Zach's 1540 alumacraft project

[Zach0226]

Hello everyone,

I am going to start working on my Jon boat next week and need some help with ideas. I want to put a front deck from the front to the middle seat, a rod box on the left side of the boat, put a red/green light at the bow and the running light pole at the back of the boat, depth finder on the front deck, trolling motor, I have a 25 hp mercury. Another thing I want to try is to put an ice chest in the middle seat that's flush and easy to take in and out. The plan is to do all the framing with angle aluminum, for the deck and rodbox use 1/2 inch plywood. For the floor I want to put down a sheet of aluminum and glue carpet to it. I will post pics sometime this week.

My main concerns for getting started are:

What thickness of angle aluminum for framing?
What thickness of sheet aluminum for floors?

I'm really excited to get this project started

 

[Zach0226]

Here's some pictures of what we have to work with.

 

[Ictalurus]

Nice looking boat. I can't help on the floor size, but I used 1/8" angle for framing and it's stout. Hows the stability with the 40" floor?

 

[Zach0226]

Does 1/8 weigh much? i'm trying to keep the weight down as much as I can. The stability is average, when a boat passes by the wake makes the boat wobble a pretty good bit. Other than that it's pretty good.

 

[Ictalurus]

Does 1/8 weigh much? i'm trying to keep the weight down as much as I can.

Not much at all. I think I used 1.5"x1.5" angle and 45" of it weighed one pound. Total for framing my front deck was 7.5 lbs. The previous wood frame (2x2) weighed 21 lbs.

 

[Zach0226]

Thanks for the info, I'm probably going to use the same thing. Me and my brother are starting on the boat this weekend. I'll post some pictures of our progress.

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

Love those Alumacrafts! Looking forward to seeing your updates on this.

Take care,

Jonah

 

[Zach0226]

Here's a few pictures of what we got done this weekend. we cut the bench for the rodbox and got it framed and the top on it. we framed the front deck. Built the battery tray. Put some framing down for a sturdy floor.