Polar Kraft 1448 build

[Fishfried]

Finishing the sanding today, front deck and the floor. 100 grit with a palm sander. Tuff Coat will go on all the walking surfaces. Cold outside but sunny and dry, good for sanding.

 

[Fishfried]

Ready for paint! Wish it were a little warmer!

 

[Fishfried]

Ordered boat registration numbers and name for both sides and a transom sticker. What you think lol... 8)

 

[Fishfried]

Not happy with the Tuff Coat color I chose, too light. The Total Boat Aluminum light gray....waaaaay too light, basically off white. I bought a quart of Total Boat black and mixed it. I also mixed the TB black with the Tuff Coat. Now the two paints pretty much match each other. I bought some big syringes so I could put the exact amount of black in each gallon of TC and TB.

 

[Fishfried]

Here are the final colors after I mixed them. I would’ve added more black to the gallons of the Tuff Coat but I ran out of room in the cans. If you are wondering, I called TC and they said it was cool to mix the two together. Also, they said you could take to a paint store and have them add tint.

 

[Fishfried]

Muratic acid washed all bare aluminum. No fun at all, luckily it’s breezy, those fumes...ugh

 

[Fishfried]

Here are the acid washed panels.

 

[Fishfried]

Due to the warm weather today I got quite a bit painted. The Total Boat Aluminum paint is pretty easy to work with. I thinned it about 20% with water. Using a Harbor Freight HPLV sprayer, impressed with it so far. Right now they are on sale for $9.99. I like the gray color a lot more than the Polar Kraft green. I hope it proves to be durable.

 

[akboats]

I thought about buying one of those but id also have to get an air compressor. looking good though. I wish there was a way to follow the thread on this website where you would get email notifications if something new was posted in it.

 

[Fishfried]

Wedged some foam board insulation between the angle deck supports. I put some construction adhesive on it too for good measure. Someone mentioned early on that sound dampening might be a good idea.

 

[Fishfried]

Dabbed some silicone caulk every 6” or 8” on the aluminum angles. After positioning the aluminum deck-one piece, I put some weight on it to sit overnight. Tomorrow I put a few pop rivets in it and I’ll bolt down a seat base. After I apply the Tuff Coat non slip paint on the deck I will put the hatches on. The hatches have 6-8 screws that will go through the deck and the aluminum angle.
Under the deck I have the onboard battery charger, some totes and buckets for storage under the hatches and the wiring for the bow of the boat.
Weather permitting, I will get some painting done this weekend.

 

[Fishfried]

Used Sikaflex 221 to fill any gaps between the bench seats and the casting deck. Fantastic stuff.

The front casting deck is super solid and very quiet. I put half dozen rivets in it- in a couple spots that had some flex. Had to have a buddy come by to help with the seat base, Reaching under the deck with one hand and impact in the other was a bit too difficult.
Got quite a bit of painting done today. All the inside of the boat less the walking surfaces that get the Tuff Coat. Tomorrow I’ll do the outside except for the transom, I already got that done.

If I have time I might get some of the Tuff Coat primer down tomorrow. With a lot of luck I might even get some of the TC layer down. Weather forecast looks warm.

Here is a pic of the Sikaflex where the deck meets the bench.

 

[Fishfried]

Jealous of those of you that have a two car garage to work in. Putting down the second coat of the Total Boat Aluminum.

 

[Fishfried]

All the outside is painted. I got the floor down and the entire inside primed with the one part orange primer for bare aluminum and the two part primer on the painted surfaces.

 

[Fishfried]

100% ready for the Tuff Coat on the walking surfaces.

 

[Fishfried]

First application of Tuff Coat. Used a small roller and a 2” brush for the tight spots. Went on like I expected. It does like to seep behind masking tape, which made cleanup a little aggravating in a couple spots. Only used half of a gallon. I bought waaaay too much, I have enough Tuff Coat and paint for two boats easy. Hope to get another coat on tomorrow assuming it’s dry enough.

 

[Fishfried]

I put the rear hatch lids on for a minute and the livewell just to get a glimpse of the final look. The second coat of TC went on pretty quickly. I still haven’t finished the first gallon, I put it on thick too. I’ll see what it looks like tomorrow, might have to touch up a couple spots...we’ll see.

Guess I need to buy a trailer, got to get it off the floor in order to get the trolling motor on it. Got a boat cover ordered today, Boat Covers Direct, used The discount code for this website for $10.00 off.

 

[Fishfried]

Plumbed the livewell/baitwell. Installed the aerator pump and bilge pump. I put an LED light in the livewell, it had a rubber gasket on one side, the nut looked super fragile, was afraid to over tighten it. Guess I’ll glue it in if it leaks. Livewell has a drain, overflow, recirculating pump and of course a pump in the rear of the boat for filling. The recirculater and aerator pumps both have aerating spray heads inside the livewell.

 

[Fishfried]

Lots of wiring done this weekend. Mounted the trolling motor, still a lot of assembly on a Garmin even after the base is bolted down.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Awesome work man, that thing is so clean! Makes me wish I had acid washed and painted the interior of my build :LOL2: I was thinking about painting the top side of my hull with that Totalboat paint. Do you like it so far? How did it spray?