My 2nd boat project - 14ft Alumacraft Semi-V

[murphy67]

Wolves,
My brother picked up the spare tire cover...I will ask him where he got it and report back.

I see now you have saved (at least) 2 tinboat.com users from a trailer nightmare! Thanks again!

 

[murphy67]

Wolves,
My brother assumes he got the cover from Amazon, but doesn't remember 100%..so chances are they have it, or something similar.

 

[murphy67]

As of last night all my wood is sealed in at least 2 coats of Spar Urethane, so then I moved onto adding back any foam i removed and also added in some additional foam. I think I will get a bit more foam added to one of the bench seats as well, as there should be space.





Next up will be to get the flooring back in and secured down.

 

[murphy67]

As of last night I got the 4 main floor section pieces coated with adhesive and then got the carpet put back on and secured down. It was pretty messy, so didn't get any "action" shots, but just used a trowel and let the adhesive get a bit tacky, then set it face down on a pre-cut piece of carpet and used a 2x4 to go over the top and smooth it out, then stapled the carpet from the underside.

I hope to get the flooring in and secured down tonight or tomorrow and keep working from there.

 

[murphy67]

I didnt get much of anything done in the boat yesterday, but at least got the floor back into the boat and confirmed the mid seat base fits.

Now I can begin building the rest of the side benches/boxes and get all the wiring done. I have 2 weeks to complete this build, before it needs goes back up north to the cabin..so every little bit helps

 

[MrGiggles]

Looks identical to my '80 F7 model. 25hp max.

I sold it last spring, but had done some work to it. Not nearly as nice as yours though.

I decked over the factory benches. At first just over the front, and later over the middle because I was sick of stepping over it and wanted a livewell. The livewell ended up just in front of the middle bench, with storage and a battery hatch up from there. I had considered removing the middle bench but decided against it for structural concerns.

There are photos here of the deck before I added onto it.
https://forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=44454&p=447319#p447319

These are the only photos I have before I sold it.

https://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/64989-14-alumacraft-semi-v/

 

[murphy67]

Mr. Giggles.....Thank you for the post! So glad I finally found someone with the same boat who did some work!!

I think you are correct that I have a 80's F7...not a T-14S...as my side Alumacraft decal and everything that I can see on your boat looks the same as on mine, same with stern corner handles and front bow handle, etc.

Glad I didnt get a new Coast Guard tag yet! lol

Now I need to go and revisit the max capacity and such of the F7, as I want to kinda know how many people can/should go back in the boat based off weight with the added wood and such I have put in mine. ( I estimate I will have added about 150-200 lbs when this is going to be all said and done, so I figure that will basically be 1 less adult person that could have been in the boat.)

I really like what you did with yours as well before selling! I wish i could have more flexibility in my build..but I am doing mine competently with the intent that it will be a "kid friendly" boat, and I would feel better with them not standing on a deck so high etc..plus where this boat will be used exclusively (at our cabin) we have a few big boats that are what we fish from and all that, so I wanted to retain the small bow seat and allow the 2nd bench seat to rotate around front or back. But really nice job on your previous F7!!

Questions about your boat: Did you ever feel unsafe/tipsy when standing on the front decking? I was even getting a little nervous if my floor would cause things to be unstable...but more and more I think about it, the boat should ride a bit better and hopefully be more stable with the flat, low floor.

Thanks again for the reply!

 

[thedude]

As of last night I got the 4 main floor section pieces coated with adhesive and then got the carpet put back on and secured down. It was pretty messy, so didn't get any "action" shots, but just used a trowel and let the adhesive get a bit tacky, then set it face down on a pre-cut piece of carpet and used a 2x4 to go over the top and smooth it out, then stapled the carpet from the underside.

I hope to get the flooring in and secured down tonight or tomorrow and keep working from there.

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Project is coming along nicely! A tip that has worked well for me on the carpet. I glue and place carpet side down. staple one side. Then use pliers in one hand to pull the carpet super tight while stapling with the other hand. And never had an issue with bubbles in the carpet. Hopefully you were able to use stainless staples.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[murphy67]

thedude,
Thanks for the reply and the tip...whats funny is that my neighbor stopped over before I started my carpeting and told me he heard from a boat guy that using a pliers to pull the carpet tight worked well....maybe you are the one who told him that! lol.

I will state however, I didnt want to risk ripping the carpet by pulling too hard with a pliers, etc...and when I did my first boat/carpeting, I had good success using the same method I am using now, so I guess I am sticking with what I did in the past...but tips are always appreciated. Maybe I will give that a try on some of the smaller pieces, as if i rip it, i can easily cut a new piece, etc. Thanks again.

As for the staples, yes, those like all the other screws and nuts/bolts/hinges/etc are all SS...which i know is the "right way" to do things...but man, its amazing how quick SS hardware can add up. But better to do it right once, i guess

 

[MrGiggles]

Mr. Giggles.....Thank you for the post! So glad I finally found someone with the same boat who did some work!!

I think you are correct that I have a 80's F7...not a T-14S...as my side Alumacraft decal and everything that I can see on your boat looks the same as on mine, same with stern corner handles and front bow handle, etc.

Glad I didnt get a new Coast Guard tag yet! lol

Now I need to go and revisit the max capacity and such of the F7, as I want to kinda know how many people can/should go back in the boat based off weight with the added wood and such I have put in mine. ( I estimate I will have added about 150-200 lbs when this is going to be all said and done, so I figure that will basically be 1 less adult person that could have been in the boat.)

I really like what you did with yours as well before selling! I wish i could have more flexibility in my build..but I am doing mine competently with the intent that it will be a "kid friendly" boat, and I would feel better with them not standing on a deck so high etc..plus where this boat will be used exclusively (at our cabin) we have a few big boats that are what we fish from and all that, so I wanted to retain the small bow seat and allow the 2nd bench seat to rotate around front or back. But really nice job on your previous F7!!

Questions about your boat: Did you ever feel unsafe/tipsy when standing on the front decking? I was even getting a little nervous if my floor would cause things to be unstable...but more and more I think about it, the boat should ride a bit better and hopefully be more stable with the flat, low floor.

Thanks again for the reply!

I forget what the capacity tag said as far as weight goes.

I fished with two others in mine (500lbs of people) and it was all the boat wanted. Would not plane with the 9.8 that I had on it at the time, and that was before I extended the deck. 2 adults is optimal IMO.

Fishing solo, I felt that the boat was plenty stable walking around on deck. You can't run around and jump on it like you could on a 20' bass boat, but once you get accustomed to how the boat reacts and moves with your weight, it was no problem. I am not light (220lbs), and could stand on the edge of the deck with no worries of capsizing. Your floor will be fine.

I really liked that boat, even though it was pretty beat from the previous owners, it didn't leak a drop when I got it, and only started seeping a little after a year of pounding the heck out of it. I used it most often on a big, windy lake. I got just shy of 30mph with that Johnson 25 and all the added weight from my additions, including a group 29 battery and the bow mount troller.

It was super dry as well, wish I could say the same for the 17' Tracker that I have now.

 

[murphy67]

Mr. Giggles,
Thanks for the reply and letting me know how stable your floor was, etc. I def think then that my floor shouldn't be a problem, being much lower and only about 5+ inches higher than the actual aluminum flooring. Also good to know what you thought was a max weight, (about 500lbs) which is what I was kinda figuring based off the max weight for the boat, minus the added weight of the wood and such I have added would be a good estimate to stay within safe range. My 19 yr old cousin and some of my 10-13 yr old nephews will be the main ones using this, so we should be good on not having too much weight in the boat. Less than 2 weeks before the maiden voyage, looking forward to seeing how things go with the new modifications!

 

[murphy67]

Had a busy weekend so didn't get as much done as I had wanted, but did get like 95% of everything wired up, got my switch panel in, a "cabin light" also installed and wired, and 1 of the benches:









More to come this week

 

[murphy67]

Got a bit more done tonight:

Got the bench seat base cut in the wood:



Got carpet on my bow piece:



and finally got the rest of my wood cut and carpet'd:

 

[murphy67]

Got more done tonight:

Benches are in, as is the back piece. Still need to add the hatch supports (which are drying with spar urethane on them) and then will finally cut the holes for the seat bases and secure everything down. Few more days hopefully.

 

[murphy67]

Almost there!!

Got the seat bases cut in, and the middle base secured to the floor. All other carpeted wood also has been secured down. Installed/wired the rear anchor light...and still need to finish the back hatch area tomorrow and a few other small things...

 

[thedude]

I also dig the "suicide" seat in the bow.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[murphy67]

thedude,
Lol...yeah, it kinda just happened that way. When i added some foam noodles in the nose of the bow I was like, well that cant just be showing like that...and the wiring for the nav light was also visible, so i figured might as well cover that up. Then it just kinda became a nice little "suicide seat" as you said.

 

[murphy67]

Looks like 1 more day still to go to finish things, as it was 100 degrees and humid as heck today in WI, so I could only endure 2.5 hrs in the garage/sauna

But did get the back hatch in, and cut and sealed my last piece of wood to cover the switch panel and driver side wall.

Tomorrow I will secure the 2x other seat bases, cover the last of the wood in carpet/secure it down... and give things a good vacuuming.

 

[murphy67]

As of now, I am calling this build done. At least phase 1.

It is getting trailer'd up north Thursday, and I will be up north for a week+ with it and will install some cup holders, stern cleats and handles for the bench "seats"...but that will be it.

Thanks again to all the great members of this community for your shared knowledge and projects. This boat was a fun project, but glad it is done. (for now.)

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Very nice!


I would have covered the bow with a deck for a trolling motor, but we most likely do different types of fishing if you dont use one.

How much floor space do you have between the rod lockers?