J.'s Crawdad - XT

Here is how this little thing was acquired, Covered in several years of grunge and more than just a little brown spray-paint. #-o
Seats were mismatched, the front bulkhead was missing,and the rear seat cross-member was cracked. ... But other than that it was complete and fairly solid. =D>





Dis-assembly and pressure washing took care of the grunge, ... and also removed the lions share of the spray paint.


A liberal application of "Goof-Off" with 4/0 steel wool and a little elbow grease took care of the rest of that ugly brown spray paint, and helped polish the aluminum up a bit too.


1" conduit was used to create a replacement cross-member for the rear seat, ... and an old 10-ton Harbor Freight shop press worked quite well to form the ends of the cross-member, and then duplicate the "Bow" that the Coleman factory used with the originals.

To replace the missing front bulkhead, I first cut and fitted a cardboard template, then cut out and painted 0.090 aluminum sheet.

I used Rustoleum Satin Slate Blue spray paint over an etching primer and a black base-coat for the bulkhead, and although not an exact match, ... it's close enough that you have to look close to see the difference.

I used 1/2" ACX (sealed) and a cheap 6'x8' outdoor area rug from Menard's - to re-create the floor (glued with "Robert's 6700" outdoor carpet adhesive).
I chose to go with a full length floor - (bulkhead to bulkhead), and drilled 2" holes in the ply for the seat supports.

You-Tube was my friend when it came time for the floor, from the technique of spreading the adhesive - to stapling the corners, it helped immensely.

Here she is mostly re-assembled, and I plan on finding a matching seat for the front position.


I custom fabricated brackets for the front cubby-hole to secure a little four pound Danforth I found, ... that little anchor should match this little boat real nice.

I've yet to decide on Rod-holders, (and cup holders), ... right now I'm leaning towards the Ozark Trail wire style rod holders - (they kinda look like the Driftmaster lil-pros, but at only 5 Bucks a pop)
If I go that route, I'll end up having to fabricate brackets for them.

Nicely done so far.

What type or waters will you use it on?

Oh, I'll use her on some City lakes, and a few State fishing lakes, maybe even a protected cove or two on a reservior lake.
And I intend to try one or two of the large creeks we call rivers here in kansas, .....

It's been a while since I last posted, ... but here is an update to my build.
I've acquired a 1980 Evinrude 4.5hp, that I think will match up very well, and have made numerous improvements.

Here are some ......



I decided on the Ozark Trail wire style rod holders, (they’re almost exactly like the Driftmaster lil-pros, just made with metric threads instead of SAE, - and when I bought them, they were only 5 Bucks a pop)
I had to fabricate brackets for them out of 1 1/4” x 3/4” aluminum bar stock – bolted through the Gunnels with ¼-20 SS flathead machine screws.
At the same time I grabbed a couple of the clearanced out Ozark Trail wire cup holders, … They were also only 5 Bucks a pop & I mounted those with ¼” x 1” aluminum bar backing plates to fit them flush with the inner Gunnel rail.
Ahead of the rod holder, you can see a 1” RAM-Mount ball, (also fastened through the Gunnel rail) that works great to hold my Hook2-4 fish finder


I did find a matching 2nd seat, … (almost) the colors are very close, but not exact.
(I believe the original seat is an older discontinued color from Wise Seats, while the new one is from Leader Accessories)



I built a Transom Block from three layers of the same ACX that I made the floor from, using Titebond-3 glue and Helmsman’s Spar Urethane.
It’s sized to match the Aluminum Transom plate, and sets my motor up 2-3/4”, and back almost 1-1/2”. (The Cavitation/Ventilation plate is within a half inch of the bottom of the hull now).
I used 3 1/2” SS ¼” bolts, and one ¼” SS eye bolt to secure it, I backed up the nuts with 1-½” x 1/8” aluminum plate & SS fender washers
(I needed the eye bolt to secure the motor safety cable to).


This is the bracket that holds my transducer clamp,
I chose to go with the Cabela’s/Bass Pro Shop portable Transducer clamp, that is a clone of the older Sully mount.
It’s also fabricated out of the 1 1/4” x 3/4” aluminum bar stock, and mounted with SS ¼” flathead bolts.


At the Bow, I installed a ¼” SS U-Bolt using the 1” x ¼” aluminum as a backer, and came up with a very nice Bow-Eye.
I also mounted a SS Cam Cleat above it to secure my main anchor line.
To the side of that is the Trolling Motor Mount I fabricated.

This photo shows the safety clip to keep her from coming forward on the trailer in the event of hard braking.
It also gives another view of the Trolling Motor mount that was fabricated for the bow.
I assembled this bracket from 1 ½” x 1 ¾” aluminum rectangular tubing, some 3” x 1/8” flat plate, and some leftover pieces of the 1” and 1 ¼” aluminum bar stock.

Here’s another shot of the Trolling Motor mount bolted through the front Gunnel.


I put together a DIY Power-Box for about half the price of buying one, using a NOCO Battery box and Schumacher SAE charging connector from Wally-World, I got Screw Terminals and a push button 40 Amp circuit breaker from Amazon.
(I did upgrade the hold-down strap, … the one that came with the battery box was sketchy)
Behind the Power box is a Plano Dry-Box holding all the little miscellaneous bits one doesn’t want to leave behind.

I located a mesh tool pouch designed for Kayaks and Canoes on Amazon, and it works great to keep the little bits-N pieces handy. I used SS pad eye loops to mount it, so I would have a place to hook gear lanyards to.


And under the rear seat seemed a good place to keep the essential safety equipment handy, along with an extra gallon of fuel, just in case.


The trailer she sits on started out as a 4 x 6 lawn mower trailer rusting unused in the back corner of the yard, … and I decided it would be better off being put to use.
Cutting and angling the front supports, along with a significantly longer tongue welded on made it look like an actual boat trailer. The addition of lights, tires, and new bearings, fabricating a bow stop & a winch mount along with refurbishing an old winch made it much more complete.
Several coats of Rustoleum made it look halfway decent too.

Here is a better shot of my little trolling motor,
Complete with an Ironwood Products HelmsMate handle extension.
The HelmsMate extends to 53" and has a steel "U" joint, letting me stand in the middle & still run the motor.


This is the Bass-Pro Transducer Clamp, with the cable routed up through the clamp itself,
(trying to keep the cable protected somewhat).


Here is how I mounted my Hook2-4 GPS unit,
The little H2O Express bag not only holds a 7AH battery for the Sonar,
it will also hold the Sonar unit itself, the RAM-Mount clamps and all the cables.
(It also sports straps on the back that allow the Transducer clamp to fasten to it).



And here she is, ... Sitting on that little trailer I mentioned before

Awesome little boat bud!

Added to the list! :beer:

Your Crawdad looks great! Excellent work and attention to detail. My first boat was a first generation Crawdad. I put a used 1969 Johnson 9.9 on it. Hauled that little rig all over Tennessee and caught a ton of Bass out of it.

Again, well done!