Polar Kraft 1444

This will be my first attempt at reworking an old boat of any kind. I would appreciate any suggestions along the way from the forum. I normally fish for bluegill, crappie, and bass. The bodies of water I typically fish are large private ponds, large lakes (KY Lake, Lake Barkley), and the Ohio and Clarks River. I have removed the boat from the trailer and already started taking the trailer apart for sanding and rewiring. Here is pictures of the boat as it sits on the ground.




Any layout suggestions?

Orion

sweet man. your layout depends on what you plan to have on it i guess. i always like to plan- but anytime you have a plan, plan to change it! :mrgreen:

id think on Kentucky and the rivers youd want to have a little gas motor to help you cover more ground. that means youd need a fuel tank as well so that will eat up some room behind the last bench. that also means youd need a little place to operate the motor, which might mean youd need to keep the area in front of the last bench open so you could sit. a little tiller engine is also easy to remove when you go to ponds or electric only.

other than that im a former bass boat guy so i rigged my boat up like a little bass boat. casting deck with storage access in front, quick stow trolling motor, livewell, and bilge setup. on my boat i was going set up a rear casting deck as well but theres really no need for it.

some of your decisions should be made AFTER you use the boat a few times and see what its lacking and see where its serviceable.

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=318021#p318021 said:

typed by ben » 09 Jun 2013, 06:34[/url]"]
id think on Kentucky and the rivers youd want to have a little gas motor to help you cover more ground. that means youd need a fuel tank as well so that will eat up some room behind the last bench. that also means youd need a little place to operate the motor, which might mean youd need to keep the area in front of the last bench open so you could sit. a little tiller engine is also easy to remove when you go to ponds or electric only.

Click to expand...

I see a lot of people on here using regular plywood and then treating it with either a water sealer or spar varnish. Has anyone used 1/2" Advantec for the decking? My past work experience includes 20 years of home building and in that time Advantec came out with 3/4" and 1/2" decking material that didn't mind the rain on job sites. In the past when you laid the sub floor you would treat it with thompsons water seal because it would always rain before you got the roof on and the plywood didn't like the standing water on the floor. In came Advantec with their product that had a high glue content that would stand up to the weather no problem. I just didn't know if anyone had tried it. Oh, 1/2" Advantec was stronger then 5/8" plywood too on roof decking...

Will a 10hp engine be enough to push this boat around? What size TM will I need to move this boat?

From what I have read on here, 10hp should be fine on that thing. You could do a YouTube vid search for 10hp motors on this size boat for comparison. I would think anything with 30lb thrust or more would work for your trolling needs.

Can't comment on the Advantec decking. Is there anything in it that would react with Aluminum?

Due to health issues I never got around to doing anything with this boat till now. I just lucked across a 25hp motor for free. I started it and it ran really rough but did crank. I took it to a local guy that came recommended and it only cost $144 to get it running and lower end inspected. It had a blown head gasket was all that was wrong with it, and the carbs needed some maintenance. So I feel lucky and now I can start to work on this boat.