14' 1970 Alumacraft F7 mod

[basswizard]

I bought this boat last year. It had some mods to it, a front casting deck and a battery compartment. But storage turned into a problem. I searched the net and found this site. Lots of great ideas here, and information. I just wanted to share my build with you all.
I started out with the trailer first. Tore her apart, ground all the paint off and used aluminum primer, (self etching is hard to come by here) and rustoleum black spray can. Used indoor outdoor carpet and wrapped the bunks.

Then I started drawing up plans and quoting out material and the such. 6 months of planning.

I initially wanted to tear out the middle seat, to make room for a rod locker. But after a few months of picking and choosing I decided to leave it in and do without the locker.
Then I finally got to work tearing her apart. I used a 3M paint removing wheel on a drill to remove all the aluminum paint. Then went over it again with a wire brush. It was much easier for me doing it this way. Used soap and water to clean her up, and acetone after.
For paint I used rustoleum aluminum primer and rustoleum white (bottom) blue (top) in a spray can. Then went over it all with clear gloss as a barrier.
This was the easiest part of the build. But the blue on the top didn't work for me later on. I'll talk about that in a later post.

Here's a couple picks of the painting.

 

[basswizard]

I got her back on the trailer and got to thinking more about what I exactly wanted. I got a big box cut to fit in for decking and marked where I wanted each compartment.

I liked the layout. The angle aluminum I ordered came in so I got to work laying out the supports for the decking. Used a zaw-zaw to cut the aluminum, wish I didn't break my grinder because it was a pain doing it this way.
Cut 2" pieces as bracing to hold the angle in place and riveted everything together. The angle I used was 1"x1"x 1/8. Not big but sturdy enough for the short distances.
After all the angle was in I separated each compartment using sheetmetal. Shaping the curves a little at a time. And used a bender I have for bending corners.

Here's some pics of all this..

 

[basswizard]

Once all the supports and sheet metal were in I got to work cutting out the plywood. I used 3/4" acx plywood from menards. Used the old front deck to trace out the new one.
I measure out where the compartments would be and got to cutting using a jig saw.

Once everything was cut out and sanded down. I used helsmens on all the wood. Three coats top and bottom and 6 coats on the sides. This was very time consuming, being that it put everything on hold for a week for curing.

After that I put it all in the boat and screwed it down with ss screws.
I chose to put my carpet on after everything was screwed down. This way I would beable to go from one wall to the next without any gaps for hooks to fall through or the such.

I used outdoor carpet glue and covered all the wood good with it, and layed my carpet and spread it out evenly. The carpet is cabelas deluxe carpet, and its some really nice carpet at that.
Once the wood was covered I went with glue on the walls and ran the carpet up it. Making cuts here and there to fit around things.

I cut out the bow trolling motor support, stained and carpeted and started putting that on aswell.

Here's some pics of this.

 

[basswizard]

Once all the carpet was in and dried I got to work running the electric for the lights and bilge pump. I don't have any pics of this. But what I did was run PVC pipe under the floor from back to front where I put the batteries. Used a couple elbows to run it along the side walls of the storage compartments.

Once I ran all the wire, I used marine wire from west marine, dang are they expensive or what). I finished up the trolling motor mount and added a 4 gang switch panel there. One for stern light, one bow, one bilge, and one sonar. The trolling motor mount was the icing on the cake for me. Love the way it came out.

 

[basswizard]

I added some seat mounts and then the hardest part came....
The hatch doors. I messed up completely the first time around cutting them to short. After getting more plywood I took it really slow cutting off only a little at a time until they fit in snug with the carpet. Man was I glad that was over. 3 weeks, no joke for a few hatch doors...
Put some flush mounting handles on them and used piano hinges.

Once that was done I stripped all the top paint with paint stripper. Like in the first post I didn't like the first blue. Finally found some self etching primer and used that. Ordered a couple cans of rustoleum navy blue topside boat paint and repainted it. Came out nice for me.
Then I ordered some vinyl tape, lettering, and some name decals. And got to work putting them on.
I thought the name "QUICK DECISION" fit this boat well being that I had less then 4 months to have here completed before I go on vacation in a couple weeks from now.

I had her in the water a couple times since finishing, and she holding up well. After everything was done I only went a couple hundred over my budget, due to the new troller. I'm very happy with the way she came out, custom in her own way and I like that.

Thanks to everyone here and to this site for all the information.

My son is just as happy as I am that its done and we can do some fishing now. Lol

Here's some pics of the finished product.