Country Dave’s Lowe 1752 modification/restoration project.

[Country Dave]

Glad to have the livebait well completed,

It’s been a bit problematic to say the least but the only thing that’s really important is the finished product and I’m pretty happy with it. Every time I turned around I had interference issues but I got creative and was able to figure out a fix.

I ripped a 2x4 to get some strips and epoxied them to the top of the inside cutout for the livewell. I was concerned about the weight of a full livewell only being held by screw going through the lip of the bench plate. So now they are going through the lip and a one inch strip of wood. It felt real sold, no way is it going to rip through.

LED lights worked out good as well. I painted some inconstancies on the outside of the well to try and make it as realistic as possible.

 

[Pweisbrod]

Wow, looks great!

 

[DOBSONFLY]

The live well came out awesome CD! The night photo with the lights on is absolutely awesome! :beer:

 

[Badbagger]

Nice work Dave!

 

[Country Dave]

Hey guys thanks for the vote of conifidene :mrgreen:

The first issue I had with the livebait well had to do more with me being somewhat naïve about the sheer volume of water an 800GPH pump displaces. When I started doing the math and realized it’s a little over 5 gallons every 30 seconds or so I realized the single siphon drain tube wasn’t going to be enough so I decided to add a secondary overflow drain. I can regulate the intake by partially closing the ball valve and I might still have to do that.

Anyway I had to find the right through hull fitting and drain fitting and that was just time consuming more than anything else. The primary drain fitting that the tube goes into had to be modified to fit. The manufacture of the tank puts raised rigges in the bottom of the tank to make it stronger and more rigged so you can only mount the fitting in the corners. That fine that’s where I wanted it anyway but I used the big outlets 1 1/8 so the flange was hitting on the ridge and it wouldn’t lay flat, so I had to trim the flange so it would lay flat and seal.

Then when I test fitted the tank the corner of the tank would not sit down flush because the pipe portion of the drain fitting was hitting the bottom of the hull. I trimmed it back some but it still wasn’t clearing enough.  I had to stick a wooden dowel in the tube and put my heat gun on it and gently bend it strait. It worked. : )
It was pretty much the same kind of issue with the fill pipe. It had to be mounted above the step in the tank so the height would be right. It has to be above the water line so in can draw in air. Well once I did that and test fitted the tank again the nut that hold the pipe to the tank was hitting the top of the bench cutout and not allowing the tank to fit correctly. : ( Thank God I didn’t 5200 it yet.

I removed it and trim the nut. After that I also had to trim out a section of the lid and the lid flange to fit around the fill pipe fitting. I also felt better about having the screws anchored through more than the 0.125 aluminum so I cut, treated and urethaned wood strips to the underside of the bench cutout to run the screws through. I would have through bolted it but there wasn’t any way to access the backside of it short off gutting holes in the bench and I just didn’t want to do that and risk compromising the structural rigidity of the bench. The only thing left now is to put a little screen on the overflow so shrimp and small baits don’t sneak out. :mrgreen:

 

[Pweisbrod]

Looks good. I had to modify the old live well stuff from 5/8 to the newer style 3/4" and to cut and drill and finagle a bunch of stuff to make it work too. It's a process!

 

[Country Dave]

I did a few tests on the live bait well this morning,

The first thing I did was fill the well up do the drains. I wanted to see were the water level was going to be and its pretty good, maybe a tad high but I can adjust that by cutting down the siphon tube. I let the water sit in the tank for a while to check for any leaks. No leaks anywhere :mrgreen: I was concern about one of the fittings, I had to tweak it pretty good to get it to clear one of the ribs.

I filled up a 5 gallon bucket with the garden hose “turned up full blast” it took 23 seconds to fill it up so that’s pretty darn close to what the pump will do. I put the hose in the tank and its close but the drains just can’t quite keep up. I’m going to bring the water level down a ½ inch and I will have to restrict the inlet flow a tiny bit by partially closing the ball valve.
That thing really moves some water. “Prognosis” lively happy bait = more bites= happy Dave…………………… :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[bigwave]

Good job Dave, and good lesson learned when it comes to the mounting nut for the drain tube. Most people will not take into account the angle of the boat in relation to the tank,i.e a crocked drain or over flow tube fitting. The tank does look awesome all lit up......on question though, did you put lights under the tank and bilge area, they sure are bright....what kind did you use?

 

[Country Dave]

Good job Dave, and good lesson learned when it comes to the mounting nut for the drain tube. Most people will not take into account the angle of the boat in relation to the tank,i.e a crocked drain or over flow tube fitting. The tank does look awesome all lit up......on question though, did you put lights under the tank and bilge area, they sure are bright....what kind did you use?

Thanks Big,

I used 1 six inch Seachoice white LED strip and 2 four inch ones. I put the six inch one in front of the well at the bottom and the four inch ones on either side down low as well. I wanted a little overflow light to go to that back storage area.
https://www.boatersland.com/scp03041.html?gclid=CPajt9_r7bYCFUff4AodYBEA-A

 

[Country Dave]

Big if you look in the very last pic in my post you can see the 6 inch one in the center bottom of the cut out.

 

[jt25]

Man your project is really coming along. Mine has slowed. All this rain and work is slowing me down....

 

[Country Dave]

Man your project is really coming along. Mine has slowed. All this rain and work is slowing me down....

Brother I know the feeling,

I wanted mine to be done weeks ago but it’s going to be at least another couple of weeks. You just got to keep chipping away at it. I try and do at least one thing a day even it’s just something very little. It’s one more thing that’s done. :mrgreen:

 

[Country Dave]

I was able to mount the bulge bump and install the through hull outlet today,

I just have to install clamps on the hoses and find another ring insulator like I used on the live bait well inlet hose were it goes through the bench. I was able to fab up a screen for the overflow on the livewell and I cut the venturi pipe down 1 inch. I’m going to make a new seal for the livewell lid or modify the original one.

 

[bigwave]

Better and better, looks real nice. Make sure you keep your receipts for the rule stuff.......take advantage of the warranty when it burns up, We see them burn up more than they used to. I know this might be a bit premature, what do you think the top end is going to be on this beast when its done? I am guessing probably 60+, not that it matters...I was just wondering.

 

[Country Dave]

Better and better, looks real nice. Make sure you keep your receipts for the rule stuff.......take advantage of the warranty when it burns up, We see them burn up more than they used to. I know this might be a bit premature, what do you think the top end is going to be on this beast when its done? I am guessing probably 60+, not that it matters...I was just wondering.

Thanks big,

I found most of the time the problem with the pumps are very small pieces of debris getting past the strainer on the bottom of the bump and getting lodged between the impeller and the pump housing. I run a fine mesh screen around the bottom of the pump just for that reason. I’m working on that now. I also carry a back up pump cartridge.

As far as MPH I think between 50 and 60 is reasonable maybe a little faster, all depends on how I prop her. I will seldom run her up on the top like that. I just want to jump up on plane and if I can cruise at 50 mph I will be happy with that. :mrgreen:

 

[bigwave]

Your right about the small debris, I run a sureflo on my big boat through a large strainer......crazy grass will drive you crazy. I know what you mean about running at WOT, but between yours and BB I was thinking you would have to add weight to the hull to keep it from flying....... The more I watch your mod the more I want to get a Seaark. I cant wait to see how the performance is on both of your boats. I am also contemplating a new motor for my big boat.....I am really leaning towards the new 200 yammy four stroke, if not it will be a Etec.

 

[Country Dave]

Your right about the small debris, I run a sureflo on my big boat through a large strainer......crazy grass will drive you crazy. I know what you mean about running at WOT, but between yours and BB I was thinking you would have to add weight to the hull to keep it from flying....... The more I watch your mod the more I want to get a Seaark. I cant wait to see how the performance is on both of your boats. I am also contemplating a new motor for my big boat.....I am really leaning towards the new 200 yammy four stroke, if not it will be a Etec.

My experience gives weight to my preferences and my preference is the Yamaha 4 strokes. You just can’t beat um. Dependable, super quiet, fuel efficient, fairly comparable in weight to a 2 stroke, no smoke, super clean emissions and perhaps best thing of all is you’re not buying $30 a gallon 2 stroke oil.
I’m not knocking the Etech they are great motors but at the end of the day it’s still a 2 stroke. SeaArk is a bad azz boat and BB’s is goig to be sweet. I like my hull Lowe makes a good boat and it just kind of played out that way. I bought the boat and trailer for cheep and this build does have a budget so all things considered I’m pretty happy with it. Next build tunnel hull………………………. :LOL2:

 

[Badbagger]

Looking great Dave and yer gonna need a seat belt lmfao.

 

[Country Dave]

Looking great Dave and yer gonna need a seat belt lmfao.

Thanks BB,

I know the Line-x must have added a couple of hundred pounds to your hull but I’m thinking a 115 E-tec should move that 1872 pretty freaking good. I think you’ll see 45 to 50 mph on the top end. I’ll get a couple of seatbelts so I can give you one. :LOL2:

 

[bigwave]

I have a helmet with a propeller on it........ :mrgreen: