Old Guy Comfort Boat

[gah319]

Ringo Steele » 28 May 2014, 20:48[/url]"]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")?

Got the decals off of ebay. He will make them in any color you desire.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ouachita-Vintage-Boat-Decal-Die-Cut-Black-2-PAK-FREE-SHIP-Free-Fish-Decal-/191192813476?pt=Boat_Parts_Accessories_Gear&hash=item2c83facfa4&vxp=mtr

So on my title the boat is shown as Quachita. When I power washed it I found the Indian head logo with the Ouachita name. I am sure that the title is wrong, but I am not going to try and change it, so I had the HIN plate made with the misspelling. Easier to do that then try to explain it to the DNR on the water. So I sliced off the manufacturer name from the logo and just used the Indian head.

Yes the motor is a long shaft. Did not realize that it was too long until I spent some time here and found out that the cavitation plate should be just about even with the bottom of the boat. Most likely the reason I could never get it to plane out very well. So I made the 3 inch lift. It is stuck on with 6 very long screws, 5200 glue, and the 1/4 inch aluminum plates. I don't think it is going anywhere.

 

[gah319]

Abraham » 28 May 2014, 20:30[/url]"]Looks awesome! Really dig the two tone and the setup. Great work

Talking to Scott at Wetlander he suggested it was better to have a good color line then try to match the color and be just slightly off. The graphite color up close looks like a black metal flake.

Before I started to paint I got a cheap sprayer at Harbor Freight. Has a 1.4 nozzle. Worked great! Sprayed the white for the interior (below decks), then the gray and finally the graphite. I am going to be hard pressed to go back to a brush. My compressor is just a 14-16 gallon one. To get it to work well I connected it to a 6 gallon air pig with a input regulator set to 60 psi. The I went to a 40 psi regulator and water filter to the gun. Worked very well. I never ran out of pressure for spraying and the compressor could catch up and rest.

 

[gah319]

Got a lot of the carpeting done this weekend. Have 3 hatches and 2 side panels to glue down yet. Next I need to start running the wiring then I can put the final deck in place. Once it is down access to the very front deck will be limited. Stuffed the areas below the seats with flotation. Will put the last of the flotation below the very front deck. That area is too small for anything else. So far real happy with the way it is turning out. Too much boat sitting in front of the tires. Will move the boat back about 16 inches. This will reduce the amount of tongue weight.

 

[richg99]

Great build thread. You've done a fine job and explained it very well

Oh, don't worry about "making it through your 60's"....worry more about making it through your 70's. Ha Ha. Rich

 

[gah319]

Got out on the water Sunday. Only had about 2 hours that I could go, but I did get out and float. Still need to put hinges on a couple of the hatches. Little more front heavy that I care for. Used 3/4" ply for the front deck and 1/2" for the rest. Then there are two batteries up there also. Will move the batteries to the back bench storage area. There is enough room there for both of them. This will also help get me on a even keel when I am the only one in the boat, which might be most of the time. Otherwise when running up river the wife will be on the other bench seat. When we start fishing one of us will use the center seat on the front deck.

All the holes plugged well. No water in the boat at all. Launching was no problem at all. The boat just slid right off the trailer. Getting back on was a bit of a problem. Electric motor only lake so could not drive onto the trailer. As I would get it on the trailer the boat wanted to keep sliding back off. The Wetlander paint on the bottom is very slick.

Will get the batteries moved tonight and hope to get on the river in the next day or two depending on the weather. Want to see just how fast it will go.

 

[richg99]

Hmmmm. Sliding off. I can see that might be a problem if the electric won't push the boat far enough up the carpeted bunks.

I wonder if a couple of feet of rubber non-skid material, (Walmart) screwed onto the bunks, would hold her temporarily?

I had a similar issue with my last boat. I waded in next to the trailer and then used my extended boat hook to grab the forward boat eye hook, and pulled the light-weight boat up the ramps. Holding her with the boat hook, I was able walk in the water and affix the hook and strap.

You will figure something out. regards. Richg99

 

[gah319]

The electric is on the bow so kind of hard to get it to pull the boat up on to the bunks. The non-skid rubber might be a good idea. Will have have to take a look into that. I was able to walk down the trailer and connect the winch hook. The ramp area was covered in green sludge. Will have to drop the boat in the yard and pressure wash the stuff off. Will add some non-skid tape to the top of the trailer for traction. So far I am really happy with how everything has turned out.

 

[richg99]

Might also help, after you launch, to pull the winch strap half way down the bunk and velcro it there. Then, when the bow is aligned, the strap hook will be in place. Richg99

 

[New River Rat]

I am thoroughly enjoying this build. Great explanations, great photos, craftsmanship showing. Nice!

 

[gah319]

Just about finished. Only thing left to do is install the lights in the storage areas. Last night I got the batteries moved from the front to inside the back bench storage. Ran new wiring, put the decks back on. Then tried the TM. Dang thing did not work. One of the wires pulled out of the connector. #-o Took the decking off again and redid the connector, then tried the TM before putting the decking back on.

Planning on taking it out tonight on the river to see how well it really runs. Wife has been waiting to get out on it. Will use the boat for a while before I decide if I am going to put in rod holders.

Will take some final pictures this evening and post them tomorrow.

 

[gah319]

So here are the pictures of the finished product. All the positive connections on the batteries and breaker are covered with liquid electrical tape for insulation. The battery boxes would not fit under the angle aluminum. Not going to win any speed records with just a 9.9 pushing this boat, but most all of the lakes are electric only or either less than 10 hp or idle speed only. Only on the river can I open the throttle up.

I had a lot of fun getting this to where it is. The wife is very happy with how it turned out. She did not want to drive it yesterday, but was thrilled to be fishing out of it.

I will say it is best to double check all the bolts and nuts on the trailer once it has been taken apart. When I got home I found that the bolts holding the winch to the trailer did not have tight nuts. Only one was still on. Did not lose the bolts, but two of three nuts are gone. Replacing with nylon locking nuts tonight.

 

[gah319]

OK I have now been out a couple of times. The two battery system has a slight flaw in it somewhere. The primary battery is used for the TM. Second battery is for the electronics. Both go to one of the 150 amp battery switches so that if the primary battery runs out I can switch over to the other. This means that the negative side of both are tied together. Apparently there is enough electrical noise on the negative side to cause interference with the locator. Every time the motor moves I get noise on the locator. So do I get a "third" battery just for the locator or get a second switch so that I can isolate the ground from the motor also? I think I am leaning towards the second switch. Cost wise there are about the same switch to small battery.

On another note, I am very happy =D> with the Minn Kota i-pilot TM. Being able to record a track and then play it back is wonderful. Speed can be set in 0.1 mph increments. Catch a fish and want to stop just hit the anchor button and the boat stays in place. Now I can fish and not have to spend a lot of my time messing with the motor. If I was going between a bunch of docks and stucture then maybe a foot controlled unit would be better, but for my use it is perfect. Coming back in to get the trailer I just step off the boat on to the dock. Push the boat back out, once it gets about 20 feet away I set the anchor. Get the truck and trailer, bring the boat back into the dock and then load up. I tried the remote at home and got at least 150 feet away and still could control the motor direction. Not sure what the max distance is for the remote.