1860 alumacraft

[mrdrh99]

Dude.... Very very nice.... Love the Bluetooth stereo setup

 

[chevyrulz]

thank you, the XS-65i Wetsounds speakers with Kenwood KAC-M1824BT amp work great. It's pushing 45w RMS per channel @ 4ohms & the speakers are rated for 60w RMS each @ 4ohms. I can hear music well even at 35mph. It has good bass for a system without a subwoofer. I like the controller that comes with the amp, it lets me pause, pair a new device, skip songs, & adjust volume. The last bluetooth stereo I did had no controller like that so the only choice for those tasks was the phone. It's neat having both options with this Kenwood setup.

i broke the transducer mount the other day in my wood duck creek, tons of trees down from the hurricane, not even sure when i snapped it. i emailed Simrad & hope they can help me figure out where to buy one, i think this is what i need, but it's $40 & I'm not 100% sure:

https://www.thegpsstore.com/Lowrance-Transom-Mount-Bracket-for-HDI-and-DSI-Transducers-P4130.aspx

 

[LeftCoastAngler]

VeryKewl.
BassProShopsTampas like 10min from my house.... I was up there this past weekend checkin out their Tracker1860cc...... It only had a 40 on it tho, Is want at least a 60

 

[LeftCoastAngler]

That leanin post drives me nutz. I gotta have one too...

 

[chevyrulz]

NICE, Steve @ Simrad tech support is sending me a new transducer bracket free of charge! =D> found it on Amazon too for $25 (Lowrance part# 000-10262-001)

yea LeftCoast, 40 is waaay under powered. this hull definitely begs for 90+, but that costs draft & i need to get shallow when it comes to chasing redfish in the grass, or going up the back creeks for redfish/ducks. right now she can float in 6" or less depending on the load, i have dragged the boat down a creek that only had 3-4" of water. i can motor in ~10" of water. that is the only reason i don't have a 115 on her.

may end up hot rodding the 60 here soon, i already got the gasket kit & the torque wrench so i can shave the head to up the compression slightly. if i also open up the exhaust & re-jet, i can get around 75hp out of it without hurting reliability & be able to still run on 87 octane pump gas.

 

[chevyrulz]

simrad repair complete, got the transducer mounted back up. also, took the boat to the welder to figure out the lighting setup, decided to fabricate some expanded metal cages for the lights using the same mesh metal material like is found on War Eagle & G3 light setups, big bbq pits, etc. will then weld some mounts onto the hull around the bow eye for the lights, 2 spotlights firing forward for channel markers, 2 flood/spot lights firing port/starboard for river banks, the cages will allow the lights to be protected from dock collisions yet still flip down for gigging, as well as be easily cleaned/removed when pluff mud inevitably cakes them up.

will post pictures once completed, i'm debating on wiring in these LED bars to the courtesy light circuit instead of running a new wire/switch for them, what do y'all think about running 2 16' LED strips & 4 18w LED bars off a 16ga wire? i would think it'll be fine, but i am no electrician or arithmetician haha

 

[chevyrulz]

well no gigging/driving lights yet, spring makes it tough to get welding done as it's the boat buying season therefore the boat building season so my boy is all tied up making real money from his OEM leaning post contracts, he'll get to me eventually & it will be well worth the wait, the leaning post was!

i put some Chris Carson reeds in the 60 the other week, took about 1.5hrs taking my time, cleaning as i disassembled, very easy to do, no special tools or anything, the part that sucked were the 18 tiny little phillips screws holding each of the 6 reeds & of course the 18th one stripped out on me, needle nose saved the day, fired right up on reassembly. smoothed out idle & helped low end torque a bit, allegedly improves fuel mileage from better atomization but the thing sips gas already so doubtul i'll notice a meaningful change there

 

[Kingbryce]

Legit

 

[chevyrulz]

still no progress with LED lighting, have been using a generator & clamps with LED & halogen shop lights for flounder gigging.

picked up a 9' umbrella at Lowe's yesterday for $70 on sale, it shades the console all the way back past the engine, super nice for the dog & for me on these hot summer days:

 

[jtf]

Went to look at a 1756 yesterday, dealer sold it recently and doesn't sell Alumacraft now. So I'll have to drive 200+ miles round trip to find another dealer.

Great job on the upgrades, wanted to ask about the inside paint. Guessing there wasn't a spray in liner? Think I'd like that matting better as long as it stayed cool in summer. Second, would you suggest deleting the wiring and getting it done aftermarket?

The boat I'm interested is in a tunnel/tiller 1756 bare bones.

Thanks

 

[chevyrulz]

Guessing there wasn't a spray in liner? Think I'd like that matting better as long as it stayed cool in summer.

no sprayed on liner in mine, it adds weight. The turf flooring is lighter, grips better, more comfortable, & stays cooler in the summer. The 2 downsides compared to sprayed on liner is that the turf is a little harder to clean & a little more delicate. it's also cheaper & not that hard to replace though.

would you suggest deleting the wiring and getting it done aftermarket?

If you got the money, 100% yes. gonna be about half the cost to let the factory do it though.


well that $70 umbrella is on the bottom of the river, good gust bent the pole, it sheared off & sank before i could whip around & get back to it. will probably buy another & cut the pole shorter & reinforce the inside of it.

got my lights installed finally, might see if the welder can build a cage for it at a later date, but loving the setup. horn quit working so tossed the switch in the garbage since i have a whistle & put the LED driving lights switch where the horn switch used to be

i just joined the red/black for the 3 lights so all are on at once, used 16 gauge tinned marine wire for the run from the lights to the battery & console, these are about 2/3 the wattage of my 1546's LED setup yet work better because of the way they're aimed. the spotlight firing forward is 6.5" wide & 36 watts, the 2 spreader lights firing sideways are 24 watts each & the beams are combo so every other bulb goes flood/spot/flood/spot/etc. & they do a great job lighting up the river banks. it's also less blinding than the 108w setup on my last rig when you're in tight back creeks, but it still throws way out there to light up channel markers in the distance:

 

[chevyrulz]

put a 16p stiletto 4 blade prop on her, $200 off craigslist (better than $400 new!)

no change in top speed or WOT RPMs from the 3 blade 15p stiletto, but now i can shred through narrow creeks at speed with plenty of grip, the 3 blade cavitated way too much to make sharp turns, not the case with the 4 blade she drives like she's on rails

& some pics from a recent lake trip: