Bigkat650
Well-known member
Hello everyone!
I apologize ahead of time if I get a bit long winded here. First, a quick background. I live in upstate NY, so the boating season is short here. Parents have always had boats--always newer fiberglass models throughout the years. I have always had a passion for fishing, and throughout my life I have predominately fished from shore. So I have been looking for a steal of a deal on a boat for about 6 months now. Of course during the summer, the demand is high, and consequently--boats never sell for less then $400-$500, even for small row boats. I needed to find something for closer to $250, with a trailer.
Luckily, last Sunday--I found my deal!! A craigslist special, had a simple 2 sentence description about it on craigslist, with no picture. The best words in the entire ad was 'MUST SELL THIS WEEKEND!'. After some emailing back and forth--I decided to drive out about an hour away to check out the boat. All I knew was it was a 14ft aluminum v-hull, it was larger then a row boat, and had a trailer. The seller was asking $300. Upon inspection, the boat was rough--but as advertised. It was fairly apparent the boat had been stripped down at some point in its life, as the walls and transom have several places where small holes have been drilled in the boat. I honestly had no idea what I was looking at, but minus the small drill holes, the entire hull seemed very solid. No major dents or dings, nothing bent or really out of place. Knowing that I was going to have to put some money into the trailer, and get the holes fixed--I felt comfortable offering $200. After a little negotiating, we settled on $220.
Notice the Black Square in the pic below--this is where 2 small holes are in the bottom of the transom.
This image is a zoomed in picture of where the holes are in the bottom of the transom
View of the holes in the Transom from the outside
Zoomed in on the holes from the outside... Idea's on what these holes were or how to fix these? Probably will have to weld
The image below shows some of the several holes in the side of the boat. I assume where different things we're mounted over the years.
This image shows more of the holes in the nose cone
After about an hour of research, I thought I had a late 1950's Alumacraft model FD. However, after taking in the evidence of the pulley's--lack of a front seat--and the bracing which runs from nose to stern, I was thinking it is a very unique FD model. Finally I found a model number on the transom support, and sure enough--it says FDR! Which answers all the questions I had on the seating, the pulleys, and some of the holes in the hull.
Ultimately, I am glad it is the FDR model. I am also glad it is already stripped down, as that makes a lot of my job easier. What I am thinking is I will clean it up and paint all the seams/rivets with Gluvit and do a simple ply floor. Add a tiller motor and a couple swivel seats--and perhaps 2 raised decks (1 in front and 1 in back) for fishing and storage.
It should be a real fun project, and I cant wait to hear what everyone thinks of my boat, my deal, and idea's for what I should do!! Thanks for sticking around and getting to the end of the post!! :LOL2:
I apologize ahead of time if I get a bit long winded here. First, a quick background. I live in upstate NY, so the boating season is short here. Parents have always had boats--always newer fiberglass models throughout the years. I have always had a passion for fishing, and throughout my life I have predominately fished from shore. So I have been looking for a steal of a deal on a boat for about 6 months now. Of course during the summer, the demand is high, and consequently--boats never sell for less then $400-$500, even for small row boats. I needed to find something for closer to $250, with a trailer.
Luckily, last Sunday--I found my deal!! A craigslist special, had a simple 2 sentence description about it on craigslist, with no picture. The best words in the entire ad was 'MUST SELL THIS WEEKEND!'. After some emailing back and forth--I decided to drive out about an hour away to check out the boat. All I knew was it was a 14ft aluminum v-hull, it was larger then a row boat, and had a trailer. The seller was asking $300. Upon inspection, the boat was rough--but as advertised. It was fairly apparent the boat had been stripped down at some point in its life, as the walls and transom have several places where small holes have been drilled in the boat. I honestly had no idea what I was looking at, but minus the small drill holes, the entire hull seemed very solid. No major dents or dings, nothing bent or really out of place. Knowing that I was going to have to put some money into the trailer, and get the holes fixed--I felt comfortable offering $200. After a little negotiating, we settled on $220.
Notice the Black Square in the pic below--this is where 2 small holes are in the bottom of the transom.
This image is a zoomed in picture of where the holes are in the bottom of the transom
View of the holes in the Transom from the outside
Zoomed in on the holes from the outside... Idea's on what these holes were or how to fix these? Probably will have to weld
The image below shows some of the several holes in the side of the boat. I assume where different things we're mounted over the years.
This image shows more of the holes in the nose cone
After about an hour of research, I thought I had a late 1950's Alumacraft model FD. However, after taking in the evidence of the pulley's--lack of a front seat--and the bracing which runs from nose to stern, I was thinking it is a very unique FD model. Finally I found a model number on the transom support, and sure enough--it says FDR! Which answers all the questions I had on the seating, the pulleys, and some of the holes in the hull.
Ultimately, I am glad it is the FDR model. I am also glad it is already stripped down, as that makes a lot of my job easier. What I am thinking is I will clean it up and paint all the seams/rivets with Gluvit and do a simple ply floor. Add a tiller motor and a couple swivel seats--and perhaps 2 raised decks (1 in front and 1 in back) for fishing and storage.
It should be a real fun project, and I cant wait to hear what everyone thinks of my boat, my deal, and idea's for what I should do!! Thanks for sticking around and getting to the end of the post!! :LOL2: