My first boat, my first project!

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M1-1

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Alrighty, grab a fresh cup of coffee, this may be a long one!

A little history on this fine vessel is in order I think to properly set the tone for the importance of this project.

This boat and trailer actually belongs to my father. I remember this boat being in the backyard my entire life. It was either leaning against the garage, yard barn, or the house in every single on of my memories up until about age 10. At this point, my father's brother traded the then current boat trailer (unserviceable) for the "new to my dad" trailer. It was this fated day that the boat was loaded onto the "new" trailer and there it sat as is for the next 20yrs.

For the last three years or so, my father and myself have been discussing bringing the boat out of retirement so he and my mother can go fishing (my mom loves to sit in a boat and fish) but time to actually do the project has always been a limiting factor. This past fall, I decided that the time was either now or never to get this boat going. To be brutally honest I was spurred by a vehicle accident my Dad suffered where he was nearly paralyzed and still 7 months later he is suffering from some of the effects. I decided I would resurrect the boat, trailer, and make it comfortable for two people to sit or stand for a nice afternoon on the lake as a nice retirement/recovery present.


As you have probably already figured out, the tires on the trailer were junk, so I went to the big ole' store and picked up some brand new purdy trailer tires that fit the pattern of my hubs. Got the trailer home, and decided I'd do this "right" I spent the next 4hrs learning (much by trial and error) how to repack bearings. This was a treat! The bearings, spindles and hubs looked to be in plenty good condition, there was adequate grease still in the hubs, but I wanted to have marine quality grease in there instead of the regular old junk. I replaced both rear seals as they were completely destroyed.

I apologize for taking pictures of everything before I did the bearings, but the photo's will explain the state of things quite well I think.

The following photo is a basic shot of the trailer after I removed the coupler (that required a hammer to operate) the winch and many of the random pieces of hardware attached to the trailer. Note there is only one fender!
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Here are two closeups of the bunk and fender area.
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Here is a photo of the rear view of the trailer. At this point, I still had a thought in my head the tail lights would be serviceable, but upon further inspection they got nice new replacements and these went to the place all old tail lights go...
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I'll save the step by step photo's since they really aren't necessary...plenty of these steps out there. I spent 5hrs sanding the trailer down ripping off old carpet, wires and mismatched hardware to get the frame "naked" at this point I cleaned everything up, sprayed it down with a nice coating of Rustoleum primer, let that dry, then went after the trailer with gloss white rustoleum. I had intentions of painting it day-glo green, but chickened out last minute.

Here are some photo's of the finished trailer. (you'll see I found the other fender and got that into working order as well).
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Closeup of new coupler, winch and wiring on the front end.
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New tail lights and unfinished wiring job.
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Just another photo of the trailer with all the new goodies
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Here is a pic of the boat sitting on the nice new trailer!
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Now came the difficult part for me. I'm by no means a carpenter, or even a general handyman...in fact I'm just a guy with some background in all of these things. Meaning, I'm comfortable around a drill, saw and lumber but to be clear, I'm far from mastering these items.

I forgot to take pictures of the boat empty and cleaned out, but boy let me tell you that was a treat...20yrs of crap sitting in a boat is not easy to get out, but the good news is the boat holds water like a dream! Not one single rivet leaked!!!

Here is the description of the overall layout plan for the boat. Front deck (with storage), floors in front of and behind middle seat, and deck out the rear with storage as well. I over built this by a mile I know, but I have room for the weight, and I'm hoping to not have to do this again for a while! So back to more pics!

photo from the stern looking to the bow with all of the decking in place.
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photo of the rear deck framing
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back part of the front decking and front floor supports
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Front decking support. You'll notice I didn't accommodate for the storage I wanted earlier as this space was much smaller in actuality than I anticipated! The V of the boat really took away from space so I had to change plans!
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All of the framing and decking was covered in 4 liberal coats of Spar Urethane. I'm really hoping that keeps the moisture out for a few years. The entire decking is on a floating platform so I can remove it easily. I've come across some design flaws that I've had to work out, but I've managed so far.

I just realized I don't have photo's of the finished decking or wiring, so when I get a chance I'll head out there and get those to update.

Currently I have the boat framed, decked, carpeted, hinged, and mostly wired. I'm waiting on a battery cut off switch to arrive then I'll be done with all of the tough stuff.

All that is left is to get my motor back from the mechanic. The motor I have to push this hog is a 15hp Gamefisher from about 1978 or so. The mechanic says its a Johnson with GF tags so that was pleasing to my ears! It had a broken throttle linkage as well as a broken recoil. I'm having him replace the carbs, impellers, water pump and all that fun stuff to make sure she runs tip top.

I also have a trolling motor for the boat, but its an antique. Even though I know it works, I'm not sure it has enough gusto to push the boat in a decent wind. It has 18lbs of thrust. I'm working on acquiring a 30lb at minimum.



So yeah...stay tuned!
 
Nice work so far! Once you get it done and give it to your parents you'll have yo post up a pic of them enjoying their new to them boat. :) The tin looks great!
 
Thanks Tim, I'm having a blast so far...tonight I get to see if the final parts have arrived! I'm hoping to post up finished photo's later this week or weekend.
 
Nice work ! =D> The most impressive thing is the reason for doing it. =D> =D> =D> That is the real joy in life when You help family, because it comes from the heart. I hope they have many yrs. to enjoy what their Son did for them.
 
As I stated before, everything is wrapped up on my build, I'm very excited to fish this boat now! Here are the pics of the finished product.

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Here is the boat on the lake for sea trials.
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After my first trip on the lake, I noticed there is a small leak along the rear seam of the boat. I will be re-bucking some rivets, and if that does not solve the issue I will be using the 3m 5200.

Thanks again for all of your wonderful ideas!
 

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