Sureshots 1442 Rebuild

Well this past week i finally broke down and bought one. Its 14' long and 5' wide. I plan on decking and putting in a live well and a radio and what not. I was wondering what else would be a good idea to add, or any dos or donts.

Ive made a little progress so far but i want to wait to do most of the work in the winter so i can use it until the end of the season. It came with 4 plastic seats, and it was wired for night fishing. I removed all wiring and the seats, and i have slowly started sanding the botom of the boat so i can paint her soon. I want to paint her a dark charcoal grey, like graphite, with the sparkly bass boat gel coat.

Here are some pics as of now:

You can see what all i took out.

Nice boat, where in Kentucky do you live?

I think you are on the right track, prep, paint first. I would do some trial runs on the boat standing up before decking her out.

Nice project.What's the floor measurement?

Well ive had her out twice, she is really sturdy, i jumped and shook and she handled it perfectly fine.

I live in Union, about 20 minutes south of cincy.

At the widest point the boat measures 5ft wide, but the widest spot on the floor is a little under 4ft

Sounds like you got a 1440 or 1442.Good size boat.

Its a good size. When i deck it off it will be a little under 5 ft wide where the floor is.

Well, I finally got back to work. I stripped her to the bare shine she had, and slapped some primer on her. The paint is in the mail and should be here soon - Im using Rustoleum Marine Coats Top Side. I havent decided if im going to paint her first or wait until it warms up and start the modding process. Its about 15 degrees outside, and even with a 30,000 BTU heater its still pretty chilly.

Anyway, I've been snooping around the forum and have choosen the layout I think will fit what I want the most out of my tinny. You can see in the picture the different stuff I'll be putting in.

This weekend I'll be taking a trip to Home Depot, getting most of the lumber, water proofer and hardware. Its going to be a long weekend of work. I cant wait. Any tips or comments are appreciated. =D>

I do plan on fully removing the middle seat,so I can have a rod locker and a good place for my livewell. However I do plan on keeping my structural intregrety by using 2x4's. Also there wille be speaker installed for my radio, I'm just unsure where they will be placed.

KEY:
Purple - Battery(s)
Red - Gas
Grey - Motor
Lt Blue - Storage
Yellow - Cooler
Green - Under a door will be a control panel, switches, battery meter, outlets, radio head unit and what not, also possilbe storage
Dark blue - Seat
Orange - storage, and other compartments
Olive - rod locker
Brown - Lure storage (like baptist preach's)
Pink - live well
Dark brown - TM mount and TM

Great boat!! Those are the same dimensions as my boat. I also am looking at adding a rod locker and a livewell so I'm interested to see how this turns out! Question for you: Will the deck go from about the middle seat-ish area of the boat all the way to the bow? Or will it go to just under the bow and you will have a small step up (2 inch) to the bow? It's annoying that the front bench/deck is slightly higher than the middle seats. I'm looking forward to this!

You're right, that 2 inch lip is very annoying. I havent figured that one out yet, but I've been pondering it going back and forth between the two. In the end, Ill probably have a small lip and keep the front decked level. And find a way to use that to my advantage.

I went out to Home Depot today, got all my lumber and got home and went to work. I almost have the middle seat out.

I have one question -

I bought my 2x2's and then went to get the brackets but they dont have them, where can I get them from?

looking good!

also, when you are running the heater are you also running a fan to help circulate the heat? either a ceiling fan or an old box fan hung from the ceiling can make all the difference. It doesnt take much, just need to stir the air up a little.

Thanks. Im working hard on her, and I didnt even think of that. Thats a great idea.

Hey sureshot what ya using for a livewell an iceschest or a regular livewell. Looks like a fun project though hopefully soon I will have my pics up of my mod.

I dont know what to tell you about the 2x2 brackets.. theyre called simpson(s) strong ties and no HD's in my area have them either...

Im going to use a rubermaid container, pretty much dead on the write up in the activities section of this site.

And i guess I'll have to order them online, I just dont know how many to get because I havent done this before, and it just becomes a hassle when you have to reorder, ya know?

Thats what I'm concerned with.. If I come up two short, I'll be bummed out.. plus shipping costs are really starting to get on my nerves. I ordered a 72 inch SS piano hinge and UPS effed up the box so it got returned before I even got to assess the damage, so now I get to wait even longer for the package I paid a ton of money for...


Lucky for them, its not close to spring.. or a certain substance would be hitting the fan... :lol:

I know what you mean, and I totally forgot to order my hinges, thank you.. :wink: Man this project is gretty really expensive!! But im thinking it will totally be worth it in the end. I graduate high school in spring and I'm bringing it to colege with me. Paying for all of it with a part time job, and fueling a truck that gets under 10 mpg - may paycheck dissappears ever so quickly.

you can say that again. I had 500 saved up for my mod, then BPS had a new minnkota TM for just over 200 so there that went. Then I made two orders for the remainder of my livewell stuff and switch panel and some doodads, and now I have 60 bucks left and a 1/4 tank of gas. :shock:


Enjoy taking it to college with you. Wish I would have had the opportunity to do that.. hunting and fishing is the reason I decided to come home after a year and go to school. #-o

Just a quick question while I continue work in my gargae --

One of the people I'll be taking fishing with me is my father, he is a pretty big guy probably 285 pounds. Im about 165.

How bad do I need to worry about weight with my rebuild? Im using 2x2's and plywood?

Sureshot said:

Just a quick question while I continue work in my gargae --

One of the people I'll be taking fishing with me is my father, he is a pretty big guy probably 285 pounds. Im about 165.

How bad do I need to worry about weight with my rebuild? Im using 2x2's and plywood?

Click to expand...

With your size boat you probably have nothing to worry about