1973 SmokerCraft 16' V hull [Major tasks completed - 6/1/11]

[bluegrasser]

Nice new mercury you got there =D> Are you happy with that minn kota traxxis that you are using in the picture of the boat in the water?

Basstender - I had an Endura 30lb thrust for YEARS that I still use on a canoe from time to time. Interestingly, I have had a hard time getting used to the Traxxis mechanism for stowing and deploying it. I bought that model because it was supposed to be EASIER to stow and deploy. I find it kind of strange, but maybe just because I was used to the other way for so long.

Also, I had bought a Kipawa 3-blade prop for my old Endura and that thing would fly. I don't think I move a whole lot faster with the Traxxis with the two-bladed "Weedless Wedge" prop.

Upon reasearch, though, I have learned that I shouldn't necessarily expect more "speed" with a higher thrust motor, but simply better performance with load - Ie. bigger boat size or against a stiff current.

Haven't used it enough to weigh in on that though. Hopefully soon!

 

[reedjj]

That motor looks brand new! You should move pretty quick with that Merc 40!

 

[bluegrasser]

Got the boat sanded inside and out, off the trailer and onto the floor of the garage.

The trailer was covered in 40 years of grime, rust, road salt, etc. The bottom bunks were completely rotten and were removed to be replaced. The trailer was sanded extensively, primed with a rust inhibitor, and painted with a high-gloss black.

It will take a while for the trailer paint to dry - it's gotten really cold and wet around here all of a sudden. Back to winter time.

Painting boat hull and inside is on hold for a while too, until it warms up a bit.

I'll find something to tinker with!

p.s. - I have to come clean: My wife owns a painting company and two of her painters have been helping me with the sanding and painting. That's slightly beyond my skill level.

 

[bluegrasser]

It has been cold and wet, recently, so I am stalled on the boat painting project.

In the meantime, got new bunks on the trailer:

Also, amidst all the clutter that had filled the boat when I brought it home was this big mass of canvas and tubing. Out of a desire to fiddle around, I finally unfolded the thing - it's a bimini top!!!

The canvas is in real rough shape but there's a canvas/awning shop just down the road. I would have to imagine new fabric would be just a fraction of the cost of buying a whole new bimini top.

Here's some quick pics:

 

[Brine]

Trailer looks great, and nice find on the bimini!

 

[bluegrasser]

Trailer looks great, and nice find on the bimini!

Thanks Brine! I just scrolled through ten pages of your mod. I will have to say, you are a great exemplar of patience. I am sometimes envious of some of the other guys on this site who strip a boat down the bare bones and trick it out within 3 weeks time. It is nice to see your measured approach.

However, I will admit that I am getting REALLY antsy as the calendar pages keep turning and we're getting closer to spring!

 

[bluegrasser]

Still cold and VERY RAINY around here. I believe I saw barnacles growing on the north side of my garage the other day. sheesh! :x

So, not a lot of actual work getting done, but a lot of thinking about schemes and layout.

Got the trailer out of the garage and the boat flipped over and ready for something:

Toyed with the existing rod holders by installing some bolts near where the reel handles will sit. Works pretty good I think:

I still don't want to do a lot of 'building' on it, like decks and the console rebuild, because I still intend to flip it back over soon to paint the hull and then the interior. So I'm keeping it simple.

I think I have finally settled on a layout though.

From front to back (oh, sorry - bow to stern):

At the bow, finally decided to mount trolling motor up front instead of in the back next to the outboard. It will work well here and the bow hatch actually still opens just fine (previous owner had troller mounted here too). Bow hatch will mainly just house my anchor and rope. (Also note temporary placement of battery-powered bow light).

Next is the area where I will store life jackets and other big bulky things. The stacked boxes represent what will eventually be my console spot.

I plan to deck over that storage area, tying into the two bench seats and the bow hatch. I put a piece of lumber there to give you an idea (This was simply a random piece I had sitting in the garage to help illustrate the concept. Not the final deck piece :lol: )

Another view - note, the blue cooler will be decked around, but will remain portable/removable. Decent sized cooler, too, holding up to 37 cans.

My new boat seats!!! Got them at Bass Pro Shops. They are grey and charcoal and I think I may end up using this color scheme for the whole boat.

I weighed my motor the other day. It weighs 175 pounds, which is 30lbs heavier than the old Evinrude. To compensate back at the transom, I'm going to move the battery forward. I measured my battery cable at eight feet, so I can put the battery pretty far up. It will go roughly at the middle of the boat, and I will cut out a section underneath the two boat seats and slide in the battery. Should be a nice, dry, out of the way spot for it.

Finally, at the back I have a couple of things going on. Another grey boat seat (salvaged from my old boat). Another cooler that will be sunk into the bench seat, where it will be flush with the seat top. It will also remain portable/removable. It holds up to 11 cans. Below the splashwell is, of course, the red fuel tank. Next to it is a sealable waterproof storage container.

So, to wrap up, I will have a huge front casting deck with the trolling motor up front, a good bit of storage in two different hatches, a big cooler all in the upper 3rd of the boat. In the middle is console, two boat seats and a hidden battery. In the back is another seat, a small cooler, and more good storage.

I've tried to imagine all the ways I used my old, smaller jon boat and different scenarios I can conceive of with this one and I think this layout makes the most sense.

Agree, disagree, think I'm missing something?

 

[bluegrasser]

Got a few projects completed...

Sunk the small cooler in the very back bench seat. In the pictures it's sitting a little higher, but it sits down in the seat so that the top is flush with the seat. Actually pretty comfortable to sit on.

Next project was to rebuild my console. Discovered that my Bass Pro Shops boat seat box made a pretty good template for deciding the dimensions and location of the new console:

My daughter "helping me". She was enjoying an imaginary day on the water, steering the boat:

Got the console started. Still rough, but got the steering column afixed and the general build going:

It's just sitting loosely on there because I didn't want to secure it down too much as I'll be removing it in about a week to do the big paint job. Then things should start humming along!

 

[Froggy]

Looks real good, the wheel would probably be more comfortable if it where angled up a bit no?

 

[bluegrasser]

Have been working steadily on the console build and then mounting the side controls. I've got the steering wheel and throttle lever where I can operate them comfortably from the seated position, or while standing. This is important to me because I run a lot of shallow, log-strewn rivers and I like to stand most of the time. (Also note the cup holder I installed with a bottle of boat-building fuel resting comfortably therein.

I am getting ready to strip all this out, though, so that I can paint the interior in the next couple of days. Stay tuned.

 

[bluegrasser]

Took some doing, but I got the boat interior totally cleaned out (took two nights with a box of rags and heavy-duty cleaning solution). Got heaters in the garage and cranked up, because - of course - the outside temp has plummeted and even snowed last night. That would happen when I"m finally ready to paint.

Got a good primer coat on yesterday and a finish coat today. It's not perfect, but a lot of it will eventually be covered by marine carpet. Nonetheless, a huge difference from what it used to look like!

Had "fun" painting the transom area and the styrofoam interior of my cooler slot on the back bench. Those areas took almost as much time as the rest of the boat.

This angle makes the boat look crazy wide, but the paint looks nice.

Next step...
Later this week I should get a chance to take it to my wife's warehouse where I can finally paint the exterior/hull. Can't wait!!!

 

[bluegrasser]

Well...

It's been a long couple of weeks. Again, weather turned cold and wet. I had the boat scheduled to be sprayed with an epoxy coating, but the day of that, temp plummeted into the mid 30s with freaking snow! The result was an awful paint job that I then spent quite a while sanding off.

So, the last week has been spent rolling on a new coat of epoxy (a two-part epoxy made by Porter Paints - it should function the same as the Steelflex that everybody likes so much on this site, but it was a local product. This has turned out to be fortuitous as I have needed more of it to correct issues).

Got the hull completely covered with the gray epoxy paint. It is sealed pretty good!

Today I finally put on my second color - a dark blue color for the sides and transom for areas above the water line. It's a two-part polyurethane. I brushed it on and it was looking nice and glossy. However, as I made my way to the other side, I went back to look at the first side and it had SAGGED considerably! It looked horrible. I did my best to quickly put on a foam roller and roll it out. The finish looks rough, but I hope at least I smoothed out some of the sags and runs. We'll see tomorrow in the daylight.

In the meantime, here is the concept at least:

I think I have some more sanding in my future. :evil:

But, I like the color scheme and am excited about getting closer to the finished product. =D>

 

[ITGuy]

Looking good. Looks nice and roomy. Need to get me a new boat to play with.

 

[bluegrasser]

Sanded and repainted last night. There's still some sags that are visible in a certain light. But, I'm not a perfectionist.

Got the boat flipped back over, right side up.

Got some nice reflective numbers at Home Depot.

It's coming together!!

 

[lbdsjp]

The color scheme looks good! I have a 14' 1973 Smokercraft that I bought new when I was 14 or 15 years old. My boat is identical without the steering wheel setup. Once in a while I think of selling it but seeing the nice job your doing motivates me to keep it. Thanks for sharing.

 

[bluegrasser]

Thanks for the kind words about the color scheme. That was the result of a LOT of hard work painting. IT's still not perfect, but good enough that the casual observer, not looking for errors, would find it satisfactory.

Went turkey hunting last weekend and before I set off, I had my two hunting buddies help me hoist the boat up onto the trailer. First time back on the trailer in about 2 months!

I've got the seats set up temporarily, steering console and throttle controls installed, working on the supports to deck over this section:

Replaced both my deep cycle battery and starting battery for a Sears marine Platinum - it is an AGM, 31 Series. Has 1150 CCA and 205 reserve. Should crank my motor beautifully and still have a ton of reserve for trolling motor and electronics.
It's a beast at 75 pounds, but a good bit lighter than two batteries combined:

With battery on board, I was able to finally take it to the boat shop. Loaded my new motor into my YUkon (a feat in itself)

Dropped off the boat and motor and the local boat guys are supposed to mount the motor, and connect all the steering and throttle and battery cables, install lights and bilge and generally hook everything up.
Can't wait to get it back in about a week!!!!

 

[libertyday]

looks great....

 

[bluegrasser]

lots of updates...

Got boat back from the boat shop with motor installed and lots of wiring and accessories.

couple of views of the new look:

console with steering wheel, and switches for bow and stern light, bilge, and cigarette lighter/12V charger, and fish finder on top:

one of my last projects, still working on, is covering over this space with a deck. Got most of the supports in:

I also got my marine carpet a few days ago from Cabelas. It's very nice looking. It is the Premium Marine Carpet in Charcoal color:
https://www.cabelas.com/product/Cab...arine+carpet&WTz_l=Header;Search-All+Products

Finally got out to the lake for a sea trial!!!!

She floated, the motor worked, no leaks, and I made it home in one piece!!!

once I get that deck afixed I will finally be ready for carpeting. Once carpet in, seats go in, then I'm just about FINISHED. After four months, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Hope to have some more updates soon.

 

[SlowRollin']

I think it turned out pretty good. Looks like a new boat.

What name brand paint did you use above the water line?

 

[bluegrasser]

Got a chance to do some major work this weekend.

I held my breath, crossed my fingers and started measuring out the 3/4" piece of plywood I had purchased for my front deck section. Planning for the curvature of the boat's hull was complicated, but I was impressed with how well I did with my limited skills. I was also excited to see how well it attached to the supports I had installed underneath. It is rock solid, fairly level, and fits the space perfectly. My hatch cutout also worked well too.

Not trying to gloat but I was a little amazed that it all worked as planned. Things rarely do for me - especially the projects in this 4 month long boat project!!

Now all that's left is the carpeting. I'm a little nervous about that too, but I'll just take my time and follow the advice of everyone on this message board.

Couple of pictures of the deck.

Got the piece cut and rough fit

Another coat of primer, then glued down and screwed down. Fits awesome.

Got the hatch hinges today. Now I need to start measuring for carpet. Can't wait to get this thing finished!!!