Project River Donkey complete....alumacraft 1542

[Blake]

Well I'm finally done with a boat that I use around the house on smaller waters that I can't get my champion on. I borrowed some ideas but came up with most myself, hopefully it helps you guys with your builds. Here are the pics and descriptions. Enjoy!

Started with an alumacraft 1542, cut the center bench out and installed a floor, seats, and an aluminum trolling motor mount on the bow (my dad gets credit for the floor, it was his project to start then I took over). I painted it with Parker duck boat marsh grass paint. The floor is really nice, it has a short step up in the front, but the whole thing is as low as possible which helps keep it stable by keeping your center of gravity closer to the water.

Powered by a '01 Yamaha 25 horse four stroke electric start. Great motor. I put a mini jacker on it, and got it as high as I could without cavitating. I also put a hydrofoil on it just because the handling sucked and I ended up in a tree once. I have the rock guard on the bottom because I need it where I take the boat. Check out the plug that I cut out of a 1x6 on top of the mini jacker. Without it, you just fill up the back of your boat with water when using reverse.

Bilge area- I made a plywood cover to go over everything. Installed a water separation filter, bilge pump, a lightweight cranking battery, and a small 3 gallon gas tank to save weight and room.

Electrical- bow to stern, this is everything I have rigged up: LED light bar up front, nav lights (bow and stern), simple depth finder on the bow, 12v Motorguide bow mount trolling motor, green LED strip light on the back bench, humminbird 898 side imaging on the stern. All controlled my a rocker switch panel and a battery cut off switch.

Other miscellaneous stuff I did- trolling motor mounted stake out pole, custom built aluminum rod rack that swings out of the way when not in use, cargo net storage on both sides, a cooler stat I use for storage, plus some other stuff that I'm sure I left out. It fishes great and I'm very happy with the results. Feel free to ask questions about any of the stuff.

 

[beagler1]

Where did you get the trolling motor stake mount???


Sent from Mossy Oak Swamp Bottom

 

[Blake]

Where did you get the trolling motor stake mount???


Sent from Mossy Oak Swamp Bottom

https://www.shallowwatersolutions.com/anchor_pin_mounts

 

[Johnny]

wow Blake, NICE JOB !!!

One item in particular that generates a lot of buzz here is how to store rods . . . .
your application of "fold-away" will get many good reviews.

Your fabrication is excellent, well thought out and attention to detail is evident.
the ideas - whether yours or borrowed, really turned out well.

Job well done

a couple of details worthy of note: (IMO) all protruding bolts should be snugged down tight
and cut off flush with the nut with an angle grinder . . . . prevents the snag hazard.
and - spend some time on the wires: zip-tie them into neat bundles and use the
plastic loom as much as possible.

 

[Blake]

Yeah good point on those Jack plate bolts, I should probably trim em.

The wires look kinda messy, but they really aren't. I used lots of zip ties and wire covers where I could, but underneath that switch panel there's just no really good way of making it look nice. Which is why I build the back hatch, so you couldn't see any of that bilge area- outta sight outta mind. All of the wires from bow to stern are in a wire loom along the port gunwale, you can probably see it. All of the grounds off the battery are in a wire loom as well. I used short positive wires off the switches to tie back in to the battery switch. The depth finder wires I had to leave uncut so I just rolled them up and zip tied em.

 

[Big_ug_chevy]

Sweet build bud. I did the same thing by removing the middle bench seat. Be careful as removing the bench greatly reduces the structural integrity of the boat. Instead of wood I used 1/8" aluminum plate across the entire floor with rivits every 8 inches. It's a tank now, no flex in the removed seat area.

All in all great original ideas. I will be stealing the swing away rod holder idea for sure.

 

[beagler1]

Where did you get the trolling motor stake mount???


Sent from Mossy Oak Swamp Bottom

https://www.shallowwatersolutions.com/anchor_pin_mounts

Thx!!


Sent from Mossy Oak Swamp Bottom

 

[SwampNugz]

I want to see these pictures so bad but they arnt showing up for me. Any idea as to why? I just bought an unmolested Alumacraft 1442 and this sounds exactly like what I am trying to do to mine.

 

[Lost Pole]

Very helpful pictures, for me, and nice build!

I'm kinda lost on your transducer placement though....
Is it supposed to be that high?


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[Catch Release Repeat]

For the rock guard how many holes did you have to drill?


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[Crazyboat]

It looks like your transducer is mounted well up the transom, you only want depth when anchored or on the troll?

 

[Blake]

It looks like your transducer is mounted well up the transom, you only want depth when anchored or on the troll?

Yeah I didn't explain that part in the original post. For my humminbird 898, I have two transducers. The one you're talking about and also a puck transducer that is epoxied in the bilge area. This allows me to get depth readings on plane (with the puck). Anyone who knows about side imaging knows how expensive the transducers are, and how you need to tuck them away to protect them from being broken off on a stump. Also, side imaging only works at slow speeds, so there's no sense in attempting to get the transducer out in clean water for on plane readings anyways.

 

[Blake]

For the rock guard how many holes did you have to drill?


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Two or three I think. Pretty easy.