I ate my boat!

[kkrueger]

I had what I consider the perfect boat for the places I fish. It was a Tracker Grizzly 1648 with a 25hp Yamaha 4 stroke. But... things got kind of tight around our house last year. Decided to sell the boat knowing the money would only last us a few weeks anyways. Things have gotten better around here. Not to the point that I can go out and duplicate the boat I sold, but I can atleast get back on the water again.

A few months ago I decided to sell a few things I don't use anymore. Started buying small jon boats, cleaning them up and re-selling them. So far I've done well and doubled my money on all of them. My goal is to work my way back up to a boat comparable to the 1648 without dipping into our family's monthly budget.

Recently I picked up a Lowe 1436 with a trailer for an awesome price. This boat is a little wider, deeper and tougher than most of the others I've picked up and I decided to do a few mods. I doubt I'll keep this boat for long, and doubt I'll make much money if any off from it, but wanted to "practice" on it.

This boat was owned by a group that races remote control boats. When I got to working on it I couldn't find the HID number. I was worried I would have trouble getting it registered, but I lucked out and found the HID plate behind the Coast Guard label.

 

[kkrueger]

I discovered that Aluminum can get pretty pricey. Figured if I could find an old ladder it might work for the frame work, as it's probably engineered to handle more than anything I can design.

Did a couple searches on here and found where other people talked about using old ladders but I couldn't find any pictures.

Stopped at a pawn shop and got a 16' extension ladder for $20.

 

[kkrueger]

This boat had pretty rough paint, several bare spots, plus someone took red paint and spread it on real thick with a paint brush, then placed vinyl letters over it.

I sanded everything down real good, primed it with self etching primer, then painted the entire boat with a flat khaki colored paint.

My plan is to create a digital camo look.

I bought a sprayer from Northern tool. It's a cheapy, but so far has worked great.

 

[TNtroller]

looking good. Glad things are getting better for you and the family. Hope you can continue to make some xtra $$ on flipping the boats when possible. GL

 

[bulldog]

That is awesome man. Resourceful and that paint job is going to look great!! On top of that your wife really cant whine if it is not costing you any money. Well, maybe. :LOL2: No excuses and i love it.

 

[DavenTn]

I like the idea of the ladder. Do you plan on putting a seat mount up front? How are you going to fill the area between the rungs and the decking?

 

[MrSimon]

That looks fantastic! Love the ladder idea.

Even though the camo will look great imo, if you are going to sell it, you might want to consider something a bit more basic.