1984 16' Smoker Craft Pro Angler Renovation/Modification

Hello all,
I am a new member and this is my first time taking on a project like this. I've owned this boat 2 years and have only had it on the water 4 times because the floor was so bad.

I got this for inland lake fishing with my son. It can take up to a 60hp motor, but came with a 9.9 hp...this was a main selling point because the majority of lakes around me (other than Erie) have motor restrictions. I started tearing the floor out last fall...

Well, it was like a scab I couldn't stop picking at! When I realized the foam was water logged I accepted the fact that I am going to take my time and make this as nice of a renovation as I can on a fairly strict budget.

My first thought was to expand the bow deck and also add a small stern casting deck ( large enough for a pedestal base and to hide batteries and fuel tank.

Here's my list of wants and needs combined. Please chime in with any thoughts and advice. Thanks ! And more pictures will be coming

1. New flooring ( already bought exterior grade 5/8 ply that I am air drying in the barn. I have epoxy reading that I am going to treat all surfaces of plywood with before installing)
2. Addition of rear casting deck( addition of storage and ease of Fishing
3. Reinforcement of existing bow deck ( it is a big open area that needs to be stiffened up
4. New foam
5. Replace livewell piping while everything is open
7. Strip and polish/paint boat ( might as well since it is as light as it is going to get with everything out!)
8. Paint trailer.
9. New bunks on trailer
10 fix leaks in boat
11. Paint outdated wood grain trim either with paint or cover with diamond plate aluminum
12. Install either new marine carpet or upgrade to vinyl?!
13. Need to find or weld new corner brackets at transom and gunwhale.
14. New transom

So I have my work cutout. Any advice is appreciated. Look forward to the project and keeping everyone posted.



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Old foam completely out. There appears to be some sort of corrosion in the stern. To my knowledge this boat was completely factory.... looked identical to every picture I have seen on the internet. To my surprise. Many of the rivets securing the rub rail had steel shanks. Could this corrosion be from that or is it natural? Seems to clean fairly easy with a scotch brite pad and water.

Next up is either to turn boat over and strip the paint or to do a leak test.


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Nice. Is it going to be tiller or remote. I vote vinyl over carpet.

Thinking about keeping it remote. I will try and find the original pics to share from when I purchased it. Came with a small side console. Thought did cross my mind to convert to tiller for more of an open layout though. If I find a good trade on the motor maybe.


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It's amazing how light the boat is when everything is ripped out. Gonna work on some bracing between the gunnels and get it flipped to start removing paint. I am assuming the light blue is a bottom paint because it is chalky? Am I correct in that assumption? If so, anything special to remove it?
Also, I am going to trailer this boat ( restoring trailer as well [emoji51]) . Can I leave the bottom polished aluminum and no paint?

Thanks, Dave.


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just turn it over and start stripping - IMO, there is probably no difference in the paints.

This is exactly what mine looked like...minus the color scheme.


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I recently purchase a 1988 Smoker Craft Magnum 162. I am going to fully renovate. Just curious as to the progress you are making. Do you have any updated pictures.

brownfarm2008 said:

It's amazing how light the boat is when everything is ripped out. Gonna work on some bracing between the gunnels and get it flipped to start removing paint. I am assuming the light blue is a bottom paint because it is chalky? Am I correct in that assumption? If so, anything special to remove it?
Also, I am going to trailer this boat ( restoring trailer as well [emoji51])

. Can I leave the bottom polished aluminum and no paint?

Thanks, Dave.


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Click to expand...

Yes, but it will much harder to keep clean !! Aluminum will oxidise over a short time and is real work to keep it looking good, where a good painted surface is much less work.

Once you get the interior cleaned up real good coat it with some gluvit, it is a popular sealer folks use to seal any tiney leaks that may show up. I have a SC model of the Sylvan line same size as yours. Mine has a 40 hp Merc two stroke and runs great (31 mph). You can run a bigger motor with a 9.9 hp as a kicker motor. Now you can use that kicker motor on restricted hp lakes as long as the big motor is tilted up out of the way!!