gah319
Active member
Well I cannot say that this is my first boat rebuild. It is my first time posting what I am doing and giving a running commentary on what I am thinking. The boat I have is 14 feet long by 5 feet 8 inches wide, the floor at the widest point is 49 inches. Made by the Quachita boat company Arkadelphia, AK in 1974. As much as I would like to blame the previous owner on the old build it does not help as I have had this boat for 25+ years. The first build on this was done with 2x3’s and 3/4” green treated plywood. The decks were covered in green AstroTurf. With HS and College football games, camping with the Scouts, excessive work hours, and tending the livestock the boat was just sitting in the back yard for a number of years. The last registration sticker to have made it on the boat was for 2007. Needless to say the decking finally rotted away.
So for the new build: framework done with 1.5” aluminum angle, ¾” BC plywood for top decks, 3/8” ply for the floors under the decking. I am going to call this the Old Guy Comfort Boat. I want the seats to be based at 16 inches. This allows for easier standing after being seated for a while. The bow and stern will both be decked. Stern deck will only be 36” while the bow deck will be about 6 foot. I want to put in rod storage on both sides along with storage under both decks. Seating will be for 2 people, but more often than not it will just be me.
Power for this is provided by a 9.9 Mercury I bought 25 years ago. It has always started on the first or second pull. The TM that I had, was a bow mounted Minn-Kota. I have rebuilt the foot pedal a couple of times and it is now past repair. So the new TM is a Minn-Kota power drive with the i-pilot built in. I did say I was going for “Old Guy Comfort”.
Current progress is: Boat is in the garage (minor miracle), tires have been replaced on the trailer, everything has been stripped out of the inside of the boat, new transom has been glued and cut. Currently working on dry fitting the aluminum framing. This is going to be a slow build as all of the major tools are in the basement. So measure twice, cut long, fit and recut. Oh and the outside air temp has not been over 30 degrees in about 3 weeks. Going to be a long time before I can paint so not even thinking of sanding. Leak test will not work as it would just turn to ice.
Will post some pictures once I get that figured out.
So for the new build: framework done with 1.5” aluminum angle, ¾” BC plywood for top decks, 3/8” ply for the floors under the decking. I am going to call this the Old Guy Comfort Boat. I want the seats to be based at 16 inches. This allows for easier standing after being seated for a while. The bow and stern will both be decked. Stern deck will only be 36” while the bow deck will be about 6 foot. I want to put in rod storage on both sides along with storage under both decks. Seating will be for 2 people, but more often than not it will just be me.
Power for this is provided by a 9.9 Mercury I bought 25 years ago. It has always started on the first or second pull. The TM that I had, was a bow mounted Minn-Kota. I have rebuilt the foot pedal a couple of times and it is now past repair. So the new TM is a Minn-Kota power drive with the i-pilot built in. I did say I was going for “Old Guy Comfort”.
Current progress is: Boat is in the garage (minor miracle), tires have been replaced on the trailer, everything has been stripped out of the inside of the boat, new transom has been glued and cut. Currently working on dry fitting the aluminum framing. This is going to be a slow build as all of the major tools are in the basement. So measure twice, cut long, fit and recut. Oh and the outside air temp has not been over 30 degrees in about 3 weeks. Going to be a long time before I can paint so not even thinking of sanding. Leak test will not work as it would just turn to ice.
Will post some pictures once I get that figured out.