get my ps3 to let me upload. This comming weekend I will have them all posted. I got to get on a computer to post them. I hope some others jump in on the conversation. Like I say this was my first build as well so I dont want to steer you wrong. I think your headed in the right direction though.

 

[haolehawaiian]

Im in the process of completing my first build now. What I used for foam under my deck is just the sheet of builders foam from lowes. I bought the 3/4 in foam with the silver backing on it I put a very low deck in middle section on mine. The ribs are the support for my floor runners. it took two layers of the foam to fill in the gap between the boat and the deck. i would think you could make some storage under the seats fairly easy like you are talking about. As far as the pedstal seat, I would say just be careful not get the seats up too high or it may make the boat top heavy on the water. I cut my bench seats done so the pedstal wouldnt be too high up. Then reinforced it to make seats sturdy. I built all of mine out of aluminium to cut down on weight and it should last forever that way. It added alot to the cost but I think it will pay off in the long run.

I wasn't going to put seats high up. was just going to use a swivel...not on a pedestal. I really don't see the need for high seats anyway. I know some guys like them...but I don't see the point for me.

With the aluminum...are you welding at all. I thought I ran across a few threads here that had aluminum framing done without welding. I don't know how that would be done. Also, when doing floors, do they just sit there without any attachment to the hull?

 

[taterosu]

Well I didnt weld anything. I have a mig that will but I dont have the spool gun attachment for it. So what I did was used pop rivots. I mounted all the frame work to the bench seats and to the ribs in the floor. Where I rebuilt my transom I did rivot through the hull so I used j b weld to seal the pop rivots because they are not waterprof. Any where suport is needed on the floor I just made a leg that sits on the hull and used jb weld again to bond it to the hull. I only used on leg just extra support but i have way more ribs in my floor to attach to. Where I put two pieces of frame material together i used a piece of flat strap aluminium bent in a L shape and four pop rivots to hold them together. Just be sure if you go this route be sure to use aluminium pop rivots. The steel rivots will corrode with aluminium.

 

[haolehawaiian]

Well I didnt weld anything. I have a mig that will but I dont have the spool gun attachment for it. So what I did was used pop rivots. I mounted all the frame work to the bench seats and to the ribs in the floor. Where I rebuilt my transom I did rivot through the hull so I used j b weld to seal the pop rivots because they are not waterprof. Any where suport is needed on the floor I just made a leg that sits on the hull and used jb weld again to bond it to the hull. I only used on leg just extra support but i have way more ribs in my floor to attach to. Where I put two pieces of frame material together i used a piece of flat strap aluminium bent in a L shape and four pop rivots to hold them together. Just be sure if you go this route be sure to use aluminium pop rivots. The steel rivots will corrode with aluminium.

Never used rivets on anything before so i've been doing some reading on them. I was planning on using JB as well. I'm looking forward to seeing pics. Please get some of the framing!!!

 

[taterosu]

I will have lots of pics on here this weekend. I will post the framing pics on here for you also. The pop rivots are really easy to use. Drill a hole the rivots fits into. Place the rivot in the hole and put the gun on it. squeeze the handle intil the rivot pops off. https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?p=how+to+use+pop+rivets

 

[taterosu]

Lol I got it to upload a few pic of the decking and frame work. Hope this helps

 

[haolehawaiian]

thanks for the pics. On the one where the frame is attached to the front bench...any worries with that thin of metal - bending?

Two questions:
Where did you find your aluminum?
what are you cutting the aluminum with?

I know those are prob pretty basic questions but like I stated at the beginning before, never really modified anything or worked with metal..or wood for that part!

 

[haolehawaiian]

Ok...limited on funds at the very moment. Plus I'm waiting for sawhorses...

So I did pull off the transom and rear carry handles. I'm taking the suggestion on beefing up the transom so the wood is going from .5cm to 1.5cm. Also making the surface area a bit larger as well. Lowes didn't have 1x4 inch planks for the inner transom...every one that said 1 inch was actually only 3/4 inch. WTF? Ended up settling for two half inch planks that are currently clamped together awaiting drying gorilla glue. haven't decided if they will need more reinforcement to stay together but I think between the glue and the bolts going thru from the carry handles - they'll be fine.

So I started cutting out the new transom but my stupid little B&D saw ran outta juice so now I'm here.

The last pic is pretty bad but hopefully you can see the difference in thickness between the old and new transoms.

 

[taterosu]

Looking good. Its a slow process. The bench seat were plenty stout for the deck. I run a piece of angle the whole legth of the bench and put rivots every three inches. It has held up to me bouncing on the deck and I weigh about 270. I bought my framing material fom lowes. I used angle aluminium and some aluminium stuff thats made to go over 3/4 in plywood for the runners. it works nice to attach the decking to. The decks old interstate signs that i bought from a guy that installs them. He sold them to me cheap. 15 for 100 bucks. They measure 3ft by 4ft. To cut them I used an angle grinder with a cut off blade. They dont last long but they were 1.99 at tractor supply. To cut the fame material I just used a hacksaw. On my transom I used the old roads and doubled them where the outboard mounts

 

[haolehawaiian]

Looking good. Its a slow process. The bench seat were plenty stout for the deck. I run a piece of angle the whole legth of the bench and put rivots every three inches. It has held up to me bouncing on the deck and I weigh about 270. I bought my framing material fom lowes. I used angle aluminium and some aluminium stuff thats made to go over 3/4 in plywood for the runners. it works nice to attach the decking to. The decks old interstate signs that i bought from a guy that installs them. He sold them to me cheap. 15 for 100 bucks. They measure 3ft by 4ft. To cut them I used an angle grinder with a cut off blade. They dont last long but they were 1.99 at tractor supply. To cut the fame material I just used a hacksaw. On my transom I used the old roads and doubled them where the outboard mounts

argh. trying to avoid buying more power tools...even though I want them. I'll consider the angle grinder. I was thinking I might be able to get by with my dremel - but maybe not. digging the taco bell sign!! now you have to name the boat TACO...at least I would.

I'm still wondering if framing up the sides would add more weight capacity. I'd just like to be able to get my girlfriend on the boat occasionally...or she'll be pissed at me. With add on materials, battery, motor, gasoline, etc...I worry about weight. I'm 210 so that is exactly half the weight limit right there. For asthetic purposes, I decided that I'm going to stain and/or varnish the transom....or paint. Depends on how the boat paint job comes out.

 

[haolehawaiian]

You know the thing that scares me the most about all of this...is putting a hole in my boat for a rivet or something...and then having it leak. FAIL!

 

[taterosu]

Anything you put on the inside of the boat will not make it float more. its the surface of the outside of the hull that makes it float. The bigger the hull, the water it diplaces which makes it float more weight. For instance foam on the inside does you no good at all unless the boat turns over. I like it because it helps quite the boat noises down. As far leaks, if you make a hole in the hull, just be sure and seal it from both sides. Even if one of the holes leaks on you its not the end of the world. Chances are it will be a small leak at first. Just be sure and keep those life jachets in the boat