Alumacraft 1648 Mod Help

:shock: So i bought this boat last year and fished with it (new mercury 9.9 as well) and i want to mod it like others have been. I am around 250 lbs and i almost always fish with someone else... im wanting to put plywood and carpet just about most of the surface area inside the boat. Any one have any ideas or suggestions on reading material that is out there? Any major things i should definately look out for?


any help would be greatful, ill also be reading the previous posts around the board!

thank you!
Matt

I am sure you will lots of help here


Welcome aboard

Try doing a search - lots of mods from start to finish already listed

And please post a pic of the boat

this website is probably one of the best resources for reading materials - where else can you get pictures to go along with a tutorial!

check out the boats on this page : https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3156 there are a lot of good mods on this page and you can always contact the people who posted... this really is a family forum.

Welcome Aboard! :beer:

This is a pic of my boat by the way.... Does anyone have any reccomended carpentry books i should read? Im not much of a carpenter because i dont seem to do much of that type of stuff, but obviously i know about support and how to drive a nail or screw lol.

Basically im worried about building something too heavy without knowing what the consequences could be.

any more suggestions is great! im checking out as much on this forum as i can!

welcome aboard mate

Your worries sound just like mine when I started, so here's my project and see if you pic up anything from it, keep posting questions.

https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3586

My first question is do these boats seem to do good with a deck straight across from the Middle seat to the front? or will that make things unstable? i know different variables would effect the outcome and stability, But i think boats made like that look really sharp haha.

Either way im going to put ply wood on the floors and carpet it so that you can stand without worrying about tripping on rivets. I have the livewell built in middle seat and will probably put an aerator into it so i can compete in the future in fishing tourneys.

THERE IS JUST SO MUCH I WANT TO DO BUT WITH SO LITTLE KNOWLEDGE lol

thanks again,
Matt

since you have a 48" floor, you should have no stability problems with a front deck. I would only make the deck for the portion infront of the middle bench up to the front deck. Make it even with the middle bench top, and level it up to the front of the boat. You may have a little lip at the front, but that won't be a problem. You can glue carpet directly to the aluminum bench and front deck, so that shouldn't pose any problems as well.

As far as carpentry books... well, I'm not real sure. But this site is only a click away to find out what you want to know about. For starters, decide how much money you want to put into the mods. Aluminum angle will be lighter in weight, as opposed to using wood support, but it's more pricey. Since you are 250lbs, I wouldn't suggest any smaller than 3/4" exterior plywood (non treated, the chemicals in treated wood will eat up your aluminum). For bracing, you should be alright with supports starting at the front of the bench seat (3/4" shorter than where your deck will meet the top of the bench), and then more bracing running to the front of the deck.

If I get a chance tonight, I'll draw up a diagram of your boat showing where supports should go, as well as making storage space with accessible lids. Once you make your first cut, you'll have more of an idea of what to look for and what needs to be cut at what angle and length. If you can find a refrigerator box, you can use that as a template for your deck, and then transfer that to your plywood for cutting.

Thanks for the tips! That would be awesome of you to do. Im going to be checking out prices today to see how much i can expect (ball park figure) to spend. If you get a chance to do that diagram for me id greatly appreciate it.

just two more quick questions then hopefully ill be okay for the next day or two ha

1.) Why the heck do people use foam in their boats?

2.) How much weight do you think (estimate) this will add to my boat?


thanks again to everyone im glad i joined this site.

One more thing. I couldnt find an exact picture of my boat online and i didnt feel like going out in the -10 degree weather to take a picture but the pic i have is EXACTLY the same as what i have except the front of my boat is straight across not traingle shaped.

Foam is used as a flotation device in the event your boat was to capsize... it keeps it afloat. For normal operation, I don't think it does anything but that. So if you take out the foam, don't flip!

It's hard to know exactly how much weight you are going to add... but I've got a 1236 and I decked the floor inbetween the rear and front bench with 3/4" ply and 2x2 braces resting on top of the ribs... this piece weighs about 25lbs.. the front deck has 2x2 braces and 3/4" ply and I would guess it weighs about 35-40lbs..

My biggest weight gain was on batteries- 3 deep cycle 29 series at about 60lbs each. I have 2 in my middle bench, and one in the rear.

I won't make promises to get you a picture tonight, but I'll do my best. Good to know that you have a flat front jon though - in my opinon you get more room.

So your boat looks like this, only in a 16' version?

Exactly like that.


how easy is it to capsize? i actually tried to turn my jon boat over once (just to prove to a friend it wouldnt) i put both my hands on the side of the boat while standing in the water and jumped in pushing all my weight on the edge and it stayed above water by a lot.

so should i assume if i add these modifications i will no longer be able to climb in and out the side as easy if needed? or should i be worried that it will capsize? keep in mind the biggest waves im going to see in ohio is maybe 2 feet.

I'm not sure about that... I've never been in a jon boat with waves.. well, bassboy1 has a 15' and we hit some pretty rough water, but I was never scared thinking we would capsize. He might be able to let you know a little more info about that. he's also go an awesome boat that he modded in all aluminum, with a very detailed posting on this site... here's the link: https://www.shareaproject.com/pages/projectTut,p,482,00.html

he's on this site a lot and I fish with him in that boat pretty often... probably the smartest 15 year old you will ever meet.. a lot smarter than most people my age and I'm 30

OhioStateBuckeye said:

Exactly like that.


how easy is it to capsize? i actually tried to turn my jon boat over once (just to prove to a friend it wouldnt) i put both my hands on the side of the boat while standing in the water and jumped in pushing all my weight on the edge and it stayed above water by a lot.

so should i assume if i add these modifications i will no longer be able to climb in and out the side as easy if needed? or should i be worried that it will capsize? keep in mind the biggest waves im going to see in ohio is maybe 2 feet.

Click to expand...

Biggest thing to worry about is swamping, not capsizing. To capsize (overturn) that rig, you will need a LOT of force, and that force will have to be trying to flip your rig. Very unlikely in a boat that stable. Now, swamping is a different story. That is where the boat is still sitting level, but full of water. I for one, don't put foam in jons. Larger boats are a different story. It will take quite a bit to swamp a boat of those dimensions too. 2 - 3 people standing on a gunwale won't do it, unless you are in real rough water at that time. 2 foot waves won't do it, unless you put all 3 people on one corner of the bow, or one corner of the transom. Reason I don't install it is it really isn't a safety issue in the inland lakes, rivers, and intracoastal flats where I fish. If for whatever reason the boat goes, the PFD will keep me as safe as a swamped boat would (you can still drown just as easily in a swamped boat when unconscious as in a PFD when unconscious). Then, a short swim will get me to land. Plus, the dangers that would cause a sinking are less where I boat. Now, on the 20 footer that I am building, flotation foam will likely be used, as that will likely get use 5 or more miles off shore every now and then, so I would want the boat to stay, as a swamped boat is easier to find than a lone person in a PFD.

I forgot to look at page 2, and missed Russ010s post. #-o

Yep, my boat is a good 8 inches shorter (on the high side of 15 feet) and 6 inches less bottom width as your boat. I do have it in waves more than 2 feet quite often. The wind will really whip up these lakes, and more commonly, ski boats, and larger cabin cruisers will throw huge wakes. I have my trolling motor a lot deeper than is considered normal, and I have been in waves where it comes out of the water, and the boat doesn't have a problem. Biggest thing is it wants to launch you out when fishing on the bow deck like that. Heck, I used to face those conditions in a 12 foot vee with 4 horse Evinrude, and never had any safety concerns until the wakes started getting to 4 feet high out in the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

In your case, I wouldn't add the foam. You shouldn't have a problem at all regarding that. Now, whether or not you put the foam in, PFDs should be accessible at all times. I have mine worn when the boat is running, and while fishing, they are on deck, never stowed. That can easily save a life, and there is no reason to gamble with it.

Well i always wear a pfd at all times anyways. Use to do a lot of duck hunting and wore them at all times then too. Around here where ill be fishing my boat will never be more than half mile away from shore. I mean all summer i never saw more than a foot wave and they came from other boats. the only time the water is moving to where its hard to stear or over 1 foot waves is early spring

Another Question, how high in the water should your boat be with people in it? That way i know if things are too heavy or not.

sorry it's taken me so long to get this done... but this is how I would do it.

the black lines indicate storage spaces...

In the mid section, I extended the part infront of the bench for storage and the rear seat pedestal. I would use the pin pedestals and then store them in the rear bench when not in use. Same as for the front 2 locations for seats - you can always use either one or both at the same time. That's another reason I did the bracing, to support the extra weight.

You will save a lot of weight if you go all aluminum... but it will get expensive. If you can find a local scrap yard many times you can find pieces you can use. Don't worry about the looks, it's not going to be seen anyways.




Let me know if you can't see it well enough on here.. I can always email it to you. I did it in photoshop, but I have it saved as a jpeg file. Hope it helps

OhioStateBuckeye said:

Another Question, how high in the water should your boat be with people in it? That way i know if things are too heavy or not.

Click to expand...

I've got about 4-6 inches in the front.. I've got a lot of weight up front, but I can stand on the front bench and still not bring in water.. it's also pretty steady

Couple minor things in that drawing. First of all, if you are going to be running a tiller, you do not want to extend your deck forward, or you will be sitting on a pedestal seat, while operating a tiller. Not exactly my idea of fun. You are also likely going to want a pedestal base offset on the right, so you can reach the tiller without twisting your arm around you.

Second thing. The problem with putting a battery in those boxes is that they taper in at the bottom (hull does). While the top would fit a battery, you couldn't put it all the way in, as it tapers to nothing.