Alumacraft 1448MV - Catfish, Casting & Bowfishing

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

River, nice job on that deck. I like the hatches. Are you able to stand on them without them giving? I have been tossing around the idea buying those kind of hatches.

Howdy Dave,
The hatches are STOUT and do not leak in the rain. I walk/stand on them all day long...don't even notice them. No buyer's remorse here.

Take care,

 

[franner11]

saweeeeeeeet setup! nice work!!!

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

Hoping to shoot some video of my tinny with her new Yammy this weekend. In the meantime, here's a bowfishing pic with my tinny in the background.

47 Fish Whacked & Stacked In My Nameless Tinboat

 

[reedjj]

Great lookin boat!

 

[cmatthews_jm]

Is it possible that you could show us what the guide ons look like where they are attached to the trailer? I'm curious about how much of the ladder stabilizer is on the trailer and about how much is in the pvc pipe itself.

 

[blueultra2]

So how's that new motor? Did you ever get any videos running your new setup?

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

I have been seriously slacking on updating my thread. I promise that this weekend, I am going to take some pictures and update this thing!!!!!

 

[mmf]

Really like your boat River and I am completely with you on your thoughts of aluminum only. I myself have spent entirely way too much money for nothing on wood, carpet etc in my life and aluminum and stainless fasteners is the way to go, yes, one must save his dollars to build one like that but it's worth it in the end and no more redoing the boat every 5 years or so! Keep posting some of those bow fishin shots too! :LOL2:

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

Cut a hole in the stern facing vertical face of my middle seat. I found two types of foam. Plain old white Styrofoam molded block on top of another type foam. I took out the Styrofoam and left the other. I'm using the space under the seat for more storage and it will make it easier to bolt my seats on. I was surprised how structural support the Styrofoam was. The seat sagged and was a little springing once the Styrofoam was removed.


Cut the hole with a jigsaw. 32/inch toothed blade.
Lined the hole with rubber trim that I found on https://greatlakesskipper.com/.

LINK TO RUBBER TRIM
https://greatlakesskipper.com/product/5_320_323-boat-deck-and-docking-hardware-trim-lock/13969-tracker-boats-tracker-18-in-edge-trim-w-pebble-texture-black-trim-lock-boat-molding-foot.html

 

[Ranchero50]

Styrofoam melts when mixed with gas so they used two types. Mine is the same way. The front is a huge peice of 1/2" plywood riveted to the deck over styrofoam.

Jamie

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

Oh my!!! Now that's comfy!!! GOT SEATS????

I bought my seats a while back. Wise Big Man fishing seats and I sprung for arm rests for both. These seats are for catfishing and chillaxing. There is no doubt that the seats are money well spent. By far the most comfortable seats I have ever sat in.

Seat Install
-Started off with measurements and drawings. Using a compass I plotted so that the seats could be far enough apart to walk through but still able to rotate 360.

-Cut a hole in the middle seat and removed foam. This gave me more storage and allowed easy access to bolt the seats on. After removing the foam the middle seat was very springy.

-Mounted an aluminum plate with stainless steel hardware from Fastenal. Used a hole saw to cut the hole for the seat pedestals and bolted those in place.

- Next was tape, primer and paint.

- Final touch was installing my Cabelas seat pad on the rear seat. I don't like sitting in a chair while driving the tiller. I like to slide around to change my weight distribution. The seat is really nice, I like it and would but it again.

The Plate

Mounting and Drilling

Rotates 360

Installed Seat Pad

Seats Are Finito!

She's coming along....slowly but surely...

 

[Spook]

I'm digging the seat setup , very cool!

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

It seems that the weight of a 4 stroke is an ongoing topic on here. I thought I would throw up some pics to show that the extra weight of my 25 Yammy 4-stroke made really no difference in how my boat drafts.

Sittin' Pretty

Lil' Close Up

Short Shaft...Size Does Matter...

Anyway...I hope this helps out the folks wondering about the extra weight of a 4 stroke.

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

Bilge Pump installed....but not wired.

Bought, installed and tested an Attwood Tsunami 800 GPH bilge pump.

How I did it:
If you look back in the post about mounting the seats you'll see my Dad running a hole saw. The leftover circular piece from the jon boat bench seat was the exact same size as the bilge pump. I marked, drilled and countersunk the holes so that the flush mount screws would be completely flush. Then using nylon nuts I secured the pump housing to it. Using a pneumatic angel grinder I removed the paint from were I wanted to attach the bilge. Then epoxied it down. Routed the hose and installed the through-hull fitting. Pretty simple.

To test it filled the boat up with water and wired the pump directly to the battery. I knew that a 800 GPH pump would be more than enough for my little tinny. This thing shots a stream of water like it's hooked up to city water. It really does some pumping.

Mounting bracket epoxied to hull. Pump house secured on with nylon nuts.

Hose and through-hull fitting.

Another look at it

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

Covers

Well...I wish I had the extra money to spend on a carport of some type to keep my boat under. But alas, I am a working working man. ;-)

I ordered this cover from Cabelas: https://www.cabelas.com/catalog/pro...706&type=product&WT.tsrc=CRR&WT.mc_id=crrdtfd

The 14ft was not wide enough to fit the stern of my 1448. I had to sent it back for the 16ft cover. 16ft is a little long. I made a rib from PVC to hold up the cover so that it would shed the rain. Noting fancy...didn't even glue it together.

I also bought a new coat for my Yammy. She liked it.

PVC

Covers

 

[slabdaddy]

Good stuff! I have the same pad from Cabelas and like it too. You are doing the right thing by keeping your equipment out of the elements; good luck and tight lines! 8)

 

[jasper60103]

Nice job, RiverBottomOutdoors.
I need to do something similar. Are those just T-connections on the ends of PVC pipe? What size pipe did you use? Thanks for sharing.

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

Nice job, RiverBottomOutdoors.
I need to do something similar. Are those just T-connections on the ends of PVC pipe? What size pipe did you use? Thanks for sharing.

1/2" SCH40 PVC & 1/2" Non-threaded PVC Ts.

Didn't bother to glue them, just kept trimming it until it fit.

 

[jasper60103]

Nice job, RiverBottomOutdoors.
I need to do something similar. Are those just T-connections on the ends of PVC pipe? What size pipe did you use? Thanks for sharing.

1/2" SCH40 PVC & 1/2" Non-threaded PVC Ts.

Didn't bother to glue them, just kept trimming it until it fit.

Sounds good. Thanks.

 

[reedjj]

Lookin Great, I love those Alumacraft's! They really are great quality boats, even the riveted ones are like tanks!