1994 Spectrum Dominator 16 Refurb

[edwonbass]

Hey Tinboat Family, last year I bought a 1994 Spectrum Dominator 16 bass boat to fix up. From what I can gather Spectrum as well as Fisher was made by Brunswick Marine which I think eventually got sold to Tracker.
I needed something a little bigger and more stable than my 12 foot tin so I could take my brother with me! He treated me to a lot of good fishing over the years with his Lowe and Ranger boats which he sold awhile back.
I have learned a lot from the good and helpful folks here and thought I would share the sprucing up of this old girl.
My goal was to replace the carpet and extend the front deck.
Before I get into the pics and process I just want to say that I never thought It would take as many hours of work as it did but it was always frustrating and fun all at the same time. And also I now know that when you have a boat, you are never done working on it. There is always something else that you want to add or change. I run into this same problem with having a home recording studio.
Anyway here is what she looked like when I got her minus the trolling motors and seats:

I didn't so much mind the blue carpet but it was in pretty bad shape and torn and missing in some spots.

Original front deck layout.

 

[edwonbass]

A little algae growing in the corners!

I bought the boat in October of last year and fishing a couple of times but didn't start working on it until February of this year.
The first thing to do was remove the decks, hatches and floor.

Not sure what made this nest or how it got under the deck boards.

 

[edwonbass]

I determined that since I was going to extend the deck and move the front hatch behind the seat post. I would just make new decks and floors.

The decks are basically made of spar urethane with some plywood for added strength :lol:

 

[edwonbass]

Most of the carpet and glue removed! This took the most time and chemicals!

Since it's February it was nice to be able to work indoors at the stage lighting company I work for!

I will post more tomorrow when I get home from work.

 

[wlshafor]

Looking good


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[user 21075]

Yeah, nice place to be able to work was the first thing came to my mind :mrgreen: Looking forward to the rest of the process and pics =D>

 

[edwonbass]

Yeah it is nice to be able to park the boat in there on a Friday night and come in early on a Saturday morning and work on it all day and just leave all my tools there. As long as I clean it all up by Sunday night I'm good to go.
So I just realized as I was going through all of my pictures that I don't have any real "how to" pics. I have a lot of "what happened" pics.

So here are some shots of the carpet going in.

 

[edwonbass]

Testing the fit of the deck lids. I think I had to leave about a quarter of an inch all the way around for the wood hatches.

The first picture shows the top insides without the caprpet. When I laid out the the deck parts, hatches and floor, I had to make sure I had a couple of long strips to fill in just under the gunnels.
I bought a roll of carpet 6' X 30' and used every bit of it. When wrapping the bottom of the console I had to seam two scrap pieces together.

 

[edwonbass]

The deck extension framing is just 2x3's painted silver.(mock aluminium} :lol:

More carpet. The square hole is an access hole for the livewell plumbing,

 

[edwonbass]

And...more carpet

Nothing screwed in yet just mocked it up to test the fit

 

[edwonbass]

At this point everything is covered in carpet except the console. I couldn't figure out what to do with it so I just painted it grey. I could have covered it in carpet as it was originally but I wanted to break it up.

Trolling motor on, all decks and floor screwed down and recessed pedal tray installed. I also made a bracket for the front fish finder. I went with the Garmin Striker 5 DV up front. The battery for the front motor is in the hatch behind the seat post.

 

[edwonbass]

Raymarine Dragonfly 5Pro at the helm.

That's pretty much the redo on this thing. She isn't pretty or perfect but she's paid for and the 25hp Mercury runs like a top!
I will post the rest of the finished (so far) pics.

 

[Hanr3]

Looks good. Nice job!

 

[user 21075]

Nice clean job =D>

 

[Fire1386]

Very nice work.... =D> the 25 hp should push that pretty nice.

 

[edwonbass]

Thanks guys! I think the next step before next spring is to fix up the console a bit and possible take the stripes off the side and repaint. The stripes are peeling in some spots and the registration numbers are kind of sloppy so I will replace them.

The 25hp does pretty good on this boat. I have reach 25 mph with just me in the boat and 20 with another person.

There is currently a 12 gallon tank, one group 29 and one group 27 in the back. I might get a 6 gallon tank since it took so long to run the 12 gallons out. I have been on the same tank of gas since spring time and there is still a few gallons left.

I also might ditch the group 27 and just run one 29 battery in the back for the electronics, starting and running a back trolling motor on electric only lakes.

 

[petersdillon6869]

Looks awesome, I have the same exact boat and was looking to remodel just like this one! Would be awesome to get some more information from you about exact tool and products you used!

 

[edwonbass]

No problem. Ask on this thread or PM me. I usually check in once or twice a day.

 

[evansjoem]

Nice job!


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[edwonbass]

Thanks! I am replacing the fuse block and doing the impeller change on the motor this weekend. Then I am going to just fish.

That's the plan anyway until I just can't leave it alone.