Lowe 1436 mod and resto FINISHED NEW PICS!!!!!!

[BassBlaster]

So, the rain held off today and I was able to get my painting done. Wow, what a lot of work!! I decided to do a camo pattern awhile back mainly because I'm a redneck and I like camo, lol but also because this boat has so many little dings and dents in it that I thought that would be the best way to hide them. I decided later that I wanted a nice looking pattern rather than me just spraying random colors on the boat trying to replicate something. I purchased some stencils from Reelfoot Custom Camo and they are alot harder to work with than I thought. Wasnt any fault of the stencil, it's just a pain to try and get clean lines without having a perfectly flat surface. None the less, I think it turned out pretty good. Not exactly what I was hoping for but very close so overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

From the front...

Side view...

And the back...

I plan to do a little "how to" write up later with more pics of each layer. I'll post it in the Boat House for any interested.

 

[cooter brown]

Nice job. I think it looks great!

 

[BassBlaster]

Thanks!!

Well guys, the boat project has come to a halt. Well, not completely but its going to slow down a bit. My little man that is pictured crawling around the boat in some earlier pics is not technically our child. We used to do foster care and he came to live with us when he was 2 days old. When he was 2 years old we felt like child protective services was doing a horrible job handling his case so we took them to court. Did you know you could do that? I didnt, lol. We did though and the court awarded us permanent legal custody of him. He is now 4 years old. Because he technically isnt ours, we cant carry medical insurance on him for whatever reason so his medical care is provided by the state. Because of this, job and family services are now after birth mom for some child support and all the sudden, she's ready to sign all her rights away. She dosnt have any desire to have him in her life anyhow. So, were gonna jump at the chance to officially adopt our little man and give him our last name. Problem is, thats freakin EXPENSIVE!! You sure would think the state and these attorneys would have a little better pricing when it comes to adoption, with all the kids in this country needing homes. Anyhow, he's more important to us than the boat so were going to shift focus and funds toward making him a permanent part of our family. I'll still be working on the boat in my free time and will get her done, I just dont see me making my deadline of the end of Sept. now. I have allready purchased most things needed to complete my project, just need some carpet, some aluminum angle and some other minor things. I'll still keep updateing my thread but it is definately gonna slow down a bit. Thanks guys!!

 

[JonBoatfever]

Thats awesome that your adopting a child!

 

[BOB350RX]

hey an seeing how you guys are doing such a noble thing i have some 1" x .250 alum angle here let from a prev build not a whole lot maybe a pc 5' and a couple small pcs, if you want them they are yours, they do have some holes in them ill check it out tommorow and let you know exactly how much i have but if you want it its yours, pm your address and ill ship it to ya no strings attached, good luck with the lil one, and its a shame that it costs soo much seeing how you have had the lil one for damn near its whole life at this point, and now want to do the right thing, it should be free... let me know man if you need anything else and i can see what i have layin around,

 

[79Stroker]

=D> on the adoption i know what you mean about the states child services not handling things right, my family used to foster, and that can become a cluster. Wish we would have known about being able to sue them, we let go of two amazing little boys(had every intention of adopting) because of the hassle of dealing with state, at times you really wonder if the state is actually a better place for the child

 

[BassBlaster]

hey an seeing how you guys are doing such a noble thing i have some 1" x .250 alum angle here let from a prev build not a whole lot maybe a pc 5' and a couple small pcs, if you want them they are yours, they do have some holes in them ill check it out tommorow and let you know exactly how much i have but if you want it its yours, pm your address and ill ship it to ya no strings attached, good luck with the lil one, and its a shame that it costs soo much seeing how you have had the lil one for damn near its whole life at this point, and now want to do the right thing, it should be free... let me know man if you need anything else and i can see what i have layin around,

Hey thanks man, I really appreciate the offer. My boss build race cars in his spare time and said I can have all his shorts. I have no clue where hes using alum angle in a race car but hey, its free!! Just looking at his scrap pile, I may be able to scrounge up enough for my build. I definately appreciate it though. Thanks again!!

 

[BassBlaster]

=D> on the adoption i know what you mean about the states child services not handling things right, my family used to foster, and that can become a cluster. Wish we would have known about being able to sue them, we let go of two amazing little boys(had every intention of adopting) because of the hassle of dealing with state, at times you really wonder if the state is actually a better place for the child

We learned that they definately do not have the childs best interest in mind. I think we proved that when the judge gave us custody and not them. We lost all the benifits of being a foster parent and they took away our license but it was worth it to not see him have to deal with the crap they were putting him through. I guess we could have overlooked it and kept collecting thier money but that wouldnt be fair to the child. We wernt fostering to make money anyhow.

Sorry, you lost your boys. I dont know what I would do without my little man. He and our new baby girl have change my entire outlook on life. I dont do anything without them in mind and I dont know how we could ever be without them.

We didnt know at the time anyone could ever be awarded custody of a child over children services but we were fed up and it was worth a shot. We didnt actually sue them for anything, we just went to the court and filed for custody. CPS fought us in court but in the end we one. It was completely obvious to the judge that they didnt have his best interest in mind. BTW, he has 3 half brothers and a half sister that was also in foster care at the time. The 2 families they live with also went to court and won and are also currently seeking adoption. The other 2 families live just across town, so they all get to play together pretty regularly.

 

[79Stroker]

thats awesome that your able to keep him around his family, and though your boat is on hold for a little bit im sure you will have some great time with the kids

 

[BOB350RX]

hey an seeing how you guys are doing such a noble thing i have some 1" x .250 alum angle here let from a prev build not a whole lot maybe a pc 5' and a couple small pcs, if you want them they are yours, they do have some holes in them ill check it out tommorow and let you know exactly how much i have but if you want it its yours, pm your address and ill ship it to ya no strings attached, good luck with the lil one, and its a shame that it costs soo much seeing how you have had the lil one for damn near its whole life at this point, and now want to do the right thing, it should be free... let me know man if you need anything else and i can see what i have layin around,

Hey thanks man, I really appreciate the offer. My boss build race cars in his spare time and said I can have all his shorts. I have no clue where hes using alum angle in a race car but hey, its free!! Just looking at his scrap pile, I may be able to scrounge up enough for my build. I definately appreciate it though. Thanks again!!

ANYTIME

 

[Plane Driver]

Looks great man! Glad to hear a fairly good opinion of the Steelflex. I've been thinking about coating the bottom of my boat with it also. After curing, does it still have a glossy finish? How long does it need to cure before you hit the water? Thanks!

 

[Howard]

Good to see you back and way to be a man and provide for that child, thats awesome =D>

 

[BassBlaster]

Well, after nearly 2 years of not doing anything to the boat, I'm finally back at it!!

I ordered all my aluminum for my front deck framing today and also ordered a bunch of electrical stuff on Amazon (buss bars, circuit breakers, etc) so I have everything I need to do my wireing now. Still need to pick up my heavy wire for the trolling motor but not positive on the length just yet. My aluminum will be here early in the week but will probably be the weekend before I can get going on anything. Hoping to get the front deck all framed up next weekend and hopefully most of the wiring so I can start laying down my flooring. Once I get it down and carpeted it will be as simple as installing all my electronics and she'll be ready to go fishin!!

 

[Nowakezone]

Glad to hear you're back in the game!!! How's the family doing?

 

[BassBlaster]

Glad to hear you're back in the game!!! How's the family doing?

Doing well. Thanks!! The little man crawling aroound in my boat in the earlier pics is now 5 years old. The new baby that was mentioned in the thread is now 2 years old and we have another new baby thats 10 months old. Our family has grown rapidly in the last couple years but we are done growing it now, lol. Now I can concentrate on finishing the boat so I can get little man out on the water!!

 

[hoosier78]

Looking forward to your updates.

 

[BassBlaster]

Project "Slab Assassin" lives again!!!

The rest of my electrical componants came in today and I also recieved my order of aluminum angle for my front deck framing. I keep saying deck but its not actually gonna be a deck intended for standing. Im way too fat and this boat is way to small for all that. Its gonna be more of a place to mount my trolling motor and FF. It will also have a compartment for the battery, charger and wireing, a compartment for tackle and a seperate compartment for storing safety equipment, etc.

I'm excited to get going on this thing again. I have to move a few things around in the garage in the morning and then its framing all day. Hoping to get that done and get started on the wireing Sun. Fingers crossed. Spring Crappie is coming fast!!

I know, I've been away for a couple years and said I was back last year and didnt make progress. I also know that if no pics, it didnt happen, lol. See, I'm serious this time. I wanna go fishin dang it!!!!

 

[BassBlaster]

Finally. Progress pics!!!!

I got my framing done. I still need to build the small tackle hatch the will be to the right of the battery tray and add a couple of supports for the trolling motor. It will be located over that front left larger opening. I just ran out of angle. This was designed just for storage and what not, not to walk on but its stout and could definately be walked on.



I also got all my wireing pulled through the conduit for my lighting, bilge, etc. Its a mess right now but I'll get it all cleaned up and it will look like a wire harness when I'm done. My conduit is 1/2" SDR 11 water line. It fit perfect behind the ribs.



Heres my charger. It was originally suppose to be in the battery compartment but it was gonna be so tight in there, I was worried about over heating and I wouldnt be able to see the indicater lights without removing the battery so, its in the front hatch with the life jackets and safety gear. It should get plenty of air flow in here and I'll have easy access to it if need be.



Thats all for now. Will probably be next weekend before I get back to it as I'm still on winter shift so that means I'm on nights. Only 3 weeks of that crap left though. Come on April!!

 

[BassBlaster]

Oh, forgot to mention, that floor pan in the front hatch is the same road sign material I'm using for my deck and flooring. That stuff is tuff. I like to give myself a heart attack making those bends. I spent about 2 hours bending that crap. Wish I knew someone with a brake. Luckily, nothing else should need bent.

 

[BassBlaster]

Got some more stuff done today. I finished up all the wireing and got it all cleaned up. It sill looks like chaos but at least its organized chaos!! I used heat shrink connectors everywhere and then use heat shrink tubing over every connection so it should be sealed up fairly well. I also made some little labels and labeled every wire on the hot side and the ground side. I figured if nothing else, if I ever sell the boat, the new owner would be able to identify everything without a test light. That and I havnt actually installed the switch panel yet. Its just clamped up there for the wireing job. It will come back out untill after the flooring goes in and then be reinstalled.



The large buss is the ground buss and the smaller one is my positive buss. I didnt need as many positive connections since I'm using a switch panel. The upper breaker is a 50 amp for the trolling motor. I used 8 gauge wire there. The lower breaker is a 30 amp for the switch panel. I dont know if this was even neccissary but its there none the less. I guess you cant have too much protection, lol. I used 10 gauge wire to the switch panel.



The back of the switch panel. Every switch has its own breaker. Everything on my boat is on a breaker with the exception of one light in the rear of the boat. It will be on a seperate switch. I couldnt find the proper size breaker so its on a fuse.



The wires under the switch panel are the wires the switch panel itself will hook up to. The large ones in the middle are my battery cables obviously. The ones on the right will be where my trolling motor plug will be.



This wireing is all new to me but I looked around here and read a whole lot before I started and I had fun wireing this up. Thanks for all the info posted everytwhere!!