Alumacraft 1236 Makeover- livewell pg 11 - update front deck

[russ010]

Fishinbuds, the center console is awesome. I made 3 separate doors for the middle bench. 2 battery, 1 "bait box"... I purposefully made it with the piano hinge so that they would only open a little past 90 degrees instead of all the way open so that I wouldn't have to rest it on my legs or incase I had something sitting on the floor behind it. I stand to fish, so I just reached over and pulled out whatever box I needed, set it on one of the battery doors, then put it back. I've never had such a clean boat - bait thrown everywhere, line tangled up in the floor, battery in my way - and the best part with the batteries in the middle is the weight dispersement.... my front is no longer sitting up in the air.

Kodiak (my german shepherd) passed it... I knew something was wrong with him by the way he was acting. He didn't poop for a day and was acting like he needed to, but was afraid to let me see him do it. At this point I didn't know he had eaten the wiring and he knew I'd be upset when I found out, so I think he tried to hold it and then he would hide it later. I check his stool pretty often since he had worms as a pup, but what I thought was a worm turned out to be the ground wire of the harness. somehow he managed to swallow the connector with about 4 inches of 5 lines attached to it. He jumped about 4' in the air when it came out. That was about 2 weeks ago, and he's back to normal again.

As far as AIG goes, I'm glad I still have a job, but I'm glad they were knocked back down to their knees thinking they couldn't be touched. A little humility is needed every once in a while. I'm just waiting for my work email address to change from @aig.com to aig.gov since the government pretty much owns us now, and still will even after the 85billion is paid off.

 

[SlimeTime]

I wondered where ya been, haven't seen you post in a while. Boat's lookin' great, you've done a nice job & should be proud of it. You might look into some cabinet latches, either magnetic or click-ins. Locks would be another option if you'd want some added security (I just added a few myself). Hopefully things will get back to normal for ya :wink:

ST

 

[russ010]

ST - you are awesome... I just looked at your post about the locks and it never crossed my mind about doing it to mine.

I'm going to have to look into that.. didnt think about the magnets either... but I'd hate to be going down the road all my gear start flying out. I think the locks would be the best option

 

[russ010]

I've done a little more work this week.

I never painted the inside before doing any of internal mods (this was a mistake, I should have done all of the painting before I did the building)... I taped off the outside right under the lip of the gunwhales and just spray painted it flat black. I wanted to do it tan, but I had 7 cans of good flat black spray paint not being used, and I really don't have any extra money to be going into this boat... so I'll just use that as a primer for now, then when the money situation gets better I'll repaint it. I'm also painting the entire interior with the same paint. I forgot about overspray, so some of my carpet now has this black tinge to it - it wouldn't be so noticeable if I had of cleared out all of the stuff I had laying around. When I picked up the stuff is when I saw the mistake I had made. No worries though, I'll get in there and scrub it good with some Spray 9.

I don't have any pics of it yet, but they'll be coming soon.

 

[dedawg1149]

dang man that sounds like my luck hopefully you can get the overspray out :shock:

 

[bassboy1]

dang man that sounds like my luck hopefully you can get the overspray out :shock:

Nah, just take all the stuff out, run the sprayer lightly over it again, so the whole carpet will have overspray. Then, it will just look like slightly darker carpet.

 

[russ010]

I just found a Humminbird 727 on ebay for $99 - no transducer. Found a Trolling Motor mounted transducer for $50. For $170 (includes shipping) I just got a $280 FF. I couldn't pass it up. There will be NO more buying of anything for me for a while.

It will be a little while before pics get posted of it on my boat... I'm having it sent to my parents house so that my wife ( [-X ) doesn't find out I bought something else....

 

[dedawg1149]

dang man that sounds like my luck hopefully you can get the overspray out :shock:

Nah, just take all the stuff out, run the sprayer lightly over it again, so the whole carpet will have over spray. Then, it will just look like slightly darker carpet.

bass boy who pulled you chain i was quoting Russ and then you want to say something like that.

 

[russ010]

Finally... I have pictures!!! They aren't the best because I waited until it was dark to take them, and it's in the garage... so I'll have to get some better ones up during the daylight.

I ended up using paint left over for the inside. 3 cans of Rustoleum Metallic (Black Night) on the sides, then Plastic Cote on the floor. I don't remember why I bought this stuff, but I found it and decided to use it. I've got some Herculiner, but I really don't feel like getting the stuff out and rolling it everywhere on the floor. I'm going to see how this rubbery stuff holds up first and if I don't like it, I'll redo it.

 

[russ010]

Thank goodness I have a can of that plastic cote left over.... those spots I missed (I didn't know I missed some until I saw the pics above).. that's what I get for painting outside under a security light!

 

[dedawg1149]

it looks good i like the black do you think with it being black that it is going to get hot

 

[ben2go]

It looks real good.I ain't to fur above ya and this southern sun gets real hot.Look for the soles of your shoes to melt.

 

[russ010]

I'm not too worried with the sun beating down on the black... only because it's getting into the cooler months. I only used the black because I didn't have to buy it right now, it's what I had laying around my shop.

As far as burning my feet... I made the floors removable, and I do fish barefoot, but the only thing that should get hot is the carpet, and I haven't had the carpet get hot in any boat yet.

Ben2go - I'm from SC. Originally I'm from Lancaster County (Kershaw is the closest city to where I live)... then I moved to Taylors/Greer to go to school. I just moved to Atlanta back in 2004 for an internship during my last year of college, then as I was trying to get out of this asphalt hell - I met my now wife... I'm never getting out of this place! I live 26 miles from work, and it takes me on average 1.5-2 hours to go that far 1 way to work. The things I do to stay out of the city, but I think the city keeps expanding because now they're building a mall 2 miles from my house.

 

[ben2go]

Sweet.I used to live off Gap Creek Road in Greer.I lived at the 4 way stop to Hwy 357 and Gap Creek Road.I have now moved back to Inman and into my house.It'd take quite a sum of money for me to move to Atlanta.I don't think love would be enough to keep me there. :lol:

 

[bassboy1]

dang man that sounds like my luck hopefully you can get the overspray out :shock:

Nah, just take all the stuff out, run the sprayer lightly over it again, so the whole carpet will have over spray. Then, it will just look like slightly darker carpet.

bass boy who pulled you chain i was quoting Russ and then you want to say something like that.

Oh sorry. I shoulda put a smiley at the end, so it would be taken like the pointless joke it was..... :shock: :shock: :lol:

Sorry for the post hijack.... #-o #-o

 

[dedawg1149]

that is alright i didn't know if you was joking or not

 

[russ010]

Sweet.I used to live off Gap Creek Road in Greer.I lived at the 4 way stop to Hwy 357 and Gap Creek Road.I have now moved back to Inman and into my house.It'd take quite a sum of money for me to move to Atlanta.I don't think love would be enough to keep me there. :lol:

I think I know where you used to live.. it's amazing how I've forgotton road numbers since I've moved down here. I lived near North Greenville College (University now) up near Tigerville.

I didn't think love could keep me in ATL either... boy was I wrong! Atleast she lets me go fish and do whatever else I want to.. I think she knows I'm miserable so she cuts me some slack.

 

[Victor Coar]

great lookin boat!

 

[russ010]

great lookin boat!

Thanks!

 

[russ010]

well... I'm pretty much done now. Finally figured out the best way to mount the front trolling motor while keeping all of my leg room. I wish I had set the seat further back towards the middle bench so that I would not be cramping my foot to work the trolling motor, but oh well - these jon boats are an ongoing process so I'm sure I'll figure something out. All of this work only took about 1 hour, and I was surprised myself to cut it, carpet it, mount the trolling motor... then another hour to mount the fish finder and transducer. I don't like how the wires are ran for the transducer, but until I figure out how to do it right, it friggin works! ENJOY!

I put the piece of wood up to see how I wanted to cut it... it was here that I found out this little piece of tin is NOT square.. so I used 2x4s to level it so that the trolling motor mount sat level on the deck. I also decided to bevel the edges with a router so that the sharp edges wouldn't wear out the carpet as fast because I DO NOT want to recarpet this thing as long as I own it.

All of the wood is attached together by 3" pocket screws (2x4 into 3/4" decking), then the deck is attached to the boat by 1 4" metal pocket screw into the front bench. Then there are 6 - 1/4" x 2" stainless self tapping screws into the rim of the boat. Very sturdy and I hope I don't ever have to take it off... what a pain that would be.