FLbassBLASTER
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- Joined
- Apr 13, 2015
- Messages
- 14
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So a couple weeks ago, I picked up this fishmaster 1432 with trailer, titles for both, for $500. The guy threw in the crap trolling motor and battery he had and some life vests and emergency oars too.
First order of business was get the trailer lights working, as the ones that were on it were garbage, as was the wiring. Grabbed the submersible LED's from HFT for like $35, and got that hooked up.
One thing I cannot stand is a hideous paint job. Since I knew I'd be totally customizing this boat, I knew it had to go. I did not know how much of a pain in the *** it would be to make that happen. I tried this product called Citristrip (eco friendly stripper), and while it worked... kinda... it was really slow going. After some trial and error, I figured out that for the more stubborn areas, a wire brush dipped in stripper went a long way. There were a lot of areas that had to be done that way, and a couple I had to use a wire brush on the drill. Anyway, after what seemed like 2 weeks, but was actually 3 days, I got the vast vast majority of the boat shiny bare. I'm leaving the bottom because I don't want to open a new can of worms there. I had to fix a couple leaky rivets. I also went ahead and wire brushed off the few patches he had already done. I don't know what he was using, but it was soft... almost looked like it could have just been household caulk. I used JB weld and then after that set for a couple days, I took her and put her in the water for a couple hours. No leaks from the bottom, and one tiny screw hole I must have uncovered on the transom that is just barely at the waterline was barely trickling.
So now that I had a sense of how it felt to on the water, and what kind of stability I was working with, I decided on a low deck. Bench height was too high. I'm a pretty small guy at 145, and my fishing buddy is 175, and we both have good balance, so I'm not too worried about how it'll be at this height. I cut the bench using a sawzall (ugly cut, I know!!!) and pulled part of the foam out. There was a second foam insert under the first one, so I opted to start my frame there. I cut some 2x4's and treated them with Ultra Spar, and then drilled pilot holes into the aluminum, and then screwed the pieces into place to start my frame. From there you can pretty much see what I've done as far as the framing on the front deck. All the wood is double coated with Ultra Spar.
Ok, I need to get to bed, I'll continue this post sometime soon, as I've already gotten a lot further than this, and it won't let me attach more than 10 photos.
First order of business was get the trailer lights working, as the ones that were on it were garbage, as was the wiring. Grabbed the submersible LED's from HFT for like $35, and got that hooked up.
One thing I cannot stand is a hideous paint job. Since I knew I'd be totally customizing this boat, I knew it had to go. I did not know how much of a pain in the *** it would be to make that happen. I tried this product called Citristrip (eco friendly stripper), and while it worked... kinda... it was really slow going. After some trial and error, I figured out that for the more stubborn areas, a wire brush dipped in stripper went a long way. There were a lot of areas that had to be done that way, and a couple I had to use a wire brush on the drill. Anyway, after what seemed like 2 weeks, but was actually 3 days, I got the vast vast majority of the boat shiny bare. I'm leaving the bottom because I don't want to open a new can of worms there. I had to fix a couple leaky rivets. I also went ahead and wire brushed off the few patches he had already done. I don't know what he was using, but it was soft... almost looked like it could have just been household caulk. I used JB weld and then after that set for a couple days, I took her and put her in the water for a couple hours. No leaks from the bottom, and one tiny screw hole I must have uncovered on the transom that is just barely at the waterline was barely trickling.
So now that I had a sense of how it felt to on the water, and what kind of stability I was working with, I decided on a low deck. Bench height was too high. I'm a pretty small guy at 145, and my fishing buddy is 175, and we both have good balance, so I'm not too worried about how it'll be at this height. I cut the bench using a sawzall (ugly cut, I know!!!) and pulled part of the foam out. There was a second foam insert under the first one, so I opted to start my frame there. I cut some 2x4's and treated them with Ultra Spar, and then drilled pilot holes into the aluminum, and then screwed the pieces into place to start my frame. From there you can pretty much see what I've done as far as the framing on the front deck. All the wood is double coated with Ultra Spar.
Ok, I need to get to bed, I'll continue this post sometime soon, as I've already gotten a lot further than this, and it won't let me attach more than 10 photos.