Old Alumacraft 1236 backwater runner

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Treeratsniper

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Jun 7, 2016
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Location
NE IA
Several years ago I picked up a used 1236 for $350.00 from a local small dealer. He had replaced the transom & repainted the hull (poorly). It had been sitting in my backyard for a long time. A day job change this year gained me having Saturdays off (after 8 years of Saturdays on the clock). I was bound & determined to get this rig in the water! The biggest problem was locating a trailer, I had brought it home in the back of my truck. I called every dealer in the tri-county area & no one had a used small trailer for sale. New ones were $1000-1200. 3X what I paid for the boat. I finally found a shop that had a beat up small trailer & I ended up giving him $100.00 for it.

The boat was a bare hull when I picked it up, so I insulated between the ribs & added decks made of .25" HDPE (painted khaki with fusion). I wanted to keep the rig light so no wood for me. I have a 8HP Stump-Jumper long-tail mud motor that will go on it for duck season, so I needed a grab bar. I reinforced the mid-deck with a section of 3/16" treadplate & bolted the oh-$hit bar to it. The decks are attached to the ribs via rivet-nuts & stainless buttonhead screws & washers. I added an old milk-crate to the front of the bar with some heavy duty zip-ties.

The trailer was a bit of a longer project...it was a made for a 10" boat & had pieces of PVC pipe for bunks. It was a tilt bed trailer (not for long). The 8' main beam was pretty rusty so I stopped at the local metal dealer & bought a new 10' piece of 3" square tubing. I stripped the bed of the trailer down & went to work on it with the angle-grinder. I welded the new section in solid so it didn't shudder rolling down the road. Welded on some new guide-ons (PVC covered). A trip to Menards netted some "industrial" enamel in black. I purchased a LED submersible light kit & rewired it (pitched the junk scotch-connectors & soldered & shrink-tubed everything, then sheathed it in flex conduit). The bunks and bow stop are an experiment. They're made from PVC 2x4s. I used two 10 footers cut in half, PVC cemented & stainless screwed together). I used stainless fasteners wherever possible. Added new hub assemblies, wheels, reflectors, tongue, winch, safety-chain etc...finally had a decent trailer.

The wife & I finally got it in the water a couple of weekends ago & everything was perfect, we frequent a couple of electric-only lakes so it has the troller on it for now. The longtail will go on it in another month or so for duck season.1236-5.jpg1236-6.jpg1236-7.jpg1236-8.jpg1236.jpg1236-3.jpg
 
2021 update: Finally decided to go the Steel-Flex route on this old girl. I was actually looking to replace it with a 1242 Alweld or Weldcraft but due to Covid material shortages, there are none to be found. Somewhere in its life it acquired rubberized undercoating, removal was labor intensive (if I ever run across it again, I'll get it sandblasted. The pvc bunks experiment lasted a few years but they're starting to sag, Replacing those will be next on the project list. I'm tossing around gutting the benches & turning them into storage, not quite sure yet...
 

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After the required 72 hour cure time for the Steel-Flex, I flipped it over & started working on converting the mid bench seat into a storage hatch, the flotation foam was pretty much disintegrated & had turned into a giant mouse nest.
I gutted the old foam & cut down a piece of 1/8 treadplate I had from a previous project. The plate was attached with a stainless piano hinge & rivets. The tin was pretty thin on the old seat, I added some aluminum angle to stiffen it up a bit.
This isn't intended to be watertight storage, just a place for PFDs, FAK, maybe a small tackle box... I'll add a couple of pieces of velco to keep it from rattling.

mid seat mess.jpgmid seat mess 3.jpgseat hatch2.jpg
 
Got the foamboard & decks back in, strapped the cooler down. Also got around to mounting some stuff I've been meaning to get around to, like the bow cleats and fire extinguisher. I use aluminum rivnuts & S/S bolts & washers for mounting everything.
bow clete.jpgbow clete 2.jpgcooler mt 4.jpg
 
https://forum.tinboats.net/download/file.php?id=109457&mode=view
I know this is probably a dumb question, but are those through hull fittings and where are they? I can’t make it out from the picture.
 
Got a few more things done today, added EVA foam to my new storage hatch (cut from rolls sourced from harbor freight). I found that small ammo cans fit perfect in the hatch! Mounted a set of kayak paddle holders for my push-pole (which was the wife's SUP paddle that broke, I bought a small foot for it on amazon & bolted it up with some stainless screws). Picked up a small "milk-crate" from the office section of the local walmart, it now houses my small 5 lb mushroom anchor & rope. Mounted the battery box down to the rear deck (also added a rear deck w/foam last week). Got some stainless flush mounts from epay. Also did the EVA foam in the battery box as a cushion for trailering on gravel roads.

battery hd 2.jpgrear deck.jpgbattery box EVA foam.jpg
 

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The experimental doubled up PVC board bunks from a couple of years ago were starting to sag so they were replaced, fortunately I had some 2x4's in the garage so I didn't have to pay $10+ each for them! Hit those with some Thompsons & let them sit a few days. Added the new carpet & then decided to add fresh pvc boards to them (also had in the garage).

new bunks.jpg
 
Thanks, I got it back on the trailer tonight (had a tornado come through the area last night, so no work was done). This past Saturday I got a new battery for the troller, the old one was 9 years old & I didn't trust it anymore. Got a die-hard at the local Advanced Auto, the counterman gave me an early fathers day discount & there was a $10 rebate on deep-cycle batteries.

Replacing the hull numbers is next on the list, I've been after the wife for 2 years to cut some new vinyl #'s with her Cricut cutter (still hasn't happened). I'll probably just pick up some throw away stencils & paint some #'s on as I'm tired of asking her. With the drought we're experiencing I'll probably get the mud motor dug out & cleaned up this week & weekend.


1236 2021 update.jpg
 

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