My new project - 12' Sears Semi-V *Pic Update 3/21*

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Rick James

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Apr 22, 2010
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Location
Rotterdam, NY
So after weeks of lurking here, I finally have some pics to share of my newly acquired project boat.

I started with a new Harbor Freight trailer. So far I'm impressed with the trailer, however I gotta say I don't know how you could get a boat any larger than 12' on this unless you had the transom several feet behind the trailer. It's perfect though for a 12' boat. The factory bunks suck, that's one of the things I plan to modify pretty quickly. I've also ordered a pair of 2047 Bearing Buddys, I'd like to keep the stock bearings in as good of shape as possible. Right now it's setup with the factory dust caps, but I'll pull the bearings and clean everything, along with a repacking when the new Bearing Buddys get here.

The boat came from my Father in Law. He has had it since the early 1980's and it's been used very little. I have to do some research from the HIN and serial numbers, but my best guess is that it's a late 70's model. The boat is a Sears that is mostly welded, and a pretty heavy and well built boat. It's pretty wide and deep compared to other 12' boats I've seen. It's about 24" at the deepest part of the hull, and 46" across the widest flat part in the bottom, and 60" across the widest part of the gunwhales.

It has some small dents in the gunwhales where someone probably tied it down too tightly on top of a truck or car, but other than that.......the boat is in great shape structurally. It will definitely need a new transom, and I'll be filling it with water this weekend to see if there are any leaks. If no leaks, I'll just start fishing it as soon as I can get it registered, and start modding as time/money permit.

Plans as of now, are to see how stable it is when standing on the benches, and then deciding if I deck the front off, or simply put in a slightly raised floor between the existing benches. If I can get a deck on the front, I'll deck to the back of the middle bench, and put in a couple of hatches and move my batteries to just in front of the middle bench. I'll also deck off the back bench to the transom and have a hatch for gas and access to a bilge. Plans are to wire it for a bilge, front and rear sonar, running lights, and a bow mount foot control trolling motor. I will also be applying steelflex to the bottom, and then painting the top section a different color for the two tone look. Not sure on colors yet.

I just picked the hull up yesterday, and unfortunately am out of town this entire week for work. I'm hoping to get some work done this upcoming weekend, and will post more updates when I have progress to share.

For now...........some pics!

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Well, I sold my canoe setup this weekend to free up some $$$ for this project. Now I've got a fire under my butt, no more fishing until I can get this thing on the water. :mrgreen:

Did the leak test on Monday. Filled it to the top of all rivets on the boat. No issues and I'm thrilled to see this.

I've got a list of things I'll be working on this weekend. I'll be tearing out the transom for sure. Also the boat has some dents in the gunwhales from where someone overtightened some ratchet straps when mounting on their vehicle. I'm planning to fill these in with JB Weld like evattman did with his 14' "Lund".

I also just found an absolute steal on Skid No More. I just got two gallons shipped to my house for $50 - with 2 day shipping included. Found this on Amazon. After the JB Weld cures, I'll be applying the Skid No More to the entire interior, and up and over the edge of the gunwhales.

After the Skid No More is dry and cured, I'll get to putting the new transom wood in place and getting that all sealed up with stainless hardware and 5200.

If time permits, I'll also be tearing the factory dust covers off the hubs and installing new bearing buddies. I ordered the 2047 size with bras. I'll completely clean the hubs, and bearings, and repack everything with new grease before putting these on. I'll also be trying to get new trailer bunks on this. I want a longer full length bunk on both sides, I really hate the factory pivoting bunks on this thing, the only thing supporting the front 8' or so of the boat is the roller above the eye on the front of the bow. This will hopefully be a bit more secure when I get the new bunks on.

I'll post some updates when I'm done with these projects this weekend. Hopefully the weather holds out for me so I can work outside. [-o<
 
Tonight I ripped out the old transom, transom brace, and rivets, and washed/scrubbed the inside. I also filled the dents in the gunwhales with JB Weld Waterweld. Tomorrow I'll sand down the gunwhales so the filled parts blend, sand the inside of hull (vertical sides only where it's exposed above the soon-to-be raised floors, where I'm applying the Skid No More), and will apply the Skid No More so it's on the vertical sides of the inside on the hull, up and over the gunwhale.

I also picked up a sheet of 3/4" hardwood sanded ply as well and tonight I got the new transom cut, glued, and curing in the garage with 100lbs of weights stacked on top. I'll get 2x coats of Thompsons WS on the transom tomorrow. Once the Skid No More is dry, I'll install the new transom with the new stainless steel hardware I got today along with the transom brace. It will be a long day, but I'll get some pics up when I'm done.
 
Progress has been slow. Been working on the house a lot plus bad weather, and the one day we did get this weekend that was decent I went fishing. :D

Anyhow, I finished up the new transom and got it installed tonight. When I pulled the old one out, I really got to see how bad it really was. It was completely rotted at the top, to the point I had to be careful pulling it out so I could use it as a template for the new one. The new transom is 2x layers of sanded 3/4" hardwood ply, glued together, with a liberal coating of Thompson's Advanced on both sides and all edges. I drilled out the factory holes to 1/4" and installed with all stainless hardware and filled the holes and covered the inside parts of the washers with 5200. I didn't like having to drill out the transom brace and where it sat on the bottom of the hull, but I absolutely covered the bottom of it in 5200 and it seeped out on all sides when drawn tight to the hull, so I think it's gonna be OK.

I also sanded the top half of the inside of the boat to prep it for a layer of Skid No More. I would have also gotten a couple of coats on by now, but I'm having a tough time finding something that will fill the dents in the gunwhales. I really want those filled in and sanded down so the Skid No More can be applied up and over the gunwhales to where they meet the outside of the hull. I tried JB Weld Waterweld, however since applying on Saturday, it's still not really hard. I'm guessing it's not made to be applied that thick. I'm going to have to wire wheel it off, and find something else. Any suggestions on what can be applied up to 1/2-3/4" thick, get hard as a rock, yet be able to be sanded down so I can apply the Skid No More over it? I really don't want to see those dents when the boat is done.

The old transom showing the rotten section:

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The new transom installed:

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I've seen this applied to dents on aluminum boats with amazing results. Just sand down to bare aluminum, follow the directions, prime and paint.

https://www.handsontools.com/USC-14060-ALL-METAL-Premium-Aluminum-Filled-Filler-quart_p_10762.html
 
Progress has been slow guys, between a bathroom renovation project, and LOTS of work travel, I just haven't had the time.

I did manage to fill the dents in the gunwhale. They look pretty good now. I also started painting the hull as well. I wire wheeled the whole outside of the boat, then primed with Rust-Oleum Aluminum Primer. I'm going for a two tone paint job. The topside is Rust-Oleum Metalic Cobalt Blue. There is a LOT of metal fleck in this..........it's gonna be a "glitter rocket". :lol:

Bottom half of the exterior is going to be the gray color of Steelflex. I ordered mine COD and the tracking number says it should be here Friday. I have a work day at deer camp on Saturday, but I might be able to tackle the Steel Flex on Sunday if the weather holds out.

For the top of the gunwhales and inside of the boat I'll be using Rust-Oleum Metalic Silver. The boat will have a plywood and carpet floor in it, so the paint only needs to be on the top 3/4 of the inside of the boat. I'm hoping this color of paint helps the surfaces that I may touch on hot days a bit cooler.

Also, a couple of weeks ago I tried to apply some Skid No More to the interior of the boat. This stuff is truly terrible, I couldn't get it to apply evenly and it's almost translucent. I was expecting it to come out like a truck bed liner type of coating, but it wasn't even close. I'll be wire wheeling it all off and cleaning the inside out before I paint with the Rust-Oleum.

I plan to finish the top side paint tonight, it still needs at least one more coat, maybe two more and lots more sanding with 600 grit. When it's done I'll take pics with a real camera to share. Here is a pic of the hull so far though from my phone.

TinProject.jpg
 
Oh, and by the way...........I ordered custom decals for the sides of the boat today. But your gonna have to wait to see till my next update with pics after I finish painting and the Steelflex. :mrgreen:
 
Put another coat of paint on tonight and it's starting to really look good. I'm going to have to wet sand it this upcoming Sunda and then wash and let dry, then go back at it again with the Rust-Oleum. I'm hoping another 1-2 more coats with sanding after each and this should be ready to put decals on and start the Steelflex. Will post pics again after the next work session.
 
Sooooo........

Progress has been slow. I have had Steelflex sitting in the garage for nearly 2 months now, but finally today got it on the boat. I got the gray pigment so I'll have a two tone, dark blue mettalic fleck on top and gray on the bottom.

The Steelflex is MUCH easier to work with than I anticipated after reading everything I could find on here. I bought 3x mixing cups with oz marks on the side and screw on tops with a spout you can pop open. I also bought a small $5 paint mixer for the drill. This made measuring and mixing everything really easy. I mixed the pigment and the one part of steel flex in the one cup, and kept it in there using as needed. I then used one of the other cups for the first coat of Steelflex and threw it out when I was done with that coat. I used a fresh one for the second coat. I made batches of 6oz each part for each coat. There was plenty there for the bottom half of my 12' semi-v, I ordered 2 quarts. The first coat was REALLY easy to deal with, the second coat took a bit more work. Temps were about 72ish outside today and that seemed the perfect temp. I did get a bit of sagging, but after each coat I hung around outside for the first hour or so with the roller and would touch up the sagging until everything set, it worked like a charm and there is no sagging now. I went through exactly 10 of those mini foam rollers, the end would break off every once in a while and I'd toss it before it started getting pieces in the Steelflex.

A suggestion I'd make is to make sure you get a fresh roller on just at the end of each coat, and get the roller thoroughly coated in Steelflex before you finish the coat. If you use a roller that's already coated in Steelflex to touch up and fix the sagging, it won't come apart when it gets really tacky.

Also, I'd recommend pulling your tape about 2-3 hours after your final coat. I'm not sure if the tape will come off if you really let the stuff cure.......I had a little issue with tape that I had to fix with a razor blade when I was pulling it off. I fixed it, but I'd be afraid to let it sit much longer before pulling.

I finished the last coat about an hour before dark tonight, it's supposed to be in the mid 50's tonight........hopefully the stuff will cure well and have all day tomorrow as well before I pull it off the saw horses and put it back on the trailer.

Overall, I'm really impressed with this stuff, I hope it is durable and lasts forever.

I'm hoping over the winter to get the inside of the boat wire wheeled down, and to then spray paint the inside with a primer then a metallic fleck silver. Then I can put in the wiring, drop floors, carpet, and seats, and get my motors and batteries setup and installed. Plans now are to cut a hatch into the middle bench for my batteries, and a bit of storage too, hopefully this balances the boat out a bit so it will easily plane. I'll cover the hatch and the top of both benches with carpeted plywood as well.

I'll post pics tomorrow so you can see the final product along with the new decal kit. I think you guys are going to get a kick out of the decal kit......... :lol: . For now, here is a pics of the topcoat done and the bottom wire wheeled before I taped it off for Steelflex.

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That turned out really nice, good work. I think it would look sbetter with some old '60's vintage sears craftsmans script logo's but that's just me.

I'm surprised to see a zero deadrise transom on a V hull.

Jamie
 
Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments. For the limited time I've had to work on it, I'm happy with it so far.

I finished priming/painting the inside of the boat. All surfaces that won't be covered by the raised floor is now painted. I covered it for now, and will get back into the project this winter after deer season is over. Plans are to cut the middle bench and get a battery tie down in there, then start running wire as my next steps. I'll update when I can make some more progress.
 
WOW, I just saw this one and all I can say is Dang!!!! The paint looks great and you had a nice boat to start out with, How stable is it if you stand up? What are you going to have powering it? and I dig that paint.
 
Thanks bassman.

I haven't actually dropped the boat in the water yet. Plans are to do that before I start the raised floors so I can get a sense of how high I can safely go. It's fairly deep (23" if I remember correctly at the deepest point), about 42" across the floor at the widest point, and it has a zero deadrise transom on it, so it should be very stable for a 12 semi V while actually fishing.

Plans are now to add a foot control electric to the bow, and then try and find one of the 70's or 80's model 15hp Johnson/Evinrude 2 strokes for the back. The boat is rated for up to 15hp, and I bet it's gonna fly with one on there. :D
 
yea, I thought you said you fished it when you started the project, but any who, yea that should be plenty for the 12er
 
Got the interior of the boat painted, all areas that will be exposed after the benches and floor are now painted a metallic silver. I'm hoping to get the electric and inside of the boat done this winter.

Also picked up a motor now too. I scored on a 1977 Johnson 15hp motor that is in fantastic shape, and was just tuned and went through by a mechanic...........only problem is the previous owner spray painted the entire thing for duck hunting. I will spend the winter sanding this down, priming, and then painting. I also scored the decal kit below as well. I'm hoping this looks good when done, I'm betting this boat is going to be a rocket ship too. It should do 25mph+ with one guy when it's done. I've still gotta make sure it's propped right.......I don't want this thing running too high in the RPM range.

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You do your prep right and that motor is going to look sharp. Looks like your project is really coming along. Congrats on scoring a good motor.
 

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