1436 Alumacraft on Cedar

[Yankemandspankem]

After spending a few weeks researching on how to fab up a Jon boat to suit myself I went with an Alumacraft 1436 LT. It was between this or a Tracker. The Alumacraft is superior to the Tracker on hull thickness, width, length, and price. There's a video on YouTube of a guy stump jumping with a mud motor in a Alumacraft which also displayed displayed to me that the Alumacraft is built tough.

In my research I found people cutting a bunch of wood and throwing as many pieces as they could into the bow in an attempt to resemble something of "framing". The other thing I found was a lot of folks that don't understand how to make a floor joist correctly by installing boards vertical with grains running perpendicular to achieve maximum strength out of their materials.

I wanted to make a deck that was lightweight and removable, something that wasn't permanent if I ever went to sell the boat and someone didn't want my boat the way I wanted it.

I used 5/4 cedar deck boards, 1/2 inch plywood which was painted with oil based primer sealer, and outdoor carpet.

I framed it by first tacking the structure together with brads and wood glue and then coming back with deck screws to suck the frame together. To get the plywood to fit I simply laid it on top of the boat and scribed the outline onto the plywood. This gave me initial idea as to how the boat was shaped. It took a couple cuts to get it the right size, but using a Skilsaw is fun and I got it the exact shape simply by scribing with my carpenters pencil the initial tracing and cutting till I got the plywood to fit and with enough gappage along the lip to get the carpet to roll over the edges. I then put the plywood on top of the framing and screwed it down with exterior grade screws to make it solid. I stood on the plywood while doing this to ensure that the plywood was absolutely flush with the framing In order to achieve maximum strength I ran the grain of the plywood perpendicular to the grain of the framing, another simple bit of framing knowledge I saw so many people disregard. To fill any voids that might be felt through the carpet I used bondo or caulk depending on how severe the void was.

The carpet and glue was the worst part. Not that it was hard to do but the glue is nasty stuff. I'd never carpeted anything before and it took a second to figure out. Make sure to smooth out with your hand once the carpet is laid down on the glue to get "bubbles" out. I found that being able to look at the finished surface critical to avoid not pulling the carpet tight enough.

Everything else was a piece of cake. The trolling motor mounted perfectly and I didn't need to block anything to achieve the right height. The transducer was attached to the trolling motor, and zip ties were used to run the fish finder cables down the motor cables to achieve a streamlined and clean look. The motor mount, foot pedal, and fish finder were all attached using stainless steel bolts with washers and nylock nuts.

I did use too large of a hole saw on one of my doors the first go around. I took the hole cut out, screwed it into a 19" block of cedar, and attached it to the backside of the door. This 19" block of cedar was also extremely straight and when run the whole length of the door actually straightened out the piece of plywood.

This next part was my absolute favorite part of the build. I was going to block the framing or finally rivet the ribs with an eyebolt and use ratchet straps to ratchet the frame from the underside....but.... I did this instead. And it feels amazing. The frame is held into the boat using industrial strength velcro. You have to really pull to get it out (something I don't plan on doing). This velcro makes the frame removable if I ever decide to start shooting gators and pulling them into the bow here in the state of Washington. The frame without the motor mount I could lift by myself out of the boat. The cedar framing with 1/2 inch plywood deck makes it extremely lightweight but strong enough for me to stand on.

Some people say the 1436 isn't stable enough, but I only weigh 165 and I'm coming from fishing on a stand up kayak. I tried to tip the kayak with no success. The seat was mounted above the middle bench seat helping to distribute the balance (I think), I'm no physicist; just like to fish and do projects when I can't. The whole build took me 4.5 days. Most of my time burnt was waiting for that stupid carpet glue to dry in 40 degree temperatures. I might edit some more into this post later. Remember, it's a Jon boat, not a rocket ship. Keep it simple. Batteries in the front. Gas tank in the back. Tackle boxes come out. Nothing worse than rusty equipment sitting below deck. Can't wait to get it wet.

https://youtu.be/8Q5E12ARZXw

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

Looking great!

Good idea on the velcro, they use that in car interiors now.

One way to smooth out carpet into glue is to have a pc of PVC pipe & use that as a squegee. You don't need to roll it, it just slides the bubbles out.

 

[LDUBS]

"The frame is held into the boat using industrial strength velcro."

I keep envisioning the deck flying out while you are towing the boat down the highway, but I'm sure you have thought of that. Anyway, that is very innovative and definitely thinking outside of the box.

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

Good point on hiway mode!

I actually had that happen to a hatch. It got sucked up when I passed a semi. It pulled the latch screws right out of the plywood. The replacement got backing plates.

Good thing no one was directly behind me.

Circled back & picked it up, it had been run over a dozen times by then.

From then on the deck gets a tiedown strap over it, when I am on hiway.

 

[Yankemandspankem]

In the garage i can pull the entire boat and trailer around by the deck without any budging by the velcro'd deck. I used one 4 foot strip on the middle bench seat running side to side and 2 1 foot strips on the front bench seat running front to back. The weight of the trolling motor and seat pedestal should keep it down, but always practice caution, and like LDUBS said run a safety strap. I used velcro to make a removable rod holder as well. Pulling on the rod holder actually pulls the aluminum of the boat in before the velcro releases. I can move the boat and trailer around with just the rod holder as well. Totally against drilling holes when I don't have to. The other cool thing is that I can remove the upper deck I put in and just have the second floor I installed in the bottom of the front if two people are in the boat and want to be nice and "share" the space.

 

[tracker101]

I,m not so sure I,d want to stand on anything Velcro,d in a boat. But,,, you may be on to something new. Keep us posted on your test run.

 

[Yankemandspankem]

The velcro works amazing. I even installed another carpeted piece of plywood to the rear bench seat, fastened a swivel mount and added a chair, and used 10 1/2 feet of velcro to secure it to the bench seat. During transportation I run 2 bungee cords front to back, connect the cords to the ribs of the boat, and across the outermost edges of the carpeted board to ensure that the piece has no way of coming free on the highway. The velcro is the highest grabbing strength you can get at HD. It's not the kind you use on tennis shoes. Boat is extremely stable with 2 people. Yeah it rocks when people move around, but I do not feel unsafe clambering around. There are 0 holes drilled into my brand new boat. Love it.

 

[calico_james]

Sweet project! I am now going to do the same thing. How has the velcro held up, and where/what type did you get? I see a lot of comments online saying the glue comes off of the velcro. Let me know!

 

[thomasdgs]

Great looking work you did. I am glad I am not the only one around here who understands that when it comes to resistance to bending of a beam height is much more important than width. You did some simple but effective things to improve your build.

Was it velcro you used or Dual-lock reclosable fastener tape? We hold all kinds of stuff on buses with dual-lock at sork, I'd be more concerned with the adhesive letting go than the dual-lock connection.

 

[Yankemandspankem]

I just used the $20 roll of highest holding strength velcro that Home Depot offers. I was afraid of the adhesive as well. I have removed the pieces a couple times, mainly the rod holders I installed and the adhesive on the tape holds really well. If I were to ever remove the velcro I think a heat gun and lightly warming up the material it would pull out fine. Just pulling the pieces off though has shown no signs of the tape pulling up. I think the flat paint on the boat should have enough "teeth" to hold the adhesive in place.

There's so much "bad" info given in the "how to" stuff on youtube... But! Learn from other people and improve on their/your design. The funniest things I've seen is when people attach legs to their decking as if they won't give out, attaching screws into the aluminum of the boat to hold joist hangers in order to hold up a load, altering dimensional lumber into toothpicks, the list could go on and on.

The carpet glue came through where I hadn't spread out the glue thin enough. It came right out by blotting with acetone/paint thinner though, even after "curing" in 35-50 degree temp fluctuations. When I showed the local shop I bought my boat at, the owner was pretty impressed and said he might have to call me to be his carpet guy. Pretty cool and I told him if anyone were to become interested I'd definitely build one for someone. Suuuuuper easy project when you have some know how as to what it is you need to be doing. I've taken it out multiple times now and each time has been supremely enjoyable. The only thing I might have done different was change my hatch design so the foot pedal would be more in the middle of the boat. BUT, the access to my battery and extra tackle storage is pretty sweet.

 

[NightKrawler]

Well I just threw away all my scribbled plans for the new deck on my Alumacraft 1542.......in fact if you don't mind I'm just going to build mine exactly like yours, as that what i wanted it to look like anyway. So you used cedar 2x4's and cedar plywood? I built take out floors for mine last year, used 2x2's screwed into pvc lattice then bolted some of the Styx River Camo stuff on the two floor sections as well. it fit well between the floor joists of the boat, and the flex is minimal. I did not pprep my extended front casting deck, but used the same marine carpet as on yours by the looks. Deck lasted about a year, now its delam'd and weak.....gotta come off and do it right! Nice job by the way, impressive really! As a side note the Styx River faded in a year as well.......so its time for a re-do!

 

[NightKrawler]

Another shot of the 1542. It has the live well from the factory on the left side, but I left it closed up for storage. Looking at your post again it looks like you used deck boards, the 5/4 stuff instead of 2x4.......did that work good?

 

[Yankemandspankem]

I used the 5/4 cedar like you said as my framing boards. As long as you run them vertical you'll get plenty of strength. Cedar is amazing wood with all kinds of special traits. You can research it online to find out more. After screwing the cedar to the 5/4 you also shear up the framing for more strength. I think I ran screws about every 6 to 8 inches. Standing on the plywood while you do this will also ensure that everything is as tight as possible when you fasten it down. You can always use the internet to find out how much strength you can get out of lumber and the length you should run between your framing to get optimal strength. Just make sure to chalkline where the tops of the 5/4 boards are when you go to run your screws. You don't want to miss and put unnecessary holes in the plywood. I just used 1/2 inch plywood. I can't remember the number of ply's but it wasn't the "cheap" stuff and it wasn't marine grade. Also when you choose your plywood get one without knot holes so you don't need to fill gappage that could be felt through your carpet. The only thing I might have done different was map out my storage hatches a little bit better. Maybe just one instead of the 2.... But that also causes less access if something gets lost under the deck. The plywood I coated in the oil based paint like I'd read a lot of people do to seal it up. I'm not going to take this boat out in torrential rain showers so I'm not overly concerned about preventing unnecessary wetness. The boat also fits in my 2 car garage so it'll be in a more controlled environment during the wet months. I was at a few marine outfitter stores over this last weekend and kind of wish I'd put a removable post for my pedestal seat, but with this style of boat I think the permanent is just fine and it looks cool when I tow it. I might throw a picture of this boat on OfferUp to gauge what I could make off of putting these together and selling them. I also recommend anyone doing this use a wormdrive Skilsaw when making cuts over a jigsaw. Even for your access hatches. If you don't feel comfortable dropping a Skilsaw into the middle of a board though don't attempt it. I cringe watching someone that doesn't know how to operate a Skilsaw play with one because you might end up looking at someone with a few less fingers. Up your blade count on the Skilsaw blade and you'll make super clean cuts. I should've GoPro'd everything but if I plan on fabbing these together I don't want to give away all my secrets . If you have the Alumacraft model like I do look at the front seat and middle seat height difference. You'll have to notch your boards to get the right height. I think I threw out more info in this post but I might be repeating myself on stuff. I'll make a YouTube video later and go over some of my build. If I do a livewell it's just gonna be a cooler with some aquarium hosing and a air pump. Most of my fishing is just for fun. I do want to catch another Western Washington State 9 lber and take it the local Bass Pro up here for their display tank. It's gotta be big enough it eats all the other fish in their tank though haha.