Project one and done...Alumacraft 1447

[TimRich]

Man I'd love to powder coat my boat but I know I'd never be able to afford that...lol The boat looks awesome!

 

[JaxJonBoat]

Well i was super busy today. Got the trailer 99% done. Still need to do final bunk adjustments, not going to carpet the bunks, i am going to use L shaped Teflon the full legth, i will mount that later. I lucked out and came across a cover at walmart that was in the clearance bins!!! $25 normally $58, i think that is a score. Here are the lastest pics, starting to look like a boat now.

 

[JaxJonBoat]

Just scored a '87 Johnson 9.9hp. Shipping from Northern Wisconsin, looks almost new inside and out, hopefully will be here by next weekend. I am going to look into what exactly it will take to make it a 15 and add electric start to it. This should be fun.

 

[phxbuckeye]

Please let us know what you find out about getting more juice out of your motor. i have a 9.9 Merc and would love a few extra ponies. Motors are expensive!

 

[JaxJonBoat]

Here is a good link for Johnson info.

https://www.sschapterpsa.com/ramblings/OMC link/OMC info.htm

 

[JaxJonBoat]

ok, day 2 and no correspondece from the seller on my motor i bought on ebay, getting nervous and i sent them a note asking when they were going to ship it. Hopefully it will be soon. I hate waiting.

 

[JaxJonBoat]

Finally got my motor today, cranked it up and it actually ran really good. everything seemed to check out great so far. i changed out the gear oil in the foot and most likely will replace the impeller this weekend for peace of mind. ran it for about 20 minutes, never even got warm to the touch, looked like the thermostat was working right and there was some water coming out the pee hole. cranked up on about the 5th pull then after it ran, first pull every time after. i will check compression probably tomorrow but i think it will be fine, looks like it was well maintained for a 25yr old motor. now time to see how it run under load on the water this Saturday, can't wait.

It was still running in these pics, you can see the fuel line is off and i am running the carb dry

 

[bigwave]

Your boat turned out killer, should run up the St. Johns real nice. =D>

 

[JaxJonBoat]

Thanks, I still have a ways to go but it should be fishable by this weekend. Probably wont fish but I will test it out to see how it performs. Looking forward to the St. Johns, intercoastal, guana state park, nassua sound and so one, watch out fish i am coming for you this summer!!!

 

[JaxJonBoat]

Ok, ran the motor again yesterday. sounded good and ran nice a COOL, almost seemed too cool. Now i am wondering if it has a thermostat in it at all. Picking up a new impeller today on the way home but no one has a thermostat so i am going to take the cover off and see whats there.

 

[JaxJonBoat]

Boat is ready, i am ready, the wife is ready to let me go and the weather decided it needed the wind to start blowing and thunder storm, ugh i was going to go try and test this thing out and get it adjusted today because the next two weekends are booked solid.

 

[JaxJonBoat]

Finally got out today for the first time, boat ran great and handled real good. Hit 15.2mph fully loaded, not bad for a 9.9hp I think. Fished at Guanna State Park, buddy brought his Gheenue too. Caught my first fish with artificail bait, sad i know but I never really fished much with artificial. All the hard work paid off. Can't wait to go again!!!

 

[JaxJonBoat]

Guess i know why it was so windy yesterday now, stupid tropical storm off our coast in MAY!!!!!! Really?

 

[jasper60103]

That's quite a transformation. Good job. =D>

 

[Kismet]

Just got to reading this thread.

What a beautiful job!

Sounds like good fortune and hard work all came together for you.

Nicely done.

 

[JaxJonBoat]

Thanks guys, seems like it has taken forever to get to this point but I am not quite done yet, but close. I have a minn kota power center with a series 27 battery inside. I plan on decking the front to just in front of the battery where the rib is to match the floor and rear bench and up to just below the rub rail. This will allow me to put another seat up front (not going with a pedistal just flush on the deck) and have a place to put stuff so i dont have step over everything as well as keeping the battery safe and out of the elements. I have plenty of aluminum angle I have been collecting to do the framing. Going to try to have this done by next weekend. Keeping fingers crossed I get new bow mount trolling motor for fathers day, hint hint to the wife.

 

[jasper60103]

I didn't notice the flooring before, nice.
What kind of material is that?

 

[JaxJonBoat]

its half inch sanded plywood with no knots, sealed with Spar and top coated with 4 layers of spray bed liner both sides, on top of 1.5" s of pink Owen Corning closed cell foam board. seems bullet proof so far an is rock hard, fingers crossed. really seems to make the boat feel more solid while underway. no battle wounds on first trip, not even a scratch and is not slippery in the least. I used aluminum insert nuts in the ribs, kinda like a pop rivet but with a nut inside to hold everything down. this way if it does rot i can take out the SS 10/32 srews and use the deck as a template and cut me a new one in ten minutes. Hopefully that will be a very long time. My friend who saw it thought i had found a plastic board to use haha.

 

[jasper60103]

Yea, I was thinking plastic too.
Enjoy!

 

[fool4fish1226]

Turned out real nice, glad to see you are now enjoying it =D>