1968 Nichols Semi V Jon Boat Conversion

[boito]

I was just given a brand new (1968) 12 ft x 48" Nichols Semi V jon boat from my neighbor. It sat in the woods behind his house for at least the last 11 years. Here's what it looked like when we pulled it out of the woods a week ago

Not knowing what was under 11 years of dirt, I started with pressure washing the entire boat. Gradually, the boat started flaking off. Apparently it was painted about 20 years ago and the baby blue is from the factory.

It took several hours, but at least it's clean.

Cleaning up the aluminum around the top of the boat (is there a name for that?)

Next, I broke out the angle grinder and a steel brush and started removing the old paint. Yes, I know it's not recommended to use a steel brush on aluminum, but sandpaper and paint stripper weren't doing anything. I stripped it down to bare aluminum across the bottom of the boat.

I burned up three angle grinders in the process...

Next, I added a couple coats of primer and a couple coats of paint, and viola! It looks pretty darned good, in my humble opinion.

I have NO idea what I'm going to do with the inside of it, so feel free to post some links to other posts or offer up any ideas you have.

Thanks for checking out my project. I'll keep posting updates along the way. Like... does it float?

 

[mighty]

Nice looking good enjoy. Will you use it for fishing or just boating heres my 14ft aluminum starcraft

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[boito]

@mighty that looks great! Do you have any other pics of what you did? Is there another post where you've already posted some?

 

[Drock]

WOW is right it's amazing what some elbow grease will do. The paint looks nice, what paint did you use and how did you apply it?

 

[mighty]

First i sanded it and primed it with rustolem two coats the used applied two coats of blue and gray. I used 2×2 aluminum angle and connected them to the ribs for the floor. I used am aluminum 4x8 sign as my floor. Between the floor and the boat i put noodles for floation. I just pulled out the fron deck because its to high aka tippy. But the deck is 3/4 ply. Covered everything with outdoor carpet. I wished i would have sealed the wood first with polyurethane. Do Not Use Thompson's its good for nada.

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[mighty]

Here are couple of picks. The boxes are sealed with Thompson, the transom wood is sealed with polyurethane. Notice the difference

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[boito]

WOW is right it's amazing what some elbow grease will do. The paint looks nice, what paint did you use and how did you apply it?

Thanks Drock. I went cheap. Believe it or not, it's all spray paint from Walmart. I used 6 or 7 cans (2 coats) of Rustoleum self-etching primer. For the gray, I used 4 or 5 cans of Rustoleum high-gloss enamel. Then for the red, about 4 cans of a high-gloss red that matches my truck

I'm pretty sure I'm going to paint the inside the same red, put in a flat floor and a couple benches with pedestal seats. I thought about adding a bunch of storage compartments, but I'm leaning towards making it simple. Then I'll probably sell it, buy something bigger, and gradually trade up to a decent bass boat.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

WOW is right it's amazing what some elbow grease will do. The paint looks nice, what paint did you use and how did you apply it?

Thanks Drock. I went cheap. Believe it or not, it's all spray paint from Walmart. I used 6 or 7 cans (2 coats) of Rustoleum self-etching primer. For the gray, I used 4 or 5 cans of Rustoleum high-gloss enamel. Then for the red, about 4 cans of a high-gloss red that matches my truck

I'm pretty sure I'm going to paint the inside the same red, put in a flat floor and a couple benches with pedestal seats. I thought about adding a bunch of storage compartments, but I'm leaning towards making it simple. Then I'll probably sell it, buy something bigger, and gradually trade up to a decent bass boat.

Having owned a smaller boat outfitted to my needs and a bass boat, unless you need to travel over water a few miles or want to do competitions I think the smaller boats win out in a lot of areas.

Cost of operation being dollars per day with a tin boat is a winner.


Good looking boats guys!

 

[boito]

Working on the inside now...

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[mighty]

Looks good.

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[boito]

A little late-night carpeting work...

 

[boito]

All finished!

I just bought a 1974 trailer for it which also needs a facelift. Might as well paint it red like the boat, eh?

 

[pbw]

Awesome job!