New member new build landau 1456fp

[bsj425]

Hey new member but have been lurking the past few days. I recently got a Landau 1456fp with a new galvanized trailer and an old 1955 mercury mark v 5 Hp motor in a trade and was just going to sell it for cash but while doing some searching trying to find out what year the boat was it brought me here and I started looking at the conversions and a couple hours later I was hooked. I live in Alaska so it will be a river runner 90% of the time so i will probably go with a low deck and not so high seats but we will see. I saw one buIld on a 12 foot Lowe that had removeable floors and a small deck and I will probably go that route. Anyways here she is.

Took bout an hour to dig it out of about 6ft of snow. Also I have an iforce 9.9 merc I have from my square back canoe I am going to put on until I find a nice 15-20hp

 

[bsj425]

So far the plans are :

Strip the paint completely it has been painted several times and where it is chipped to bare aluminum the step is like an 1/8 inch so I'm going to strip it bare.

Respray it OD green inside and the sides to the rib then flex steel or whatever it's called the bottom.

Build removeable floors havent decided on material or finish yet ( carpet or non skid) probably non skid the carpet I see getting muddy fast here

Build a small deck up front w/ storage

Front mount the trolling motor
Beef up transom add 3 or 4 low swivel seats
I am also going to build a metal box up front and mount a winch up front we have some very silty sand bars that suck boats in.

Sorry for the weird spacing too i am typing on my phone

 

[JasonLester]

Welcome,

North pole is pretty good location...ahh lets face it anywhere in AK aint bad. I'm riding up there again this year on my motorcycle. My dad has a place in Salcha. He comes up every year. So I know where your at. Some of the riversup there would be a bid scary in that boat.

Jason

 

[bsj425]

at 56 inches wide I think it will be very stable. It will mainly be used on the Chena and Salcha rivers and maybe Chitna for salmon dipnetting. Definatly staying away from the Yukon and Tanana with this boat. I have had my square stern canoe on all 3 of the rivers where this will mostly be used no problem so it should be fine. I also have a 19foot valco jet boat for those other rivers with a ford 302 and hamilton jet. I am not new to boating by any means just took this on for fun when I don't feel like burning through 100+ dollars in fuel to get out for a weekend like I would in the big jet boat. Luckily we still have a solid 3 months until the rivers start to thaw out so I have plenty of time to plan and build this. The only issue I have had so far is that flexsteel wont ship to Alaska so looks like I will be using bedliner instead on the bottom.

 

[bsj425]

On a side note I grew up not far from Blanchester I grew up in Lebanon spent most of my early years playing around on the little miami and great miami rivers. I lived in Ohio until I was 18 joined the army did 6 years It brought me to Alaska I fell in love and never left.

 

[JasonLester]

Seriously...what a small world....When where you around here? I actually did 6 years army as well but ended up in MD...but moved home to be around family.

The Chena is tame from what I have seen....not sure about the Salcha..don't remember it for some reason...anything glacier fed would be scary for sure... Ever fished some of the lakes around Salcha? I've wondered if there was much there.

 

[bsj425]

I lived in Ohio from when I was born in 86 and joined the army in 06 grew up there. And yeah the Chena is very tame for the most part some sweepers and shallow spots up north towards the hot springs. The Salcha is also pretty tame picks up a little near where is merges with the Tanana

 

[JasonLester]

I went in the Army in 1992. I'm a bit older than you. I'm looking forward to see what you do with your boat...and seeing some pics of you using it later Its changed a bit here too many people ...can't wait for this summers ride up there.

Jason