Dustin's 14ft alumacraft conversion... lots of pictures!

[Dman23]

1975 johnson 25 hp pushing it. She moves!!!! 28.4 mph by myself, with my dad in front we hit 22.5 or something. With my fiance up front being smaller guessing it will be 25 mph.

Yeah i like the lack of clutter. Although, with the way i did this, adding tackle boxes and totes ect... I end up with more clutter than building those things in the boat, but gain the ability to move them how i see fit each trip which to me is a huge benifit.

 

[Dman23]

Navionics is gold!!!! Worth much more than 10 bucks. Do not hesitate!!! Ill list features that i noticed and honestly ive barely played with it.

1. Best feature by far is the navigation. Not only does it show you a little triangle of your position and direction, but when you start to move it automatically draws a red line across the whole screen in the direction your going so you do not have to guess ahead of you where your pointing. Never seen anything like it. Fabulous.

2. Automatically shows your speed without changing from your lake map your on and without you doing anything.

3. Can pre select an area and it downloads all your lake maps ahead of time. I selected all of northern MN and WI and can zoom in to any and all lakes in that area, even if i lost reception when i am out on the lake. Pretty darn detailed maps for depths, bouys, some have even rocks marked. River channels in our local port etc... Also many boat landings are marked.

4. Can mark anything you want such as fishing spots and whatever you want. Can even facebook or email those spots to people if you want built right in to the program.

5. Can mark and save tracks. You can also select 2 points and it will tell you distance between.

Pretty much is a full featured lake maps program that does all a gps can and more. Also i have found myself scouting lakes at home. All in full color which is nice. I have also found it to be very responsive. Quickly adjusts your direction and speed. That red line that shows direction i already used to navigate a grassy channel on a lake last week. Hard to see with all the grass up ahead but the red line pointed well in front of me to get me right through the very shallow and hard to see boating channel.

I would pay $100 for this app. Its a steal. And im sure i will learn many more features as i get out more. Oh, and you can take pictures in the app itself and will save it to that location.

 

[Dman23]

One benifit to the sharing a spot in navionics i think will be nice is my dad has the app too, and if one of us is out one day and are hitting the fish, we can send the spot to eachother if the other is going out the next time, but not together. Before we had ro explain and explain the spot and we could still never seam to get the other person where we were previously. No more of that now!

 

[ChitownBasser]

Sold. Thanks for the info on the Navionics. Very helpful. I am purchasing this app for my phone. In the future, I might have to buy the HD version for a tablet. It beats buying a GPS chartplotter unit for 500 bucks. I already have a fish finder on my little not so fancy boat, so I don't need one of those units, yet. But thanks. Look forward to using it. I am a fishing nerd. I will be scouting out lakes too.

 

[Gators5220]

As far as tackle boxes, and other items that change from trip to trip. Such as but not limited to like coolers for camping camping tents extra gear for offshore etc I put these stretchable nets that make it easy to add storeage that won't move for extra gear. I'll send you some pics but I'm sure you too must appreciate not having clutter in a small boat like you and I possess...good work thus far... =D>

 

[Gators5220]

What I like about these strechable nets is if I have free packs of worms, tackle boxes, etc I can just put them behind this and they don't bounce around... =D> But if I want them outa the way just leave them alone, they don't lose their strenchness if that's a word lol...

 

[Dman23]

Gators, i like those nets. I have seen bigger versions of those but not that small, where did you get them? Good idea

 

[Dman23]

And definately gators clutter drives me nuts. Last year when my boat was just stock with the benches, it seams we had stuff laying all over the place. A bag with sunscreen and bug dope and sweatshirts, one with snacks, one from the bait shop and what ever else. Stuff would always be falling under the benches and floor that was in there and we would be stepping on it all. Nice to clean all that up when you spend a full day out on the water

 

[Dman23]

Update: so i was looking for stuff to get my boat clean and back looking like new. Sharhide or alumabrite were almost purchased but i just dont have the money so i looked around the house for stuff to try.

And the winner is.... Scrubbing bubbles bathroom foaming cleaner and green scotch pads!!! Actually suprising at how well it works inside and out. Even the really old yellowish water lines on the outside of the transom totally gone with just a little scrubbing. Couldnt be happier!
No real good pictures as it is in my very dim garage, but here is one that shows it sorta. It was filled with oxidization, black marks, and god only knows what else and now it looks close to new. Does leave minimal scratch type marks from the scotch pad, but it was needed to take off the layer of 40 year old crap. They are not very noticable and actually gives it a nice finish. Better pictures to come.

On the left is cleaned right isnt. Wish it showed it better.

 

[scoutjack]

Very nice job, Dustin...I am in the middle of a redo with a 12' Starcraft and would like to ask you a few questions about your conversion.
1. What was the process of removing the benches. Were the brackets (holding the seats) riveted to the sides of the boat. If so, did you remove those rivets or use the inside brackets for something else, I can't tell from the pics.
2. In the image of the old floor, what is that green surface. What did you do to seal the bottom before you installed the 2x4 braces.
3. Those angle-iron braces on the sides, did you rivet those to the floor and the side of the boat for stability?
I'd love to install a floor like that, if you don't mind me plagarizing you :lol:
Thanks,

Jack in Nevada

 

[Gators5220]

I got those from wal-mart, sorry I didn't realize you had responded...

 

[Dman23]

The benches were connected to the hull by L brackets originally. I drilled them out on the L bracket but left the L brackets on the hull so i didnt have to repair too many holes in the hull. Most of the brackets we took an angle grinder and cut them off so the only thing left is the flat part that is actually riveted to the hull. If you look in the pictures you can see those still along each inside wall.

I did keep the back two where my back bench was. The one i used to connect my depth finder/phone shelf and the other i havent done anything with, juat kept it for future use if i come up with a use for it.

The tan type coating in the bottom is original in the boat. I really dont know what it is, i suppose some sort of sealant coating. All the alumacraft F-7s have it though. It is kind of a pain though its a bit rough of a coating like a mild sandpaper feel so its almost impossible to clean. But hey, never had a leak in it so i guess however they built it was good!!!

Each angle brace are connected at the top with 2; 1/4 inch in stainless bolts. Then to the floor its connected with 3 pretty heavy duty screws. If you zoom up some of the pictures you can see it, if not this picture shows at least how they connect to the floor. I will get good pictures tonight on the top of the angle brackets for you

Copy all you want!!! I did on lots of builds on here

 

[Dman23]

In that picture i just posted you can see whats left of the L bracket of the front bench.

 

[Dman23]

And to answer the question i missed i didnt seal the bottom of the actual wood floor except where its exposed. The foam used is a vapor barrier so nothing was needed for that. The rest of the floor is spar urathane about 4 coats. And if i wasnt clear about the metal floor of the boat, other than whatever that original coating in the boat is, since it is leak free i didnt do anything to it.

 

[fishfast41]

Hey, great conversion I. I have a very similar Alumacraft that I'm building as weel. I have a suggestion for your closed loop carpet. In my last boat, I put that stuf in there, and it caught hooks like crazy, so I used a brass wire brush, and just brushed the loops out. Made the carpet seem softer,too.

 

[Dman23]

Here are pictures of how the brackets connect top and bottom. Also you cant see it but the very top of the bracket slips up into a lip in the gunwale so we shoved it up in there as tight as we could, then bolted the two top bolts in, then my dad pulled the support nice and firm out while i screwed in the three bottom screws. Worked good!

 

[Dman23]

I may try that with the carpet. First ill see how it goes. Ive done some test drops with hooks and it doesnt seam too bad. May be just fine. Luckily i dont fish with treble hooks much. If it becomes a problem ill try your brush idea.

Ideas are always welcome thats why i love this site!

 

[Dman23]

Two better pictures of the scotch pad and scrubbing bubbles. Really happy with how it worked out and looks a ton better!

 

[Dman23]

Yesterday i finally finished her. Got new seats from bulldog on this forum and they are fantastic. Also finally got my nav light mounts done!

 

[Dman23]

Took it out fishing with my buddy today and did pretty well! It was our walleye opener and we caught lots in the 14-15 inch range, a couple big perch and probably a 5 lb sucker in the few hours we were out. Great day on the water and first longer fish in the mod boat. Love it!!