My 10' Gamefisher build/work in progress.

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Mizzie

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 28, 2010
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Location
Rhode Island
Hey everyone,
I have decided to put my build 'journal' on here. It is not finished and is not nearly as nice as the projects I've seen on here, but it's my little project and I love it! :mrgreen:

Ever since I sold my old 12' jon, I've been looking for another one. I have a 17' Whaler for saltwater but nothing for fresh. I didn't want a nice one, I wanted one that I could "save" and give a second life. I also wanted one that was cheap enough to leave budget room for plenty of fixes. A couple of weeks of Craigslist searching and I found it. 1987 10' Sears Gamefisher semi-v. The seller had it listed as "in great condition"... Horrible condition would have been a better description!

The boats bottom was coated in what looked like old roofing tar or something. It was full of leaves, dirt, old bees nest and had a big fiberglass patch in the bow and was overall, junk. I tried haggling on the price, guy didn't want to work on the price so I left. I got a call a few hours later saying that somebody else came to see it and declined the boat as well. He said he was sick of dealing with it and if I didn't want it that it was going to the scrap yard in the morning. Long story short, I bought it for less than half of what he had it listed for. However, I still feel I overpaid, but I felt bad for the boat. :roll: I threw it in my old rusty utility trailer and took it home.

Here it is the day I bought it... Isn't she pretty?

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He notified me that there was a couple of small leaks, so I took it to the pond to see exactly where. Sure enough, the big peeling fiberglass patch was leaking as well as a small leak near the transom. When I got it home, I sanded her down and peeled off the fiberglass patch, to my surprise, what I thought was a minor leak, was a BIG hole!

Halfway through sanding, This stuff was a pain to get off! (I leaned about aircraft stripper when it was to late!)

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Here's the keel rip! Can't believe somebody thought a fiberglass patch was going to hold this!

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So I began searching for ways to fix this, I thought welding was going to be too expensive so I pondered other fixes. After posting a thread here, a couple of members talked me into welding. After some calls to a few places I found a Marine repair shop that did the job quick and reasonably priced.


Here she is after welding.

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Testing the new weld!

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I then caulked up some seams and got ready to lay some bed liner on the hull under the water line for peace of mind and abrasion protection. (I know some guys are against using this stuff but it worked great on my last boat, I do a lot of beaching and fishing in weedy areas).

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edit: more new pics below!
 
I then started searching for an outboard, I ended up finding a nice little low usage Mercury 2.2hp outboard, I wanted something more towards 4hp but this engine was so clean under the hood and priced so right that I couldn't pass it up. It moves me along decently and I'm 210lbs, with a passenger it slows down a lot but still moves at a decent pace, sure beats rowing which is what I was doing the first few times out!

Loading the boat into my utility trailer was starting to take a toll on my back, especially trying to load it by myself. I needed a trailer... Searched for one and ended up finding one that was perfectly sized for my boat, with an extra long tongue to ease in loading (extra tongue length means I could also put a larger boat on this if needed). I put new bearings/races/seals as well as a new 2" coupler (original was 1 7/8"s).

Here it is with the new goodies. The trailer helps a lot!

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I then wanted swivel seats! The bench seats began to hurt my rear end after a few hours out haha.
I picked these up at Walmart, They don't match the boat yet but once I paint her they should fit nicely.

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Last, but not least. I wanted to fix the rotted gunwale wood. I had an old beach chair with big teak arm rests on them which were perfect size. The beach chair was ripped so I figured, why not. It also had a cup holder and storage back which I reused in the boat!

Old wood.

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New (I have since cut the bolts to size).

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I still have a list of things on the agenda.

This week is:

*New transom wood.
*Paint inside and out.
*PVC rod holders (currently making right now).
Carpeted lower floor as well as small front and rear decks for storage and looks (not for standing up and fishing on). The front deck will only be big enough to hold an anchor and some other things. I'm thinking about 2 feet long with a hatch so the front swivel seat passenger still has plenty of leg room. The rear deck will be full size from transom to forward part of rear bench seat and will have storage hatches. Both will be made as lightweight as possible.
*Small navigation lights and night time fishing amber lights, to keep weight down I'm going to use a small lawn tractor battery for these since I will rarely use them.
*Few more odds and ends, I am going to keep improving on the boat. I'm sure eventually I'll want a bigger boat but she's the perfect size for me for now.

I hope that you guys liked my budget build so far. Any suggestions, negative or positive are always welcome.


Thanks for looking,
Mike
 
P.S. Yes the boat is registered! I don't want to put the registration/number decals on until after paint is done (would be a waste of good decals). :fishing: .
 
JRyno10 said:
The boat cleaned up nice, can't wait to see how it turns out!


Thank you so much. When I seen the keel damage I almost gave up on her! I still have some dents here and there but after a full day with a ball peen hammer and a 2x4, I've gotten out as many as I could. So the new paint job is going to show some imperfections but anything is an improvement over the paint situation right now!

Mike
 
I have a 10ft flat bottom that has a bit of dents but I mostly left them alone. I'm interested to see how your storage turns out, maybe it will give me some ideas!
 
Here's a little update to the build. She's getting there!

Yesterday I bought some self etching primer, Rustoleum satin hunter green for the exterior and Rustoleum almond for the interior. After sanding and cleaning the area I applied my first coat of the hunter green. It's a great color, but not what I had in mind for my boat. It was also to glossy for me. I searched for Rustoleum camo paint at my Lowes with no luck before I bought the hunter green.

So this morning I pulled the boat out of the garage to apply the second coat, but first I sat and looked at it.... If my boat didn't have so many dents than this would have been a great color. So I scratched the idea of the hunter green and went to my local hardware store. They didn't have the color I wanted either so I had them mix up a flat OD style green which is as close as we could get to the color I wanted. I love it.

Here's a pic with the fresh Hunter green (again, it's a great color.. I love it. but it doesn't fit the idea I had for my boat and makes my dents stick out way to much. I think I'm going to paint my utility trailer with the remainder of the paint).

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I sanded down the nice new shiny coat of paint! I felt bad doing it, I hate to waste things... But I thought of it as a nice base coat haha.

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First coat of my new green! As soon as I started re-painting it, I knew I was happy with it.

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My original plan was to paint the outside green, with the rub rail and insides Rustoleum Almond. Sort of a copy of what member 'inlovewithsurfin' did on "Buckshot". I love that color scheme, but once I used the self etching primer on the rub rail (the primer is an olive color). I began to consider the idea of painting the whole boat the new green. Also because I thought almond may have been too light for the look I wanted.

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I didn't paint the floor yet because there is still a lot of dirt and sanding particles on the bottom that I need to vacuum or air blast out before painting the floor and throwing on a final coat all over the boat tomorrow. Everywhere that's painted, I used a tack cloth. I ran out of daylight today so I couldn't get the floor cleaned up.


Here's a little before new paint/seats/gunwale wood and (so far) after.

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I love it so far! Still a lot to do... Second coat/finish paint, put in a carpeted floor/storage, add a couple of rope cleats and other odds and ends. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated!


Thanks for looking,
Mike
 
I forgot to add that I also cut new wood for the transom. The old wood was soft and rotted. New stuff is half inch birch wood, I had it mounted just for mock up/pics... It's not exactly lined up or mounted correctly in the pics... It will sit even when formally mounted. I also cut off the little extra chunk hanging off on the right side of the back piece.

I took them off while I paint because I think I want to keep the natural wood look and just seal the wood. Not sure yet, might end up painting it.

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I thought about making the wood cover the whole inside of the transom for extra strength but considering I have a 2.2hp and the transom itself is very thick, I stuck with the original template. If I add a larger motor in the future, I may replace the inner wood but we'll see!

I'm looking for a quick dry sealer to use on the four lower below the water line transom bolts! I really rather not use 5200 and wait the 7 day cure time before I can take the boat out again! (granted I'm going to give the paint two days to cure). Any suggestions? I was considering marine quick cure epoxy and large washers smothered in the stuff....


Mike
 
Looking good! I too used inlovewithsurfin's color scheme, it is a good one! On all the bolts in my transom, including the ones for the handles, I did use large washers on both the inside and outside of the transom. I also used this stuff in the below picture. So far so good and I do not believe it will fail me. It advertises waterproof, its flexible, and shrink/crack proof. It was 5$ from ACE Harware and very easy to apply you also do not need a caulk gun. I just applied a generous amount to the washer and after tightening down the bolt I wiped away the excess.

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Thanks for your kind comments and help. It seems you're the only one interested in my build haha. I must say I'm a little disappointed! I see people on here slap a $10 sheet of plywood on a boat and get tons of great comments. But for some reason my little build must deserve none haha. Either way, I love my little boat and will keep modifying and improving on it! :mrgreen:

I ended up using epoxy for the bolt holes, Letting it cure for a few days and will let ya know how it works out!

Thanks,
Mike
 
thats a nice looking boat ya got there. inspiring, even. i think you made a great choice with the color scheme as well. i cant wait to start seeing some pics of it out on the water!
 
Looking good, I really like the colors.

I would not overdo the deck in the front. I have a removeable deck that is at the same height as the front seat. It gives me good access for my terminal tackle and a place to prop my feet up if I am out for awhile. Even with the deck, I have plenty of leg room and a foot rest to boot. I would not get the deck too high.

I am thinking about filling the void under the deck with foam and removing my center bench seat. I am trying to figure out how to fasten the post for center seat replacement and not mess up the intergrety of the hull.

Keep improving your boat and giving me ideas before I have to start on mine.
 
Thanks for the replies and kind words fellas!

I got out of work early today and finally got out on the water, went to a nice spot that I haven't fished in a while (first time there on the tin). Although I had zero luck with the fish (tried everything in my tackle box!) it was still a good time. I realized today that I really need to hurry up and build a floor and rod holders! The floor gets cluttered really quick and things start sliding around and getting in the way. I figure once I build my floor and a storage space for the anchor, life jackets, and tackle boxes it will be a lot more organized.

New transom wood did great today, not a drip of water from the bolts.

Mike
 

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nlester said:
Looking good, I really like the colors.

I would not overdo the deck in the front. I have a removeable deck that is at the same height as the front seat. It gives me good access for my terminal tackle and a place to prop my feet up if I am out for awhile. Even with the deck, I have plenty of leg room and a foot rest to boot. I would not get the deck too high.

I am thinking about filling the void under the deck with foam and removing my center bench seat. I am trying to figure out how to fasten the post for center seat replacement and not mess up the intergrety of the hull.

Keep improving your boat and giving me ideas before I have to start on mine.


I thought about removing my middle seat as well, I'll have to see how yours goes first haha. And I agree about not over doing the deck. All I have planned is a low lightweight carpeted floor that spans the length of the floor. While up front I want to make a raised deck (at the height of the bow seat) that only goes back about a foot further than the front seat so there is still plenty of leg room for a person sitting on the middle bench swivel seat. (Pretty much the same size and height as the deck you added to your boat). This deck will not be used for standing on obviously haha, it will be for storage with a small locker for rope, anchor, etc.

For the rear of the boat I want to build a lightweight tackle compartment and a hatch which can hold PFDs. It looks elaborate in writing but is really very simple and lightweight. Everything I have planned should add no more than 30 well distributed pounds to the boat. If at any point I go over a certain weight, I will rethink my 'floor plan'.

I'm also trying to think of rod storage or a way to keep them secure when trailering. I usually put everything in my truck in fear of it flying out on the road but it would be nice to figure out something cost effective to keep them in the boat.

I'm going to begin work on the floor this week.
 
Boat looks great Mike. What kinda prep did you have to do to paint the interior of the boat?
 
DJBombar said:
Boat looks great Mike. What kinda prep did you have to do to paint the interior of the boat?


Thanks! The interior was already painted a grey color and it was sticking very well so what I did was was sand/scuff up the paint everywhere, blew out as much paint dust out of the boat as I could with my air compressor, hit the surface with a tack cloth, cleaned with a water/vinegar mix and finally a tack cloth again before laying down the paint. Any areas that I went down to bare aluminum I touched up with some self etching primer to create a toothy surface for the new paint to adhere to. I've read articles and post where people make it sound like rocket science and turn a fishing boat paint job into huge project. It's really actually simple with a good amount of prep your good to go. haha. Good luck!

Mike
 
Mizzie said:
DJBombar said:
Boat looks great Mike. What kinda prep did you have to do to paint the interior of the boat?


Thanks! The interior was already painted a grey color and it was sticking very well so what I did was was sand/scuff up the paint everywhere, blew out as much paint dust out of the boat as I could with my air compressor, hit the surface with a tack cloth, cleaned with a water/vinegar mix and finally a tack cloth again before laying down the paint. Any areas that I went down to bare aluminum I touched up with some self etching primer to create a toothy surface for the new paint to adhere to. I've read articles and post where people make it sound like rocket science and turn a fishing boat paint job into huge project. It's really actually simple with a good amount of prep your good to go. haha. Good luck!

Mike

Thanks buddy I'm thinking painting is a few weeks away for me.
 
your boat is coming out very nice. I have a question for you thought you said in one of your posts that you caulked up the seams at the bottom what did you use because i would like to seal the seams on my 12 ft also just to make me feel better when i take it out. thanks
 
Coming along nicely...Im looking to get the same seats, in that color. All the shops around me have a dark brown plastic though and didnt find them online.. Looking good though!
 

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