Lawdog's Alumacraft 1648 first duck boat project

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Lawdog

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
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Location
Montana
Howdy everyone. I'm new to the site and new to boating. I just bought my first boat from a friend after he had to relocate to another state. I got what I think is a good deal on the boat, but it was a lot of money to me. As I began surfing around, I found this amazing site. I've learned a ton and got some good ideas, so I decided to post up another mod thread and maybe some of you guys can help me out with ideas along the way.

I'm a serious waterfowler and have hunted extensively out of this boat the last two seasons. I know what she can and can't do, but now that it's mine, maybe a few changes are in order. I will use it mostly for duck hunting, running shallow rivers in eastern Montana and some occasional fishing. I do not plan on hunting from the boat itself, but rather it's more for basic transport. I like to call it my Tactical Opportunity Platform, a term I've borrowed from a friend on another site.

Boat details: it is an Alumacraft 1648 with the dry storage center seat. It has a Mercury 25 hp factory jet, 4 stroke EFI. The motor is absolutely solid and reliable. Hull weight is about 285# and the motor weighs in at 192#. This light weight makes it easy to handle and she'll run in very little water, both of which come into play in December in Montana.

For starters, I'll be adding Camoclad to the sides and transom. Then, I will probably look into adding some lights and modifying the bow deck area to make it a little less slippery for the dogs.

She runs me and a buddy and all our gear easily--it's more of a tank than a sportscar. A third person slows it down a bit, but is still doable. Four people is an adventure! Been there, did that. One thing about the jet is that it is very weight-sensitive, so everything I do (or don't do) will be dictated by weight concerns.

Thanks in advance for all ideas and advice you all may give me. So, enough intro... here's a pic to get this started! More coming soon.

boat1.jpg
 
From your "lawdog" name I'm gonna guess your a LEO? Welcome abaord and good luck. Keep posting pictures, we all like pictures.
 
If I'm not mistaken, there were problems with the camo clad, so take a look around, read reviews or discard if I am off base, ha.

Great boat, you know it well and seem to appreciate the size (which is never big enough IMO). Can't wait to see the mods.
 
ober51 said:
If I'm not mistaken, there were problems with the camo clad, so take a look around, read reviews or discard if I am off base, ha.

I did a lot of reading about Camoclad before deciding to take the chance and go with it. In fact, that search is what led me to this site, specifically a thread in this area. I saw guy here who had trouble with it staying put. I suspect the main problem he had was trying to put it onto Steel flex (sp?) and it just didn't want to adhere. My buddy who is helping me with much of this is a body man and has no concerns that it will adhere, once properly prepped. I also decided to go with the permanent kit, rather than the removable version. It's cheaper and hopefully will work out fine. We hope to get it started and done in the next couple weeks.

ober51 said:
Great boat, you know it well and seem to appreciate the size (which is never big enough IMO). Can't wait to see the mods.

I was told before I took the plunge that boats are "a hole in the water that you throw money into!" And that I would always want a different/bigger/badder one. All true, but I am just easing into this whole deal as best I can. So, it will be a few mods for now and run it on my own for a while and see what I want to do next.
 
LOWEshooter829 said:
Looks good...how fast does that 25 push with 3 people and gear?


Looking forward to your progress...I have a similar size boat and it is also a duck rig in the making

We're all 200+, prolly over 230# when geared up for hunting (waders and such). Two guys it will run 15-17 against current and 20-22 with it. I'm running in a relatively mild river here. Three guys slows it a bit, say 12-14 upriver. Once, we ran 4 guys (three big), two dogs, 4 loads of gear, about 3 doz dekes... We were "walking speed" in the strongest current and gunnels were about 6-8 inches off the water. I felt like Worf: "Prepare for ramming speed!" So, there is a practical limit of 3 guys and we lighten the gear up a bit as needed.
 
I have seen that duck before in some old post..
may be wrong??
Looking forward to your work.
 
caveman said:
I have seen that duck before in some old post..
may be wrong??
Looking forward to your work.

Ha. It's a temporary avatar until I can play some in Photoshop.
 
Nice rig! Like to find others who keep that thin blue line. :wink:

I look forward to seeing what you do with it, and man I am jealous of your location, got a good friend up in Kila who is begging me to move out there...wish it was that simple.

Bufford in Orlando
 
Why don't you buy a stencil kit and paint your camo instead of using Camoclad?

Sure, the CC will look identical to commercial camo but paint will last a lot longer.

They have Natgear stencils out now that will make a paint job that looks identical to the commercial camo.
 
Quackrstackr said:
Why don't you buy a stencil kit and paint your camo instead of using Camoclad?

Sure, the CC will look identical to commercial camo but paint will last a lot longer.

They have Natgear stencils out now that will make a paint job that looks identical to the commercial camo.

Howdy. Too late! Already got the clad delivered. I saw some of your posts (and others too) critical of the Camoclad in other threads and I thought about your points before I made the decision to go the clad route. In the end, the cost was very reasonable for me to get the clad and I think the results will look better. As for the long-term durability, I have realistic expectations, but we'll see. If it goes well, I'll be pleased. If for some reason it doesn't, I'll post that up as well.
 
The CC will be fine unless it gets scuffed up or nicked with use. I don't really know how long the color will stay true before it fades but the vehicles that I have seen with it applied were nicked up pretty badly from road debris.

I wonder if the permanent stuff leaves much residue if you have to remove it?
 
Hmmm. I suspect removal of the permanent clad down the road might be very difficult. That was one thing I considered. The removable kind is easier to install, but was another $55. From a very casual inspection of it--I've left it in the tube for safekeeping--it appears very tough. But, I'll know more soon. I am hoping to put it on this weekend and I'll take lots of pictures and will report back.
 
If memory serves, they recommend the permanent for boat installs but they also recommend that you 100% have your mind made up that it will be cladded for all of eternity, too. That stuff must be a pain to get off if it ever does fade out.
 
Plan is to give the boat a good scrubbing with a degreasing soap wash, then a wet sand on the sides to make it nice and smooth. Then, we'll clean the sides with a good wax/grease remover and dry. If time allows, I may get one side done at least.

This bow deck area is another focus. I'm thinking of putting down some sort of surface that is non-skid so the dogs can ride up there a little more easily without sliding around so much. Maybe Herculiner or Dura-touch.

IMG_0733.jpg
 
Before...

side.jpg


IMG_5879.jpg


Well, say goodbye to the old olive boat. We worked our tails off tonight and got one side of the boat done. I've taken lots of pictures, but am too tired to put any up tonight. I'll have lots of comments on the camo clad after we finish and we get some sleep. It's pretty easy to work with, except when you hit a rivet. My boat has a lot of them...
 
Lawdog said:
It's pretty easy to work with, except when you hit a rivet. My boat has a lot of them...

The dreaded air pocket.

Applying heat there may help but the material will probably shrink back and look even worse.

Looking forward to the progress pics.
 
Progress! I learned a lot about Camoclad over the last 24 hours. It's pretty neat stuff, very durable; more on that later. It's easy enough to put on if you give yourself lots of room, a good workplace, good lighting and lots of time. Oh, a professional body man as your helper is advisable as well. Thanks Buddy! I'll be taking us into mallards soon....

Two sides done and it looks awesome. For us, the darn rivets really got to us after a while, with about 100 of them on each side of the boat. We developed a system for them and it took a couple minutes per rivet. When you have a problem or wrinkle, you have to pull it off and redo the area. The stuff is really strong and did allow continued reworking of an area with no damage to the vinyl at all.

Anyway, after seeing some results that people weren't happy with, we did not take any chances with the prep. That took a couple hours in itself, getting the hull scrubbed, then we wet-sanded it with 2000 grit paper to make it nice and smooth and to help adhesion. We then went over the sides with Prepsol, a wax and grease remover. Finally, just before application, we hit the sides with a "Special Cleaner" that is designed to help adhesion.

specialcleaner.jpg


Here it is as we were about to begin.

readytogo.jpg


Right out of the chute, we made one big mistake. Chalk it up to fatigue. The instructions say to cut the sheet in half lengthwise, so we did. Sheets are 4' x 5' so, you cut it in half lengthwise and end up with two sheets much larger than you need for the sides of a basic jon. This led to a lot of waste, but in pieces too small to use for much, say 4 inches by 60". Fortunately, we caught it after the first sheet, which is shown below.... Lots of extra hanging off there on the bottom.

After that, we cut 480 mil and we had only an inch of waste per sheet. Bottom line, measure the sides first and cut them to size and you might save yourself enough to clad something else with.

start.jpg


Buddy has it figured out as we near the end of the second side. Slow and steady is the way when you get to the splash rail.

goodhelp.jpg


Proper tools are important and the included squeegee tool was stout and worked well.

toughstuff.jpg


We brought some additional tools we knew were pretty important, especially as the night wore on. "Where did you put the rivet-problem solver?" :wink:

righttools.jpg


Almost there... Finishing the second side. We are very pleased with how it turned out. I'd have some more pics, but we were away from our families enough this weekend, so the T.O.P. went into the garage and we got the familes together for a grill. More pics soon. Next, I'll get the bow area done and then order up one more piece for the transom.

almostthere.jpg
 

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