Old Guy Comfort Boat

[typed by ben]

if i havent said it before, that boat looks really well made. gotta love her in bare metal too. excited to see how this one turns out.

 

[gah319]

Started the dry fitting of the vertical sections. Leaving about 1/4 inch of room for the carpet. My son was home for the holiday weekend so I got him to hold the bucking bar as I riveted the transom supports. Turned out quite well. Put in the 3/16" rivets that are just filling in the holes from taking out the bench seats. Need to order another set of rivets. There are more holes left since I took out everything that was riveted or screwed in other than the struts. Once I get all the pieces cut then I can start the spar varnish.

 

[pitts101]

looks great so far

 

[bigredxlt]

Are those new rivets closed end pop rivets or did you buck solid rivets in there?

 

[gah319]

Those are solid rivets. I bucked them in with a hand held sledge hammer for the bucking bar and the pneumatic chisel. I purchased a 3/16 rivet set from Aircraft Spruce for about $9.00. I turned the air pressure to the chisel down to about 40 psi. Worked great. With all of the old screws and things like oar locks that I pulled out of the side walls my order of 100 rivets ran out fast. Have another order for 100 in with Grainger that should be here in a few days. I am going to fill in all the holes with the solid rivets. When pressed in correctly they will be water tight and not leak so no need to add 5200 to them.

For rivets that need to come out the best way I found is to get a good wood chisel and place it behind the head. Tap it once to get set behind the head and then two good blows and the head shears off. The body can then be just pushed out of the hole. I did a few at first by drilling, but there is a possibility of drilling out the aluminum sheet along with the rivet. Since I started to use the wood chisel I have had no problems taking out rivets.

 

[bigredxlt]

Good to know. Trying to figure out how to plug some screw holes above the water line. Initially I was thinking closed end rivets with 5200, but the solid rivets don't seem to be much more work and more likely a better fix.

 

[gah319]

Last of the rivets are installed in the skin of the boat. :lol: Now to just finish cutting the decking to allow for the thickness of the carpet. Each layer requires 3/16" clearance.

 

[gah319]

Worked on getting the back bench top cut out. Marked where the holes are for the seat base and the opening for the storage hatch. Got those cut out. Mounted the riser for the motor and put the motor on to make sure all worked as I wanted. Determined the best place for the cup holder and got that cut out. Last to cut out was the handle for the storage lid. The storage lid will have 3/4" of the aluminum bracket under it so should be good and solid to stand on. Lid is only 14 X 16.

The motor riser now needs the plugs put in to cover the screws that attach to the transom and then finish it off with spar varnish. Considering using 5200 to attach the plates, but not sure I want to make it "that" permanent. Once put on with that it ain't a coming off. Still need to cut out a 1/4" spacer for the back of the riser, just a little bit narrow, but I have enough aluminum here to do that without any problems.

It is suppose to rain all next week so I should be able to get the rest of the bench and lids for the back 2/3's of the boat cut completely out. Hope to get the front deck also finalized in the framework and get it decked. The on the next nice day I can start getting it all painted and varnished.

 

[gah319]

The last of the decking has been cut out and fitted. :lol: On the front deck I need to cut out the hatches, fit the seat base and TM quick release mount. Only other hole to be cut that I can think of is for the bow light mount. Once these are done, hopefully tonight, I can get all the wood painted or varnished. Now if the weather would just dry out enough to be able to paint. Will strip everything out of the boat tonight so that I can prime the aluminum and be ready to paint that as well when it drys out.

 

[Gators5220]

Nice start, on your "Old Guy Comfort Boat" haha.

 

[gah319]

Lower portion of the interior is painted. :lol: The visible area of the interior and the exterior above the water line has the first coat of paint. Have enough for at least 2 more coats and possibly a third. So as soon as the weather warms a bit again, and drys out some I can get the remaining coats on. Once that is finished I will flip it over and do the bottom. Going to use Wetlander for the bottom. Hope to have all the painting done in the next two weeks.

The decking has all been painted, with rustoleum oil based paint, for at least one coat. Want one more coat on the areas that will be carpeted. Hope to have the carpet on the decking this weekend.

Tried to start the motor this weekend. Has spark , but looks like I will need to get the carb cleaned :? and then hopefully it will run. Think I will replace the water pump also since it has been a number of years since the motor last was started. Changed the lower unit oil and there was no water in it so I don't have those problems.

 

[TNtroller]

Very nice work indeed. One ? for you, why did you mount rear seat as you did? Have not seen it done that way, and just curious.

 

[gah319]

In this boats previous life the original bench seats were still installed. On top of them was 3/4" plywood with the Attwood 3/4" pin seat mounts. That worked very well for me so I decided to use the same system this time. Most all of the lakes near by are idle speed only, the rivers are not real deep. So running at WOT is not something I normally do. I decided that I would prefer the storage space that the bench style design would give over the open floor plan with the larger seat mounts. I will have a seat on both bench areas and a base on the deck that will have a 16 or 24 inch threaded post for when I want to sit at the deck. I plan on using a saddle type seat there for when I am using the fly rod. I find that I can no longer stand as long as I used to so the saddle seat will allow me to rest some while semi-standing. It's hard on the body getting old and I want to use this well into my 60's.

 

[gah319]

I have the interior and top coats of paint applied. The white will not show once the decking is in place. This should make it easier to see inside of the storage areas. I have painted the decking with white oil based Rustoleum. This will provide the waterproofing for the exterior grade plywood. All of the decking surface that will be exposed will be covered with Cabelas marine carpet. I am putting in the carpet that is about mid-line in the pricing.

Going to wait about 3 days before I flip the boat over and mask for the bottom paint. I want to make sure that the top coat is good and solid before I tape it for the next coat. Then I will need to sand the bottom one more time in prep for the paint. So hopefully by the end of the holiday weekend all the painting will be done and I can start putting in the decking.

I have all of the electronics, wire, and hardware to complete the build. Hope to be on the water by the 1st of June. Beneath the floor decking I have 1.5" pink foam. This is about half of the amount of the white Styrofoam that I took out from below the benches. I have another full sheet to stuff in below the seats and at the bow where the decking gets close to the floor.

 

[gah319]

Sent the motor off to the shop. I decided it was quicker to have them get it running again then for me to spend the time on doing it. Have enough to do with getting the bottom painted and the carpet laid on the decking. Would like to be on the water by June 1, which did not leave much time to clean the carb and replace the impeller for the water pump. Should have it back next week.

Tonight I need to build some saw horses to flip the boat onto. Hope to have the bottom primer on by Thursday and the bottom coat on Sat. Decking is all ready to be covered with carpet. Will be off work Thursday thru Tuesday so hope to spend a bit of time getting it finished. Once the bottom coat goes on the instructions are to watch it cure and to do this beer works well. :lol: If I get it painted on Sat then on Monday I can flip it back over and install the decking.

Plan on sanding down and painting the trailer once the boat is off. Hate to have a good looking boat and a trailer that looks like.. :roll: .

 

[TNtroller]

Very nice and neat work on your boat. Gonna be a nice one, hope you enjoy it for years to come.

 

[gah319]

Got the primer coat of Wetlander on this morning. Started with a roller and decided I would rather spray it on. Man does it look good! The application instructions on line says to let dry completely and that beer works good for this phase. :lol: Trailer looks bad so I have it taken apart. Both fenders are bad so I have ordered new ones. Time to sand it down and repaint. Final coat of Wetlander will go on, on Saturday. Three days to dry, then flip it back over. Then put in the deck, which needs to be carpeted yet. Hope to be on the water by the 1st.

 

[gah319]

Woo Hoo =D> All of the painting is done. Rustoleum battleship gray marine paint for the top side and Wetlander in graphite for the bottom. Got the boat off of the saw horses and sitting on the garage floor on a carpet and old sleeping bag. Just a light push on it and the boat wants to spin. The Wetlander is slick. Got all of the framing screwed in and started to carpet the woodwork. Applied the manufacturers logo on both sides. Had an new HIN plate made since the original was impossible to read. Took a bit to find all of the data for the plate, but got enough to have the basics. Placed both on the transom. If the DNR does not like the new plate then they can read the old one...

Just got a call from the Merc dealer. My motor is done and ready to pick up. Carb needed overhauled. That is something I could have done, but figured that would add a week or more to the time before I could use it. Sometimes it is just worth it to have a pro do the work.

Trailer is about done. Got it painted over the weekend and need to carpet one more of the bunks. Then I can put the boat back on. Would like to get it up off the floor. Bending over and kneeling on the concrete gets harder to do every year.

 

[Abraham]

Looks awesome! Really dig the two tone and the setup. Great work

 

[Ringo Steele]

Very nice work! Who made the Indian head logos for you? I need some for mine.
Maybe I missed it, but is your motor a long shaft (20")?