Joe's 1448T

[jpfieber]

My Lowe 1448T finally arrived after ordering it new from my local fishing shop. Ironically it was delayed due to the floods we had in June. As the name suggests, it's 14' long with a 48" bottom, 70" beam, and the tall transom. Also includes a livewell in the middle seat. I also got a used trailer and a 1989 Mercury 25HP long shaft with remote controls off Craig's list. I'm going to add a remote console, and casting decks to the boat eventually, I'll try to document everything here and on my blog. I know how everyone loves pictures, so here are some initial pics of the boat in my garage.

 

[Jim]

Very cool! Gonna use her first? or get right to the project?

 

[dedawg1149]

welcome nice rig :lol:

 

[jpfieber]

The first thing I did was customize the trailer to hold the boat. The trailer was originally setup with rollers for a V-hull, so I had to strip a lot of extras off. I used treated 2x4's for the bunks, in the horizontal position to keep them as low as possible. The frame is tipped slightly to accomodate a v-hull boat, so I had to notch the 2x4's to fit flat. I then covered them with some vinyl tile glue I had laying around, and then wrapped them with carpet, and used galvanized roofing nails every few inches along the bottom to hold the carpet down. I bolted them onto the trailer with stainless hardware. I found some brackets to use for side-bunks, and I created the bunks themselves the same way, and bolted them on.

 

[jpfieber]

Very cool! Gonna use her first? or get right to the project?

I built a temporary console that I'll post in a bit so I could take it out and try it, rode pretty nice. I'm gonna start working on it soon, but try to keep it as functional as possible as often as possible.

 

[jpfieber]

I mounted the motor on the boat, and connected the remote throttle/shifter. I then had to build a temporary console. The store I bought it from suggested the console be off the back seat, that's where the factory option console is mounted. I wanted to have it further forward, with the driver sitting in the middle seat, and the guy at the motor shop agreed that would be a better location, especially if I was alone in the boat. I made the console out of cheap lumber I had laying around, with the idea that I could move it if I needed to try both positions. You can see in the pics I got the Teleflex NFB 4.2 Rotary NFB Steering System Package and mounted it to the console. I took the boat out with a friend, and it rode very well. My friend moved to the back seat, and the nose of the boat really started to ease up, so I do think the forward console position is better. Seemed to plane out OK.

 

[FishingBuds]

sweet, gonna look great and be a fine piece 8)

 

[jpfieber]

I'm going to be ordering 1.5"x1.5" aluminum angle to start building the front platform, which is going to tie in with the console. Considering using 1/4" MDO on top of rigid insulation for the floor and some side panels, and 3/8" or 1/2" MDO for the platform. For now, here's what it looks like sitting in the water with the temporary console (that's my friend keeping it from floating away). This was the maiden voyage, and I was so excited I forgot a mooring line, and oars, so we were lucky the motor worked fine, and I did have to get my shoes wet pulling it back onto the trailer. My first time backing it into the water went fine, I didn't look like an idiot as I feared might happen, so all in all, not a bad first time!

 

[minicuda]

nice looking rig. how fast do you think it goes?

 

[jpfieber]

nice looking rig. how fast do you think it goes?

Hard to say until I get a depth finder with a speed sensor. I'd guess 25mph, felt like we were moving pretty well. I'm considering adding power tilt/trim and hope I can get a little more out of it by tweaking the motor angle as needed.

 

[jkbirocz]

Wow, sounds like you have it all planned out. That is going to be one sweet fishin machine when it is finished. Nice work on the trailer too =D>

 

[seaarc]

Nice job on the trailer and that console idea is exactly what I'm wanting to do if I can find a motor. Keep us posted on the progress, this looks like it will be a great project.

Dave

 

[SlimeTime]

Nice boat!

ST

 

[Waterwings]

Nice work on the trailer and the boat! Looks good! 8)

 

[Zum]

Nice job...seems like your flying right along.

 

[jpfieber]

Got a chance to take her out again for a bit, here it is in the driveway before heading out:

 

[jpfieber]

I was planning on adding power tilt/trim, and decided to go ahead and get it. Very expensive, but once I get something in my head like that, I can't sleep until I make it happen. It's the "CMC PT-35 Power Tilt & Trim". I mounted my 1989 Mercury 25HP on it. The unit is gorgeous, machined aluminum, a piece of art. I mounted the unit so the top of the mounting plate on the boat side was even with the top of the transom. I used 4 1/2" diameter stainless steel bolts (mounting hardware is not included) with some fender washers on the inside, and nylon lock nuts to keep things from loosening up. I used gutter caulk on the inside and outside around the holes I had to drill to try and keep water from leaking into them, but as shallow as this boat sits in the water, I'm not too concerned about it (It was very nerve racking to drill holes in my brand new boat though, measure 10 times, drill once!). After getting the motor onto the unit, I found the clamping bolts rubbed against the transom when the motor was tipped up. I took the handle part off the bolts, which gained me a couple degrees, but it still hit at way to shallow an angle. Tried raising the motor higher on the mounting plate to see what the effect was, but even with 2" of lift (which puts the cavitation plate 3" above the bottom of the boat, the upper end of the recommended range), the ends of those bolts still prevent the motor from tipping as high as I'd like to allow. I don't want to simply cut them off, as I'd have problems in the future with that, so I'm going to replace the existing clamping bolts with stainless hex head bolts that I'll 'back' into the transom (hard to explain, I'll show pics once I've got em installed, assuming it works!). I'll also drill holes in the unit for the lower bolt holes in the motor mount to bolt to. Here's some pics of the current situation, I'll post more once I get it mounted properly.

 

[phased]

Now that is what I call an awesome mod. Congrats.

 

[dedawg1149]

nice looking tilt-trim

 

[Jim]

Very cool man! :beer:

I hear you on the..Once it's in your head it consumes you until you get it. :LOL2: