First Modification - Alumacraft fishing / duck hunting boat

TinBoats.net

Help Support TinBoats.net:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

acolic

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Messages
120
Reaction score
0
Hi

I have been lurking here for a while and finally picked up a 16' Alumacraft fishing / duck hunting boat which came with a 70HP 2 cycle Evinrude motor.

While the boat needs work the price was right.

The trailer is rusty, the lights don't work and most of the rubber rollers are worn out.

The floors are soft and need to be replaced.

The transom needs it's wood replaced.

Some things are hoping to get done over the next few weeks in priority are:

1. Replace the trailer tires and bearings.
2. Replace the trailer wiring.
3. Redo the boat wiring.
4. Use the existing floor as a template and cut out 3/8 aluminum replacement floors. I'm debating marine plywood over aluminum.
5. I'm debating switching from 2 by 4 to 2 by 5" bunks. In the second picture the gap between the tire fender and the boat is less than 1".

In the first picture there is a circular recess next to the trailer light. Any idea what it is for?

If anyone has a similar boat I'd love to hear what you did with it.

thanks

Alex
 

Attachments

  • $_27(1).JPG
    $_27(1).JPG
    69.1 KB · Views: 2,257
  • $_27.JPG
    $_27.JPG
    73 KB · Views: 2,257
  • $_35.JPG
    $_35.JPG
    7 KB · Views: 2,257
  • IMG_20160709_203219.jpg
    IMG_20160709_203219.jpg
    55.3 KB · Views: 2,257
  • IMG_20160709_203228.jpg
    IMG_20160709_203228.jpg
    34.7 KB · Views: 2,257
  • IMG_20160709_203245.jpg
    IMG_20160709_203245.jpg
    33.1 KB · Views: 2,257
  • IMG_20160709_203255.jpg
    IMG_20160709_203255.jpg
    39.6 KB · Views: 2,257
Nice boat to start with. That circle near the light makes me think it may have had trailer guides if there is the same thing on the other side of the trailer?
 
Does the boat hit the fenders when launching or retrieving?
If the boat never touches the fenders 2x4 bunks are fine. The higher the boat is the farther you have to back in to the water to launch and retrieve.
 
There is the same circle on the other side so I guess it could have been used for trailer guides. which is convenient because I was going to add them.

Last night I changed the trailers bearings. It wasn't too hard but there's a cap over the castle nut I'm not familiar with. It has a rubber plug that comes out.

Am I supposed to put axel grease behind the plug?

Next is to get the trailer wiring working. At least I will be able to move the trailer at that point. I'll take it to the local marina to see how easy it is to launch and if the bunks are in the way.

Thanks for the help,

Alex
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20160712_115602.jpg
    IMG_20160712_115602.jpg
    29.1 KB · Views: 2,129
  • IMG_20160712_115545.jpg
    IMG_20160712_115545.jpg
    35.1 KB · Views: 2,129
Hi,

looks like I have a 1980 Alumacraft Lunker Classic.

I'm having a transom wood replaced and then I will be starting the rewiring.

There doesn't look to be breakers for any of the circuits, it looks like everything is wired directly to the battery.
 
I have that axle bearing setup you are lucky you have it

you pull that plug and clean off the grease, you will see a zerk fitting in the center or the axle shaft.

To grease the bearings, all you do is pump grease in the zerk.

There is a hole in the shaft that exits at the inner bearing and it forces all the old grease out through the outer bearing

If you want to change the grease out without taking everything apart all you do is remove that plug and start pumping grease until you see clean grease in the cup.

I take the cup off to make it neater and easier.

After you flush the old grease out and you see clean grease coming out of the outer bearing, you are done

it works really well. I have the setup on a few trailers.

If you overload the grease in the cup it can start to ooze out past the rubber plug when it heats up, another reason to remove the cup and just wipe the old grease out of there and replace it after its all cleaned up

if you do not see the zerk fitting either it broke off or something happened to it, or someone just put those caps on there. But thats what they are for
 
Behind the plug all I see is a castle nut holding the washer against the bearing.

No Zerk fitting.

Am I missing something?

Thanks

Alex
 
Is the end of the spindle drilled and tapped? If not you could replace the dust cap with standard ones.
 
It is not drilled or tapped just a solid spindle.

So the dust covers I have are superfluous and I can just use the basic push on covers?
 
acolic said:
It is not drilled or tapped just a solid spindle.

So the dust covers I have are superfluous and I can just use the basic push on covers?
You could put on a set of Bearing Buddies.
 
Hi

I was checking out the instrument panel and out of steering gearbox is a plastic tube. It doesn't seem to be connected to anything.

Any ideas on what it is?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20160731_180135.jpg
    IMG_20160731_180135.jpg
    39.2 KB · Views: 1,859
  • IMG_20160731_180122.jpg
    IMG_20160731_180122.jpg
    34.8 KB · Views: 1,859
  • IMG_20160731_180125.jpg
    IMG_20160731_180125.jpg
    34.1 KB · Views: 1,859
It is for the steering cable when you make a turn. I forget what way - left or right. It does look like it has been cut off a bit though. Turn the wheel both directions and you should be able to see what I mean! :)
 
^^ yeah - it's a shroud for the cable that needs to move freely under your dash & keeps the cable from catching on your wiring & other what-not. Also, the cable is greased, so the track keeps you from coming in contact w/ the grease by accident.
 
Not sure I understand.

There's another black cable under the dash hooked up to the steering wheel and it runs all the way back to the engine. When I turn the wheel it freely moves left/right and so does the motor.

The one I'm referring is cut and just hanging there?

Any idea what it's purpose could have been?
 
As said in the earlier post when you turn the helm the steering cable will go into the plastic covering.
 
Get underneath and watch that plastic sheath as you turn the wheel from lock to lock - you'll see what we're talking about.
 
Hi,

ok I see it now.

I guess I can use the same grease as I used for the bearings to grease the cable?

Thanks
 
Hi,

I was pretty excited this weekend as I finished rewiring the boat.

I filled it up with water to test out the bilge system when I noticed a drip from the front bow.

There's a 3" horizontal gash in the bow letting in water really slow. The cut is really tight so it shouldn't be difficult to weld it shut.

So I decided to take off the front floor so I could get to both sides of the cut when I noticed how bad the floor really is.

So while I was planning to fix the floor next year I decided I might as well do it right now. The original floor was made up of two layers of 3/4 plywood.

Can you confirm my plan.

1. The longitudinals are somewhat bent over so I was going to get a piece of aluminum 'L' angle bracket and cut it into 2" sections and rivet it to the floor and to the longitudinal so that they are upright.
2. Fill in the gap between the longitudinals with blue or pink closed cell foam.
3. Not sure what to do between the outside longitudinals and the hull. I'm worried that if I put a floor down it will be unsupported along the outside. I was thinking of trying to cut piece of foam and placing it along the outside or filling the outside with expanding foam.
4. Using the existing floor as a template and replace it with 1/4" aluminum.
5. Once the new floor is in there was be a 1.5" gap below the console and front/rear casting deck. They are attached to brackets along the hull so once they are attached to the brackets they will sit off the floor. I could put a 1.5" wood spacer under them or try to move the brackets lower.
6. Once the floor is down use contact cement and glue down new marine carpet.

Looking forward to feedback.

Thanks
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20160821_092836.jpg
    IMG_20160821_092836.jpg
    32.7 KB · Views: 422
  • IMG_20160821_092825.jpg
    IMG_20160821_092825.jpg
    38.3 KB · Views: 422

Latest posts

Top