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Lowe 14' flat bottom 6' wide mods needed (COMPLETE) *PICS*
- Thread starter cybereyes
- Start date
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Almost done. This is basically what it will look like. I still have to plumb and wire up the live well, and route all the wires to the batteries, install an onboard battery charger, instal an inverter and one of those plenko or whatever its called things that allow you to switch between batteries. Oh and the deck around the live well and the cooler still has to be braced. I have to do that once all the wires are ran.
Macgyver
Well-known member
cybereyes said:
I would ditch that plastic clamp and put a real hose clamp (stainless) on instead. I also opted for a shut off valve , just in case.
CowboyHokie
Member
Where did you order your double door hatch? Dimensions? Also - does it have storage bins inside or just open?
btw -Nice looking ride you've got there....
btw -Nice looking ride you've got there....
I may replace that plastic one with a metal one, but its pretty darn tight now the way it is. I doubt I could even get the hose off without the clamp if I tried without ruining the hose. The valve does sound like a good idea though.
I didn't order them, I just made them with a tape measure, drill, jigsaw, and a chalk line. I thought about ordering them, but never did because I didn't know the exact dimensions until I got all the wood laid out in the boat and had it braced. Once I got that far I still needed to cut out the holes in order to put a pre fab hatch in there, so instead I just put the cutouts back in there with a pair of hinges and a handle that I placed in using a hole saw. Its not as clean as I would have liked, so I may still go back later and order the hatches, but I don't know. The hard part was finding something with the same dimensions as I had. They all were specific sizes and none of them fit what I needed. I needed to find someone to customize the size based on MY dimensions, but I haven't found that yet. I will be looking for some work arounds, but I don't know. Right now I'm fairly satisfied with what I got. Plus I have already spent more money that I should have, and I just want it to be done so that I can use the boat. Me and my GF were both like we don't know if we will even want to go fishing by the time all of it is done. We are usually exhausted after a weekend of working on it and just need a break. No kidding we have spent the last few weekends from about 10 am until 6 or 7 that evening working on it, saturday and sunday. This last week I actually had some extra days off so we spent about 3 days of doing that. A lot of it is not exactly hard, its just time consuming, and I have to think everything out very carefully so I can cut down on the number of times I have to remove something to recut it because I didn't account for something I should have.
Its been a lot of fun seeing it transform, and I doubt I will ever get rid of this boat now, but I'm not sure I would want to do this again. I'm generally the kind of person that over compensates for everything and has to make sure its perfect, which causes me a lot of work. :lol: I will be glad when its done. Oh and as far as storage bins. In the back I left it open. There is a lot of bracing to the sides and around the edges, so its basically a box in there anyway. The front I had originally planned on buying a plastic storage bin and cutting it height wise to make it fit, but once I got to that point it just seemed to easy to cut some thin 1/2 plywood I had left over and make walls for the cutout, which you see in the last picture. The other side will have two batteries in it. I also bought a large, the biggest they had, cranking battery the other day, which will serve as the the motor in the backs battery as well as the batter I will have my inverter connected to. So I will have 3 batteries all connected to an onboard charger.
I didn't order them, I just made them with a tape measure, drill, jigsaw, and a chalk line. I thought about ordering them, but never did because I didn't know the exact dimensions until I got all the wood laid out in the boat and had it braced. Once I got that far I still needed to cut out the holes in order to put a pre fab hatch in there, so instead I just put the cutouts back in there with a pair of hinges and a handle that I placed in using a hole saw. Its not as clean as I would have liked, so I may still go back later and order the hatches, but I don't know. The hard part was finding something with the same dimensions as I had. They all were specific sizes and none of them fit what I needed. I needed to find someone to customize the size based on MY dimensions, but I haven't found that yet. I will be looking for some work arounds, but I don't know. Right now I'm fairly satisfied with what I got. Plus I have already spent more money that I should have, and I just want it to be done so that I can use the boat. Me and my GF were both like we don't know if we will even want to go fishing by the time all of it is done. We are usually exhausted after a weekend of working on it and just need a break. No kidding we have spent the last few weekends from about 10 am until 6 or 7 that evening working on it, saturday and sunday. This last week I actually had some extra days off so we spent about 3 days of doing that. A lot of it is not exactly hard, its just time consuming, and I have to think everything out very carefully so I can cut down on the number of times I have to remove something to recut it because I didn't account for something I should have.
Its been a lot of fun seeing it transform, and I doubt I will ever get rid of this boat now, but I'm not sure I would want to do this again. I'm generally the kind of person that over compensates for everything and has to make sure its perfect, which causes me a lot of work. :lol: I will be glad when its done. Oh and as far as storage bins. In the back I left it open. There is a lot of bracing to the sides and around the edges, so its basically a box in there anyway. The front I had originally planned on buying a plastic storage bin and cutting it height wise to make it fit, but once I got to that point it just seemed to easy to cut some thin 1/2 plywood I had left over and make walls for the cutout, which you see in the last picture. The other side will have two batteries in it. I also bought a large, the biggest they had, cranking battery the other day, which will serve as the the motor in the backs battery as well as the batter I will have my inverter connected to. So I will have 3 batteries all connected to an onboard charger.
CowboyHokie
Member
How about this hatch - did you make this one?
baptistpreach
Well-known member
Awesome job! How much was your battery gauge? I love the detail!
CowboyHokie
Member
Baptistpreach, once I saw that battery gauge, I had to have one too...
But Cyber, we're not your wife, so you don't need to "discount" your expenses here...
$26.99 each
But Cyber, we're not your wife, so you don't need to "discount" your expenses here...
$26.99 each
Its all done, this is the completed boat. Thanks too all those who helped out with suggestions and advice.
Rear Deck
Back wall with inverter and battery gauge.
On board battery charger for 3 batteries.
Front deck with trolling motor port, battery gauge, and switch panel for the Nav lights, bilge pump , and aerator.
Access panel to input hose for live well and battery charger wires. I had to make this after the fact when one of the batteries wasn't charging. It turned out to be an in line fuse that went bad.
2nd battery compartment with two batteries, perko switch, and trolling motor circuit breaker.
Overflow and bilge pump exits.
Live well with bilge pump. I will need to move the pump to the other side of the livewell, or possibly try and move one of the batteries. It seems the boat leans slightly to one side because all three batteries are on the right side of the boat, so when the bilge pump is on it doesn't want to pump out the last bit of water.
So there it is guys. I couldn't have done it with out this site and lots of help from you all. Thanks again. If anyone has any questions about this mod that I can help you with on your own boat, feel free to ask and I will do my best to help.
Rear Deck
Back wall with inverter and battery gauge.
On board battery charger for 3 batteries.
Front deck with trolling motor port, battery gauge, and switch panel for the Nav lights, bilge pump , and aerator.
Access panel to input hose for live well and battery charger wires. I had to make this after the fact when one of the batteries wasn't charging. It turned out to be an in line fuse that went bad.
2nd battery compartment with two batteries, perko switch, and trolling motor circuit breaker.
Overflow and bilge pump exits.
Live well with bilge pump. I will need to move the pump to the other side of the livewell, or possibly try and move one of the batteries. It seems the boat leans slightly to one side because all three batteries are on the right side of the boat, so when the bilge pump is on it doesn't want to pump out the last bit of water.
So there it is guys. I couldn't have done it with out this site and lots of help from you all. Thanks again. If anyone has any questions about this mod that I can help you with on your own boat, feel free to ask and I will do my best to help.
ben2go
Well-known member
Great build.Lets go fishing.
Henry Hefner
Well-known member
Nice job on the boat, and nice job with picture documentation!
MikeA57
Well-known member
Excellent job cybereyes!! I will be using some of your ideas when I finally get my Lowe 1448 back on the trailer and back to my house. Thanks for the pictures and the explanations.
daniel_loz
Well-known member
Do you have any pics of how the trailer is setup? I have a 1448 jon that is the process of getting decked (although not quite as extensively as yours - it looks amazing btw!), but before I get to the decks I am rebuilding the trailer that the PO had setup pretty weird. I just want to see how other people are setting their trailers up for a flat bottom jon of this size/weight.
Thanks everyone. I checked and I don't have any pics of just the trailer. I can try and take some pics underneath the boat maybe, or at best the next time I go out I can take some pics after I launch. Oh and our first camping trip, the wife pulled this fish in, her first big fish.
daniel_loz
Well-known member
No biggie. Im trying to find a visual reference as to how I need to have my trailer set up.
russ010
Well-known member
How do you have your livewell set up as far as filling, recirculating and emptying?
I just ordered a FishMate Pro, and I'm trying to see how I want to do it...
Do you have a pump at the transom for filling?
Where is your overflow tube?
Does your bilge pump inside circulate and pump out? How do you have it set to do both because I only see the line you ran out the bottom which I would assume runs to the aerator on the opposite side.
Your mod is great by the way - did it add a lot of weight by using 2x4 bracing?
I just ordered a FishMate Pro, and I'm trying to see how I want to do it...
Do you have a pump at the transom for filling?
Where is your overflow tube?
Does your bilge pump inside circulate and pump out? How do you have it set to do both because I only see the line you ran out the bottom which I would assume runs to the aerator on the opposite side.
Your mod is great by the way - did it add a lot of weight by using 2x4 bracing?
