Polar Kraft 1448 Flat conversion

Good morning and hello!

Long time looker, first time poster. I've gotten a lot from just reading posts on here but just now joined after a few years of reading.

My fishing buddy and I have been fishing out of a 1232 for the past few years. We're in an electric only jon boat club here in the the Piedmont of NC. It's been a blast but it was definitely time for a bigger boat. I found a 1448 up in Hickory last week and had to jump on it after loosing a couple other deals off craigslist.











I'm pretty excited to get it all setup. The plan is for relatively small casting decks fore and aft. I've already got 3/4" pin pedestal bases, 11" fixed height posts, 17" - 20" adjustable height posts, seat plates, 20 oz marine carpet, glue and a 36v Riptide for the back.

I'd like to do the decks all in aluminum. The framing with aluminum angle won't be tough at all, but aluminum sheet was more expensive than I thought so I'm looking at other options. A couple of my buddy's have access to old road signs, so they're checking around for me.

I'm gonna wait a couple weeks or a month to save up for a bigger bow mount motor. We have an old Motorguide 35 on the old boat. I think it'll work for steerage for now.

The Riptide will get a bigfoot switch to be operated from up front and a 36v continuous duty solenoid in the back. I've also picked up a 3 bank onboard charger.

As you can see I already started the mods by cutting out the partial benches and the side livewell behind them. The livewell had a hull penetration that'll need to be patched and sealed, no bigger than 3/4". I was thinking just a rubber washer inside the hole, then a bolt and nut to sandwich the first washer between two bigger rubber washers and two regular washers. Then Gluvit.

I have a gallon of Steelflex. That's my project this weekend. I also have a 2lb Gluvit kit. My plan for Saturday is to leak test the hull after patching the livewell hull penetration. Hopefully nothing or not too many rivets need to be rebucked, because I don't have the tools. I was planning on stripping the bottom, sealing all rivets with Gluvit, then Steelflexing everything below the waterline. Should I seal the rivets with Gluvit from the bottom of the hull at the head or from the inside at the ribs?

I pulled the transom apart. It's solid, stable and thick. I'll treat it to some sealer then reassemble. I'm missing a starboard transom corner piece so I thought about replacing both with a fabbed up piece with angle and a brace.

All the work and material costs seem a little overwhelming, so I'm trying to break it down one piece at a time. Electrical will be the big cost, as I tend to go overkill with wire sizing and sealing.

Any advice, suggestions, lessons learned, ideas or anything would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Britton

Welcome!
That will be a nice boat for two of you to fish out of. A 1448 is a pretty stable boat compared to a 1232.
Enjoy!!!!

I got the benches and livewell cleared out. Yesterday I sanded the bottom and everything that was to be Steelflex. I completed the Steelflex this afternoon. That was some tough stuff to work with. The final texture was similar to an orange. I mixed it thoroughly and precisely, spread a pint at a time with a plastic trowel, and then smoothed it with a foam roller.







It feels like it'll take days to harden, but when it does I'll paint the rest of the boat. Maybe black, maybe tan.

Awesome I think you will love the stability difference! I'm excited to watch your build!

So that's the finish I got outta the Steelflex when it cured. Am I crazy for wanting to sand smooth and paint the transom and sides only?

The boat made it outta the garage and onto the trailer this weekend. I redid just about the whole trailer now, but didn't put much thought into the bunks as they looked good to me. The rescue squad that had it before me just attached some fire hose material to the top of the bunks and called it good. The trailer also has some adjustable rollers along the center line, since it's a broke back tilt trailer. I set the rollers so that that hit a low spot on the hull and the whole thing barely tetters between the two bunks. That's probably not right though. Wouldn't ya know, the wife helped me pick the boat up and set it on the trailer and somehow we put a deep scratch in the brand new Steelflex I put so much time and effort into! It's the nails they used to attach the fire hose to the bunks! Gonna pull it back off and add some EZ Slide bunk pads.

I thought steelflex was super durable? Maybe not fully cured?
The orangepeel actually has a lower coefficient than smooth paint. Id leave it.

Yeah I left the orange peel. It is some strong stuff, the scratch didn't make it to bare metal, but it sure got under my skin.

brittonp83 said:

Yeah I left the orange peel. It is some strong stuff, the scratch didn't make it to bare metal, but it sure got under my skin.

Click to expand...

Totally understandable. Those first few scratches and nicks hurt the most!

Got some work done today! Next up is buoyancy foam!

Nice job, looking good.

Got foam in today.

Boat, paint, and foam look good. Looks like a good foundation for a build. Have you decided on your floor?

You might want to consider fiberglass reinforced plastic wall board. It looks like you have the support for it. Most of your larger home stores carry it. It's much cheaper than Aluminum, weighs much less than wood, and doesn't absorb water or rot like wood. It's not what you want if you use heavy anchors with pointy ends, but should do fine for a bass fishing john boat.

By the way what did you use for the rest of your paint? Do you like it? It looks good, but in most of the pics it looks light green, in one it looks tan.

Good luck on your build.

Thanks! I looked into wall board but I've already got aluminium. The paint is just a light olive drab acrylic latex house paint. Valspar Reserve flat enamel I believe. The color is called something like Spanish moss.

Got some work done today.






The open areas on the sides of the new framed front casting deck proved to be too large for unstructured decking alone. I'm using road signs as decking, I'll have to rivet some support joists to the underside of the hatchs.

I've found aluminium 3" piano hinges with 1/4" pins. They'll be attached to the hatches and the side supports at the gunwales with aluminium 10-24 flat head countersunk screws with nylok aluminium nuts. I hope that combo holds the weight.

Looking good. That will be a nice upgrade from your other boat.

Progress is slow, but I've got a tournament Feb 7, so that's a good motivator. All the framing is completed. The decking templates have been transfered to the aluminium. I'll cut it this week after work. Batteries, wires, hardware, seats, pedestals, and carpet are sitting in the garage. So are the Riptide 112 and Maxxum 70.

Looking really good. Is that plastic tub going to be your livewell? I really like that idea but does it has enough insulation?

It will be, but I'm worried about it. Insulation and strength being my two biggest worries. I was thinking about wrapping it in a quick layer or two of fiberglass.

Now that I think about it I wonder if putting the pink foam around it would provide enough insulation. Maybe using some fiberglass on top to secure it to the tote?