It is a 2 stroke, have any pics of your layout?
Some pics of my low budget , backwards rebuild I drug out of a field. I got it running and would use it as I worked on it. Until a year ago I decided to remove the floor and see if it needed anything done. Under the covering there was one sheet of 4x8x3/4 plywood (treated) water logged. The rest on the floor was pieced together with old signs that had moisture between everyone. It hadn’t rained in a week. It was a big moisture trap. The perfect conditions for what I found next. Corrosion was eating at the boat. Pitting in a few of the ribs with spots of small pitting everywhere. The bottom had like an epoxy coating but this was going on under it. I sanded and removed every bit of corrosion. I found rusted screws and hooks, you name it.Finished with a magnifying glass and a Dremel removing any of the white corrosion from all the pits. I was lucky it hadn’t ran to deep. I put a good coat of polish on it for protection and watched it for several months making sure none of it came back. After the abatement and making sure I got it all I stripped off the polish, acid washed and layer down a good coating of truck bed liner (I’m on a tight budget here). After it cured I started on the new floor. The ribs are 1” thick so I laid 1” closed cell foam board between all the ribs. Then cut 3 sheets of 15/32” plywood (untreated) to make sections of flooring. Mixed up marine penetrating epoxy thinned with acetone to help the wood soak it up. After three coats and curing I have a floor that will last until I can’t fish anymore. I wanted to top it with vinyl flooring but I had gotten a roll of marine grade carpet for 1/3 the normal price about 3 months earlier.
The Admiral reminded me I had it and that she wanted carpet anyway. So I fastened snaps to the floor and carpet for easy removal and I can unfasten the 3 sections of plywood in a few minutes to check under and clean the bottom.
I’ve replaced all the fasteners up top because they were wrong and eating away at the aluminum.
I’m finishing up a complete rewiring. Adding switch panel , fuse block etc. The boat had old plan copper wire and corroding connectors. No fuses except what I had added. Now I have all Ancor marine wiring 14awg and their heat shrink connectors.
In the pics your going to notice it needs a paint job which I’ll do after using it a while and letting my wife and boat budget cool off a little. See while wiring there’s new led lights for night fishing and a new GARMIN snuck in some how.
The middle bench was gone when I got it and rear bench had the top butchered out and an old live well from another boat shoved down in the middle. A couple of holes cut like they were going to plumb it in but stopped. The live well was fiberglass all patched up so I ditched it and built 3 seats with thick foam and marine vinyl. In a small space on the starboard side I have all the electrical with a 35ah sealed battery squeezed in. New bilge pump and float switch bypass the fuse block and go straight to the battery. 6 gallon portable fuel tank will be on port side about 12” in front of the bench as it will not fit in the stern anywhere. I installed the fuel water separator you see along with a regular fuel filter under the cowling. It had no filters when I got it. Don’t need a cranking battery, pull start.
Trolling motor battery goes in center just behind the front deck. I have a big box with adjustable divider and the 24 series deep cycle and a 18ah sealed battery fit perfectly. The small battery is for the Garmin only. My Min Kota is a 12v. 55 lbs thrust that I’ve had for ever. It handles the boat really well and I can fish all day without loosing power. I avoid real strong winds anyway being a Jon boat but I’ve pushed it a day or two and the trolling motor never stopped going where I wanted and the Yamaha put the boat on top of the waves like my bass boat used too. When I’m running WOT I can look down at the cavitation plate skimming on top of the water just right. Not going to start with what I had to do to the motor. It would be another novel like this one.
Back to the pics. The pool noodles are protecting the cover by the way.
Next thing again after fishing for a while I’m going to rebuild the front deck and add more storage. I’m not getting quite as elaborate as your rebuild. I have rod buckle holders that’ll be on the gunnels. My Fishbite rod holders just came in. For now I have some flat bases and bases that fit the round gunnel top so I can drift fish sideways. I have a removable rack designed I’ll be putting across the stern and be able to control my drift a lot better. I should be able to drift about 6 rods at once using the planer boards. I’m diy on those too.
You can see the way my transom is braced. And how the previous owner cut out part of the transom for the short shaft motor. He had a jet drive on it but wanted $3500 for it and I turned it down. That’s way more than I was buying the boat for.
Please excuse the different color paint I used as I did repairs and what not. Trying to decide what color to eventually paint it. Now it’s a many shades of gray boat.
Tried out Khaki too.
Your going to have a lot of fun and an awesome boat when you’re done. But we’re never really finished.
Can’t wait to get catfish slime all over that new carpet.
Thought I’d also show you the support I built for the cover. 3/4” pvc I had after putting in a new watering system for our garden.
