Polar Kraft 1448 build

[TMO8853]

Looks fantastic so far! Really great attention to detail!

 

[Fishfried]

Finished the livewell today. It’s 17 1/2” diameter and the same height as the the deck. I’m installing a LED light in it and a recirculating pump. It has an overflow and a bottom drain. I’ll rivet it to the floor of the boat after I paint everything.

 

[Fishfried]

A couple more pics.

 

[Fishfried]

Slowly but surely this build is coming together. Hope to be finished by spring.

 

[Pawatch]

Nice job on the boat! Looks like a solid build,thanks for sharing!

 

[Fishfried]

Picked up my new trolling motor at Cabela’s today. I needed to fab a riser to get it to the proper elevation, in my case 3 1/4” was needed. I used scrap from my aluminum deck, 1/8” thick. TIG welded it together then ground it down so it will paint nicely.

 

[Fishfried]

Couple more pics

 

[k13west]

That looks great.

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk

 

[drxfish]

Nice work!

 

[thomasdgs]

The things I would do if I had access to a tig.... You've done some nice work so far, lots of interesting and original details. Looking forward to watching this one through to the end.

 

[Fishfried]

Thanks for the “atta boys”! Can’t wait to post the final pic of the boat in the river for you all!

 

[Fishfried]

Fabbed a “dashboard”. Will hold the fish finder, navigation lights and rod holder bases. The wiring will be easy to access from a removable panel that will screw to the front.

 

[Fishfried]

Drilled holes from the battery box in the center seat (was the factory livewell). I welded a 3/8 round rod to a 15/16” spade bit to easily chew through the styrofoam. I did this on the front bench; trolling motor wires, lights and fish finder. And the rear bench for; bilge pump, livewell pump and lights. I used a piece of flexible 3/4 bilge hose attached to the shop vac to chase the holes to get all the tiny pieces of styrofoam out.

 

[Fishfried]

I bought a Weiler cupped wire brush. It’s fantastic. I used it to take the paint off the aluminum tube rails. I figured the rails are going to get beaten up against the dock so I won’t paint them. This wire brush also made quick work of the Polar Kraft decals.
If you use one of these, besides safety glasses wear a full face shield. The wires will snap off and get you! A few years ago I had one from a a different wheel go through my lip.

 

[Fishfried]

A side note, if you use this wire wheel, it’s heavy. It broke a very used 15 year old Harbor Freight grinder in 20 minutes. I put it on another HF grinder and it survived. Took about 1 and a half hours to remove all the paint from the rails.

 

[Fishfried]

Next up; running wires and mounting the battery charger under the front deck.

 

[LDUBS]

The things I would do if I had access to a tig.... You've done some nice work so far, lots of interesting and original details. Looking forward to watching this one through to the end.

Even if I had a TIG I wouldn't be able to do that! Haha

Agree, three is some remarkable stuff happening with this build.

 

[Fishfried]

Put the deck on for a minute before I fasten the totes to the deck supports. Looks almost fishable.

 

[Fishfried]

Feels really roomy for a 14’ jon boat.

 

[Fishfried]

Got the boat about 95% sanded and ready for paint. Extended the power cable on the new trolling motor. Ran wiring under the front deck. I hope to get a little painting finished this weekend.