Mojo's 16' Fisher Rebuild

[Mojo]

Well here's the new project boat. 16' Fisher bass boat. All for the low price of $1500. The hull is in excellent shape, welded with minimal rivets.

But she's messy, the carpet is original I'm sure, along with everything else that's in this rig. At least it won't be too much of a head ache to peel it all up.. it's pulling right off so far, you can see in one picture a spot that I ripped up and it took me all of 5 min's.

So, what to do? That's what I was thinking too! GUT IT! Everything's getting ripped out and reworked. The front decking is getting extended back to the console area for sure.. that will make for plenty of room to add hatches and cubby holes for my stuff.

I've still got all the hardware I accumulated for the other build so I shouldn't have to buy too much more. This is going to be FUN. But I still need to finish up the old boat and put it up for sale. Enjoy the pics Tinboaters.

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

good find something like that will be my next'n

what'cha got to push that can with?

 

[Mojo]

Well I was thinking of that when I bought it. I went buy the marine dealer where I got my 20hp for the other boat and asked them what they would give me for a trade up since I only used it for about an hour.
I was very happy to hear that they weren't going to soak me too bad on a trade in. Of course I won't get what I paid for it but it's only a couple hundred less.
With the trade in on the other motor I can pick up a brand new 40hp with the cables and stearing installed for a reasonable price. I checked online and that hull is rated for a 40 so that's the plan.

 

[Troutman3000]

That looks like a great canvas.

 

[sturdi87]

Nice, that has a lot of potential? what motor is on it in the pics? whats wrong with it, or was that not part of the deal for $1500?

 

[Mojo]

It has the original 30 Mariner on it without a lower unit. To tell you the truth I don't feel like screwing around with it trying to get it working again.
I decided just to get something new with a warranty that I won't have to worry about. I don't want to be an hours run time from the dock with a gimp motor. I'd never live it down if I had to call my sister to bring the bay boat out to get me an her husband from the *** end of nowhere.

 

[Mojo]

Got the Front Deck tore out. As you can see below its in pretty good shape up under there. When I was pulling off the Forward Bulkhead I found the coast guard sticker... super faded and jacked up. I wonder if I call Fisher and ask them to send me a new one how much trouble that would be..Hmmm.
Anyhow there were some old bigfoot switches up there for the old trolling system. As soon as I saw those I said "That's going under the console to be my new boat horn switch!" I figured why not.

 

[Mojo]

Got the rest of the deck's taken out today. That thing is foamed out the wazoo. I must have sucked up 20lbs of dirt, leaves, dried up amphibians, and crusty ole fishing worms that had made their way down the channels under the foam.

I've decided to build myself a new console. The original one has too many old holes and useless crap, I also hit my knee's on it when I was sitting in the boat. So there will be a raised and bigger fancy spot to put my switch panel and other gauges.

 

[Waterwings]

That's gonna be a great rig when you're done! Keep us updated on the mod with pics

 

[raven174us]

Wow, your well on your way. That's gonna be a great looking boat when your done.

 

[cwilley1]

nice i just bought a 16' side console...wanna say its a grumman... and am currently looking for some ideas...you couldn't have started this at a better time for me lol

 

[ober51]

Would you mind posting detailed pics and tutorial of the console build? I plan on making one in the coming weeks and would love to see how you go about fabbing one. I am switching from stick steer to a console, and haven't seen anything too detailed yet.

 

[Mojo]

Sure thing Ober, I'll try to keep it updated and as detailed as possible. Keep in mind thou I've got a head start since i have the old console to use as a guide.

 

[Mojo]

Got the rest of the bilge area tore out. The bilge pump and livewell pump were shot, so I got new ones to put in later. While I was at it I got a 3rd pump to make a recirculate loop for the livewell. Most of the screws back there were so rusted in they wouldn't turn. SO I broke out the grinding wheel and took care of buisness.

I also got a good amount of the framing done for the front deck. Right now the aluminum is riveted in, gona rent a welder when I've got it how I like it and my Brother in Law is going to come over and weld it all up for me.

I've included a picture of how its going to be set up under there along with the rest of my progress.

 

[dyeguy1212]

Impressive =D>

 

[Nevillizer]

looking good so far. Keep it up.

 

[huntinfool]

Keep up the good work.

 

[sturdi87]

Very nice work! That looks like a job but man is it going to be nice!

 

[Mojo]

Time to go over yesterdays and todays progress. I got the cooler cut to size to fit where I want it, I still need to build a level tray to get it to sit at the right level. I got the rest of the forward framing done and started cutting the floor pieces.

I'm re-using as much of the aluminum sides and decks as possible, mostly to save on weight. They are beat up and dented but the upside is a hammer and a little time gets most of that taken care of. I used a wire wheel and drill to get the old carpet and glue removed.

I cut some of my decking out today and glued it onto the floor midships and put that in. The foam under the floor there was compressed pretty bad so I picked up some blue foam at Lowes thats like 1/4 thick. I cut that to shape to go on top of the old foam then covered the entire area with it to level it out a bit so the floor won't buckle as bad. Then I glued the vinyl onto it and installed the drain then secured it all down. I was curious to see how it was going to look. I'm pleased with the results.

The rest of the decking that will be at the bottom of the hatches won't get the blue foam treatment as I won't be walking on that so it doesn't have to have the extra support.

Enjoy the pictures.

 

[Mojo]

Got part of the front deck cut out today along with the aft bulkhead for the cockpit area. That curve up on the front was giving me fits.