First Boat Purchase

After a few weeks of searching and taking a look at a few different boats, I made my first purchase yesterday.

I bought a 1985 Sears Gamefisher jonboat with trailer. Its 14 feet long and measures a little over 36 inches across the bottom of the hull. The man I purchased the boat from gave me a pretty good deal on a 15HP Mercury outboard engine as well.







I spent a good time this morning scrubbing the layer of black scum and weather off the boat. The previous owner had the boat parked under some trees in his driveway with no cover on it. After cleaning it today, I filled the hull up about 4 or 5 inches with water to check some of the rivets on the flooring. It turns out I only have one rivet that needs tightened and really it wasn't that bad of a leak.

From what little I know about boats, it appears the transom wood will need to be replaced. I have attached a picture, so tell me what you guys think about that or recommend me to get.



The trailer needs a good cleaning or possibly painting, but that will wait for now.

Nice little rig. My only reccomendation is put in a floor, some seats & nav/anchor lights.
The go fishing!
The transom wood does look a little worn, is it rotten or weak? If so, replace it with a good exterior grade plywood (NOT pressure treated).

You recommend exterior grade plywood? Should I coat it in something like Thompson's Waterseal, or will just it being exterior grade be good enough.

You mention to put in a floor, what are my chances of putting in some storage as well. I don't think this boat is going to be quite wide enough for a deck up front, but once I get it on the water I'm going to test it out.

kbkid said:

You recommend exterior grade plywood? Should I coat it in something like Thompson's Waterseal, or will just it being exterior grade be good enough.

You mention to put in a floor, what are my chances of putting in some storage as well. I don't think this boat is going to be quite wide enough for a deck up front, but once I get it on the water I'm going to test it out.

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Yes for sure coat it. If you have time....2 coats. Make sure you get the edges.

Thompsons will be better than nothing. Although, on the can, it says only one coat, and recommends NOT putting a second coat. However, whenever I do boat transoms on tin boats, I use a minimum of 3 coats of spar varnish, and make sure to seal all my bolt holes in the plywood (inside too - it isn't to stop leaks, but to stop water from getting into the plywood), with 3M 5200,

You could also use the spray on bed lining that you do yourself to waterproof the new transom. Spray the whole thing with a couple coats and it should stay sealed up.

What do you guys think my chances of getting some storage built are?

do it!! my boat is a 1432 and im gonna make the top of the seats into lids and for the very front seat, im gonna extend it back kinda like a deck but not use it as one and have that as jugline storage

A good quality exterior house paint will be just as good or better than Thompsons water seal.
Use two or three thin coats and make sure to soak the edges with each coat.

Storage? If you take the foam out of part of your center seat you could make some storage, even put a hatch cover on it. But then you have less floatation, which isnt an issue unless:
1. you get swamped;
or
2. sell the boat (liability).

Nice rig, and look forward to your planned mods! 8)

Storage and/or flooring and deck.

I'm taking it out tomorrow morning so we'll see how it goes.

I'm also having a hard time finding the model number on my Mercury engine. I would like to pick up a manual for the engine, but its becoming more difficult to do so.

The serial number is 0B319929. I believe the motor was built in or around 1988.



Can anyone help in finding more information out about it.

Very nice boat man. A 1436 is borderline on decking and personally I wouldn't do it. This season I watched a lot of 'Lindners Angling Edge' on Cable and it dawned on me that none of the boats on that show have decked casting platforms. There's a lot of advantage to having your weight at the bottom of the boat where it belongs. I'd just go with a floor, and build you whatever kind of storage you want and go fishing.