1983 Polar Kraft CF-1651 overhaul

[heath]

A little more than two years ago I purchased a 1983 Polar Kraft CF-1651 from a fella whose father had passed on. It was his father's boat and he wanted it to go to a good home with fishing kids where it'd be loved by another generation.

Once upon a time it had all the bells and whistles:

• Johnson 9.9 circa 1993 in good working order (maybe)
• electric anchor winches at bow and stern
• MotorGuide marine battery charger
• MotorGuide 55lb trolling motor on the front
• MotorGuide 82lb trolling motor on the back
• an old Hummingbird depth finder

By the time it got to me the anchor winches were largely non-functional and the 82lb trolling motor had once fallen off while driving down the highway and been dragged for a mile or so. =D>

Last summer my son and I fished on it a half dozen times at the local electric-only lake and I replaced the trailer bunks. In late August the bow-to-stern wiring for the front trolling motor failed mid-trip and we decided to set the boat aside for the winter and continue on via canoe.

After much procrastination and fear of the project scale, on Father's Day Weekend we began the long process of restoring the boat. As soon as I ripped up the carpet and saw how rotted the plywood was underneath I knew we'd made the right decision.

I'm chronicling our work here in the hopes that some of you kind old experts will offer suggestions and advice as we go.

Boat: Polar Kraft CF-1651, 16 feet long, 51 inches wide at bottom, 72 inches wide at beam, manufactured in 1983
Motor: Johnson 9.9 electric start long shaft manufactured in 1993

 

[heath]

Hard to imagine a 40 or 50hp motor on this thing... I'd need a pilot's license.



Durable decal!



As she sits. The trailer is in great shape. I've already removed the bow and stern electric winches, the stern trolling motor, and the outboard engine.



The deck wood is so rotten that the seat base was not safe to use. It came with a casting seat, which is now in the garage.



The extensive wiring system was creative. Some of it never made much sense to me, like the traditional wall plug outlet for this DC system visible on the transom in the bottom right.



Batman sticker courtesy of my boy. 8)

 

[heath]

In the nearly 40 years its been on the water, this boat has seen a lot. The bajillion drill holes in the starboard side nose are testament to that.



This was our stopping point after 4 hours of labor on Sunday. Anything that could be unscrewed, was. The rear bench plywood and seat are gone. Whoever installed those felt that the 20-odd screws weren't enough and a gallon of epoxy was also necessary. :roll: That was fun.



I'll never understand that epoxy logic.



The bench rodholders were drilled right into the bench, which seems to be filled with foam. I suppose that's good - the foam, not the choice of rodholder location!



The port side storage compartment is really just a 3 sided box riveted to the side of the hull. Presumably the matching starboard side box is the same? That one was decked over to make a horizontal rodholder and has no openings.



I realized I can't detach the bow trolling motor without either reaching up under the deck to unbolt it, or removing the entire deck at once. This picture is upside down for some reason but if you click through it is right-side up? :?:



Rotten wood on the casting deck. Motivation to keep going!

 

[heath]

My first real question for you experts pertains to the transom.


interior view 1

interior view 2

exterior view

This transom is pretty beat to hell, but feels solid. The variety of clamp marks, dents, and screw holes don't give me great confidence, but this is my first jonboat. Would this give a veteran pause?

Also, the interior metal sheet does not extend all the way to the floor of the boat. There is a ~2 inch gap at the bottom and I can reach down around it and feel something inside. It kind of feels like wood, but it might also be some sort of foam. It's hard to tell. Bad drawing attached:



Is that a normal transom design?

Thoughts?

 

[bplayer405]

Yes, that transom design is normal. Yes, is is wood, plywood to be exact. If it still feels stout and you won't be using a big outboard on the jon then you should be ok.

I have an '84 Polar Kraft mod-v 1651 riveted jon that I picked up a couple months ago and am restoring/remodeling myself. Mine had a pretty hard life with lots of leaking rivets, large dents in the hull up front, and plenty of holes from accessories mounted all over the decking. Fortunately, I've recently got into welding and have been fixing a lot of the problems I've found and holes left behind.

Boats can be a big undertaking to restore and make nice again. They can be quite rewarding also. I've restored/remodeled a couple jons and come from a carpentry background. I reframed and built my last boat using wood because of my ability and tooling. That boat is quite heavy and very stout; a 1648 that looks close to yours. The addition of welding has changed the game for me.

I've replaced the transom wood in every boat I've had due to rot. They flexed a lot and couldn't hold up to and outboard. I chose solid wood milled down to the proper thickness to work. Very strong and should outlast plywood.

Best of luck with your build. Plenty of knowledge and help in this forum. Get your family involved with your build. They will appreciate time spent on the boat more once its done.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[heath]

Thanks for the feedback, bplayer405.

Ended up spending most of my free time this summer on home repairs rather than the boat, but we started working on it again this week. The front decking has been a bear. Almost every single screw (and there are many) was rusted beyond hope of regular removal. I really didn't want to dremel flathead screwdriver slots in all of them and this put me off doing any further work on the boat for a good, long while.

Ultimately, my father had the solution: wood chisel space around the screws and then use vise-grip pliers to grab and unscrew them. This proved so easy that my 9 year old son was able to use the vise-grips and yank the screws on his own after I chipped out space around them.

We should have the front decking off by the end of the week, then it'll be time to tackle the floor decking. =D>