The Hull you say.....1652 G3 new hull

After 20 years on this earth, my 1648 tinny leaked and leaked. After patching some fittings, and trying a number of other "fixes"...I decided that pulling the decking up and re-bucking all of the seemingly hundreds of rivets wasn't worth it.

Part of that decision was a comment by my trusted mechanic who said that, for a few years, some of those hulls were made without side-bracing. He knew of some that had cracked at the keel fitting. My old hull did not have the side-bracing so I decided that it was time for a new hull.

So, I shopped around and bought a 1652 G3. I could be had with decks in it or without. Since the dealer wanted $600.00 to put their deck on the boat, I decided I'd save a few bucks and do it myself. I pulled the old decking out of my 1648 before I trashed the boat.

By doing it myself, I had a chance to pull the #6 wires needed for my trolling motor under the decking, and pull more wires needed for bow lights, and my forward fishfinder. While I was doing that, I added two additional pull cords for future use. None of that would have been done had I had the dealer do the job.

I am in the process of adding closed cell blue foam sheets under the future decking.

I also salvaged the side-console out of my old boat. I had it installed by a dealer when they moved my old motor over. As you can see, it is due for a camo paint job, so as to match the new camo paint job on the new hull.

We have some out of town company, so progress is slow, but it is progress.

richg99

I raced a real pile of crap worn out Hobbie 16 years ago. The sails were bagged out. The hulls were heavy and leaked and it was in sad shape. I complained to a competitor that the reason I was getting beat was because my boat was worn out junk. He said "Well Mike.... There is nothing stated in the rule book that says you can't buy a new boat." Congratulations on the new boat!

Thanks, this boat was owned by me for only two years. That is a long time in my fleet, it seems. Anyhow, that is what my wife says.

It is, however, only the second new boat that I've ever bought and the first one was 20 years or so ago.

richg99

Congrats on the new hull Rich! Subscribing to see how this turns out.

Congratulations also!
I think you will be very pleased with that boat, keep us updated on progress.

Way to go Rich. Looking forward to your progress.

I would love to have a new Lund but the funds just aren't there so I'm stuck with my old ones.

Great job on the new hull. I am kicking myself for buying my Alumacraft NCS with the floor already installed. It has been a bear to say the least just to run the transducer cable to my tiller console. Live and learn next time it will be without a floor for easy access to the channels under the ribs.

Congrats on the new hull, good winter time project for you. Enjoy the build.