Hey aquaman!
I'm interested in hearing about your rebuilding project. Did you get it finished? I tried to finish up on mine the weekend before the WI opener. The more I tore into it, the more that needed to be fixed or modified. Finally took the kid and cordless for the opener. He had to sit on the floor until we hit our spot as I didn't have the bases back in. Ten minutes later, we were both seated and fishing hard.
Fixed: 1. New floor and carpet
2. Two leaky rivets
3. Removed waterlogged flotation and replaced
4. Laminated and installed new transom board
5. All new wiring installed
6. Made under floor battery compartment for trolling
batteries
Remaining: 1. New bilge pump
2. New stowable front running light
3. Increase capacity of rod box
4. Add storage and baitwell to front deck.
Lots of fun but very time consuming.
Any idea where I can get new or substitute splash pan drains that go through the transom? Any other great ideas?
LAST EDITED ON May-17-01 AT 09:35AM (CST)[p]Hey Jeff,
Been following your progress, and figure I can add some of mine as well. Bought a 82 Alumacraft Classic 16 with 82 Merc 50hp and half-roller-half-bunk trailer. It actually used to be my Dad's adn we sold it to my uncle. I just bought it back two winters ago. My bro and I have been fixing it up, although it wasn't in real bad shape - we wanted to turn it into a combo fishing/hunting boat.
What we changed:
-Added a new floor: Basically took all carpeting off of everything, but left in the floor. We used 1/8" CDX plywood (cause it usually is sitting in garage and never sits outside or in water for very long at all) to create sections of floor that we just put down on top of old floor (which was still pretty good - not rotten, but not 100% sturdy). Now floor is rock solid.
-Put brown carpeting in after ripping out the old blue stuff. We used outdoor carpeting that we found at local Menards instead of ordering expensive stuff. It looks great, but we didn't think to get stuff that wasn't "looped"... so hooks sometimes get caught in it. Oh well, we learned :) It is perfect for hunting color and texture.
-Fixed all the wiring. It was a mess. Really a mess... We now have both batteries under the rear seat and its balanced quite well.
-Changed the front deck area: took out the side "arms/gunwales" along the gunwales on the front, to give more room up there. We also made the front deck (like where you'd mount a bow mount) larger for sitting on or standing on. That turned out great!
-Painted it camo: we took off all decals and sanded it lightly (was bare alum to start with) then primed it with some primer we got from a buddy painter, his left over stuff, so was free. Then we painted it with duck brown oil paint, the camo stuff you get at sporting store. Used a Wagner, and it turned out fanastic! Did two+ coats, inside and out. We then cut out stencils and painted other colors with the stencils. It blends in to where we duck hunt fantastic.
-We put the truck bed liner spray (from auto store) in all inside areas where you'd kick or where a gun barrel would hit. That turned out nice, but we found that this has to be applied when temp is as the can says... doh...
-Put camo seats in it - although they are a little small compared to our bigger boat, so not extremely comfortable. They work.
-Added a low profile windshield: It looks like its made for the boat, but my brother found a Polaris snowmobile windshield (I think) in a discount bin for $5 and my Dad made an oak deck pice so that it fits the console just perfect. It can be taken off real quick, and the oak piece has nice cut away spots that hold two boxes of 12 ga. shells perfect right behind the windshield. Nice area to store lures or leader holders when fishing, or pliers, etc.
-Tuned up motor.
-Put hydofoil on it, and it heklped a lot. Can now leave motor on higher pin with out it porposing with one person, and it goes faster and gets up on plane quicker.
-Added a Guest 2 bank that we had left over when we went to three bank on our other boat. This is NICE!
-Trailer was perfect condition, but getting new tires next week to be safe. Put some non-skid pads on wheel fenders and by crank. Also had to get a new winch handle and strap.
-Put a couple rod holders on it.
-Put rings on for tying off or tying buckets, etc. Way cheaper than chocks and they'll hold anything. More out of way too for huntings.
-We did about a hundred other little things too, like making all the wiring look and work well, add new screws to make more sturdy, etc.
LEAKS... this one had us stumped.
-We were taking on water pretty good, so I assumed it was the livewell drain or some othe plastic part, or possibly a loose rivet. Well, I found two small leaks in the livewell pump hose and the livewell drain. I fixed them both, and tested them good, but it was still leaking good.
Heh... when we were putting the floor back in, my brother (yeah, I'll blame him... hehe...) used too long of a screw too close to the edge of the boat, where the bottom comes in... Nice little hole in the hull... doh... Once we found and plugged that, it is bone dry. Thanks goodness.
We spent a lot of time working on this boat, and it is really rewarding to be out fishing in it. We hunted with it (in intermediate condition) last fall, and I really look forward to hunting in it again this fall.
Other than the motor, the boat looks brand spanking new. The motor looks great, just older coloers. I am sure I could get at least double what I paid for it now, if I wanted to sell, which I don't :) After looking at some used baots at a dealer... wow... we have a nice and valuable boat on our hands.
Sooo.... sorry for the long post :)
I figured you'd like to know how our project went as well. Sounds like you are darn near ready to call yours done! Congrats, and it sure is nice to fish out of a boat you put so much work into, isn't it? Rewarding! :)
Good fishing,
Box in MN
Thanks for the update Box. THink we chatted a bit last year about hunting out of these rigs? My boat is a 16 ft. tiller alumacraft with the fifty merc. Just a little newer than yours.
Sounds like you have a fishing/hunting machine par excellance!
Hope you checked out your transom carefully. If you have to replace, you have to tear everything out to get at it. The worst mess I found with mine was the saturated flotation. Removing it all and replacing was a pain in the @**.
My floor didn't feel bad except for one small spot. After I tore up the carpet and took out the livewell I found that the edges were delaminating and some rot had started. Thought about overlay, as you did, but opted for the all new floor. Seemed to add to the hull strength at the sides.
Now you need to make a pvc frame that you can fit in your rod holders and add camo netting. Lightweight and makes concealment even easier. You can even add a flip top. If you get the right camo netting, it is easy to see out and pop the top when they're in range! Keep your lines tight and your cannon ready!
Jeff