My 1948 Arkansas Traveler REBUILD!!!!!

This is my 1948 model Arkansas Traveler. Here are the pictures of the boat from where I bought it until now. I have to fix up the inside of the boat. I want to carpet the inside of the decking that I am creating and trying to install and I also want to create storage and a livewell. I need some ideas on how to create some storage and a livewell...any ideas???

I have gone up to painting the outside of the boat, oiling and reconditioning the teak wood trim, framing the back seat, and coating and sealing the bottom of the boat with my epoxy. Oh yea I also bought and got running a 1965 Evinrude Fastwin outboard, all it needed was a carb kit.

Once I finish the inside I can go fishing!!!! YEA!!!!

There are several ideas that come to mind when talking about livewells. The easiest most expensive way to get a livewell would be to buy on of the sporting goods stores prefab kits that come with everything you need from aerator to water pump. But if your like me and dont see spending $250.00 on something like that, you can make your own from some kind of waterproof plastic tub. I guess any kind would work but I have sent a link from Cabela's for a hatch liner that is very reasonably priced and comes in different sizes. These can also be used for your dry storage as well. To make the livewell yourself you could probably save about $190.00. Hope this helps. https://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat21276-cat21314&id=0001524013746a&navCount=3&podId=0001524&parentId=cat21314&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IJ&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat21314&hasJS=true

The painted boat looks awesome man! great job! The wood is a perfect offset to it too!

Awesome boat for 60 years old :beer:

That is one pretty boat - love the teak!

Sharp looking boat there! Congrats on the great rebuild! =D>

Awesome job man!!

Looks Great!! Can't wait to see the rest of the build.

Good job. Great looking boat!

Ok guys...so I had totally put this on the back burner... for years...a lot has happened since I started this project and its time to crank it back up! My daughter came to me this last week and said that she wanted to go out on a boat...

I thought we dont have a boat...then I realized that I totally forgot about my boat at my folks house. Totally silly-ness lol. So we will be bringing the boat to the garage and bringing this project back to life...with help from the little one now!

Boat will be here in 2 weeks!!!!

Remove the treated wood.

lckstckn2smknbrls said:

Remove the treated wood.

Click to expand...

Which wood are you referring to? Sorry I am confused. The trim wood is teak...I was going to clean it up and resend it.

The back seat framing.

lckstckn2smknbrls said:

The back seat framing.

Click to expand...

I got ya. I plan on reworkig the framing It has been sitting for a while... I imagine I will have to redo all of the wood...going to try to get some aluminum angle to frame up the decking and seats and etc.

So a few three years ago I sold the outdoard that I had in the pictures. This weekend I picked up a Mercury Mark 20 outboard. It looks like it will clean up really nice. I am trying to see if its a 16 hp or the 18 hp. There were a few offerings from Mercury in this model...I am not sure if it is the "H" model. Check it out and let me know what you guys think.

Okay so I have got the garage all cleaned out this week for picking up my boat this weekend. The first thing I want to do is check it out for leaks since its been sitting for such a long time. When I first had it there was a hole in the aluminum at the transom. I ended up brazing it together with alumaweld and then I reinforced it with a bunch of bondo fiberglass and epoxy inside. I want to treat all of the seams for the rivets inside the boat. The last thing I want is a leak after all of the decking lol. I have been reading about steel flex or galvit(not sure if I spelled it correctly lol) What should I use for this? Is there a spray material or is it better to paint or roll it on. I am also wanting to change the interior color of the boat to a brown or tan color. I was thinking almost a bed liner texture or a textured paint for the exposed aluminum. I will be doing carpet on the decking. What are your thoughts?

I am probably going to leave it in the driveway and fill it up with water lol!

So I found my carpet for the decking today. Check it out! I think it will pair well with my brown and marsh camo seats I picked up. I went with the camo because they were on clearance and they matched

So I got my boat back to the house this last week...I ended up finding a bunch of my old parts and pieces in the shed that I can still use so I wil be staying with my original color scheme of gray inside. Found my seats and my carpet!

So here it is sitting at my folks place.



She's in pretty bad shape!

The wife and I started cleaning her out tonight... I think I am going to have to redo the whole interior design. I am going to lower the deck height, make the livewell smaller, and possibly build a rod locker/storage on one side. I am also going to have to repair some leaks and probably change the exterior color. Thinking a blue or green with some silver maybe...

A little more progress lol. All of my old hardware is rusted and I think I am going to have to get the grinder out to remove some of the angles and rusted screws.