Sea Ark 1652-SLD Mod

[BassMaster52]

Hello all, I'd like to start by thanking you all for sharing your wealth of knowledge and projects completed. I'm just starting my first aluminum boat project and all of your ideas, pictures, and knowledge have given me inspiration and confidence to start one of my own. I have a 16 foot Sea Ark with a modified V hull. This boat was sold to me with a 15hp Johnson tiller motor and was otherwise very "stock". I will share some of the plans tomorrow, but for now, here are a few pictures of the boat at the start of the project. Any suggestions or thoughts along the way are much appreciated.

 

[gillhunter]

Looks like a great boat. I like the layout. Looking forward to seeing your project!

 

[fool4fish1226]

Looks like a great boat to mod - Keep us up to date with lots of pictures

 

[BassMaster52]

The main goal of this project was to take the 2005 15hp Johnson tiller motor off the boat and install a side console with a remote controlled 2002 40hp Mercury EFI 4-stroke which I purchased a few months back. As my friend and I discussed the project, more and more of the options we discussed became plans. As mentioned earlier, I bought this boat stock and it had no navigation lights, a small gas tank, a very small lawn mower battery, and very little storage. I plan to use this boat as a crabbing and duck hunting boat and wanted to convert this plain aluminum boat into a safe, reliable, and functional vessel. With this in mind, here is a list of most of the upgrades I will be doing: steering system and wheel, 9 gallon fuel tank with sending unit and fuel gauge, mercury tachometer, three small storage hatches, 2 dual purpose batteries, GPS, Stereo, two additional pin style seat bases with reinforcement plates, small bilge pump, navigation lights, side console, fuse box, and in-dash switch panel. The sketch below shows most of these ideas incorporated.

 

[BassMaster52]

I was able to get some work done this weekend and wanted to share my progress and pictures. I had a sheet of aluminum cut and bent to sit in between the two rear seat boxes. This metal will be fitted and riveted down to 2"x2" aluminum angle to create a sturdy storage compartment. You will also see in the pictures that I had a divider made that will serve as a support and will divide the storage compartment. The rear portion will house my new gas tank and the front will be a storage box. I was able to get a rough dry fit of the rear storage compartments as well as cut out two of the hatches in the rear seat boxes. The hatch doors are from Cabelas. I also got in my new seat reinforcement plates (14" x 16" .125 aluminum) and was able to place them in position for pictures. My speakers came in as well and I was able to cut the rear speaker holes in the front sides of the rear seat boxes. I will be installing 8" Bazooka camouflage speakers in the rear and 6 1/2" Bazooka camouflage speakers in the front. You can also see in the pictures, I was able to dry fit my front navigation light and cleats. You will notice that the front nav light has a horseshoe around it. It came on the boat and gave me pretty good luck last crabbing season so I think I will leave it.

 

[earl60446]

Nice boat to start with, big and wide, should be a real stable roomy platform. What was / is that pipe used for that is sticking out of the rear starboard flotation pod?

 

[BassMaster52]

Thanks Gill, Fool, and Earl. One thing I will promise is lots of pictures! I want to document the transformation of this boat. And Earl, that piece of pipe is something the original owner put on the boat. He screwed a curved piece of pvc into the metal pipe to use as a "J hook" for crabbing (trot line). I took it off and plan to make my own rig that mounts to the rail and is adjustable (front to back) on the rail. So here are the pics of the work I got accomplished this weekend and of the motor that is going on later.

 

[fishtotheface]

Hey man, I think your boat is some junk and should take it to the scrap yard and get the $20 it's worth!

 

[fool4fish1226]

Thats coming along nicely - Keep up the good work and the pictures coming

 

[RivRunR]

Nice boat to start with, big and wide, should be a real stable roomy platform. What was / is that pipe used for that is sticking out of the rear starboard flotation pod?

D@mn! I just KNEW he was gonna say "periscope"

 

[2ndBassendment]

Hey man, I think your boat is some junk and should take it to the scrap yard and get the $20 it's worth!

Excuse me, sir. Let's try and keep the thread on topic. [-X

Looks good so far, Bassmaster52. Keep up the good work!

 

[Pweisbrod]

Looks great! I will be following, not too many duckboats on here... 8)

 

[fishtotheface]

Hey BassMaster52, I heard that your trailer is in better shape then your Sea Ark. I'll buy the trailer for $35.

 

[boatwatcher]

Nice project, let's see that $35 trailer

 

[MTord03]

Looks nice! Are you selling the 15hp?

 

[BassMaster52]

Yes MTord03, I will be selling the 15hp soon. More progress pictures coming this weekend.

 

[fishtotheface]

Hey, that fish looks like a 2 pounder. Get one next time with some girth.

 

[BassMaster52]

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

 

[fishtotheface]

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.

 

[2ndBassendment]

Hey, that fish looks like a 2 pounder. Get one next time with some girth.

I photographed that quality fish and it was better than 6lbs :wink: