12' sears game fisher my first coversion

I traded 2 guns for this boat and 50lb trolling motor



I started cutting it up today. I cut out the middle seat leaving about 1.5" of the seat metal to use as a flange to screw 2x2s to. by cutting out the seat i lost some of the rigidity of the side walls. a 2x2 frame with plywood gusetts will be bolted to the remaining seat flange to restore the lost rigidity. more on that in days to come.



this is the start of the frame for the floor. nothing is screwed together yet still need to fit a few more cross braces and cut a bunch of gussets. you can see in back the rear seat is notched for a short rear deck.



batteries are up front to help spread out the weight. i cut the front seat out so they would sit lower. they will be covered with a very small deck just big enough to cover the batts and mount a trolling motor. the trolling motor deck will sit flush with the top of the boat but will not be fished from, to small and to tall. there will be a small front casting deck below the original seat height.




well thats about all i got done today... spent more time stareing and talking about how cool it will be when its done then actually working. i will get some more done tomorrow and post up more pics.

Lookin good keep the progress pics coming. =D>

Dave

When i looked at the pic of when the seat cut outi was like uh oh this guy soesn't know what he is doing. Then i read what you said and i said, "he definatelly knows what he's doing" lol. Keep the good work up dude! oh and you might want to put some flotaion foam under the floor before you cap it off with some wood because you lost foam you probably want in there when you cut the seat out.

Great job so far on the boat =D>

Thanks for posting the pics.

Tyler_W said:

When i looked at the pic of when the seat cut outi was like uh oh this guy soesn't know what he is doing. Then i read what you said and i said, "he definatelly knows what he's doing" lol. Keep the good work up dude! oh and you might want to put some flotaion foam under the floor before you cap it off with some wood because you lost foam you probably want in there when you cut the seat out.

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yep your right i do need to put some foam under there.

Hey nice, that there's gonna help those that want to take a seat out too :wink:

thanks so much everyone for your coments and compliments. i have a question. i have already purchased my carpet and i my have made a mistake. i got some real nice black outdoor carpet. is the black going to end up getting to hot and cooking me alive? anyone have black carpet in their boat??

I am using a charcoal color carpet and it isn't to bad, of course the warmest its been here this year was yesterday. 73 degrees.

It might get pretty hot.

did a little more work on the boat today. i thought i would be doing more on it after work every day but i just want to be lazy after working all day. got off early today so i spent a couple hours working on the boat.





if you look close at the picks you will see how i solved the problem of lost rigidity from removing the seat. the 2x2 frame is braced with 1/2" plywood gussets and then screwed to the remaining seat flange with stainless screws.(i will add more screws during final assembly after every thing is water sealed) The side walls are now much stiffer then before the seat was removed.














picked up this bow mount trolling motor off of craigslist yesterday, it has some nasty cosmetic issues but it works great. i think they hacked it up to mount something on it not sure. can the plastic side covers for the mounts be replaced? it is a minn kota auto pilot 812 it came with all the wires and the foot controls

Awesome progress!

You might be able to find replacements. I would call Minn Kota direct see what they say. Hopefully you can find an old destroyed one and steal the parts you need.

Nice work!

very cool! Did you use a Sawsall to chop out the seats?

Nickk said:

very cool! Did you use a Sawsall to chop out the seats?

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no i used a bosch jigsaw with a metal cutting blade, but a sawsall would have worked just as well

Jim said:

Awesome progress!

You might be able to find replacements. I would call Minn Kota direct see what they say. Hopefully you can find an old destroyed one and steal the parts you need.

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thanks for the tip Jim =D> I called Minn kota and they had the pair for 19.60 shipped. needless to say they are on the way

minicuda said:

Jim said:

Awesome progress!

You might be able to find replacements. I would call Minn Kota direct see what they say. Hopefully you can find an old destroyed one and steal the parts you need.

Click to expand...

thanks for the tip Jim =D> I called Minn kota and they had the pair for 19.60 shipped. needless to say they are on the way

Click to expand...

Sweet! :beer:

It has been raining off and on alot here in Oregon. so i moved the boat into our hottub/sunroom... the wife is not pleased at all. she wants to know what a boat is doing in her house! I calmy explained to her, "honey i need to use the hottub to make shure the boat still floats after i'm done." :wink:

This is the start of the pattern for my front casting deck. i used tissue paper and masking tape. the tissue paper is easy to work with. it folds easy and you can push it into corners.




found it like this this morning. cat must of thought it looked like a nice place to sleep.




taped it up good to go again. on the other side is the tissue paper ready to be fit.




side all trim and fit




pattern complete and ready to pull out. the tape x's keep the wrinkles from moving holds the perimiter in place and makes the tissue paper stronger.




pulling her out.




now only need to trace it and cut it out.




almost got it



this is a gussett for the rib under the floor. the lines are the top of the rib, ineed the gusset below the rib so i drill a 1/4 hole in the corrner and run the edge of my jigsaw on the line insted of the blade. the hole also eliminates blade chinks at the end of the cuts in the cornner giving you a nice round cornner which will resisst cracking better then a hard square cornner.




it is starting to look like a boat again

Wow, thanks for the tip. I was pondering which way to make the pattern for the deck. Looks great!!!

Great progress, and lookin' good! 8)

great pictures on the pattern advise
gonna look great when it's done