Sea Ark 1652-SLD Mod

[2ndBassendment]

See what happens when you share your project with your a**hole friends..... #-o

=D>

 

[2ndBassendment]

I love my Bass Master. I just want to go crabbing this year. I will bring the fun!!!!! As usual. Nance go bed now. WAKE UP BETTY.

Sea Ark Mod Update,

Bassmaster has been acquiring quite a few new toys for the boat. I'm sure he will be including mock up or maybe just parts pics when he gets sometime. I'll hint to a very sharp electronics upgrade for the boat (Lowrance) but you guys have to wait on pics or Bassmaster to fill you in on the rest. The Sea Ark is seeing alot of prep work at this point getting ready for new paint. It isn't much to look at momentarily but when the gritty work is completed it will be upgrade city with lots of pics along the way.

Stay in bed Nance.... Veteran fishermen are talking.

 

[fishtotheface]

Betty, now is not the time to wake up, it is not the weekend yet. BTY, I got your Veteran right here. But to Tina, you better be calling.

 

[BassMaster52]

The last week or two have been hectic and I'm just now getting around to updating my progress. Many hours have been spent cutting holes in the boat for things like the navigation lights, bilge pump, 12v receptacles, battery switches, speakers, and wire-ways. In addition to cutting holes, I managed to get the inside of the boat stripped of paint and back down to the bare aluminum and install the aluminum angle that will support my rear storage compartments. My plans for the weekend are to get the interior sanded and prepped for paint. Once I do so, I believe the progress will start picking up a bit as most of the components going in the boat have already been dry fitted. Here are a few pictures of the interior and paint stripping process.

 

[BassMaster52]

Another portion of the project that I have been "whittling away at" is the floor. As you can tell from these pictures, the boat came with a piece of diamond plate flooring. My issue with the floor was that there was a substantial gap on either side of the floor where it did not butt up to the support ribs. If you've ever been crabbing I'm sure you can understand why this a problem. Lets just say I had a few dead crabs under the floor when I pulled it up. To attempt to solve this problem I decided to run a 6" wide strip of aluminum down each side and cut it to form around the ribs. I decided a template was a good idea here. I figured it would be easier to notch these out of wood first so that I was not grinding and filling on the aluminum strips for days. Here is a few pics of what I am talking about.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Nice man! How do those speakers sound? I am thinking of picking myself up a pair. What CD Deck/mp3 are you planning on using with it?

 

[BassMaster52]

I absolutely love the speakers and head unit that I bought for this boat. I hooked it all up when it came to test it and it really sounds good. I went with the Sony DSX MS60 head unit and couldn't be happier. It has a faceplate that swivels down and a tray that swings out of the head unit. You can plug your mp3, ipod, or iphone into the deck and it swings back into the head unit. Then the face swivels back up to enclose your device and can be controlled from the outside or with the remote. I did a lot of looking and researching and I found exactly what I wanted. I purchased both sets of speakers and the head unit from a place called J&R. I got the 6 1/2" speakers for $82.99 and the 8" speakers for $98.99 and the Sony head unit for $169.99.....all of which were much cheaper than anywhere else I looked. And to top it all off... FREE SHIPPING! Hope this helps.

 

[2ndBassendment]

Nice work!

 

[fool4fish1226]

Coming along nicely, great idea for the floor and yes templates make things much easier IMO

 

[BassMaster52]

Indeed they do! I was able to trace the templates on to my aluminum and get them cut out this weekend. I'll have pics up in a day or two but I am very happy with the way they turned out.

 

[BassMaster52]

So just thought I'd post a few new pics of my progress. I was able to get the floor trim pieces cut and dry fitted as well as dry fit the rear hatch boxes. The seat reinforcement plates and seat bases are also drilled and ready to go. The side console has been mounted and I'm in the process of cutting a piece of aluminum to make a cover for the front. Now that the entire inside of the boat is stripped and sanded down to bare aluminum, I am getting closer to washing the boat out and laying down some primer and color. I am expecting my progress to speed up a bit now that most of the accessories going in the boat have been dry fitted and are just waiting for paint, well at least I hope so. Looking to have the boat finished by the end of April.

 

[fool4fish1226]

Man thats coming along great, you did some great prep for the paint, the aluminum dang there looks good enough to leave bare.

 

[boatwatcher]

You are doing a really good job, grasshopper.

 

[Zum]

Looking good.
Maybe I missed it but why did you scrap off the original paint?
Was it in hard shape,if your re-painting I thought the original primer/paint would be good to paint over.

 

[BassMaster52]

Thanks guys. The idea to paint started because I was adding quite a bit of fresh aluminum to the inside of the boat and was going to have to paint it. Then I realized that the paint was really oxidized and wouldn't match my new paint at all. The inside had a good bit of ware on it so I decided that I would take it down to bare metal and start fresh. As for the outside, the paint is in great condition and I will be just roughing it up a bit and spraying a top coat over it.

Also, I am looking to put down some type of foam sheets under my floor in between the ribs. I've been doing some research and from my understanding it needs to be closed cell foam? I guess this keeps the foam from absorbing water. Makes sense.... My question is, does anyone know where to get cheap sheets of flotation foam about 1 1/2" to 2" thick? I saw another thread where someone put the blue building material foam down...is that closed cell?

 

[Ictalurus]

The blue and pink board are closed cell (latest group consensus), I know Lowes has the blue board and I believe HD has the pink. As far as thickness, that may be up to the individual store. My local Lowes carries the 1/2" sheets of the blue board, think it was $10 or so a board.

 

[BassMaster52]

The blue and pink board are closed cell (latest group consensus), I know Lowes has the blue board and I believe HD has the pink. As far as thickness, that may be up to the individual store. My local Lowes carries the 1/2" sheets of the blue board, think it was $10 or so a board.

Thanks! I picked up a sheet from Home Depot yesterday and it looks like it will work great.

 

[BassMaster52]

Just about done with the rear deck area now. I was able to cut my "rear deck window" where my gas tank will sit and simply just need to cut my lid for the top. You can see from the pictures that I got the divider put in the box.

 

[BassMaster52]

I was able to get an electronic fuel sending unit in my new tank and get some pictures of how the tank will be situated in the box. I also found some stainless steel hinges for the lid. They were not offset hinges so I ended up making two spacers so that the hinges will sit flat. You can also see in this next group of pictures that the front compartment in the rear deck has a seat base plate on the bottom. This will allow me to open my hatch door, stick a 13" seat pole in the box, and have the capability of a third seat between the two pictured. I carefully placed the two outer seat bases so that when three seats are in the boat it will resemble a long bench seat.

Oh...I almost forgot.... I ended up cutting an oblong hole next to the plug hole for my bilge pump. I glued a piece of 3/8" starboard to the hull so that I could mount the bilge housing to it.

 

[BassMaster52]

Here are a few pictures of the floor fully assembled and in the bed of my truck. I dropped it off at Line-X yesterday and should have it back by tomorrow. I think its safe to say that all the accessories for the boat have been fitted and its now time for paint. Today's plans include flipping the boat over and prepping the underside. It should just take a light scuff/sand and an acetone wash and then it will be ready for paint. More pics coming soon.