typed by ben's 2001 Lowe 1648M all aluminum build (UD 6/27)

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typed by ben

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Joined
May 13, 2013
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Location
Hanover, VA
hi guys, glad to finally be posting my project. i have a lot of questions and judgement calls and im looking forward to hearing your wise and experienced opinions!

ive been bass and river fishing for about 5 years now. over the last 2 years ive been lucky enough to find a gorgeous and supportive wife, buy a new house with a great yard, and welcome to the world a new daughter! needless to say my fishing and boat maintenance time has gotten nibbled away to nearly zero. my poor shiny bass boat was really being neglected and i recently got more interested in river smallmouth fishing and electric lake fishing, so i knew what i had to do. i put the stratos up for sale or trade for a modified V jon boat.

so long stratos.
 

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wouldnt you know it, for the first time in my life a good deal came along. he wanted my boat and i wanted his, so we traded. now i own exactly the boat i wanted to get... a lowe 1648m. good size for two people, light enough to move along with a trolling motor, and no gelcoat to wax or carpet to wash.

i dont have any good shots of it yet but i have made some drawings. id be happy to make some for you all as well if you can send me plan views of your boats, as CAD bases have been super useful to me.
lowe1648m_original.jpg

the PO added some wood deck with outdoor carpet... good enough for what he was doing but not even close to what i want.lowe1648m_delivered.jpg
 
Welcome to TinBoats! Looking forward to seeing your project. I fish mostly electric in a 1648MV. My project was a simple one. If you want to see a really over the top total electric checkout Brine's project in the link below.



https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6551
 
gillhunter said:
Welcome to TinBoats! Looking forward to seeing your project. I fish mostly electric in a 1648MV. My project was a simple one. If you want to see a really over the top total electric checkout Brine's project in the link below.



https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6551
VERY impressive project. thats why i love this site. yours is a beauty too gillhunter. in fact its one of the projects that tipped the balance to the metal boat side.

thankfully im not ALL electric. we do have plenty of electric only reservoirs in this part of virginia, but theres also plenty of lakes and rivers. for that ill use a 25 hp tiller.
 
okay so lets decide what we want. foregone conclusion is removing the wood and carpet so imagine the boat starting anew.

1. bow mount trolling motor
2. rear mount trolling motor for electric only setup
3. removable tiller outboard (25 hp roughly) and fuel tank
4. comfortable operator setup
5. storage for net, seats, anchor, vests, etc.
6. batteries and 12v bus in front and rear
7. fishfinder/depthfinder for operator in rear
8. nice fishfinder for fishing up front
9. bilge
10. nav lights

this idea has just a large casting deck up front, since i do a lot of fishing by myself. im showing two kingpin seat mounts in the rear- one can be used by whoever is fishing the rear. the other is used when youre driving with the outboard. just jerk the post out and move it over. i have it shown on the port side because im right handed and i feel that would be more comfortable.

up front i have extended a casting deck from the first bench up to the existing bow platform.

-i practically never use a livewell but i know as soon as i removed it id want it back. with this setup id cut a notch over the existing lid and then just use the hardware and setup that lowe provided
-another kingpin mount up front if i want to use a chair or butt seat, but i mostly stand.
-two side opening hatches to utilize storage under the covered deck
-an angled transition to eat up the height difference between the bench (about 6 inches below the gunwale) and the bow platform (level with gunwale)

lowe1648m-idea1.jpg

pros:
1. less fabrication in the rear, uses what lowe provided with the boat
2. perfect setup for one guy
3. might be safer for little ones to fish near the rear with the side height

cons:
1. less ideal for more than one serious fisherman
2. no hiding spot for the batteries, fuel tank, or wiring in the rear
3. no splashwell when the motor swamps
 
Sounds well thought out. If you start "with a vision", it's a WHOLE lot easier and just what I did with my SeaArk and almost done thank god! Post up photos as you go along.
 
Good luck with your build. Where do you fish for smallies? I'm not a big smallmouth guy, but I've heard Watkins is good.
 
meonline06 said:
Good luck with your build. Where do you fish for smallies? I'm not a big smallmouth guy, but I've heard Watkins is good.
thats mainly where we boat out of but ive only been a couple few times. i didnt want to take my old boat down there.

i also wade out of pony pasture, the z-dam, and the kayak slide before belle isle. theres actually plenty of largemouth there by pony pasture too. they stick in the little ponds that you find inside big rock formations.

thanks for the wishes- you have a sharp looking project there!
 
I used to fish around Pony Pasture a lot when I was in high school. I stopped after I got sucked over the fish ladder a short ways upriver trying to swim around it. I ended up losing my favorite rod and reel (first one I ever bought with my own money). I'm stuck on land for now until I fix my truck; I may have to see if I can snag some bass there one day. Look forward to seeing your new boat.
 
okay so some of the pieces fell into the puzzle today. found a refreshed 1990 electric start johnson 25 from a guy that frequently posts stuff on CL in this area. drove down to powhatan after work and got it for the low low price of $500. It was a state surplus that had been in fogged storage since 2005.

20130520_202056.jpg

first to go is the ugly stencil. ill order a correct decal package. gotta look right.

20130520_202109.jpg

i also got some quotes for .080 5052 H32 sheet. thats going to set me back a little less than i thought but im not sure how to get it home, as my truck bed is just a 6 footer. i may shear it at work because the vendor's place is right nearby our building.

i also ordered some right angle brackets with .19 holes to tie together the frame that will support the front casting deck. $5 for a package of 10 is worth more than the time it would take to slam them so i bought 8 bags.
41x16A0q5lL._SY300_.jpg


thats it for today. lookin forward to sunny weather tomorrow and snapping some decent pictures of the boat and trailer.
 
You've got a good plan together for sure. Don't forget to take plenty of pictures and post them so those of us who are finished with our mods can still look at some good boat porn.
 
still makin moves even today. got a righteous deal on a miller tig setup. may have my hands on it as soon as the weekend.

i also came home and snapped some shots of the rig as it sits, with the previous owner's mods. itll fish just like it is but i know how i want it to be 8)

20130521_174254.jpg

20130521_174337.jpgstill gotta get up with the guy i traded with. he has my gator mount :evil:


20130521_174410.jpg

20130521_174429.jpgmy 15" johnson in its new home.

20130521_174447.jpg
 
built-in livewell. the aerator will probably become a bilge.
20130521_174348.jpg

20130521_174711.jpg
ancient-now-but-once-top-of-the-line bottom line fishfinder. these still go for a good penny on ebay. i may sell it because i want to get a nice DI/SI combo for the front and this would be goofy if i moved it by the operator. at the rear i think i want to do shoot-thru anyway to minimize stuff hanging off the bottom of the boat.

20130521_174727.jpg
this is probably gonna find its way to ebay as well.

20130521_174811.jpgi may even redo the registration numbers... crooked letters look just about tacky as hell.
 
ive also started thinking more critically about how i want the decks to be laid out. this drawing shows how i would likely need to space supports for the front deck and also shows a rough idea of what the rear should look like.

i decided i definitely want hatches in the rear to cover the batteries, bilge area, and fuel tank. that area is gonna be a tough nut to crack because ill want hatch lids as well as a built in splashwell- and the splashwell will have to be tied to the transom! ugh. thats gonna be involved.lowe1648m-idea2.jpg

in the front i decided not to do the angled hatches. in this layout i have three total hatches: two smaller ones on the port side and one larger one on the starboard side.

the two smaller ones will be segregated in the center. the aftside hatch will house the batteries and the foreside hatch will hold PFDs and other stuffable things.

the single large door will be used for seats, posts, and the oars. this layout will be much easier to build as everything is on a right angle. the whole thing would be covered with .080 5052 sheet, painted with some type of neutral tone non skid product.

heres about what that would look like skinned out:lowe1648m-idea2skinned.jpg
 
just two updates today but theyre good ones.

first, the repro graphics i got from ebay. lookin right.20130524_192845.jpg

tomorrow morning i go pick up my tig. if i have time after that i may rip the front deck out and clean up underneath.

then i just have to start cutting material :mrgreen:
 
Great start so far and well planned out. Might have to steal a couple ideas from ya :D
 
so today i got a surprising amount of work done. i say "surprising" because one of the jobs wasnt even on my list!

while i was trying to get the new transom straps worked out i noticed that the starboard bunk was totally rotted out. the bunks had that nasty velcro style carpet that just soaks up and holds water- keep it wet enough and boom, rot.
20130526_134057.jpg

we can do better than this people :roll:

i cut some new bunkers out of scrap that came from the demo of the rear casting deck. then i ran up to work and got a couple strips of 1.5" UHMW channel, which i countersunk and attached with some SS #10 flatheads. UHMW is the poor mans teflon so this baby ought to slide on and off like nobodys business!
20130526_151200.jpg
20130526_151212.jpg

once that was out of the way, i decided i didnt even want to use the strap eyes that were attached to the bunks. oh well needed to be done anyway.

instead im using some reliefs that were cut out of the trailer. i attached some SS u-bolts to the gunwale and used a quick release strap on each side. 20130526_170542.jpg

next up is gonna be the fuel system for the outboard. id like to use a 6 gallon tank but theres only 12" worth of width behind the bench and 6 gallon tanks are over 13" wide. crud. i may have to custom make a tank out of aluminum which will take a LOT more time.
 
[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=316021#p316021 said:
Abraham » 24 May 2013, 22:45[/url]"]Great start so far and well planned out. Might have to steal a couple ideas from ya :D
thanks dude hope i have some ideas worth stealing.
 
[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=316056#p316056 said:
bigwave » 25 May 2013, 08:43[/url]"]I cant wait to see the transformation. Great deal on the motor......I would have jumped all over that deal too.
yeah funny thing is that on the way down there i almost turned around a couple times. ive had all the money i need for this project saved up for a few months now- but for whatever reason i tighten up when i have money to spend... opposite of what happens when i dont have money! :mrgreen:
 

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