1972 Alumacraft F-9 Lake Master

After you buy the 25hp, take down all the vital information about the guy, his address, his family members, his birthdate, and his plans for his future and never, ever, let him go. He is more priceless than the boat or motor.

Congratulations, and best wishes.

=D>

Kismet said:

After you buy the 25hp, take down all the vital information about the guy, his address, his family members, his birthdate, and his plans for his future and never, ever, let him go. He is more priceless than the boat or motor.

Congratulations, and best wishes.

=D>

Click to expand...

Oh he's not going anywhere. He owned/ran a tackle/baitshop with small outboard repair in the back here in town until business went down - kids would prefer to catch fish on their I-Phones than on the lake.

So he 'retired' and runs the repair/rebuild business out of his garage.

We've only got one mom & pop tackle/baitshop left in the area - down from 6 fifteen years ago - and the city it's in is closing that one to open another car dealership on the property.

In any case - I did buy it...
1973 Evinrude model 25352A - 25hp electric start. He ran it for me when I went to look at it. Started right up, idles smooth, shifts easily, and churns water quite well.

Congrats on the motor! You are getting closer and closer.

Slowly making progress - cockpit area is done. Vertical transition piece between this and the casting deck is being sealed, starboard casting deck is being sealed. The NOCO plug in will be mounted to the transition piece, that connects to the Genius 2 that's in the electrical compartment.



I lucked out on the forward hinge for the gas-tank compartment lid - the two outside holes lined up perfectly with the two left-forward mounting holes for the kingpin base.

It's been slow going the past week-and-a-half - I came down with The Covid. It's not much more than a bad cold for me, but it's still making me draggy.

Take your time getting well, but for sure, get well.

The boat, motor, and soon-to-be crew's quarters will wait for you.

Kismet said:

Take your time getting well, but for sure, get well.

The boat, motor, and soon-to-be crew's quarters will wait for you.

Click to expand...

Thanks - and yes, I'm not doing too much and resting when I start feeling 'worse'. I think I'm on the back-side of it though - I feel loads better today than I did just 3-4 days ago. I did take a couple days off of the work...reason I'm behind (more).

If our projects had to hold to a schedule, they'd need much more re-vamping/fixing.

Way it's looking - probably early next week and I'll be putting the finishing touches on this.

Hatch-lids for casting deck are currently being Varathaned before carpeting
Transition piece between casting deck and TM deck is currently being sealed before painting
TM battery is ordered, should arrive Friday and I'll get that in
TM support just needs to be bolted down
Some wiring to run between the ends and the connections for the sonar and bow USB ports
Finish painting the port side of the outer hull - starboard side is done and ready for decals.

Ya, it's getting close.

Almost there! Looks like a decked out fishing boat, now.

So close now - need to
Finish and install the hatches
Finish painting the port-outer hull
Apply decals
A bit of electrical work - install a standard stop switch and an ECOS on the motor
Buy a but-seat for the front and a starting battery.

That's it...I'm looking at having it done by the end of the week.

Perfect!

Just have to do a little touch-up on the paint, install the starting battery (going tomorrow morn to buy it), and she's done.

Looking at Monday for her maiden voyage...I don't go on Tonka on the weekend - especially a nice weekend like we're suppose to have...all the crazies are out.

I'll be posting a 'sales pitch' type vid probably Sunday going over all the features.

Teaser - shooting the full vid in a bit.
Quick View

MN? Really handsome job; congratulations on your work and finishing touches.

I'm curious about the center of gravity when in the water. I presume the weight of the mods will contribute to greater stability, but that front seat still seems high. I think the F-9 is 60 inches wide.

I've been out in chop and wind that has had me whispering to the water gods "just let me get to the dock." [-o<

Beautiful work. Take very good care of yourself.
=D>

Kismet said:

MN? Really handsome job; congratulations on your work and finishing touches.

I'm curious about the center of gravity when in the water. I presume the weight of the mods will contribute to greater stability, but that front seat still seems high. I think the F-9 is 60 inches wide.

I've been out in chop and wind that has had me whispering to the water gods "just let me get to the dock." [-o<

Beautiful work. Take very good care of yourself.
=D>

Click to expand...

Thanks, Kismet, for the nice words

The butt-seat isn't to sit on really, it's just something to add stability as you use it like a tripod - two legs are your legs, the third leg is the seat...so yes, it's a little higher than a sit-in seat.

Far as the center of gravity - from my calculations, it's still over 100lbs under the max-capacity of the boat and the max beam is 64" with the transom width indeed being 60". It's known as a very stable hull - and it's still the base hull used for the V-14...so the F-9 is the V-14's father.

I've been in boats that are narrower in heavy waves - my old Duo runabout was a 56" beam, 52" transom with a 40hp, and I cut through 3' waves one time on the way back to the launch when the wind came up fast. I'm not to worried about the F-9 in moderate weather.

Tomorrow is the 'test run'...it's predicted to be a relatively calm day (5-10mph winds), and the place I'm launching is a small bay near my house, so I'm not going to be too far from shore at any point.

The yellow line on the pic below is .34 miles long.

And the final overview video (took me 3 takes and it's still not 100%, but I got other things I need to do)
Lake Master Bass Boat Part 10: Final Product

Well done MN Fisher. I look forward to seeing some on the water footage from those cameras.

Camera footage downloading to my computer now - be a bit before it's all edited.

Came across a couple minor issues:
1: Direction indicator on the TM is reversed - the arrow points sternward when moving forward.
2: Livewell fill isn't working...pump engages, inlet is well under water, but no water going into the tank.

Luckily for that second - I take the gas tank out and the four screws holding the fore and aft cockpit panels in - all four panels come out, then the floor just lifts out...so it's easy to get at the entire run of plumbing.