Sounds Good
Well-known member
Hi everyone, I just wanted to introduce myself and add my boat project to the list of great boats here. I found this site totally by accident a couple weeks ago when I was searching for ideas on mods for my 14' Jon Boat. This site is a great source of information for every aspect of aluminum boats.
A friend of mine gave me the boat because he wanted it out of his yard (he already has 2 others). It was definitely an old fixer-upper. The existing decks were rotten and the thing was about 4 inches deep in leaf debris. I started by stripping everything electrical off it and tearing out the old front casting deck that was built on it. Then I cleaned it up and started one of the hardest jobs I've done in a long time... I sanded the whole thing down to bare aluminum and coated the hull with bed liner. I forgot to take any pictures of this stage of the process, even though I spent about 2 solid weeks doing it.
When the liner set up, I flipped it back over and started work on the inside. I decided to build the frame for the decks out of angle aluminum instead of wood to cut down on weight. Here's what my frame looked like in the early stages...
After I finished the frame and got it all laid out like I want, I sanded the inside and used some self etching primer to coat the whole thing... (MUCH easier than stripping down to the bare aluminum)
Yesterday, I started coating the inside with bed liner too. This is mainly to protect everything a little better and make cleaning it up easier.
It may not look it, but that aluminum angle frame is solid as a rock. I've already got all my decks cut and I've laid them in place and got up on it and jumped around... believe me, she's Reddy Fer It! For those of you that don't know me, I go around 6'2" and 250 lbs any day of the week. If I can jump around on it and it not move, it's gonna make a good 'un for sure.
I'm gonna end up with at least 8 good storage compartments plus a compartment for batteries and a gas can. I've got storage for rods and my handy-dandy jug retrieval stick I built. A few other goodies that are gonna get built into it.... Switch/fuse panel, LED interior lights, front headlights, fish finder, stereo, and an electric winch for raising/lowering the anchor and getting me out of a tough spot should I ever need it.
I'll keep posting updated photos as the build process goes on.
A friend of mine gave me the boat because he wanted it out of his yard (he already has 2 others). It was definitely an old fixer-upper. The existing decks were rotten and the thing was about 4 inches deep in leaf debris. I started by stripping everything electrical off it and tearing out the old front casting deck that was built on it. Then I cleaned it up and started one of the hardest jobs I've done in a long time... I sanded the whole thing down to bare aluminum and coated the hull with bed liner. I forgot to take any pictures of this stage of the process, even though I spent about 2 solid weeks doing it.
When the liner set up, I flipped it back over and started work on the inside. I decided to build the frame for the decks out of angle aluminum instead of wood to cut down on weight. Here's what my frame looked like in the early stages...
After I finished the frame and got it all laid out like I want, I sanded the inside and used some self etching primer to coat the whole thing... (MUCH easier than stripping down to the bare aluminum)
Yesterday, I started coating the inside with bed liner too. This is mainly to protect everything a little better and make cleaning it up easier.
It may not look it, but that aluminum angle frame is solid as a rock. I've already got all my decks cut and I've laid them in place and got up on it and jumped around... believe me, she's Reddy Fer It! For those of you that don't know me, I go around 6'2" and 250 lbs any day of the week. If I can jump around on it and it not move, it's gonna make a good 'un for sure.
I'm gonna end up with at least 8 good storage compartments plus a compartment for batteries and a gas can. I've got storage for rods and my handy-dandy jug retrieval stick I built. A few other goodies that are gonna get built into it.... Switch/fuse panel, LED interior lights, front headlights, fish finder, stereo, and an electric winch for raising/lowering the anchor and getting me out of a tough spot should I ever need it.
I'll keep posting updated photos as the build process goes on.