1980 Fisher Marine

[MikeG]

Hi All!

I am new to the site, but have been looking around. Lots of great information! I live in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and fish for largemouth and the occasional smallmouth on the river systems, Fort Gibson, Tenkiller and Hudson lakes.

I've had this boat for a little over 5 years and finally decided it was time to redo it. It is a 1980 Fisher Marine with a 1977 75hp Evinrude. I've gone all thru the motor, replaced all of the fuel lines, rebuilt the carburators and the lower unit.

When I got started I didn't realize how bad the trailer was, between the rust and someone overdoing the welding. They had welded everything, every bolt and nut instead of just replacing them.



So I cut everything off of it and started grinding and reattaching correctly.



Here is the boat after I had started tearing everything out from inside.

 

[MikeG]

With all of the leaks that I didn't want to deal with anymore. I drilled out and replace 135 pop rivets, I sealed them 3M 5200 as I replaced them and then sealed every rivet and seam on the inside with it also.

This is after removing everything down to the floor.


As you can see it is pretty grimy after so many years.



I cleaned it up and applied the Self Etching Primer.



The console must have had 100 holes in it so I cut out the center portion and riveted a new piece in its place, then applied the same primer.



Time to choose a color .... here was my choice, what do you think?



I used the same color on the console.

 

[fool4fish1226]

Welcome - Boat's lookin great keep up the good work

 

[MikeG]

As I said earlier I replaced all of the foam in the floor and laid down the new marine carpet.



I moved on to the deck frame. I opted for 1/16th" steel that is coated with a special rust resistant primer and then sprayed it black on top of that. I laid out 2 rod boxes, a livewell and tackle storage up front.



This shows the back of the rod boxes with most of the tubes installed.

 

[fool4fish1226]

Even better - man your making great progress

 

[MikeG]

I wanted to have a recess tray for my trolling motor pedal but geesh, they wanted over $100 for one. I built this one using a 1x4, 1x12 and some aluminum angle I had. I have approx $9 in it.



I ordered my livewell from Great Lakes Skipper and put styrofoam all around it for insulation,



I got the initial decking down on the front with the doors cut out, had to test the recess tray out also .

 

[MikeG]

I framed the rear deck with doors big enough to easily take the gas tanks out if I needed to. The original ones were too small for the 6 gallon plastic tanks. I also have the seat frame so it will be hinged on the front and allow storage underneath.





I cleaned and sanded my motor and repainted it. I ordered the graphic from Ebay.

 

[MikeG]

I installed the carpet and lid handles and had some ideas on the tackle storage. I mounted 2 pieces of aluminum angle and tore apart a metal fish stringer to create extra storage for plastics. I also made a mount for my measure board.



Closeup shot of the tackle storage.



A final pic of the front deck pretty well finished up. Just have to mount the locator and clean up the wires up front.



I just have to mount the motor and hook it up and then a few small things to finish it up.