1860 alumacraft

[chevyrulz]

yea for a round rail, it may be worth considering courtesy lights firing forward from the rear of the boat, this would promote night vision

i have left mine on while running & i can still see just fine, that is why i went with red...it is nice to have more light than what got tying a knot though, i am considering running another strip of white next to the red on a separate circuit so i can activate the white when night vision isn't a consideration

well the only way to get old school or bottomlands is in a twill fabric that would hold water, noone sells a marine vinyl in those patterns i can find, so i went with the mossy oak shadowgrass pattern in a marine vinyl, it's the bottomlands pattern but with grass blades on it too:

 

[chevyrulz]

leaning post success!

before:

during:

this is a good view of the "flush mount" foot rest, typically they mount the foot rest tabs to where they stick out, but flush is the trick for not banging your shins:

after:

 

[Catch Release Repeat]

Aannnddddddd I'm drooling


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jrob238]

Nice! Makes me want to sell my 12 footer lol

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

 

[chevyrulz]

haha thanks y'all, only other mods so far are the nav/anchor lights, rod holders, & the cleats (will edit this post with pics soon).

also, again with Alumacraft's INCOMPETENT WIRING! the anchor light, horn, and baitwell pump already quit. thankfully the dealer fixed these issues at no charge to me, dropped it off at noon, picked it up at 5, can't beat that! what stinks, is i know other systems will fail because they used interior grade electrical fittings on the entire wiring system (idiots) /rant over

NAV/ANCHOR LIGHTS
the factory had these bogus plug in style pole lights both for the 360 white anchor light out back & the red/green nav lights up front. i tossed all that in the garbage, & use the starboard side pole holder mounts that held these light poles to now hold my home-made anchor pin. now i have hardwired lights, flip the switch, lights come on, no more having to deploy/stow the stupid light poles or deal with inevitable failure of the pole/socket style lights, hurray!

for the nav light, i put the Attwood LED nav on the bow (same part i used my 1546), except when i went to pull the chrome cover to paint it tan, i realized the thing looks fine without the cover, under the cover is all black & waterproof so i just tossed the chrome cover in the garbage & called it good. :mrgreen:

for the anchor light, i went with the MaxItOutLEDs "Extreme Nav Light", it's a little shorter than factory, but it mounts on a Ram ball mount, & it's a solid fiberglass rod with sealed LEDs, rumor has it, it's the most reliable/durable nav light on the market & while it looks "home-made" it seems robust, plus it's made in the USA & recommended by GatorTrax boats.


CLEATS

same plastic 6" cleats as my 1546, but i used the factory T-track to mount them without drilling holes in the boat. at first i had used carriage bolts which i cut with my angle grinder to slide in the T-rail, but those were mounted with wingnuts which stuck out & made cleating more of a chore, so i ordered these stainless "extrusion nuts" & they work like a charm for flush mount bolting to the t-rail for cleats! (after some finessing with bolt cutters for fitment :mrgreen, in retrospect, i think i could have ordered the square ones, & in a slightly larger diameter

ROD HOLDERS

grabbed these Attwood rod holders from Walmart. the package says to mount them 30" apart, but that seems wrong, they work fine the way i have them mounted which is more like 60" apart. i mounted them high so the fly rod would fit over the decks, and so the bottom rod is not touching the floor. used some leftover turf as a pad for the reels. it will hold 6, but it fits 4 way better. i have another pair of these, and I am considering getting some golf tubes & mounting the other 2 holders at the recommended 30" on the same side as these 2 so rods actual stow in rod tubes going into the front & rear decks, but that will be a chore so probably not on the menu any time soon

 

[chevyrulz]

didn't forget the pics, just busy, hurricane & all, also, the boat now has a wetsounds 4 speaker system with a 400 watt amp & bluetooth :mrgreen: stay tuned...

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

That is the one fine leaning post.

 

[wmk0002]

I've been thinking about getting that anchor light myself. Let us know how you like it after you have had the chance to use it a few times.

 

[chevyrulz]

thanks, & yes the guy who made the leaning post is the MAN! as far as the anchor light, i have had it out 10 or so trips, & i love it. i keep it folded down during the day & flip it up @ Night, it's very bright, & pretty much indestructible

 

[chevyrulz]

here's the sound system:

all 4 speakers are Wet Sounds 6.5" :

the switch under the red horn button is the on/off for the amp, as soon as i flip it on, it connects to my phone & the music automatically starts playing:

this is the bluetooth antenna & controller, can change song or volume from this or from the phone, which is nice if it's raining & my phone is locked up in a dry box:

mounted the amp to the underside of the shelf inside the center console, drip loop in the wiring is to help it shed water:

& grab bar i wrapped with paracord:

 

[chevyrulz]

just picked up the pipe, fencing, & fittings to build the duckblind frame...update to come

 

[Ohenry]

Very nice build!

 

[Josh_AllRAW]

Love your build, I'm getting an 18x60 made by a local company late winter early spring!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[chevyrulz]

here's the blind:

the blind is supported on each side by one 2x4. i drilled a 7/8 hole & cut an 8' 2x4 in half across that hole, so that 1 end of each 2x4 support leg has a rounded notch for the blind frame to sit on. I then chopped another little bit off the flat end of each 2x4 til the height was right at the water line with my 4' high landscape fencing. the end result is a notch in the 2x4 for the blind frame to sit on, it's plenty sturdy to run down the river with the blind up. i propped it up temporarily this way to hang the grass, but it was so strong, i opted to use it for the full time support & it has worked great after a week of hunting every morning. super quick to deploy/stow the blind.

the conduit is 3/4" EMT (electrical aisle @ Lowes), and I sleeved the long sections with 1/2" EMT inside for strength, but also because EMT only comes in 10' lengths & i needed longer. i bent my 4 curved sections, then the curve toward the bow to match the contour of the boat. initially, i left the frame as a slip fit, so the 1/2" & 3/4" emt were not attached to each other, making quick disassembly of the blind, but it proved to be less sturdy that way, the joint flexed a lot so i pop riveted them together for strength.

the grass material is "raffia" & it's the Avery Killerweed brand. the Avery description says 1 box covers an 18' boat. YEA RIGHT! i used 5-6 boxes... attaching the raffia is way more tedious than fast grass, but i like the end result & i think it is more durable. it's also way less snaggy than the fast grass when i am driving up narrow creeks with brush sticking out. plus everyone uses fast grass so i like that it looks a little different than the rest of the boats around.

the bow & stern are covered by old camo netting from the army/navy store. i ziptied some raffia to those front/rear flaps as well so it would blend better with the rest of the blind. it's really quick to cover & uncover the boat. i'm pleased

here you can see the support system for this scissor style blind is a highly advanced 2x4 just sitting there :mrgreen:

i was very surprised with the blind support being just the one 2x4 on each side, but it holds up great even running down the river at 30mph with the blind up over choppy water. obviously in big chop or if a huge wake is coming i'll lay it down, but if i am just going to chase a cripple, or a decoy caught in the current, the blind stays up.

the cross bar in the rear is attached to the t-rail using extrusion nuts just like the cleats & bimini hardware for the fittings, the bimini hardware is 7/8" but the EMT is 7/8 inner diameter, so they have to be enlarged slightly (a millimeter or 2) with a dremel to fit the larger outer diameter of the EMT.

on my 1546 blind, I used bimini fittings here for the scissor actuation, but they broke really quick, so this time i just drilled & thru-bolted, cost way less & far more durable.

takes a good 20 minutes to roll it up this well, but this is how i roll it up before i go fishing. between duck hunts though, i just lower the blind & let the frame sandwich the grass, plenty good for highway travel, but that method eats up some interior room & deck space so that is why i roll it up all nice & tight with bungees before fishing:

the rocket launcher rod holders actually hold a shotgun real nice, had a few people snapping pictures the other day when we had 2 guns like that (open chambers, empty mag tubes of course)...curious how the game warden will feel about it, ain't seen him yet! lol

 

[derekdiruz]

As an avid duck hunter, who has built my boats with this as a primary purpose, I always love seeing blind ideas. Thanks for posting, it looks like it will do well to kill birds! Good luck!

 

[chevyrulz]

thanks, only shot a couple wood ducks & a few mergansers during opening week. missed plenty more, including a group of gadwall. season re-opens 12/10 & I am doing a lottery hunt in flooded timber that day so we should get on em there, hopefully there's more birds around for 2nd season! :mrgreen:

 

[chevyrulz]

already growing tired of holding the spotlight & thinking integrated LED driving light like i did on the 1546...on that rig, i had used the 9" Kohree dual stack, but for this 1860, their 15" dual stack would fit:

BUT, i am thinking it would be way better, if the MAN who welded the leaning post would make some brackets to mount the lights below the deck, that way it's not in the way of feet stepping on/off the bow, or fly line on the deck...below deck also promotes night vision as the above deck does hit some of the nose which kills night vision slightly...so maybe 2 of these dual row spot lights firing forward to illuminate the channel:

& 2 of these combo flood/spot lights firing left/right to illuminate the river banks:

thoughts, pictures, suggestions welcomed...i am envisioning something like the war eagle / G3 setup they call a "duck bill" with light bracket welded onto the boat & a cage in front of it to protect the light

 

[LeftCoastAngler]

Awesome boat bro!

 

[LeftCoastAngler]

How's the floor drain in that thing? Dump into the transom area?

 

[chevyrulz]

Thanks!

How's the floor drain in that thing? Dump into the transom area?

yep, there's 2 semi-circular cutouts in the rear bench on the floor facing the center console under the leaning post that let water from the cockpit flow under the deck into the bilge area by the transom where the bilge pump is mounted: