Let me see your re-model!

[irvingdog]

I'm going to re-do my old 14' Lund boat. Deep and wide, it needs the work. It had 3 bench-seats, and for some reason, someone took out the BACK one, put in a flat floor, and a seat post for the back (operator) seat. I have a feeling this is going to be a fun project, and there is obviously no template for the work, but I'd like to see your handiwork on your boats for some inspiration and ideas.

I plan on pulling the center bench and move it to the back, and open up the middle part. Other than that, I'm wide open to photos and tips.

Thanks!

[Meat-Run]

Irvingdog,

I have a 14ftr and I also took out the middle seat to make room for my big muskie gear suchs as my tackle box, net, and cooler. Plus it's just one less thing to trip over and I loose just a little strenght in the middle but I'm not taking this rig anywhere there might be a chop such as ML or Leech. I use it for smaller lakes and it does great I even put in a plank from the second to first seat in the front to make a deck and then a bow mount trolling motor. Most of my fishing like I said is musky and bass fishing and works great with two guys. Just have to look out casting those 8ft musky sticks because you can "reach" your partner pretty easily and that would ruin your day in a hurry.

Sorry no pictures to share but will encourage you to move your middle seat to the back.

Good Luck,

mr

[polarsusd81]

I too have a 14 ft Lund with modifications. Here is what I did.

First was to remove the bench in the middle, though the aluminum supports for the seats were trimmed, not completely removed. I measured down on the back of the front seat and the front side of the back to create a level floor. Then measured the same distance down on the middle and left an extra inch of the aluminum.

I trimmed it down to size with a sawzall and took the extra inch of material and formed a break all the way accross the bottom of the boat with each aluminum seat base. I installed 1.5x1.5x.125 aluminum angles on the front and back seat and cut a piece of plywood to fit. It really helped keep the rigidity of the boat intact by having those seat bases in for bracing.

I have yet to finish the rod lockers but that will be coming shortly. Then it will get carpet.

If I wish to bring a third person out in the boat its either a folding chair or on the cooler for their seat. Works out really well and opened it up so it was actually fishable.

Tom

[BoxMN]

Hey irvingdog,

I have done a couple. A pontoon and a 16' alumacraft, twice - first one we did it the easy and stupid way, second time we gutted it and really did it right. Now it kicks but. I don't have pics posted except on a board that I don't think I am allowed to post, so no pics for now.

Here is some advice and tips from my expereince, in now particular order:

-use marine plywood if you do a floor. Costs $80 per sheet, so spendy, but have done it both ways and marine is the way to go. Unless you find some plastic sheets, which I know they are available at places. DO NOT use treated that you get from Menards/etc. It can react with alum. - not sure how long it would take. Otherwise if you do use treated, make sure to paint it or wrap it to make a barrier there, and then it is supposed to work without reacting.

-I have used D0t Deco brand vinyl instead of carpet, and is the only way I would ever go. The vinyl will also help the wood last longer, as it sheds the water, making it possible that the wood may never get wet again, hence will be solid forever - in that case, maybe even regular plywood may work. But vinyl is easy to clean, non slippery, looks great. Cabelas has it, but there is an online place in FLorida that has more colors. Great stuff. But it does show a rough piece of plywood, so smooth is the best if you go this route. Same cost as quality carpet.

-put drains in the floor in good locations.

-run 8 guage wire to the bow for trolling motor (under floor, or in a tube along gunwale (leave a rope/string in it, so easy to pull another wire back through if you have to redo it). Even if you don't plan one now, I would put the tube and rope in it for easy addition later. I use 8 ga. that I get from Menards in 100' spools. No need to pay through the nose for "marine" wire, that costs about $5 per foot... You may not need 8 ga. but will work better than 10 ga.

-can run the bow lights in the same tube as the 8 ga. wire.

-if you remove a bench seat, you are probably removing floatation. You would want to add some floatation back in, somewhere. Sounds like they already removed the rear bench, so you may be already a bit lacking. Putting "sides" along the gunwale walls in the back, and having foam/styrofoam/floation in them might be a good way to add some back in, and also provide a place to mount depth finder, etc. I would use as lightweight building material as possible to keep it lightweight. Heck, even building a frame and filling with foam chunk, and wrapping it in vinyl might work - can you tell I like vinyl? Would look good and you could access things easy.

-if you put any seats bases in for pedestal, make sure they are braced well enough underneath. We knew where we were placing the bases, so we added an extra alum angle iron under them, so each base have at least 4 of the 6 screws going into alum braces rather than just the wood floor.

-we used the "pin" style bases and pedestals. Cheap and stronger. Got ours at Cabelas for $20 for base and pedestal together - not sure how much it costs now.

-if you enclose your gas tank you will need a fire extinguisher. I would enclose it, but just with vinyl or fabric or some light and easy to add. If you fish alone a lot, you may want to consider moving it forward just a bit, or having it so that you can sort of "slide it forward or back" depending upon load, to get the best ride.

-definitely put one of those plastic plates on the stern for mounting tranducers to. Then you only have two holes that are permanently closed up, no matter how many times you change depth finders Can get them at any marine shop or big box stores, and they are worth every penny. I would also add to make sure you fill any old screw holes with silicone and a stainless or aluminum screws or rivets - BTW they have water proof rivets at boat dealer part stores, and they are great and about ten cents each.

That's my 56 cents worth

Good luck, take pics along the way - it is fun looking back. If you want any pics of ours, I can email you some during the process and final result.

[polarsusd81]

Box,

How is the vinyl on bare feet? I have a little boy and that is one reason I wish to do the carpet, he will surely get tired and sit on the floor. Carpet in gray I know wont get too hot in the sun, but will the vinyl be really hot on his feet and legs if he sits down on it? I really want to have the boat finished up for the start of next year. I plan to bring him out this year, but only short little trips just to get used to the boat.

[BoxMN]

You know, that is a good question. We have it on our pontoon, and have 2 dogs and 5 grandkids. They all use it with bare feet, and sit on it (ages 3-10) and dogs lay on it. I also wear bare feet. BUT, on really hot sunny July August days, I do recall it being hot and telling the kids them to wear their flip flops. But it is no hotter than the green indoor outdoor plastic carpeting we have on our dock. Usually it is just fine, but on some really hot sunny days I think it could get hot. Gray carpet might be better on those days.

We also have a boat with green carpet, and on those hot days its gets DARN hot, and when we use that boats and have the dogs, we lay down white sheets for them to lay on.

Our vinyl is the tan color, pretty close to marsh brown for you hunting fans as we now use that rehabbed boat mostly for duck hunting, but the pontoon has same color. It looks really nice, and except for those really hot days I thikn would work. But gray carpet would too, and prolly cooler.

[Slyster]

Doesn't anyone have pix? It would be fun to others small boat mods.

Here's my old 14' Lund.. was really in bad shape but I put in a deck.. gas tank underneath up front.. battery inside the rear bench.. pedistal seats.. 3/4 plywood deck with outdoor carpet from Menards. Sonar and bow mount 40# powerdrive up front (my latest addition!).. Really is stable... at least if you are sitting down up front. I can stand up on the deck with no problem.. but walking is hard. So no deck and removing benches would be much more stable. Tackle locker in the second bench as you can see. I love it! Will be just fine for a few years until I buy a bass boat. Tool belts (again from Menards) make great storage.... I have a number of these in there.. they are leather and really stand up to the weather.

Just put on the boat mount motor yesterday.. what a difference! The 2x4's are lag bolted in.. and the motor itself has 4 minn-kota bolts through the aluminum cap and two 5" lag bolts to the 2x4s. ROCK solid.

[BoxMN]

You guilted me Slyster (BTW - I like your tool belt idea - we have a tool pouch under our console that holds extra plug, binocs, fishing stuff, etc. Great idea for the multi pouch tool belt.) I went and found some of my "restoration" pics and added them to a quick web page. Here they are:

Our rehab job on our "Martha Stewart Alumacraft".

The picture filename gives a hint as to what the photo is of, but I think you can tell. I don't have a before picture, other than the first one that shows the camoed paint job. It used to be the silver alum only with the red and blue stickers that the Alumacrafts of the 80's were.

(BTW - the last pics are the current pics, no more camo for us, just march brown, but it got the "Martha" name from our sister in law... after we camoed it up the first time, using stencils of cattails and reeds and leaves, etc. she saw it and said "wow, that really looks nice - it is pretty - its looks like something Martha Stewart would do!..." heh! So the name stuck, and now we call it the "Martha"

You can see we ripped the livewell (used to be under drivers seat) and the port side rod box out, as we wanted space for decoys and just more room inside.

The windshield is actually a snowmobile windshield. We also added a ton of bracing as you see in the pics. These were alum posts that hold together office cubicles, that we ripped in half into "U" 's. This worked great, and our floor is so sturdy now you could hold dances on it We were surprised at how little bracing they had in the original floor supports.

All floatation that was in the boat before we started went back into it. All under the main floor had foam, and under the front deck, and around the stern platform is all floatation.

We had to fix a small crack in the hull were some of the original bracing broke. We drilled small holes in the ends of the crack to stop it from spreading, then sandwiched it between two layers of good but not thick alum sheeting, with liquid gasket material between, and riveted it with good rivets, not pop rivets. It is a bit ugly, but under the waterline and tight as a drum.

We can run with 2 or 3 guys, up to 6 dozen decoys (maybe more?...), a Cabelas Northern Flight blind with fast grass, and even a 8' Carstens Puddler duck boat inside (helps is setting dekes and since we don't have dog, works good so we don't have to uproot the big boat every time we drop a bird) and this beaut still gets up and planes like a champ! We love this boat.

We still use it for fishing as well, and just bring a cooler or basket for any fish we plan to keep. We also set up a nice little angled and cushioned area behind the driver seat to strap rods for running - just like they have for the passengers rods on Ranger boats, so it keeps any rods safe and secure. Since these pics we added a raised floor just in front of the console to meet the front deck. Under this is storage for a small toolkit and paperwork, and we also keep our small but very well stocked Plano 3700 with all the terminal tackle and some cranks and bass lures for about any basic fishing needs.

It is really nice and open in there, with lots of room.

I am long winded, but maybe some of our ideas will help somebody out when they are doing theirs.

edit: oh yeah, we primed it with automotive primer (just some old stuff froma buddy) after cleaning sticker crap off, and lightly sanding the entire surface. Then we used the oil based "camo" paint from Gander. We actually have a couple coats on due to our first "camoed" paint job. We sprayed it using a air compressor gun and it worked GREAT!!! It looks almost professional even up close. The compressor gun does get a mist everywhere, so either do it outside or poly and tape up really good. We did ours in my heated garage in winter, and even with polying and taping good, we got some mist on our other boat outside the polied area.

We also ran all new wiring throughout, since we had everything ripped apart, why not?... I also got the new Alumacraft stickers from Alumacraft, I think for $12. They were really nice and helpful and asked if we needed anything else.

(ps Slyster, I noticed in your pics that you might want to consider adding a safety chain from winch post to your bow eyelet, in case the rope would break. We have had straps and ropes break on our winches when they get old, and then nothing would hold bow down if on the road. Just a suggestion for cheap insurance.)

[hanson]

BoxMN-

I like it! Nice Work!

Layout is really similar to my boat now, minus the camo and mine is carpeted. I have a few more small projects to complete and maybe I'll get some photos up.

[Slyster]

BoxMN wow! Great boat mod. Fun to see the photos.. a picture really is worth a thousand words eh? Yeah on the safety chain.. It never had one.. has good new rope but I have thought of adding one and will now that you mention it.

[irvingdog]

This has been an awesome thread.

[BoxMN]

BTW Slyster, I didn't even comment on your mod... It looks great! I like the big front deck, I bet it is perfect for working some slop in the shallows. Our front deck is kinda low, that is why we made that motor deck a bit bigger, so we can stand on it to get a big higher for sight fishing. Your whole deck is at the right height for good view. Also like the tackle storage in the bench area.

Don't mean to be too chatty, but since I did the thumbnail page on duck boat, figured I would add my pontoon as well.

1977 Liesure Island Pontoon Rehab.

Before and after pics. Not too great of pics, but you get the idea. Also shows the vinyl a bit more up close. I think with the vinyl, plywood, new console, totally new steering, new front corner rails, and capt. chair and paint and rivets, I had about $1000 into this old thing. The nice thing is our lake is just a little lake and this is perfect for us. Very flexible seating, hehe, just put lawn chairs wherever

Key things you may not notice are:

-using spaces under the rails to allow water to drain. Many pontoons don't have these spacers, and the carpet gets all moldy from water sitting and collecting.

-we drilled out each rivet to detatch the sheet alum from the rails, then we cleaned the rails, cleaned the side sheets, and painted with air compressor spray gun the outside only with marine oil based paint (found at Ace...) and then rivtted them all back on (Northern has a pnuematic rivet gun fro about $70 that is the cat's meow! Wow, I will never use a hand riveter again - wish we had it when we did the Martha boat...). No taping and I must say it turned out better than I thought it would. (I turned a swingset into a parts hanger of sorts, just like on the auto shows with parts hanging to dry all over my heated garage in the middle of winter.)

-moved the control box over to starboard rails instead of the port side of console. It works MUCH better where it is now.

-new wiring all around, including new steering helm and cables.

-even taped the old logo area, and my wife hand painted the old logo back in It looks pretty factory. Still looks old style, but at least clean.

This was a pretty fun project, as it all came apart and went together pretty darn easy. For anyone doing a rehab boat or pontoon or whatever, I would strongly recommend having plenty of space to do it in out of the weather. We did the duck boat and the pontoon in the winter, and the heated garage is nice... but I spose if I added the cost of heat/gas/beer, it cost quite a bit But it was fun and gave me something to do. After I got done with these projects I took up ice fishing to take up my time Then I built a perm ice shack... hehe, that is for another thread

[Nate McVey]

This is indeed a great thread. I have been telling my fiance that I wanted to do this, but she couldn't picture it or believe that "I" could do it. It is a 14ft. Wolverine (I know, I had never heard of it either). I want to level out the front and enclose the gas tanks and batteries. I already rewired the trailer and made some motifications to the center console (that her grampa built 45 years ago). I hope this thread keeps going and I will post some pics to see if anyone can give me any tips.

BTW, the chain on the yoke is a great suggestion. I have had the rope snap and watched the bow come up in the rear view mirror. Kind of scarry!

[irvingdog]

OK. I've looked over the boat again, and I think I know what I want to do, and Sylster has definitely inspired me. It is the same kind of boat, and It seems like the way he's done it will be perfect for me.

So,, Sylster, and other photo's of the boat around? The storage, below deck construction, etc? Is there a reason you went with the PowerDrive over the Edge? My guess is that the Edge wouldn't fit on the nose of your boat....

Awesome job!

[Slyster]

Thanks! It really does fish well.. fished a lot (up north) the last 4 days.. getting used to sitting up front with the new bow mount motor.. I really like the powerdrive.. SO solid and it does rotate fast.. yeah.. the Maxxum and others had too large a foot print for the bow. Now I feel I have plenty of leg room and room to rotate all around.

I have lots more pix.. I'll get them ready and post links to them here tomorrow. Including the photos during the main project how I cut the wood etc.

It really is the best possible fishing boat... considering what I had to start with. I keep adding little touches here and there. But not much else I can do now.

It will keep me happy now until I can buy a bass boat in a few more years.

It is fine for 2 adults.. or 1 adult and two kids.. but forget three adults!

[Slyster]

Some pix.. they are just in one folder but really they are from 3 or 4 separate projects over a few years. http://www.slyster.com/fm/boatmod/page_01.htm

[BoxMN]

Awesome pics Slyster, it really helps to see the process, and yours is very cool. I see how the front deck is perfect for kids, they must love it!

[Sandmannd]

Great work Slyster. You ever think of buying old boats and fixin' them up for resale?

[Slyster]

Nope.. That would cut into my fishing time! I wonder how much I could get for my boat? I'll have to sell it sometime. What really hurt my pocket book was the motor.. was like $2000+ or something. I probably shouldn't have gone new.. but a few years old at least would have cut that in half.

[Troublehook]

Hopefully this will work, as I have not posted picures in a while, and AOL has been kind of wierd for me lately. I bought this 1955 14' Lonestar aluminum boat last summer, and have since fixed it up, quite nicely.

Sorry for the cell phone picture.

I had to strip off all of the old layers of paint, in order to primer, and then repaint it. I then added the new carpet, and those two things alone made it look a lot better.

I have since added a bow cleet(sp?) so I dont have to tie off on the side, more paint to the swivel seats, an older (1980s) 34 lb motorguide trolling motor, and have purchased a 1961 Johnson 18hp seahorse in hopes of replacing the mercury 4 horse that I currenly have, but the seahorse is in the shop right now. So my boat will practically be vintage . If I get the Johnson working, I will add a casting deck to the bow. I will have to post the updated pictures soon. Good luck on your project. It will be fun!

PS... Ok I just previewed my post, and I see red X's, but I still think it will work for others to see. Tell me if you can see the pictures

[Troublehook]

Ok yep you should be able to see the pictures, I looked at it from internet explorer this time, and I could see it. I will try to post the updated pics by tomorrow.

[irvingdog]

Troublehook, that is one cool looking boat!

Nicely done, and probably way cheap as well!

[Nate McVey]

Ok, here is the boat that I am about to start working on. It is my fiance's parents (from her grampa, 1940's), so I can't do a ton of work.......yet. I would like to level out the front (in between the front and second seat). I don't want to go on top of the existing seats, rather under and removing the front. The bow is very deep and having the platform on top of the seats is very unstable.

Second, I would like to put some storage in the seats (life jackets, batteries, etc.). Can I cut them and add hinges or should I pul them out all together and put in wood? They are rivoted to the sides of the boat as well as to the bottom. The center console was built by her grampa and consists of a great system of pulies and cables. I am going to leave that as the motor is a 25 Merc. outboard and it works great. He put in the electric start and electronics as well. In the back are 2 tanks and 2 batteries, so there is a lot of wait and it is tough to plane out, I would like to move all that wait towards the center, but am unsure of how to go about the seats. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[irvingdog]

That steering column is really cool. Better not mess with that, or the Karma Gods will come and haunt you.

Grandpa had skills!

You should safely be able to deck the rest I suppose, but, that is a cool looking boat.

[Nate McVey]

Thanks Irvingdog, that console isn't going anywhere. I felt bad last week, we had to cut one of his original anchors free as it was stuck. At least it's at the bottom of a good lake. Anyway, I was just out looking at it again and the seats are really in there good. I'm not sure if/how I can do it, so I may just leave it for the summer and work on it this winter. Here is the motor and the back seat, Grandpa really did have skills. The type of boat is a Wolverine by Wannamaker out of Grand Rapids, MI. All of the research that I have done only shows the wooden boats that they used to make. I really want to get the original name placards that should be on there (I have the broken ones from each side). Any ideas?

[BoxMN]

Looks cool Shiner, and glad you are keeping Gramps good work in there (I am a Gramp, hehe).

As for the nameplates, maybe you could take to a graphics place and they could make some nice stickers that match 100% the broken nameplate?.. I am pretty sure it would not be too spendy, and look and apply really good.

As far as the seats, I bet you could get the pin-style base and seat pin, and they would fit flush to the bench, rotate great, you would be able to pull them out easy, and the seat pin-plates have a small spring which would give just a tad bit of suspension. And they are cheap too. You just wouldn't want to put the long pin/pedestal in between or it might ruin things, including a body

Will be fun project, take pleny of pics!

[Nate McVey]

Thanks boxmn, the seats that are in there are the swivel style. I was talking about the benches (sorry). The closer I look I think I am going to see about making the top of the center one (with the console) a flip-up lid for the gas tanks at least. Then I can work on the rest. I will post pics as I go. Thanks for your help everybody!

[Fishin4Life]

You may be able to remove the front seats, but I would be careful. They may be holding the boat together up front for more stability in the water. I am no expert so maybe one could post to tell me if that is correct or not.

[irvingdog]

I'm going to get started next week. I'll take pictures as I go.

[slick814]

This thread inspired me a lot! Thanks guys. I've been working on my '83 Crestliner for the last week or so. Almost done... didn't estimate the carpet quite right and ran out of material this weekend, but I should have it done and pics up by this weekend...

Slyster - Thanks for the tackle storage idea in the bow... if you don't mind, I'm stealing the idea for mine!... A little different, but same result! THanks for the pics!

[Slyster]

It has been great for my non plastics rod. Just drill the holes large enough so the hooks don't wedge in there.