Looking for advice on this boat

[fool4fish1226]

Sweet boat love the hull should turn out great :beer:

 

[Pemnuts]

Many boats have ribs inside. Instead, this boat has pairs of aluminum angle butted together that we can build upward from, and just a couple ribs like normal near the stern area. I'll get a better picture of it today so it makes sense. Some of the vertical panels for the console and seat were too tall so i took them to a hvac company conveniently located in the same building where i work to have them cut and bent with a nice clean flat bend for flooring support.
Determining the floor height was extremely easy because the rear of the live well already had a floor height piece of aluminum angle on it already, and because it matched the same height as a couple other rib location areas closer to the stern we decided to continue that height from the live well to the transom. It looks like we will be able to get 8 cubic feet of foam under the floor, and each side of the transom will have about 3 and a half feet. The sides and bottom of the live well has another 3 and a half cubic feet of foam. This boat is gonna float !

 

[Pemnuts]

I left one vertical panel inside the empty hull to show how the others would be installed, once they have been modified. The other pic shows a close up of the same thing. At the bow you can see a normal rib and right behind that going toward the stern is the two vertical supports for the livewell.
I don't know if any other boats are made this way with these aluminum angles, but once we got all the heights adjusted on our vertical panels it was fairly easy going to get the floor supports installed. The only real work was figuring out how to give support for the floor over the two rear ribs, and also for a pedestal seat in the rear. When the last few pieces are in place i'll post more pics.
As a side note, it would be really cool to see any of the other 5 prototype boats that are allegedly known to exist from this company, and being a prototype - my son and I were trying to come up with a name for it and so far, "Proto-Pike" seems to keep coming up more and more.

 

[Pemnuts]

The floor framework is nearly finished, just a couple small pieces left to put in. Once this is done we'll be looking for a nice day for a leak test at a local lake =]

 

[rscottp]

Looks good man! There won't be any leaks, its brand spankin new!

 

[Pemnuts]

This is a mock up of the front deck support, the rear live well material was used for flooring in the front of the bow to allow vertical supports to be put in, having a sawzall makes this easy work =]
The support for the pedestal seat is held up by angle that is attached to the live well and legs closer to the front.
We'll get the left side gusset put in tomorrow, and then look at our options for hatches.

 

[rscottp]

That look pretty stable. You should have plenty of support around the seat mount.

Did you get my reply to your PM? I can never tell if the replies go out correctly.

 

[Pemnuts]

Yeah Rscottp i did get your pm, thanks ! You were right - it didn't leak =]
The boat's transom is 22 inches and now we're looking for a long shaft motor or alternative to making the Merc. 18XD work with a jack plate - Any how, here's todays pics. Keep in mind, we're still in the modifying stages.
Pem

 

[claytonb78]

Wow, that is an awesome boat you bought. Like so many on here...I am totally jealous. That's the exact type of boat I'd love to have someday. Looks like you have an excellent project boat. Love the photos.

 

[Pemnuts]

Thanks for the compliments guys, we're looking at spending a bit more than we wanted to originally, but isn't that how it generally works? I seriously wish i had more time and especially more money.. but then i wouldn't be modifying anything, I'd just go buy whatever suits me and then sell it if it didn't work out and then try again.
Here's a bit more work on the front deck support, just about half done.. love the sawzall =]

Question for the forum members ~ My transom is currently 22 inches deep, will a long shaft work at this depth or will i need to trim a couple inches off of the transom? I'm looking at long shaft tillers and there's not many available.. not sure if it would work anyway. Would i need to find something that has a 25 inch depth?
Pem

 

[Pemnuts]

A local dealership had a 1996 20hp Evinrude long shaft for 800 and tax..
2 pulls and it started and ran real smooth - went into forward and reverse gear well. I hope it pushes our deep v well enough to get around lakes and up the river. We're not looking to go fast, just reel them in fast.. when we get there =]
I had asked the mechanic to pull out the rope one more time after the tank testing was completed so we could see if the rope needed replacing or not. He had unplugged the gas line by then, and as he slowly pulled it back out the motor fired up and ran for a moment on what was left in the carb. The rope was fine.. for now, I am happy that it seems like a good choice to start out with.
I'll post a few pics later ~
Pem

 

[Jim]

Wow! I need to get into tho section more. Nice boat man!

 

[Pemnuts]

Thanks Jim, always an honor to get friendly comments =]
Here's the motor - 1996 20hp long shaft Evinrude..
and for a kicker, i have a 1985? 3.5 horse suzuki..
We managed to get the deck framework supports almost done - I think i bought the wrong piano hinge, it's flat.. prolly needs to be an off set hinge.. anyhow, here's some pics
Pem

 

[rscottp]

I think the 20hp will push you about 20mph. I will be curious to see how it does when you test it out. Keep us posted.

 

[Pemnuts]

This Sunday we'll be going fishing to see how things work out with the new motor so we can post results after that..
For now - just a couple pics of more work under way in the deck.

 

[Pemnuts]

Sunday came a day early and we got out to test the new motor and fish for a bit. All in all it was like a perfect day cuz the evinrude 20hp pushed the boat at a solid gps verified 20mph like rscottp said it would =] We're extremely happy for that, and we also managed to catch a catfish for each of us before it got too late. Sunday.. 'er tomorrow - we'll go out again and get some video and pics of the latest.
Things on the to do list as of yet, finish wiring for everything, complete the deck hatches, mount transducer and make a home made style bow trolling mount for our transom mount troller.. then carpet after a final test day. I'm sure other things will come up before we're done =]
Pem

 

[rscottp]

Congrats on the motor, glad you hit 20mph with gear and fisherman. Boat is coming along nicely!

 

[jasper60103]

I remember seeing this boat on CL. Glad to see a fellow tinboater get it. Keep up the good work! =D>

 

[Pemnuts]

Yeah jasper we're happy as can be with it, and fishing out of it is awesome for us because we've only had a smaller boat or canoe to work with prior to this one. Some of the comments I've heard locally were that they too - have also seen this boat on craigslist and they didn't make a move on it. I'm just glad it's mine!
Sunday was awesome, boat worked great again and we each caught some more catfish too..
Here's a few pics =]

Hatch cut outs and pedestal hole drilled.. and some fish =]

 

[spacks013]

Looks like a fun project! I actually saw this boat on CL and had to convince myself that the work it needed was beyond my skill level (which is absolutely is). Glad to see someone on here picked it up so we can see what you do with it.