G3 1548 "My take on a classic"

Hello all,

I have always owned aluminum boats, but am brand new to the site. What a wealth of knowledge that is contained in these threads! I was inspired to build something special in part by my love of fishing, but also because of the awesome projects that I have been following on TinBoats. Well, before I get started, I'm gonna apologize ahead of time. I got so carried away with my build, at times I forgot to take pictures. I'll do my best to post the pics I have along with a good description of why and how something was done. Any feedback, positive or negative, is appreciated. BTW, I mostly fish shallow salt water, but since I grew up bass fishin', I still try to target largemouth from time to time. I am in the Marines, currently stationed on the east coast of North Carolina. My home of record is on the gulf coast of Florida near Tampa Bay.

The following pics show some of the first mods that were done, but I wasn't completely happy with all of them. The "real" mods are still to come.

You've really made that boat your own. Nice job.

How does it like the water?

I like the openess of the center. Nice and clean layout. But I have a question, what is the monster lurking in the garage?

Lonny

Kismet said:

You've really made that boat your own. Nice job.

How does it like the water?

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Thanks for the compliment. She loves the water. The 35hp Honda has been good to me, but it's tired. I looked into repairing all the small issues with the motor, but in the end a brand new motor looked to be the best course of action. I just ordered a 2012 Yamaha F40LA. It's gonna be so nice, and she's gonna fly!

IwanaFish said:

I like the openess of the center. Nice and clean layout. But I have a question, what is the monster lurking in the garage?

Lonny

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Thanks. I appreciate it. The monster? That is my '67 Firebird dynoed at over 900 horsepower. I say "over 900", because the tires kept spinning on the dyno rollers. 917 was the best number I could post before wheel spin occurred. That was on race gas. I think this belongs in another thread. Ha ha :mrgreen:

Ok, so I fished the boat in the configuration you see in the pics above for about two years. It was working out pretty well, but I knew I could make it better. BTW, I realize the pics pop up in the reverse order that you upload them. Just start from the bottom, and go up.

After I had removed all of the factory paint, I also removed the thin aluminum "platforms" that were welded in the bottom near the transom. They might have been used originally to hold a battery or tool/tackle box, but years of abuse had cracked and bent them. Out they came, and in went 1/4" 6061 aluminum plate. Two platforms in the rear to replace the thin, broken factory ones, and another larger plate to mount the console to. Overkill? Yeah, probably so, but I guarantee you won't be breaking these any time soon. Besides, after I removed all that heavy wood and carpet, I figured I could afford a few pounds of extra aluminum in there. I had a guy who works at the welding shop on base put them in for me. He only charged me $20 bucks. You can't beat that!

I also enlarged the hole in the bench to accommodate a new cooler. I wrapped the bottom of the new cooler in a heavy duty trash bag, and dropped it in the hole. I then sprayed expanding foam around it. When cured, I removed the cooler, and trimmed all the excess foam away. (The cured foam doesn't stick to the plastic trash bag) Now I have a custom fit for my cooler, and it doesn't wobble or shift in the hole anymore. I wanted something that could be stood on and used as a casting or poling platform. It's as solid as a rock.

I looked around for a long time on the internet, (weeks) before I decided to do the inside of the boat in Herculiner. The majority of people who had used the product had good things to say. The rest complained of chipping, or peeling soon after the application. I felt that with the proper amount of prep work, this product would work out fine. That being said, I didn't realize how much time it takes to get the boat "ready". I spent three weeks sanding, and grinding. I'd come home after work and spend a couple of hours slaving away at it, or plug away on the week ends. After all that sanding, it only took one day to paint it! To anyone interested in doing this to your boat, I say do it, but don't skimp on the prep work. The product normally comes in black. For obvious reasons, I wanted a lighter color to reflect some of the sun's heat. I had to special order the gray color. I ordered two gallons, because I wanted to put two coats on all vertical surfaces, and three coats on all horizontal ones. Contrary to popular rumor, this stuff is not that heavy. Each gallon weighed about 8 lbs. Figure half of that when finally dry. Check out Old World Industries if you want more info.

I do miss the perfect, flat bottom that the carpeted plywood provided, but this stuff weighs less, has great grip, looks good, and doesn't trap moisture. How much time do you spend walking around on your boat anyways? I try to spend most of my time up front on the casting deck with a rod in hand. You know? Of course there are those frequent trips back and forth to the cooler. #-o

Great looking boat! You have done a great job on it.
Thank you for your service. I am from NC also. In Fayetteville. I look forward to seeing what else you do to the boat.

You should get a yeti cooler!

First off :WELCOME: and thank you for your service. That is one nice rig you got.

theyyounggun said:

You should get a yeti cooler!

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Yeah, I finally broke down and got me a Yeti Tundra 45 qt. That is what I molded the expanding foam around. You know, the Yeti's are expensive, but it is the best cooler I personally have ever owned. I truly believe that I will never have to buy another cooler. Well, not to replace this one anyways. Totally worth it!

Thats what I was thinkin when you said you want to use it for a casting platform :-D I got a 65 but the 45s are the best I think cause they can be carried by only one person.

Thank you all for the compliments. Happy Independence Day to you and yours.

The next few pics show the Herculiner once I pulled it out of the paint booth (my garage). I really like it so far. I haven't experienced any peeling, or chipping, but it is still really new. I'll keep ya'll posted if I start to have issues. I rolled on the coating fairly thick (2-3 coats), so it actually does help with sound deadening. Hull slap is reduced, and if I drop pliers or something, it won't wake the dead. The plywood/carpet was better in this respect, but had too many other cons. (namely weight) I'm much happier now.

Once all the painting was done, the fun began. This time I'm being serious. I really enjoyed the re-assembly portion, as most guys do. As I started putting things back in place, I tried to repair/replace issues as I saw them. I'd think of a better way to do something, and then implement it into the build. I really wanted to get it out on the water, but I had to be patient. The worst part of the build was having to rely on my buddies to take me fishing. (ha ha) I used to fish from the bank all the time, but once you get spoiled with a little boat, you don't want to go back there.

I bought this Yeti Tundra 45 qt. cooler, and custom molded the foam around it. It sits solidly down in the hole, and doesn't rock, wobble or shift in the least. It feels like it's bolted down, but I can still remove it for cleaning, draining, etc. I also installed a SeaDek pad on the lid just to give some additional cushion to your feet, or butt. Whatever happens to be contacting it at the time.

Since I am so concerned about weight, I wanted to find a way to transfer some towards the bow. When you get a 200 lb. guy driving, a fuel cell, starting battery, an ice chest full of drinks, and a 200 lb. motor hanging off the back it starts to get ridiculous. Add a fishing partner, and it gets worse. One of my solutions was to move the fuel cell up under the casting deck in the bow. This accomplished a couple of things. It freed up some room in the back of the boat, and moved some weight forward. A standard fuel cell wouldn't fit under the bow, because it is too narrow under there. I went with a rubber fuel bladder, because it is thin and durable. We use these in the Marines under extremely harsh conditions, so I knew it would stand up to anything I could throw at it. Fuel capacity went from 6 gal. to 18 gal. I probably won't be filling the bladder to capacity any time soon, but it's nice to know I could if I wanted. I don't fill up nearly as much now, and always use Sta-bil Marine formula to keep the fuel from deteriorating.

Nice.

You have a pump on the bladder, or does the vacuum from the priming bulb serve?

Kismet said:

Nice.

You have a pump on the bladder, or does the vacuum from the priming bulb serve?

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The priming bulb is sufficient to move the fuel all the way to the motor. Since the bow curves upwards, gravity keeps the fuel towards the bottom where the valve is. Whenever I fuel up, I make an effort to "burp" the bladder, or remove all air trapped inside. No air bubbles means no air in the fuel lines, and no place for condensation to form.

Next, I needed to find an alternate means of anchoring the boat. I was using a fluke style anchor with an anchor chain, and 50 ft. of anchor line. This set up held the boat firmly, but took up too much space in the bottom of the boat. Secondly, it was very noisy. It was always banging on the hull, and setting it in the water without spooking wary fish proved a daunting task. Third, it seemed to snag things a lot and get tangled. My cast net was attracted to it like a magnet.

Most people are familiar with Power Poles. They are awesome for shallow water, but their size, weight, and cost prevented me from using one. I saw that a company called Wang anchors was making a shallow water anchoring system using fiberglass rods. I decided to custom make my own "redneck power poles".

Materials used were: 1" X 96" solid fiberglass rod stock (I think 3/4" is plenty strong if I had to do it again)
1" (i.d.) X 12" schedule 40 aluminum pipe
PVC "T" handles
stainless steel screws
angle grinder
aluminum epoxy (similar to JB Weld)
MIG welder