Recent content by Clinton78

As I plan out my 1648 project, I'm thinking about how to surface the front deck which is and will be aluminum. Most of my boating experiences come from my dad's 2072 which has a carpeted front deck. We do a lot of Missouri River fishing....nosing in on mud banks and such. Naturally, the river...

I'm new to this. I've got a few things that I don't plan on using for my project. The biggest item is the motor. It's a 1976 Johnson 55 hp. It's got electric tilt on it, Johnson Shipmaster throttle controls, and steering cables about 14-ish feet long. As of a few years ago, it worked. I...

There's always rivets too. You could buy a sheet of aluminum and take it somewhere to get it cut and bent into shape, then go back and rivet the bench back in - no welding required. Don't forget the foam.

I recently bought a couple 4' x 8.5' sheets of .090" from a metal & scrap yard. Each sheet weighed like 41 lbs. It was $2.25/lb. This was much cheaper than ordering off any of the internet sites I had looked at. My plans for those sheets are to have a livewell, baitwell, and steering...

My opinion is that bass hold on to power worms better...sometimes swallowing it if I wait too long to set the hook. I prefer using Culprits though...specifically I use 10" Culprits unweighted. The Culprits have a longer tail and seem to make for a nicer action when swimming it along...

This is roughly what I was thinking for mine. I don't know dimensions because I'm not far into yet, but I was thinking about using the 0.090" aluminum that I'll have left over after my other projects to make it. I'll probably have the same place bend it and weld it on. I suppose with a couple...

I was wondering how they made all-aluminum transoms. So is that 1 1/2" tube? And what about wall thickness? I would think 1/8, 3/16, or 1/4...?

I always said that once I got a jon boat, I'd name it "Flat Bottomed Girl". Now that I have one, I'm not sure if I'll go through with it. :?

It did have a jackplate on it like the one pictured. The wood was shot so I had get into it either way so I'm raising the transom up instead of reusing the jackplate. All aluminum though? How thick of a plate would I need to compensate for not having wood?

My plan is to raise the transom to 20". At first I was thinking about just enough aluminum to do the job; however, after thinking about all those holes, I am wondering if it would be better to weld on a larger piece. My thought now is to leave the existing transom "skin" and weld on a larger...

Well, the manufacturer's Coast Guard plate is pretty much toast, but I managed to see that it is rated for a 40 h.p. motor. The previous owner had a deteriorated plywood center console mounted to the front bench, but I don't think it originally had remote steering. From what I looked into...

Yep, I used Sketchup. It's somewhat crude, but the proportions are pretty darn close. I did a little better when trying to redesign my transom. The closer one in this pic is the current transom...the far one is what I'm planning to change it to. It'll probably be a slow build. All this...

Here's a before and after of the transom removal. It went pretty easy for never having done one before. All I had to use was an angle grinder. I got into the rail a bit when cutting off the first corner piece...hopefully, when I find someone to weld everything up, that won't be an issue. I...

Hello all - Finally, my first boat...and consequently, my first project boat. After much debating with myself, I've used Sketchup to picture the final config of this project. Basically, the boat right now hasn't got much of anything...but potential. What I'm planning: Transom: I've...

My dad put those (plastic?) skid plates on his bunks a couple years ago. I think he got them at Cabelas. He says it really makes a difference. I have no experience with rollers, but I've heard people talk about having trouble loading by themselves because of the boat rolling backward when...