Badbaggers SeaArk 1872 Modification & Restoration Project

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Badbagger

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Location
Midway, FL
For those of you who've read my "It's arrived" thread, time to start a build thread and for those that haven't, here you go: https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=28792

I picked up this SeaArk 1872 Center Console for quite literally a song. Boat and trailer cost me $1800. She came with an engine which I sold to a good friend since it was way underpowered. The hull is rated for a 140. The boat is a 2007 hull bought brand new in 2009 and the trailer is an 09. She's a standard 1872 SeaArk Center Console. They're a very rare boat to find in Florida. So much so that I actually found it on Craigslist in TN. The boat is a tank... I've owned 3 G3's and they make a really sweet boat. However, the build quality on the SeaArk is far and away better.

On tap for mods first up is the fabrication. The boat lacks any storage for the most part and that's a must. I also wanted an anchor locker in the bow to make life easier. I was originally thinking to extend the front deck but it's already 6' long so I chose to use the rear bench and go with fabbing up some drop in boxes with lids. The bench is 88" wide so plenty of room. I'll have two storage boxes 30" wide to the port and starboard of the seat that will be added. The anchor locker will be about 44" wide x 16" deep. Mr. Fabricator is also custom building a TM mount. I spend all my time fishing the flats chasing Speckled Trout, Redfish, Cobia and the like.

All in all it should give me some decent storage. Behind the bench seat is some wasted space so I'm adding some stern lids to give some more standing room in the stern and walking space. The boat has the ribs exposed and I was going back and forth with covering them. Country Dave had a great point and it does give the boat some attitude. In looking around for rod holders and figuring ways to mount them and also some good flat surface mounting area, I chose to cover the exposed ribs.

Once the fab is done, I'll be running the boat South West to Sarasota for Linex and a visit to my bud Brian at Sarasota Linex https://www.sarasotalinex.com - They specialize in marine linex and have experience doing some very high dollar boats. From Sarasota she'll be heading closer to home for a paint job in Tampa and once that's done, back home St. Marks where I'll have the new Evinrude 115 Etec hung off the stern. There's quite a few other little things that'll be done and I'll update this thread as I do them.

Below are some pics of the boat as she sits, some others with the hull marked up with the storage area and anchor locker and some others yet showing the planned mods.
I spent a pretty fair amount of time looking at the work of others here and this site is a wealth of great information. It'll be a slow build but it'll get done as the fab work, Linex and paint aren't cheap but it'll be worth it. Exterior paint in a classic white and rub rail done either in linex black or a very dark maroon and an off white linex interior.
Once she's all done, going to setup a simple Nmea 2000 Network for my GPS and Lowrance HDS G2 12 Touch unit.

Bagger out.
 

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Here's some of the mods I'll be making.. close anyway. Boat is at the fabricators and they should be starting Monday. With a lot of luck and maybe pulling a bank job, I am hoping to be done and ready to splash her by late March or the middle of April if all of my scheduling works out. Time will tell. Hope to have some actual mod photos or the start there of by the end of the upcoming week.
 

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Thanks Dave, much appreciated a good bit of work as is yours but will be well worth it when all said and done.
 
Talquin is very close and yes, I have fished it a lot. Lots of bass and a LOT of very nasty stumps. I've seen $75000 Rangers lose half of their stern and come back dragging their 300 HP Merc half underwater lol. Some big bass and some pretty big gators running around. Some of those idiots run that lake at 75 mph plus... not this idiot. I've seen what can happen.
 
Badbagger said:
Talquin is very close and yes, I have fished it a lot. Lots of bass and a LOT of very nasty stumps. I've seen $75000 Rangers lose half of their stern and come back dragging their 300 HP Merc half underwater lol. Some big bass and some pretty big gators running around. Some of those idiots run that lake at 75 mph plus... not this idiot. I've seen what can happen.


Ouch,
Sounds like Flamingo, lots of oyster bars, floating debris and rocks below the water line at high tide. If you don’t know the area you are almost guaranteed to have a mishap if you get out of the channel and don’t know you way around.
 
Awesome! Gotta love seaark. I will be following. I'm gonna have to employ one of you floridians to take me out fishing in April when I'm down :lol: I caught a 20lb cobia last time I fished Tampa bay on light tackle, I was more hooked than the fish itself....
 
They do make a tank of a boat. Taken me about 5 years and 3 different G3's to find one SeaArk. When I took it to the fabricator, it drew a crowd of about 5 ppl. They could not believe how big and wide this sucker is for an 18' boat. Getting hooked on fishing down here is pretty easy lol. :mrgreen:
 
Badbagger said:
They do make a tank of a boat. Taken me about 5 years and 3 different G3's to find one SeaArk. When I took it to the fabricator, it drew a crowd of about 5 ppl. They could not believe how big and wide this sucker is for an 18' boat. Getting hooked on fishing down here is pretty easy lol. :mrgreen:

Fishing is among the noblest of pursuits and has been passed down from generation to generation. :D Gen 1:26
Looking forward to your progress bro.
 
Thanks, can't wait to see it myself lol. Trying to decide on seats. I've used Tempress on more boats than I can remember and liked them. We like the Navistyle Highbacks. I'm not sweating price so much and an uncomfortable seat is something that would make me want to tapout lol. Back of mine has seen better days and I've had total disc replacement in my neck on C6 and C7. The seat below is about $140 each and going to need two.

Power wise, hanging a brand new 115 Etec. Also found the engine on craigslist. Local dealer had 2 brand new in the box 115 Etecs that he wanted to move and they were priced at $7,000 each and being that Evinrude has the free rigging promo going on through the end of March, I jumped on it and saved another $1200 to $1500 in brand new rigging. Looked at the Yamaha 115 but at bare minimum $2500 more. I like Yamaha don't get me wrong but I can sure do a LOT with $2500 like Linex and paint the hull.
Also got a 5 year warranty with the Etec. Craigslist has been very very good to me this year!

Anyone make any other suggestions ?
 

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I put 2 of those on the boat this winter. I thought they were fine, but the high back hits my wife in the wrong place on her back. We may have replace her's with a low back.

Your boat's looking great!!
 
Country Dave said:
Hey bro we’re going to have to take your skiff out when you come down, my skiff isn’t going to have anything that comfortable. :LOL2:

No worries, I'll bring the seats in my truck.
 
You are gonna love that tank when you get it finished. I bought an 1860 CC Sea Ark last July and am in the process of overhauling it now. Seriously thinking about pulling the floor to run some conduit for electrical and to put some foam strips over the ribs to make it a little quieter.

Take a look at the link below for some additional ideas if you haven't alread seen it. Lowblazah did an awsome job on his 1872.
Good luck and have fun with it. Will be checking back for some updated pics.
https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=22734
 
Thanks and they're a great boat. I've read through Lowblazah's thread a ton of times and had the good fortune of speaking to him a couple of times.
Stopped by the fabricators about an hour ago and they're starting to tear into it right about now. They're hoping to have it done tomorrow and while I think
they're being a bit overly ambitious time wise, we shall see.
 
Badbagger said:
Thanks and they're a great boat. I've read through Lowblazah's thread a ton of times and had the good fortune of speaking to him a couple of times.
Stopped by the fabricators about an hour ago and they're starting to tear into it right about now. They're hoping to have it done tomorrow and while I think
they're being a bit overly ambitious time wise, we shall see.

Hey bro,
Can’t wait to see the pics of the first mods. I’m sure it’s going to be awesome.
 
May have some progress pics tomorrow. Storage boxes and fabbed up. They just need to bolt up the doubler plates for the seat bases since they're stainless and then weld in the boxes. They started it this morning about 11 am so we'll see what they got done in a day. Looks like I sold my 19' G3 today so a decent day in all. Time to call my Linex man in Sarasota tomorrow and get that scheduled then paint. Hang the engine and I'll be done. Maybe a bit earlier than I thought since some cash just got freed up.
 

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