1973 PolarKraft 1440 MV - The Birth of Ictalurus

[Ictalurus]

Decided to make one more adjustment to the boat before the spring fishing explosion I'm about to embark on. I took the foam out of the middle seat and made a little storage area, it's actually quite big. In the process I also shortened by middle bench and gave the back floor 10.5" of length. Real nice improvement, took it out for a quick spin yesterday and I love it. The bimini top also came in and I put that on today. Real easy, took only about 1.5 hours and that was with me staring and thinking for about half of that. Looks like it will cover the rear portion of the boat and be totally out of the way up front in the fishing area. Maybe my ice chest will be in the shade down here in August now Also swung by batteries plus and picked up that tasty little 12V 10ah to run my depth gauge, I love it. :lol:

 

[Ictalurus]

If anyone uses that style battery setup for their fish finder, how long between charges should i expect from a fully charged battery?

 

[susky river runner]

WOW your tin looks great man! Great job.

 

[deerslayer]

Nice boat! what type of bimini top is that? I am looking for something for my polarkraft this year for our crabbing trips. Would be nice to have something like that, that I can take off and on

 

[Ictalurus]

WOW your tin looks great man! Great job.

Thanks River Runner, it's been a work in progress. Think I finally have it just the way I like it.

Nice boat! what type of bimini top is that? I am looking for something for my polarkraft this year for our crabbing trips. Would be nice to have something like that, that I can take off and on

Thanks Deerslayer. I went back and forth about adding the bimini. It's very hot down here in the summer, but I didn't want anything that was too big and got in the way. I saw the two bow bimini, which I thought would store easier than a three bow, on sale at Cabela's and jumped on it.

https://www.cabelas.com/product/Boating/Boat-Covers/Bimini-Tops%7C/pc/104794380/c/104703480/sc/104216580/Hurricane-2-Bow-Bimini-Top/737023.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fboating-boat-covers-bimini-tops%2F_%2FN-1100622%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_104216580%3FWTz_l%3DUnknown%253Bcat104794380%253Bcat104703480&WTz_l=Unknown%3Bcat104794380%3Bcat104703480%3Bcat104216580

 

[reedjj]

Looks great! White with the white bimini is very nice. What kind of seats are you going to use?

 

[Ictalurus]

Looks great! White with the white bimini is very nice. What kind of seats are you going to use?

Thanks Reedjj, the boat & and bimini are actually grey. It is a lighter grey though, my last boat was green and it got rather warm in the summer. Already have the seats, nothing special.

 

[TWub78]

Sharp looking tin great job =D>

 

[alanbird_87]

Great looking boat! =D> Came a long ways from where it began.

 

[sbm2240]

Great job on your boat! I clicked your link in your signature when you posted on mine. VERY impressed.. so now the real question... how's it fishing!

Enjoy!

 

[Ictalurus]

Great job on your boat! I clicked your link in your signature when you posted on mine. VERY impressed.. so now the real question... how's it fishing!

Enjoy!

Thanks man, it fishes great. Stability is fine with the low decks and the 20 HP pushes it quite well.

 

[Ictalurus]

Decided that the middle deck modification worked so well I did the front too. The extra bit of floor space really pays of when fishing. I just need to pick up some carpet and move the wiring from view.

 

[sbm2240]

Ictalurus - I reviewed your build again and had a question - The jack plate you put on your transom, did it help with the performance of the motor? I to have a short shaft mercury and it seems to me the motor still sits a little to low under the boat. I'm wondering if raising it up like that would help with the performance?

Thanks!

 

[Ictalurus]

The jack plate you put on your transom, did it help with the performance of the motor?

I didn't have a GPS speed before the jack plate, it seems like it may have picked up an extra MPH or two. The best thing about it is the extra clearance in with the tiller, I'd do it again just for that. With two people, gear and a full cooler livewell the boat hits around 22 MPH. I'm sure it if you raised your motor it wouldn't hurt at all.

 

[FFDOZIER]

The boat looks great brother. I especially like the storage in the Bow area. Great Job.

 

[Topgun]

Very nice! I like all the storage, yet still plenty of room to move around. Even the gas tank sits on carpet! Mine probably won't be so lucky. I'm jealous of your 20 hp. Around here most of the good fishing lakes have 10 hp limits.

 

[Ictalurus]

The boat looks great brother. I especially like the storage in the Bow area. Great Job.

Thanks man, fixing up this boat has been a blast. I still stare at the boat all the time wondering if there is anything else that I need to do.

Very nice! I like all the storage, yet still plenty of room to move around. Even the gas tank sits on carpet! Mine probably won't be so lucky. I'm jealous of your 20 hp. Around here most of the good fishing lakes have 10 hp limits.

Thanks, I also like the 20HP. I use my 8HP most of the time due to several area lakes having a 5 MPH limit, but the 20HP is fun. Hits about 22 MPH with 2 people and gear. I haven't emptied the boat and ran it wide open solo yet. Keeping the center bench in and taking the foam out was a great choice for this boat, plenty of storage and room for passengers.

 

[Topgun]

Thanks, I also like the 20HP. I use my 8HP most of the time due to several area lakes having a 5 MPH limit, but the 20HP is fun. Hits about 22 MPH with 2 people and gear. I haven't emptied the boat and ran it wide open solo yet. Keeping the center bench in and taking the foam out was a great choice for this boat, plenty of storage and room for passengers.[/quote]


I think overall I'll be just fine with my 9.5hp setup. Most of the lakes that allow larger motors end up with lots of pleasure-boats that make giant wakes. I'm not sure my shallow 14-footer has any business out there anyway. Some day I'll have another boat for those kind of waters. :lol:

Forgive me if it's in this thread somewhere, but did you add back any flotation after gutting the benches?

 

[Ictalurus]

Forgive me if it's in this thread somewhere, but did you add back any flotation after gutting the benches?

I put down the blueboard foam between the ribs under the deck. i didn't add up any numbers, but it seems like it took more foam to fill under the deck than I had removed from the seat.

 

[larryg]

very nice project.how long is that bimini top.i have some poles that someone ws junkin but wasnt sure how to set them up.