1448 lowe jon, new to me

I bought me a new jet boat off craigslist sunday for $500. I am extremely pleased with my purchase. The trailer had just been redone and it has all aluminum decks. Here is it as I bought it:


The deck was just sitting in it, the PO said the person that had it before them had a fiberglass livewell and the supports broke. I scrounged around at the salvage yard and came up with awesome supports, a previously complete aluminum ladder or $5 worth of scrap aluminum:



A couple hours later and a few beers we had the braces built to suit me:

Once we got the floor bolted on it was really on there:


Tomorrow I might put some more bracing on the underside then its on to the transom to extend it for the jet.

i like the ladder idea

Congrats on the new purchase. That was a killer price for that boat.

thanks, I am very happy with it.

Decked from the middle seat to the bow...I like that. Ladder framing is really cool. Looking forward to watching this build. Love my 1448.

I worked on teh boat for a couple hours tonight by myself. The deck was pretty strong but there were some issues like the front seat mount and places that felt "soft" for lack of a better word. I put some reinforcing in strategic areas to make the front deck stout enough that my 300lb lard butt doesnt make it sag anywhere.



I did spent another $12 on a chunk of 1.5" x4' angle from the hardware store. Along with fasteners and a couple cutting wheels the cost is up to around $20 :mrgreen:

My next concern is building a trolling motor mount for my new trolling motor. I got a 56lb thrust 12/24 motorguide foot control from the salvage yard for.............$5, and no I am not kidding. It works just fine too. Anyways I need to build a mount for the trolling motor and extend the transom and I should be ready to fish! I am going to redo the carpet this summer.

The build is looking great! You're really finding some sweet deals too. Congrats. Now quit rubbing it in. :LOL2:

Keep up the great work! What are you powering this boat with? Did I miss that part?

fender66 said:

The build is looking great! You're really finding some sweet deals too. Congrats. Now quit rubbing it in. :LOL2:

Keep up the great work! What are you powering this boat with? Did I miss that part?

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1996 25hp merc with a jet pump. I also have a 9.9 mariner that I hope will plane the boat out. I only need the 9.9 for the buffalo river.

Last night I cut the pieces out for the bow mount trolling motor mount. I took them to my TIG welding class tonight and welded them up. Here are the pieces:

and in under an hour the finished product:

This was my first time welding aluminum, and I am very happy with how it turned out.

That looks heavy as all get out. Nice job though - wish I could weld.

Jdholmes said:

That looks heavy as all get out. Nice job though - wish I could weld.

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it is way easier than you think.
Mounted it last night, its plenty stout.

I am pretty sure I could take to it...I would like to take a class in the next couple years. Looks great installed!

I got the trolling motor mounted tonight and this evening I took the boat out for its maiden voyage. The motor was too high on the transom so I had to come home and cut it down some. I put the 9.9 to the left of the transom extension and that worked great. With just me(and the 25hp sitting in the floor) the boat would SLOWLY plane out and maxed out at around 11mph. I am going to go down a bit on the pitch and try again.

I finalLy have it ready to fish. Trolling motor mounted and wired, seats set up, and test drive out of the way. I have the motor just about right where it needs to be and with one person and the boat loaded it will do 20mph.

Nice! Great job on the bow mount!

Looks great, and with the lighting in that picture, the front seat looks like a throne for a KING. Shining in it's adornment! :LOL2:

fender66 said:

Looks great, and with the lighting in that picture, the front seat looks like a throne for a KING. Shining in it's adornment! :LOL2:

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haha, it feels like it! I also have a adjustable pedastle and butt seat that I am going to keep under the deck for bass fishing.

I added some tackle storage to the boat tonight. I got a rubbermaid tote from wal-mart.

I used some alumium pieces to clamp the tub to the underside of the deck.

I was able to empty my tackle bag into it with room to spare.


The tote costed around $8

Very nice. You going to put a lid on it?

Looks like there is a lid attached to the deck. Nice job so far! Wish we had a scrap yard like that around here! lol