1984 16' Bass Attacker Complete Rebuild

[Bigwrench]

Have decided to just go with the Moeller since it is specific to this application and meets the coast guard requirements. Cleaned up the old seat bases and orders replacement bushings

The transom corner caps were pretty rough so I clamped them together and trimmed the broken/cracked stuff off to make them uniform

Ended up building a new transom and entirely glassed it in

 

[Bigwrench]

Not much else to report except that I have been gaining seat time with the new Lincoln.
Started the day out like this

Learned all about heat warpage

Different cup sizes and argon flow rates

Tried to get a little dirty with 1/16

And had a major blow out

But at the end of the day there was a little progress showing

I’m almost disappointed it’s Christmas Eve and I know I’ll have little to no time to practice until Tuesday. Really having fun and with my medical/spinal issues I have found that sitting down to practice has been “bearable” so with all the time I have on my hands nowadays this might be the perfect way to pass the time and learn something useful.
Thanks for hanging with me through all this and Merry Christmas from the Olson Clan and hope everyone is happy and safe throughout this holiday season , God Bless !

 

[Bigwrench]

Got the refurbished fenders installed today, added some traction tape to the top of both

Repurposed some of the floor framing that came out of the front deck originally. Cut the longer channels in half and now have several framing pieces that can be utilized for hatch layout and support.

Ground the heads off the remaining rivets in the seat base area, so the deck will sit flush to the floor framing.

Everything under the front deck will be welded solid and reinforced in several locations.

Ran another tube up through the port side chine for extra wire runs. Everything that isn’t inside a pipe will be covered with conduit to prevent any rubbing against aluminum.

Played around with several different rivet configurations

Decided on 2 possibilities

And then tested them out to see how they looked installed

And the gripping ability

 

[Bigwrench]

Got the rear lower floor notched out for bilge pump mounting

Played around with some layout options again

Tried the 31 series batteries in different locations

Got the Center deck reinstalled with a rubber membrane between the Aluminum deck and floor joists. Riveted down and it’s solid as a rock and very quiet !

 

[Bigwrench]

Started sanding on the inner hull today and prepping for the self-etching primer.
Put Dad to work with the electric sander

While I hit the rear areas in the other side with a DA, wire brush and a good vacuum and acetone wipe down.

A real light coat of the self-etching primer to see how it lays.

 

[Bigwrench]

Pulled the Center rear lower deck today and started cleaning up the metal , decided at the last minute on whim to use Bed liner on the hull area which will not be seen anyways .

Worked extremely well and was a lot faster !!! As soon as this is set up I’m going to reinstall the flotation and then close this area in and start working on the battery location and the bilge pump mounting and wiring.
Have a HVLP sprayer en route to finish out the rest of the inside area etching primer and paint.
Also played around with some padding on the Center floor area to see how I liked it.

 

[Bigwrench]

After drying overnight the Bedliner spray turned out fantastic on the rear lower deck. It almost has me wanting to do the entire inside hull in it.

Last few days have been spent cleaning up the inside hull.
Had a “wish I woulda thought of that sooner” moment when I realized I had several old Hook & loop type DA sanding pads leftover.

Just laid them on top of a 3m scotch-brite pad and trimmed with scissors

This works extremely well for cleaning and prepping large areas of aluminum very very fast with minimal damage to the surface. I just attached the DA pad to my cordless drills and went to town.

We installed the console

 

[Bigwrench]

The console is a little flimsy for my liking and I will be using his area in front to build a dedicated cooler which will strengthen the console also.

Top view

I was playing around with the windshield and IMO it is way too tall, almost reminds me of a center console type

So I’ll probably be trimming that down at some point, once I get the seats in place and positioned.
Went ahead and laid out the front deck and cut all my access holes

Spent a couple hours just practicing my welding skills.
Hoping to start laying beads on this baby soon.
Going to work on closing in the transom area the rest of the week. Have to get some sheet bent and then it’s time to install the motor.

 

[Bigwrench]

Need to figure out where to install the new waterproof fuse block and get the battery trays framed out and installed today also.

 

[Bigwrench]

Got a double battery tray framed out and installed today. Going to play around with different securing techniques and for the moment there is one of those pads cut and installed below them but most likely will change it out to a thin rubber mat, glued in place.

Going to install this breaker and thinking of just gluing a piece of cutting board material to the inner storage walls and bolting it to that

Went ahead and sealed up some of the front hull also.

 

[SeaFaring]

Beautiful work! You’re making great progress too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bigwrench]

Beautiful work! You’re making great progress too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you ! I’m just glad to be able to make some progress on this thing again, it’s been way overdue !!

 

[Bigwrench]

We ended up getting a ton of work done today .
Stripped down the inside and outside of the original seat base/livewell and removed the old wooden lid and cut and installed a aluminum lid for it.

I also will be adding some extensions to each side of the box that will mount to the hull sides and this area will now have 2 outside seats and one center jump seat that has the step up padding in the back which will be mounted to the center lid. This seat will flip up for storage.

Using he specs off of the gas tank I ordered I laid out the footprint for that on the rear floor and decide there will be some nice storage behind the seating area as well.

Also as it turns out there is additional room under each seat for a storage compartment as well

Got the piece set in for the rear splash well and will be getting this piece bent at a local shop as well as a few other pieces I need a metal brake for, going to take them all at the same time to save money/trips.

Tried out a Fishing seat on the front deck and think there’s going to be plenty of room for a recessed TM tray

Gas Tank, NOCO 3bank ,Edge trim and black cutting board type material are on the way.
Should be a busy week next week !

 

[Bigwrench]

Need to start designing the console area

This is what was originally installed

I’m thinking of just cutting a 1/4” plate or even a diamond plate type pattern to mount the gauges/switches and steering wheel to.
Possibly another piece of cutting board material or I could even bite the bullet and use the leftover wood I have from the transom build.
What are y’all suggestions ?
I wonder if the difference in thickness between the old wood and the new aluminum plate would affect the mounting of the teleflex steering controls ?

 

[Bob9863]

My 2c worth is metal beats wood every time.
Its stronger and longer lasting, the only reason I see to use wood is because you don't have the equipment to work metal, it seems you do so go with metal.

 

[Bigwrench]

My 2c worth is metal beats wood every time.
Its stronger and longer lasting, the only reason I see to use wood is because you don't have the equipment to work metal, it seems you do so go with metal.

Yeah that’s definitely the way I feel about it but my worry was do I need 3/4-1” thickness there to make sure I can reuse the original steering control mounting hardware I guess ?
Didn’t know if I had to sandwich a 3/4 square aluminum tube between 2 pieces of aluminum plate to create the proper thickness for the steering control mounts?

 

[LDUBS]

FWIW, that part of my metal console the holds the steering bracket, switches, etc is backed by plywood. On the inside of course.

 

[Bigwrench]

FWIW, that part of my metal console the holds the steering bracket, switches, etc is backed by plywood. On the inside of course.

That makes sense then. See I did an experiment today with the old rotting out dash plate and a new sheet of 1/8 5052 aluminum here’s the results

That’s what I was afraid of with the thinner dash plate.
So now I will have to beef that area up from the back side to make the steering wheel mount look halfway decent. Might add a piece of 1/2” cutting board material. I will be using a different steering wheel setup and may just have to buy a complete steering kit with cables (if they are available that way), instead of buying new cables and a steering wheel separately?
So today I worked on just framing out one compartment (the anchor & rope locker), trying to get an idea how I want the doors finished out. Looks like I’ll need to get some U or C type channel to also attached to stop the doors from falling inside and prevent rainwater from going directly into the compartments. This was very tedious work and I need to figure out an easier method , since there are several access holes that need lids made lol.

Also cut and installed a dash plate

Played around with some gauge locations

 

[Bigwrench]

Also wanted to add that with the new plate installed to the console it is very solid now. Worst case scenario I could add another 1/8 sheet to that one , doubling he thickness and some bracing in the rear to prevent any bending or flexing when pulling up with the steering wheel.
Or just find some 1/4” anyways since I have to make a TM mount and was going to use 1/4” for that.

 

[Bob9863]

Most ally boats I know use a transom plate of some description, and/or a brace or some description.
That should be easy enough to do, a mate made his own transom out of 10mm ally plate.