I think I bit off more than I can chew!!

So, my Dad moved from FL to CT where I live and gave me his 2009 Tracker Grizzly 1448 with a 25hp 4 stroke tiller Mercury right before winter.. I know, pretty nice! My first boat ever. So I sign up for this forum and research like crazy. I get all gung ho and buy everything to transform this boat to more of a bass boat. I bought plywood, marine adhesive, rivets, aluminum angle, a bilge pump, spar urethane, life vests, fire extinguisher, carpet - you name it! Now, I am very mechanically inclined but working on this boat seems more difficult than I expected. I did have my brother-in-law's help for a few hours. He does car restoration and interiors as well as wood working so he is all about this stuff. It took us three hours to get one piece of wood cut to extend the back deck. Then he took it home and sealed it and carpeted it and brought it back. Great right? Now he is busy with a Camaro restoration and has no time. I have no clue. I am afraid to carpet the rear bench because I don't want to screw it up and really have no idea about the aluminum framing for the extended front deck or cutting in compartments or battery location. I should have just used it as it is - but at this point I have already spent the money.
Something as simple as mounting the trolling motor. I have a Minn Kota 55 bow mount and wanted to screw the foot control into the deck so it does not move but with the provided mount on the boat the foot control moves off center when the motor is raised or lowered so I cant secure it. Also, I have an onboard charger and a fish finder I need to mount. Lots of work and I definitely respect all of you who have done this.

Does anyone have any advice?

I thank you for your time,
Rob

To eat an elephant, do so one bite at a time.
Perhaps plan in stages from a usable state, to one at a time projects. Don't do like some of us do, like me, and try to put a time limit on each stage or project. :roll:
Maybe mount your foot pedal to a heavy block of wood that has been carpeted and allow it to move when desired.
If you are bound and determined it shall not move in use, a latch(s) could be employed and unhooked to deploy or stow trolling motor.
For carpeting wood(wood cut after making a cardboard template for some items) over lap wood with a couple inches of material. Cut pie shaped wedges out of carpet on corners, from backside/backing of it with narrow part of V shape pointing towards wood and uncut material left ,enough to roll over all of wood edge and enough to staple to underside..
In other words leave enough uncut carpet to wrap over wood and allow stapling onto what will be the underside.
The wedge shapes removed are to avoid bunching or too thick of areas and large part of the remaining surplus can allow a purchase for securing..work edge of stapler through carpet fiber before triggering stapler for a better and cleaner result.
To fill gaps, or edge a wood piece left uncovered if desired "puff boards" can be made from small wood boards like one or two inch wide by needed length plywood, rolled and tucked like the above carpeted wood was.
That's how I used to customize vans anyway.
Practice on scraps with scrap material...
Allow for the bulk of carpet (where wrapped on edges) taking a quarter inch or so each side into your measuring of wood..again practice.
If a screw is run into and through carpet ,bump it hard to puncture carpet or have lots of pressure against it before hitting the trigger, Bumping works better for me as less likely to pull carpet fibers.
A clutch gun, or similar setting on a cordless drill where it slips when screw is home, helps a lot with even torque.
Motor,electrical,bilge pump,trailer bearings and such are all important to me.
The rest is slow cosmetic enhancements.
Break it down in to manageable segments. Keep it fun or it becomes work!

WaterWaif said:

To eat an elephant, do so one bite at a time.

Click to expand...

X2

If you have any questions, take lots of pictures, post them up and you'll get plenty of opinions on how to skin that cat.

For the TM, I used 1/4" ply with anti-slip tape on the bottom to keep it from sliding around, worked ok with the carpeted deck.

Sounds like you have a nice rig to start with. You may want to look at bobberboys 1448 to get some ideas.

Good luck!

X3

Fear not! I do this kind of thing all the time - bite off more than I chew, that is. Good for you. Dive in with both feet. It may seem scary but what's the alternative, to try nothing? You're on a learning journey and the way to know it and remember it is by having figured it out yourself. Read, read, read and ask questions. Take pics and post them. Lots of help to be found here. You're doing the right thing and will be fine. Just don't drill holes below the water line! :mrgreen:

X4

Start with something and finish it before starting another item. That way your list will be smaller and it will not seem like you still have everything to do on it. Pretty soon you will have it done or narrowed down to just a couple of items left.

There is nothing that states it has to be done immediately....is there? Take your time. Your brother-in-law sounds like a great brother-in-law and you can benefit from his knowledge and experience.

Sometimes slowing down makes things go good. You get time to think things through.

picture in your head what you want it to look like and like they said,one bite at a time.i bought my boat brand new and when i told the wife what i was up to she almost had a coronary.i'd never done a tin boat project before,only a fiberglass runabout.the tinny turned out far better than i'd ever dreamed it would.it came together plan wise as i was building it(.run your wires first).my only mistake was not utilizing the bow space.when i redo the decking up front in the next few years,i'm installing some sort of self draining cooler there.

I'm with everyone else, make a plan or picture and only worry about one thing at a time. If you get in trouble, take lots of pictures and post for help. The people of this board has been very helpful to me!

Like others have said keep it fun and take your time. One thing at a time. Make a list of things that need done starting with what first will make the boat useable then you can get her out on the water and get a better feel for how you would like it setup.

I also just got my first boat also a 1448. I decided to run it as is this year and later make mods as budget and time allows. So far I think I am going to keep it as is. Love how light and fast it is with only an outboard and my gear.

Just go for it, there is really only one way to learn and that is the hard way, by making a few mistakes. You can't really do anything that bad if you have any common sense. Think it through do a little research and get it done. You can do it.

Forget the others advice.... give it up and give it all to me.
I'll be there shortly to pick it up. :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

surfman said:

Just go for it, there is really only one way to learn and that is the hard way, by making a few mistakes. You can't really do anything that bad if you have any common sense. Think it through do a little research and get it done. You can do it.

Click to expand...

and that is the honest truth right there.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate all the advice. I think I will temporarily mount the battery for the trolling motor so it doesn't move around and get the thing on the water as suggested. I will bug my brother-in-law some more and take my time. You guys are the best!

Rob

I feel where you're coming from! I just got a good deal on an older 14ft wide bottom jon boat. I looked on YouTube at all the jon boat modifications, came to this website, and got all excited to do this restoration/modification. I got all the supplies I needed but when it finally came down to actually walking the walk, I got stuck. There was a lot more to do then I thought. After realizing this wasn't just gonna be an easy one day project, I told myself to focus on one thing at a time. Now I'm almost done with it. I just have to carpet everything up and I'll be on my way. Just finish one thing at a time and the boat will come together!

in MY world, I find that ENGINEERS, ARCHITECTS and DESIGNERS tend to have
short circuits between the left side and right side of their brains. . . . .
i.e. Those that know exactly what they want does not coincide with their talents or skills.
You said that you are mechanically inclined . . . with that being said, I give the same
advice over and over again..... DO NOT OVER THINK IT !!!
one small simple task at a time will soon get your project on the water.
If you make it hard - it will be.
If you over think every detail - you will become quickly overwhelmed and frustrated.
have fun - be safe - enjoy the ride.


I think that one mental thing that may help you is to hide all the stuff you bought for the boat.
out of sight - out mind.
then, when you get ready for a specific project - go get ONLY what you need out of the closet
to achieve that one task . . . and only work on that one task until it is done . . . try it.



.

You might post where you are located, as there may be fellow tin-boaters closer than you might imagine.

While working to make my boat and trailer usable I am also helping a fellow resurrect a Tracker from the late 80s or early 90s. Just like the forum members, we help each other in the areas where one of us is more skilled. For example I am heading out early tomorrow to a guy's house who is a MUCH better welder than I am and he is going to fix the crappy weld job I did on my trailer.

Oh - and LOTS of pictures always helps.

Very good advice here.

My $.02. Few years ago I had this old 1432 flat bottom with a 9.9 Evinrude. It did the job but limited me to a couple areas on small lakes and ponds. I really wanted something a little bigger to fish a larger lake and also the river. I get to looking on craigslist and found this old Tidecraft bass boat advertised at $1400 and got to looking at my finances...and I could do it. Called the lady up, turned out that she was getting divorce and said come look at it and if you don't like the price, make an offer. I saw an opportunity. The pics looked good and I was willing to give all of the $1400 for it. So I get there, lady was really nice but she was down on her luck. Great looking lady too. Anyway, she had to have some money for the mortgage payment. Which was $680. The boat was rougher but useable as it was-which I wanted. I knew the carpet was trashed. I was finding other problems here and there and the more I found wrong, the lower she kept dropping the price. We got to $700 and I said you know what, I want it. Got it home and found that the transom was rotted out, completely. Great. I can do a lot but I have never replaced a transom, not on a fiberglass boat or a tin. I called around and got estimates between $2500 and $3000. Jeez. I bit off more than I can chew!! So I start reading on the web. It looked like a real project but for $700, I was willing to try..it had $700 worth of motor and trolling motor on it so worse case, I could just sell the outboard and trolling motor for $700 and get my money back. So I stripped it down and figured out how to split the boat. Removed the cap with help from friends and yes the transom was SHOT! It was nothing but black rot. So were the stringers. I rebuilt it all with marine grade wood, exactly like what was in it. Took about 8 months of working daily a few hours after work. I was scared to death that I would never get it back together and it be safe. But with the help of the 'net and sites like this, I did it-and it's maiden voyage felt just awesome. Ended up selling it for $1500 because that's what I needed to buy a bigger tin boat with a 25 hp (which is what I really wanted in the first place). But it goes to show that if you put your mechanical mind to work, it can be done.

Pick out a plan. Step by step plan. And go for it. Need help, ask...these guys and gals on this site are REALLY good! Myself-I can build motors but I hate doing hull work and would rather pay someone else if I can afford to. I can do it, just don't like to.

Clint KY said:

You might post where you are located, as there may be fellow tin-boaters closer than you might imagine.

While working to make my boat and trailer usable I am also helping a fellow resurrect a Tracker from the late 80s or early 90s. Just like the forum members, we help each other in the areas where one of us is more skilled. For example I am heading out early tomorrow to a guy's house who is a MUCH better welder than I am and he is going to fix the crappy weld job I did on my trailer.

Oh - and LOTS of pictures always helps.

Click to expand...

My initial post does state that i live in CT.

Rob

I'm out in Kent, CT over on the NY line, nice to finally meet someone on here from my neck of the woods. I scanned through your post quickly, not quite sure if there is something specific you've got an issue with, but I'm happy to help. Where in this godforsaken liberal hell-hole do you live?

I come from a long line of DIY krauts...engineers, machinists & fabricators, so we've got the best and worst of both worlds...all the know-how and tooling to do anything under the sun, but the meticulous stubborn perfectionist tendencies that tend to make even the most simplistic objectives into an over-engineered drawn out endeavor. If you want an example just look at the spider's web of aluminum framing my father designed for me to support the front deck in my build thread --- all but pointless, the expanding foam supported the load just fine all I really needed was framing for the hatches and the seat support.

If I wasn't in over my head somewhere I wouldn't know where I was

Barefoot You are so right. I am a Mechanical Designer with 30 years experience and I over think even the smallest things.

I swear if it wasn't for my wife it would take me 3 months of research to paint a door. :LOL2: