Recent content by Gibson

Haha! Check this out! I found this online from the Lund archive. Pulled it out of the catalog.

Thanks! Unfortunately, on a 12' V hull, you can't really improve stability. On the other hand, the modification didn't make it worse. I've been in some pretty wobbly light 12' V-hull boats. This Lund model was pretty stable to begin with though, thankfully. It's pretty heavy for a 12' aluminum...

Thanks! Yeah, the flotation was only in the back and center benches, and not too substantial at that. I left the rear flotation, but took out the center bench foam. I still have the block of foam and will cut sections to accommodate the split bench.

Thanks for the kudos! These idle hands are looking for another boat project. All in due time, I suppose.....

Thanks, Scoot!

This was a fun build. MY FIRST, though I've been thinking about it for years. I had to remember that it's a 12 foot boat. The goal was to keep it functional, make a significant change, and by all means - keep it light and the center of gravity LOW. I'd seen some 12 footers with decks built right...

After that, it was carpet the floor, install the floor, and construct the storage between the rear bench and stern using the same aluminum tubing as noted above for the floor. I made 1 hatch for access. I decided at the last minute to scrap the 2-hatch design since one right behind the swivel...

Ok, here's the technical part: The floor. Rather than go with heavy 3/4" marine plywood, I went with a 4'x8' sheet of King Starlite XL from Total Plastics Corp. (or Co., I don't remember). 3/8" thick plastic at $100 a pop. Now you might say, "3/8?! Way too thin!" Thing is, I'm making up for...

As I stated originally, I went with BLUE. Not red. Michigan fans... TRUE Michigan fans... don't do red (that school just south), and we don't do green either (little bro' in East Lansing). [-X Though I know the signature color for Lund back in the day was RED.... I. Do. Not. Care...

Went with zinc chromate primer. The stuff is funny to work with because it goes on thick and kind of rough. If you go this route, I found it was best to use 2 coats (sanding with 220 grit in between coats). It will give a better finish in the end. On another note: You may notice the aluminum is...

Sprayed out the satin gray and started carpeting the benches. Used medium grade gray marine carpeting. Here in the Midwest, I went to Menards. Seems to be not too cheap and it's not the super expensive stuff.

Removed all wood pieces, cleaned her out, and got her ready for the fun part.

Reconstructed the middle bench (now walk-thru) with 1/8"x 1" angle aluminum, 1/8" aluminum rivets, and sections of the deconstructed bench.

Got crackin' on sanding and grinding. Not too many pics of that since it's kinda boring.

Well, I wrapped up the modification just today. I started about a YEAR after I first posted here with the 2 pics you see up above. Here goes....