Full Time Duck Boat, Part time Fishing Boat Build

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joepowe8

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Hello to all. I have been searching for a forum like this for quite some time. I posted my build on ar1.com and someone pointed me over here. This is a great place and I have learned a lot in the past two nights.

My boat is a 14 something Polar Kraft. It has been in and out of my family longer than I have been in my family. My brother and I finally inherited it last summer. The motor came to us in a milk crate and that took all summer to rebuild. It is a 15 Evinrude. It is currently torn apart again to replace a bearing and has been for a while. We have upgraded to a 1981 Mariner 30hp.

We used the boat in the local river last summer and hunted just about everyday last season. That gave me plenty of boat time to develop a plan of exactly what kind of boat I wanted. I contemplated buying one, but being a college student it wasn't in the budget. So here goes where I am so far.

Nobody scream, but I have removed the middle bench seat. I know it will break the boat eventually, but I just had to do it. Anyways, I have removed the seat and put a level floor from front to back. Then I built a deck that is about 4 feet long. There is also a pedestal seat in front of the deck. This weekend, it is going to get a camo paint job and a olive drap interior. I test drove it after the deck and floor were installed and am very impressed. It almost seams like the added weight helped with the handling.

All I have left to do is buy Styx River Neo Pads for the floor, an anchor, and possibly put some electricity in the boat. Just dont want to have the weight of a full size battery. Contemplating a lawnmower batter if it will power what I need it to.(Spot light and interior leds).

Anyways...
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Thanks Bufford. I looked at your thread...looks like you have a nice setup too. Have you gotten the lawnmower batteries yet? I'm thinking about getting just one to run a spotlight and some interior leds. How long do you think they would run with just one lawn mower battery?
 
Nice looking boat,bet she flies with that 30hp on her.
Gotta ask,what was the stapeler for?
Those led lights don't draw much power at all,a spotlight with halogen bulb(15watt?)will draw around 1.25amps.
I googled lawnmower batteries and the aH of them varies 15-35aH...so in theory anywhere from 12 to over 24 hours?I didn't think it would be that long but thats what my math says...
If your doing alot of recharging of batteries(y),a deep cycle would be best(longest lasting,years),although you can recharge lawnmower batteries,thats not what there made for.A small deep cycle will not be much bigger(if any)then a lawnmower battery.
I have a rechargable spotlight,just never hooked it to my battery to see how long it would last.
I think they make LED spotlights now,they for sure would draw alot less power then a halogen bulb.
 
joepowe8 said:
Thanks Bufford. I looked at your thread...looks like you have a nice setup too. Have you gotten the lawnmower batteries yet? I'm thinking about getting just one to run a spotlight and some interior leds. How long do you think they would run with just one lawn mower battery?

Thanks man. I haven't done the battery thing yet, Zum's math looks promising though. I don't do much fishing at night...yet...so no rush on my end. I'll keep you posted though.

Bufford
 
Looks good. Plenty open for the dekes and a seat up front so someone can watch for the early morning "bumps" :mrgreen:
 
I hit one early morning bump last season. The whole boat turned up on one side. SCARED me to death. There was snow on the ground and everything.
 
If you're going to run a spot light for more than 4-5 hours at a time - don't waste your money on a lawnmower battery - go ahead and get a deep cycle 24 series battery from Auto Zone... they are some of the best 24series I've ever used and they last forever. Not to mention you can get them on sale for like $50 and they're not heavy
 
Well, after another long saturday, I'm about 95% done. All the mods are done, just have to install everything in the boat. I have to camo the outboard and hang it on the back. Yesterday I camo'ed the boat with styx river stencils. I am pretty impressed with the results, but sort of wish I had used darker colors.

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Looks like a real nice job.
Give us a full body shot(boat).
Shadow grass pattern?
Looks like it.
 
Haven't used it much, but I think if you open the picture you want there is a resize button you can click on. From what I remember, you can use preset sizes that they have for you or a custom size using the slide buttons. Hope this helps.
 
Finally got around to getting the finished pictures up. I ended up painting the motor OD Green. Don't have any pictures of it yet. I test drove it last weekend. Pretty nice. feels more responsive since its a lot heavier.

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Nice camo job!!1

Where are you hunting? Our regular duck season opens here, southeast La., in November, this weekend is our last weekend for teal season.

Do you have a blind for the boat?
 
Thanks. I used styx river stencils. It went on pretty easy. About a day of prep and an hour of spraying. I wish I had used a darker green for the base, but I was still pretty impressed with the results.

I hunt in Marion SC on the big and little Pee Dee River. We have a three day season during Thanksgiving then a longer season from December to the first of Jan. I boutght a blind from cabelas last year. I have fast grass on it. I'll post some pics closer to the season start. I take it off for the summer.

Some buddies have been to la hunting, they said it was great. I'm planning on some hunting trips as I get more into and have more funds.
 
I built a frame and used fast grass on mine...that stuff is pretty durable had it for about four years now.

I don t know how to get the link to this page ,but you can go to "teal season opens this weekend" and see pictures of the boat blind there . It is under boat modifications. If you want to......
 

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