Restoring my 1988 Blue Fin Bass Dominator

[BassDominator]

Hello all, i am new to TinBoats.net and have seen some of the work you fellow anglers have done and have been quite impressed so I found my own deal and am hoping to turn it into my own dream boat.

I just acquired a 1988 Blue Fine Bass Dominator for around $1500. The motor looks like it is in great condition with probably less than 100 hours on it the rest of the boat however needs some work. The sun and weather has ruined the carpet as well as the decking. All the gauges, steering wheel, switches, older sonar unit etc are ready to be pulled. I cant wait to dig in and start stripping it down.

A few questions i have are:
1. is marine grade wood a must if your boat is not going to be exposed to the "elements" much, i live in northern california where we get no snow and not tons of rain. I figured treated wood would handle fine...

2. should i use 3/4" treated plywood or what size???

3. should i purchase new carpet from bass pro shops or should i just purchase it from my local lowes hardware store??? its cheaper at the local store but I don't know if the quality would be as good?

4. what did you use on your aluminum boat to get ride of old oxidation quickly? i have heard sandpaper with vegetable oil on it then buff it using corn starch????

ANY TIPS, IDEAS, AND ADVICE YOU MAY HAVE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!!!!

 

[wolfmjc]

Welcome, do not use treated plywood on aluminum as it will pit the metal. use regular plywood and seal it with a good wood sealer. I would match the plywood thickness to that which was on there. nice boat by the way! Oh and the carpet fron bp will prob be higher quality but i used lowes because it was cheaper.... 8)

 

[BassDominator]

thanks for the advice. how is your lowes carpet holding up?

 

[huntinfool]

Do not use treated wood, as it could cause some galvanic corrosion. 1/2 in. ply wood that is braced would be fine, but 3/4 would be stronger. Also the 3/4 would be heavier. I would see what you have on the deck now. ALso now would be the time to add on to anything, so take that into consideration. As for the carpet I can not say as I do not like carpet in my boat. Also my boat is painted so I can't give too much info. But I do know that there are several products on the market (aluminum cleaners) that you can get and they will clean up most if not all of the oxidation. I have not heard of the method you suggested, but it might work. It would be a lot of labor, as opposed to the cleaners that you spray on and rinse off. Might try looking at Sharkshide(i think that was the name of it). Supposed to bring out a real good shine(if that is what you want)

 

[bobberboy]

Did you really buy that whole outfit for $1500? What a sweet deal. That looks like a really nice boat. I am in the process of doing some changes to my new boat, including carpet. I bought my carpet from a local dealer who carries marine fabrics. I just googled "marine carpet in Minneapolis" and came up with some good local results. I assume you could do the same in your area. I don't really know the actual difference between marine and other carpets. From reading a lot on TinBoats, there seems to be some consensus that marine is the way to go. If yours isn't too exposed to the weather and kept covered when not in use, maybe the outdoor carpet would do fine.

 

[BassDominator]

yeah the boat was only 1500 bucks. the main difference between marine grade and outdoor carpet is marine usually comes with UV protection and has a durable rubber backing to prevent water from touching the wood decking. at least thats what i've gathered...

Today i gave the entire boat a bath, and buffed and waxed the motor to a glassy shine. then i ripped the entire front casting deck out, and found aluminum supports which i was excited about, then i removed the dated tape deck, removed the bimini from the support pieces in order to clean it and bend the poles back into shape. I also stripped the carpet off the steering console and am contemplating weather i should re carpet it or just paint it...I spent hours trying to get the motor to turn over but all the batteries i have just are not strong enough to kick over the starter. tomorrow i am going to go get a new starter battery.


I am thinking of painting all of the interior aluminum white. i figure paired with nice grey carpet and new red seats, new red Mercury decals on the motor and new side decals the boat will look super sharp....

Another exciting thing is that this boat lacks storage!!!! after opening up the front deck i found a HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! waste of space right under the front pedestal that is big enough for someone to lay down. I can not wait for tomorrow when i find out what storage possibilities there are in the back of the boat!...


i got alot more pictures coming as well.

 

[BassDominator]

here are pics from the first two days
after removing the
- windshield
-front and rear decking
-stero
-seats
-fish finder
and more i can not remember everything.

we got alot done for just spending roughly 3 hours on it. the decks were held in with about 50 rivets which had to be drilled out and ground down. then each compartment lid and seat was held on by 20 plus screws. over kill if you ask me.

 

[BassDominator]

DAY 3​

I purchased some aluminum polish you might say. its called Aluminum brighten and it is sold at NAPA, 32 oz for 10 bucks and a gallon for 30. i went with this stuff just because i didn't want to wait a week and i had 3 days to work on it so i HAD to get something done!


this stuff is strong, i wore rubber gloves, jacket, pants, and eye protection, since i was outside i didn't feel a face mask would be necessary. i duluted it with some water in a spray bottle...BAD idea. spray bottles just cause it to sploch even the one provided by the manufacture didnt mist enough and caued it to pool and made run marks all over the test areas. the trick! pour some in a plastic container and use a sponge or a spong brush and distribute the stripper evenly. stick to small areas it is easier to control!

In these pics i spent about 20 mins with my friend trying this stuff out on the front of the boat. Tomorrow i am going to hit the rest of the aluminum with this stuff, i think the 32 oz bottle will do the entire boat!. Well worth the 10 bucks

NOTE: in the pictures that are up close the LEFT side is the finished product and the dingy rite is untreated!

 

[Crankworm]

Nice boat looks like you got a good deal. That cleaner really takes the years off can you leave the hull like it is or do you need to put on some kind of polish to keep it clean? I could be wrong but looking at the pics it looks like your motor is a Force not a merc.

 

[BassDominator]

yeah im not going to do the entire hull just everything thats visible. thanks for the feed back.

and it is a force but force was made by mercury at least according to the information i found online. i'm planning on replacing the force sticker because its faded and i would prefer a newer decal to match the new ones that are going to go on the boat. and for 40 bucks its worth it. it would make the boat look 15 years newer.

 

[Ictalurus]

Your boat looks great, what a deal. For extra storage, I'd consider taking out one of the two livewells.

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

very jelious sweet rig

 

[bAcKpAiN]

Very nice boat, looks like it is built like a tank. I can't wait to see some more pics of it.

 

[BassDominator]

yeah honestly i am planning on entering tournaments with this boat...not pro but amateur at the lake near my house. I figured for 5 fish limit two live wells would be better plus make it a lot easier to separate your keepers from your fillers...

the boat is built pretty sturdy , today i finished polishing the boat. tomorrow im cleaning out the engine compartment, getting my plywood, and working on rewiring the entire boat.

i am pretty sure it will be done within the next week and a half. its going pretty quick!

the only thing that is slowing me down is the fact that i have to order a bunch of supplies from basspro.

Thanks for the feed back guys

 

[bobberboy]

Man, that's going to turn out to be a nice boat. It looks like a lot of work, but each layer you strip off makes it better. It must be gratifying to see when you peel off the crappy carpet, etc that there's a really nice boat underneath. Sometimes all the work in the world can't change what you find when all the old stuff is taken off. Yours is going to be sweet. I may have missed it but what is the size of your boat?

 

[BassDominator]

the boat is 16 ft long. not great but for the price it should rival any used tracker...

The boats coming along great its just turning out to be more work that i originally expected. i figured new wood carpet and a few parts. we have taken it down to the guts. we were nervous about the rivets leaking so we bought stuff to seal them but in order to reach them all we had to remove all of the flotation foam and we found that it had absorbed a lot of water and was causing the boat to oxidize on the inside.... bad news.

but after calculating everything together i think we will be able to get out of this boat for around 2500... including the original purchase price + all new accessories parts etc.

most used trackers are around 2500-3000 in rough condition so to find a boat and build it up with all new components for less than the price of a used boat i am pretty happy.

i have new pictures i will try to upload later.

 

[longjohn119]

I use acid based aluminum cleaners all the time to clean aluminum finned condenser coils on large commercial AC units. Just make sure you rinse it well .. and then rinse it one more time just to be sure. Especially important is to get any standing rinse water out of the boat or at least make sure it's well diluted because if it's allowed to sit in a low spot or crack it will continue to corrode the aluminum. Basically all an aluminum cleaner is is a controlled corrosion which you stop by fully rinsing off the acid. Look for a white powder after any sitting water dries up and if you find some re-rinse that area really good.

Like I tell my apprentices when I'm training them to clean coils, it's impossible to over rinse but extremely possible to ruin a coil (or any other piece of aluminum) by under rinsing.

 

[longjohn119]

the boat is 16 ft long. not great but for the price it should rival any used tracker...

The boats coming along great its just turning out to be more work that i originally expected. i figured new wood carpet and a few parts. we have taken it down to the guts. we were nervous about the rivets leaking so we bought stuff to seal them but in order to reach them all we had to remove all of the flotation foam and we found that it had absorbed a lot of water and was causing the boat to oxidize on the inside.... bad news.

Some of that oxidation could also be from your aluminum cleaner getting trapped under the foam and not getting diluted enough during your rinse. Of course it could also be from acids in the waterlogged foam being rinsed out and sitting there. But basically it illustrates the point I was trying to make in my previous post of what happens if the rinse water isn't drained well or at least diluted enough so there is no acid left in it.

 

[Rat]

Marine ply Vs Outdoor ply. For building decks and stuff (boxes storage etc) that is well supported there is no reason not to use regular outdoor grade ply. Marine ply is superior in every way, more plies per inch, uniform ply glue thickness, usually not warped, better woods etc. But it costs much more; and for what we use it for anyway, regular ply will pass with flying colors. Make sure it is outdoor ply (not treated) as this ply has waterproof glue, even though you will be waterproofing it anyway before the carpet goes on. There are tons of different waterproofing opinions on here as well. If it were me, and I was doing what you are doing, I would use Boiled Linseed Oil.

BTW, you stole that hull man! That thing would be $3000 easy where I live.

 

[BassDominator]

thank you very much for the info about the decking!

so i want to treat the ply before it goes down. i was confused what to use because everyone says that treated wood causes aluminum to have pitting....

and yeah it was a steal the owners were older...and i mean it needed alot of work so they just wanted it gone...i put a new battery in the boat and it fired rite up i was excited...

This weekend i am painting over all of the rivets with Glove-it to ensure that the boat will not have any! leaks since it is riveted.