Finally got it done!

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cgraham

Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2014
Messages
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Location
Kingston, TN.
After several months, and several hours of work its finally done. I took my 1998 14ft. Alumacraft, with a 1998 3 cylinder 25hp Johnson and turned it into my own little bass/crappie conversion. Most of the mods were simple, and after looking at other builds on here I felt confident enough to take on the challenge! Started out with the front deck by using 3/4 plywood and raising the floor up 7 inches and installing a bass pro pedestal and butt seat, a 40lb minn kota trolling motor with an aluminum recessed trolling motor tray from black bear sporting goods, and finishing with navigation lights. Moving on back, I added a bilge pump to the livewell for aeration by running a small length of hose from the pump to a small foot long piece of 1 inch pvc pipe I drilled holes in. My hope is this will allow better aeration for the fish since the livewell doesn't allow that much water in, and tends to get rather warm during daytime fishing. Directly behind the center bench seat / livewell, I built a small storage area using soft pine 2x2's and 3/4 plywood for strength. The trolling motor battery is in the middle of the storage area, with small storage areas to the left & right. Total added weight for the storage box was surprisingly low at only 21lbs. Moving back towards the bilge area, I took ideas from user Jay415's build, and added back decking to the bilge area, using 3/4 plywood and steel angle brackets to support the hatch areas, adding much need room to stand. Also added was a bilge pump to the back, and everything was wired into bus bars, and then into a fused 6 position toggle switch panel. There are several other small items I added such as green led lighting to the front and back floor area, and a small led light to the livewell. I was able to pick up several of those black rubber stern light storage clips from walmart, and used them to secure items like my dip net, paddle and stern light to the sides of the boat saving space. Also got a couple packs of the black bungee type rod holders to add to the deck. On the electronics side, I was in total shock at the price of depth finders. Granted, I haven't really been into fishing for the last 15 years or so since I sold my previous boat (Ranger 370V), but I about passed out in bass pro. I was figuring on maybe $150-250 for decent units, but once it got up around $450-500, I just decided to use a couple of older units I had in the garage, so I went with a Hummingbird 170 up front, and an older Hummingbird 300XT in the back.

Since I have a tendency to burn my batteries up, and didn't have the money needed to purchase a high end battery charger, I found a unit at walmart that seems to be working good for me. Its made by schumacher, and its a simple 1.5 amp trickle charger. I got 2 of these for $20.00 each. So whenever I get back off the water I just plug them up and forget them. The charge time is alittle long, coming in at about 12 hours for a full charge, but after the full charge it enters a maintainer mood and keeps them fully charged but wont burn them up! Just check my water level every couple of months, and keep it at that. Keep your fingers crossed, I haven't had any problems out of the setup yet.

Moving onto the trailer, its also a 1998 single axle trailer made by Escort. I purchased two new 16 inch wheels, along with 2 new tires, added led trailer lights and since the trailer is a box frame type trailer I couldn't add led marker lights, so I got the self adhesive stick on type reflectors. I didn't like the long strap used to hold the boat down to the trailer, so I drilled small holes in the back of the trailer frame and added small i-bolts, and used cargo straps to hold it down at the back of the trailer. The only thing I wasn't able to get done at this time was replace both left and right side bearings and seals (I am getting alittle grease thrown on the inside of the wheels). I am afraid thats alittle over my head right now. Looks simple, but with my luck I would screw something up. And last but not least, I am going to have the wheels balanced out, I don't know why they didn't do this when I purchased the wheels and tires (I should have watched the shop put them on), and most of the folks around here say its no big deal, but I am getting some bounce out of the rig while I am towing down the road.

And last but not least, I used gray marine carpet from Lowes for the interior, and was very pleased with it.

So guys there it is! I spent alot of time looking around on here and gathering my ideas, and was very impressed with some of the builds. I hope now that I know alittle more about what I am doing I can be productive with everyone here and help others out as I was helped out.

I know it isn't that much of a detailed build, but here are the pics (If I can get them uploaded right)! I am open to all suggestions, and questions, and please don't hesitate let me know what you guys think.. And once again, thanks for a great site, and awesome ideas. It's great to know that a person doesn't have to spend 10's of thousands of dollars on a boat to enjoy alittle laid back fishing... Oh, and by the way here is my price list if others want to know.

1998 Alumacraft w/ 1998 25hp 3 cylinder Johnson & Escort Trailer - $2,000.00 From Bunch Marine here in Tennessee
40 lb. Minn Kotta Trolling Motor - $100.00 from a friend.
Deka Trolling Motor Battery - $110.00 / Already had the cranking battery
Lumber Materials from Lowes - $105.00
Tires & Wheels - 100.00 for the set
Carpet & Glue from Lowes - $50.00
Led Trailer Lights - $80.00, Interior Lights were also Led from Walmart
2 600gph Bilge Pumps from Walmart - $25.00 , tubing was included
Switch Panel, 16ga Wiring and Bus Bars - $85.00 Bunch Marine here in Tennessee
Other Misc. small items was around $100.00 / This includes the Maintainer/Trickle Charger by Schumacher from Walmart.

Total $2,775.00 (Keep in mind this wasn't an over night thing, close to 3 months total saving up the money and working on it slowly)
 

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Forgot to tell you guys about how she runs. Before I started putting everything in it, I ran it with just the cranking battery and 3-4 gallons of fuel. Top speed was 30 on the button after 5 different runs with alittle chop on the water.

Now after adding everything, trolling motor with the deep cycle battery, all the wood for the flooring and decks, full load of fuel 6 gallons and tackle, I bump between 27 & 26 mph on gps.
 

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