Good afternoon! My grandfather decided to give me his boat that I grew up fishing with since he's not able to work on it and keep it up any more in his old age. I've grown up fishing & shrimping out of this boat for the past 20 or so years so I'm excited. My plans:
-I have the boat off the trailer right now changing out leaf springs and all the rusted u bolts. Once my wallet recovers I'll be getting the engine to the shop to get running(clean motor, turns over well but sitting for a couple years so not cranking and we have no experience w/ EFI systems and replace a couple rollers.
-Next year I plan on doing the following:
BOAT: Refiberglass a portion of the rear, redo the stern, and change the casting deck up front for probably a baitwell and add a base for one of those seats that are removable on the bass boats. Also, probably remove the side console and get a tiller kit for the 'zuki since it's a 14 ft boat. I figure if I do that, I can put the livewell in the back and just put foam in the front. Right now, it has a removable livewell but want a permanent one to make it look cleaner. It's wide but still will open up alot of room if I do that. I would also like to set up a couple drift master rails along the benches so that I can backtroll or fish for catfish w/ 4-6 lines out easily. Also, the driftmasters look easily removable so I can remove them when not in use. Probably within 2 years, I like to have a removable fan motor and a cheap, removable light set up for floundering.
TRAILER:
Replace bunks/guides and the rest of the hardware that is not replaced and paint a good waterproof black.
-I have the boat off the trailer right now changing out leaf springs and all the rusted u bolts. Once my wallet recovers I'll be getting the engine to the shop to get running(clean motor, turns over well but sitting for a couple years so not cranking and we have no experience w/ EFI systems and replace a couple rollers.
-Next year I plan on doing the following:
BOAT: Refiberglass a portion of the rear, redo the stern, and change the casting deck up front for probably a baitwell and add a base for one of those seats that are removable on the bass boats. Also, probably remove the side console and get a tiller kit for the 'zuki since it's a 14 ft boat. I figure if I do that, I can put the livewell in the back and just put foam in the front. Right now, it has a removable livewell but want a permanent one to make it look cleaner. It's wide but still will open up alot of room if I do that. I would also like to set up a couple drift master rails along the benches so that I can backtroll or fish for catfish w/ 4-6 lines out easily. Also, the driftmasters look easily removable so I can remove them when not in use. Probably within 2 years, I like to have a removable fan motor and a cheap, removable light set up for floundering.
TRAILER:
Replace bunks/guides and the rest of the hardware that is not replaced and paint a good waterproof black.
