First project

After being boatless for 4 yrs, I have been itching to get another one. My financial advisor(wife) told me that I was on a strict budget of no more than $2000. So I began scouring craigslist for several months. A couple of weeks ago I found this 1980 17ft Mon ark and picked it up for $1600. It seems to be in pretty good shape for its age and the 70 hp merc runs like a top.

I have already taken everything out from the rear seats forward. The plan is to raise the deck a few I ches and extend it back to the console. I also want to put in several under deck storage compartments. Then paint. I will post more pics as I progress.

Welcome to Tinboats. So glad to have you. So far so good. I know you will have fun with the new boat. If you fill out your profile we could see where you live, occupation, age, interest, and become a person instead of a "post". Think about it.

Made a little progress on the boat over the weekend, got the motor off and most of the hardware that is going to come off. Had to replace 4 rivets that I had to drill out to remove the front bench/storage area. I used my air hammer and a bucking bar to set the new ones. Then I was able to do a leak test, I found 5 leaking rivets and a small crack in the stern. I will get those replaced in the next few days. I also found a couple of cracks around the eye on the bow that the winch hooks to. The aluminum looks very thin in that area, I think I will take it to my buddy's machine shop and see if we can reinforce the bow a little. I would really like to reinforce it from the inside but I don't think I want to remove the bow cover as it is welded to the rails on the side and solid riveted all the way around. I guess II will be at a standstill until I can get the cracks patched up.

Mods may want to move this to the conversion forum if you like. Thanks