# New Boat!!!! 1986 Sea Nymph Fishing Machine FM-161



## BoatDawg4120 (Aug 15, 2014)

So.... My last post was for my 12ft V-hull mod. Well after 2 months posted for sale I came across a 16ft aluminum Sea Nymph with a 30hp johnson and trailer included. Seller had it posted on a local Facebook for sale page for $800. Needed floor put in and the guy only had it for a month and realized it was more of a project than he was capable of doing so he posted it for what he had in it. He did not know if the motor ran but original owner said it still did but parked it due to rotten floor and some holes in the hull that needed repaired. I offered the guy a straight trade for my 12ft with the 1955 7.5hp Rudy and trailer for his. After about 45 mins of conversing and looking over each others items we signed over titles and headed our separate ways each with our new toys. I was ecstatic!!! and still am. He had removed the flooring and about 75% of the foam which was water logged. I spent 4 days cutting scraping and pressure washing the rest out. Found 8-10 small holes in the boat and from looking at these holes i realized they were PT wood corrosion holes. The floor the guy had ripped out apparently had been replaced once before and the unknowing person had put PT in its place. Well I vinegar washed then baking soda washed the entire boat to neutralize the corrosion. This was also the reasoning behind total removal of all the foam and anything else that could potentially be harboring the PT chemicals from the wood. The transom outer skin appears to have gotten the worst of it in the corners where the foam did not allow the moisture to dry out or drain out when it got there. I will have to have a 12"x8" patch WELDED in on the left corner and another 6"x8" patch on the right corner. Not a big deal as I have a friend that I have known for over 10 years that owns his own metal fab shop and is willing to get the pieces welded in and has offered to completely replace the inner and outer skins of the transom if needed going from riveted to all weld on the rear which might be my best bet. He offered it as payment for helping him sort through about $12k worth of boat parts and engines and such left at the second building on his lot that he previously was renting out to a guy who was running a boat repair shop out of it. The building needed some maintenance and such also that I have been helping with. Sounds like a great deal to me.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Aug 15, 2014)

Sorry for the split post but my browser logs me out if I dont post within a certain amount of time. Anyways.... Back to the boat. The 86 Sea Nymph FM171 had the option for a 60 or 90hp motor. The FM161 that I now own could be purchased with the 30 or 60hp engine. I have a 85hp chrysler with all controls and is turn key that I will be placing on the boat. I know it is a little overpowered but smart driving and knowing the dangers of irresponsible boat driving I should be ok. Should I ever sell it I will be placing a 1971 Thunderbolt 500 Merc on it. Just for piece of mind. I will add the pics I have of the boat. Side consol and driver seat came with it. I have 2 20gal aluminum fuel cells that I will be putting on the boat. Transom core will be replaced and reinforced. Deck will be original at first but later on down the road I will be raising the front deck in front of the livewell and adding a rear casting deck that will also house more storage and the two aluminum fuel cells. I am PUMPED!!!! Cant wait to get it done and post the pics. I will be on here and there to update where the build stands and upload progression photos.


----------



## SaltyGhost (Aug 15, 2014)

It's nice to know someone who can weld aluminum. Knowing someone who has his own shop is even better. I'd be thinking up all kinds of mods and enhancements.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Aug 15, 2014)

Quick update. Used some aluminum acid to further clean the inside of the hull of any corrosion. Rinsed it all out. Can't do any patch work til it's dried up so I started to tinker with the motor. Pulled the plugs they look almost brand new. Put a little fuel in the cylinders and turned it over. Fired right up. Great news for me.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Aug 18, 2014)

Trying to figure out how to go about repairing the rotted section of aluminum on the bottom left and right corners of the transom. Wondering if I should remove the rivets that hold the side skin and transom skins together and put the patch metal inside bent around the corner where I can rivet it back together or skip the rivets all together and have it welded through. Any input would be appreciated. I havent had a chance to get the boat over to the fab shop yet as he has been working a job out of the area and hasnt been to the shop all week. Hoping today I can catch him when I get home from work before he leaves.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Aug 20, 2014)

Made some progress on the boat today. Was able to get the outboard off and start on the transom rebuild. Got the core and inner aluminum skin out. The inner skin was really pitted. I have one of the bench panels from my old Jon boat that I'm gonna use to strengthen that up. Core came out in about 8 pieces with the bottom 4" completely missing. I started to fab the patches for the two bottom corners of the transom. I found the best way to get it done is gonna be to river the patches in place with a really tuff silicone we use at the shop I work at on our dry van trailers. It's some nasty stuff so on e it's on it's sealed. The metal shop down the street has been bending the aluminum for me and I couldn't be happier with the results. Tomorrow I will be putting the panels in place and riveting them in place. Transom core will be cut and sealed. Hope to have the transom and flooring going together next week.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Aug 22, 2014)

Got my transom core cut out. Still need to trim the top down but I had to fit it one piece at a time so the top part I left so that once both pieces were in I had something to screw the two together and then pull out as one piece. Will be pulling it out and gluing and sealing it after trimming it down. Coming along a little faster than I had first thought it would. Used 23/32 exterior plywood. Which is almost the same as 3/4.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Aug 26, 2014)

Spent all day working on the boat. Thought I would upload the pics from today's progress. Transom and outer transom skin repairs are complete. Very happy to have these done as they were the biggest issues on the boat all together. Now I can move on to the minor patches and floor install.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Aug 31, 2014)

Havent been able to make any more progress on the boat. Spent my last 3 days off out on the water wakeboarding and such. My weekend work schedule leaves me getting home about dark on sat and sun so its difficult to do anything then. I did buy some bulbs for my shop lamp tho so I will be trying to get some holes fixed tonight when i get home. Tomorrow I will be getting home around 4 so it will be a good day to get some things done. No holiday festivities for me. Trying to save some cash for vacation which i leave for on Wednesday. I did list my 1954 Mercury Mark 30 for sale this past week. Wasnt on craigslist for even 2 hours and someone was blowing up my phone about it. He is supposed to be coming down today to look at it and hopefully buy. He is getting a steal if he does buy it. $500 for the motor. All original paint and chrome cowl. Engine runs like a dream. Timing belt needs replaced along with regular maintenance items. And I told him I would throw in the pulley and cable steering system for it. I know i could get more out of it if I really wanted to but I dont like seeing it waste away in my shed. I had mounted it on my 12' jon boat for a few weeks before I traded the boat and that thing would fly. 29mph fully loaded with me and a friend in the boat. Never had any stability or porpusing issues. Local law enforcement were always very interested in it but never gave me a hard time. I had it out on the local lake one day and was pulling my buddy on a tube behind the boat with it and FWC came and pulled right down the ramp with their truck and flashed their lights. I pulled it right to shore so he wouldnt get pissed off and he came over and said he just wanted to get a look at the motor lol. He did a quick check to make sure I had all my required items on the boat and then sat for almost an hour just chatting with us. Good old Lake County, FL. Law enforcement in this area are usually pretty cool about stuff. Anyways, I still havent decided how I am going to set the boat up. For now the plan is to go back in with everything stock. I just want to get the floor and seat and console back in to it the way it was original and then go from there. Its driving me crazy not being able to get on the water to fish right now. I do plan on getting it built up with a front and rear casting deck. The front deck will start at the livewell and go forward. I want to leave the livewell alone. Its a solid livewell. 22 gals. Already plumbed and all I want to do is remove the vertical overflow pipe and replace it with one 1.5" taller. that would leave it still 1 inch below the lid. To alter the height of it would be pretty difficult to do with the way it is set up in the boat. So to compensate I will be adding a 20 gallon livewell to the rear when i put the rear casting deck in using a rubbermaid tote. I will offset it with the 20 gal aluminum fuel cell that will be going in. To put the rear deck in I am going to cut the rod box door short so that it opens at the front end of the boat with about a 4ft opening and the back end of the door will be screwed down since it will not be able to open once the deck is put in above it. This way I can still put the rods in it.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Sep 1, 2014)

Stuck at work again on a holiday. Ill be heading home here in about 30 minutes and going straight to Ace Hardware to pickup new thru hull fittings and some clear vinyl hosing. Probably go ahead and buy a new shop vac to get the boat cleaned completely out. Hoping to have all the holes completely patched today. Will water test tomorrow and then begin with the floor install. Anyone have any experience with the Bass Pro-Standard Marine Carpet?


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Sep 2, 2014)

Got all but 2or 3 holes patched up. Decided to throw some paint on it today. She came out beautiful. Gonna have a local decal shop cut some custom decals and reg numbers for me.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Sep 12, 2014)

Well its been a week or so since ive posted. Spent a week in Denver on vacation. Loved it but couldnt wait to get back to FL to continue with my boat build. Before I left I sprayed the outside of the boat with some awesome paint we use at work for our aluminum trailer side panels. No need to prime or scuff. Once its on it doesnt come off. So the boat was wiped down and painted in bright white before i left for vacation. I painted from the side rivet line where it meets the bottom all the way up to the rails. Pics from my previous post show how that turned out. I am extremely happy with the results. It looks great and wipes right off when dirty. When I got back Monday from my vacation I went straight to work on getting it water tested and the decking cut. Tuesday I filled the boat with water and marked any leaks that were left. There were only three pinhole leaks that I was able to find. Drained the boat and used a small torch to dry the areas with holes then sealed them. Measured and cut the floor, front deck and front livewell lid. Wrapped them with carpet and set it all in. Today I had planned on hanging the motor before I went into work but it started raining on me. After the rain tho I put the driver seat in and just set it in place. Sat in it in the front yard for about 15 minutes just picturing what it was going to be like on the water. I may have looked like a complete retard to anyone driving by, including my wife on her way back from the store, but man was I proud of the work I have put into this boat. Its definitly taking longer than I had hoped it would but I decided at the very beginning that I wasnt going to rush myself on this build. I was going to do it the way I wanted it set up and have it done right and I am very very happy with the way it is coming along. I will post pics of the carpet and decks laid in when i get a chance. I just dumped all the pics from my phone earlier today so I have to pull them off my computer at home.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Sep 12, 2014)

Was able to pull some pics from my fb page. So here you go.


----------



## earl60446 (Sep 13, 2014)

Doing a nice job and you are making great progress too, many of these projects on this forum go real slow. Nothing wrong with that though, it's a labor of love. 
Tim


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Sep 13, 2014)

Well the boat was planned to be in the water the end of this past week but Im getting off to a slow start coming off from vacation and trying to adjust back to the 2 hour time difference. Been up til 2 or 3am the last few days.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Sep 16, 2014)

Well. Rear casting deck is framed cut and carpeted. Fuel tank ready for flush mount cap. Added 33 gallon live well. Two hatches in the rear deck. One for access to the live well, bilge and batteries. The other is for a small tackle storage area. Fitting 4 3600 series BPS boxes plus some room. Driver seat mounted. Console remounted. Cables routed. Getting the wiring finished up. Have to adjust the plumbing for the added well. Gonna complete the bench to add a passenger seat with storage below. It's coming out just the way I wanted.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Sep 18, 2014)

I had this grand idea that I would be putting the boat in the water this morning for the initial test run but yesterday afternoon that idea was aborted. I got the rear casting deck all finished up and laid in place but did not secure it because i need to have it off to route all the controls and wiring and such. Well after three install and removals of the steering cable I decided that I was not going to risk my safety or anyone elses with this cable. It was just too stiff and even though I am going to only run the 30hp for a while. I dont want to have any possible issues hanging around when i get the 85hp ready to go on. So as of about 30 mins ago I have a complete new SeaStar (Teleflex) Quick connect Helm steering assembly coming to the house in the next week or so. Everything from the steering wheel all the way to the motor will be brand new. Including the wheel. Had to do it on a budget so I got the Teleflex Ace Steering wheel which was only $26. All in all I think I will be very happy with it all tho. Nothing better than having piece of mind when moving at WOT. I wasnt going to take a chance at a cable freezing or snapping while under way. I often have my 2 year old daughter on the boat with me and Would never forgive myself if something happened because I didnt make the right call at this point in the build.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Sep 19, 2014)

I only just ordered the steering parts yesterday and the wait is killing me. Today I started to seperate out the accessory wire harness and ohming out my pairs and switches. Ohmed out my new ignition switch and started to install that. There was a light sprinkle going on so I was picky about what I wanted to get into today. I have some 7 Wire cable at work and I think I am going to replace everything with that and then use some of the paired cabling we have here for other items. At least I can get all the electrical components wired up and complete while I wait. I think thats the hardest part of any build is the wait for items the be shipped.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Sep 21, 2014)

Still waiting for the cable and Steering wheel. UPS tracking shows both will be in by Tuesday end of day. I dug more into my wiring yesterday. got the ignition switch completely wired in. Motor turns over perfectly. Used a Tohatsu switch with the push to choke option which I connected to the Electric Primer circuit. I have decided to change up my switch configuration. The boat has 3 accessory switches factory wired. 3 pole anchor/nav light. 3 pole on of auto bilge and 2 pole Livewell intake. I am switching the bilge and livewell switches. I dont need the auto position on the bilge because I will be wiring the float switch directly to the battery. I have an extra livewell pump that I am going to be adding in. So I will use the 3 pole for intake and pump out. This option will just work out better for me. I would rather the float switch be wired direct to battery in case I leave the boat docked somewhere over night and it just happens to spring a leak or start dumping rain. I would rather have a dead battery than a sunken boat.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Sep 24, 2014)

Ok so. New steering system is in the boat. Nice smooth operation from lock to lock. Steering wheel looks great compared to what was originally there. Covered the carpet and started painting the inside of the boat. She is looking great. Got the motor started and ran it for about 10 mins yesterday. Only problem is the motor does not shit off with the key so I need to figure out what is happening there. Throttle cable seems to be pretty tight too so I am going to check that out. Here are some pics.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Sep 26, 2014)

Still trying to figure out how to kill the motor with the key switch. I have an unused Magneto Wire that used to go to the old switch and then through the kill switch on the way back to the motor. I know this is going to be my issue but I cannot figure out how to wire it to kill the engine as there is no post on the new ignition for this wire. I made progress on the frozen throttle though. I removed the cable from the motor end where it snaps onto the linkage and the cable would move freely with all the same bends so I moved onto the engine side of the linkage and fount that I could not rotate the linkage without a pair of channel lock pliers. So I removed the linkage from the engine and found the plastic bushing was gummed up with some old grease that had turned into a tar like substance from age and use and such. Cleaned the bushing out and the spindle that slides into the bushing with some purple power and fine emery cloth. Put some new marine grease on it and slid it all back into place. Turns by hand now with a little bit of pressure. Reattached the cable and operated the controls both idle to full throttle multiple times to ensure it had nice smooth operation. Rear deck is secured. New Rod box door is secured. Only thing left is to attache my auto bilge float to the desired location and glue the bilge pump into place. Rerouting my fuel lines through the splashwell. Need to finish securing my wiring and she will hopefully be on the water this afternoon for her first test under power. I still need to mount my trolling motor and Mount a battery tray in the front for both group 31 batteries that will be powering it. I put in two 2LED lights to give me some light at night. One is mounted on the side of the console to light up the floor area and the other is on the bow storage panel where the old TM plug was previously mounted. I will not be using the TM plug, I wire mine direct to the batteries with a breaker inline. Less connections equals less possible fail/problem areas later. Will be posting finished product pictures within the next week or so. There will be a front casting deck added at a later date but for now I just want to fish.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Sep 30, 2014)

Well...... She went into the water on Monday morning. Quick 15 minute run. 23-25mph with me and a buddy in the boat. She ran good. Few fuel supply issues at first but got it taken care of. Pulled her back out and went to the house and installed the trolling motor and both batteries. Loaded up the fishing gear and took her back to the lake. fished for a good couple hours. No fish on the boat unfortunately. But This story is not all good. On the way back to the ramp she spun the prop. I knew it was going to happen. Called around today and got a quote of $75 to balance paint and rehub the prop. Went online and ordered a brand new 10.5X11 prop with a hub already set and ready to go. $70.92 plus shipping. I couldnt justify rehubbing a prop for the same price as a new prop. Next week I will be a fishing machine. Woot woot!!!!!!


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Oct 3, 2014)

Well, The prop is set to arrive on Tuesday. I went ahead and pulled the spun prop of and determined it is SS not Aluminum as I had previously thought. Could tell immediately by the weight of it. So I plan to buy a replacement hub and use the tools available to me here at the shop I work at and press the new hub myself. Ill be using the same technique we use to set our steering knuckle kingpins here on the trucks which is to throw the hub in the freezer for a few days to a week then press it in. I will still be using my Aluminum prop that I ordered for the time being though. But it never hurts to keep a spare on board incase such a failure would happen again. I added a little shelf under the console and mounted my radio pod and wired it in. Radio is fully removable so I wont have to worry about theft or damage from weather. Where it sits and the pod I have for it will protect it for the most part but here in FL we get those afternoon Hurricane like storms whipping up 75-80 winds daily lol. The lakes have come up the shore about 20ft in the last 3 days due to all the rain we have had and every canal i pass over driving daily shows signs of running water pushing out into the lake. It really sucks to know my boat is water ready and cant use it for another 4-5 days. I havent taken any recent photos yet. There are still tools and wire ties and connectors all over the floor near the console because I am still adding in a few things here and there since it is still down. As soon as I complete the wiring and get it all tucked away nice and neat I will get it vacuumed out and have some tin porn to share with all.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Oct 3, 2014)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMJF14l0tAQ

A short Youtube video I uploaded of the test run with me and a buddy on the boat. 23-25mph. Not too bad.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Oct 13, 2014)

New prop came in Last Tuesday around 1PM and It was in the water by 130. I had it wet every single day last week. Corrected a few wiring issues on the ignition and replaced the fuel pump. Here she is on the water. Cannot Describe the amount of pride I have in this boat and how happy I am with the results.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Oct 27, 2014)

Quick update: Boat is running great now. Had a few engine and wiring issues for about a week. It was an off and on issue that I had to really take time to track down. I had wired in an old Tohatsu Ignition switch and it worked great. Would start the motor right up. Push to choke would engage the Electric primer system with no issues. Then one day the starter just stops working. Not a big deal as the motor starts up after 2-3 pulls even when cold. Then it would be running along full throttle or 90% most of the time, and after the engine got warmed up after 15-20 mins of running it would start coughing and you could hear and feel a cylinder drop out. After pulling plugs and checking plug wires and ignition wires and fuel delivery and even replacing the fuel pump due to a small leak on the other it still would continue to drop a cylinder. Well I finally found the cause of the cylinder loss. I had it at home and had pulled the plugs one day and pulled the lead wires off the coil packs that come from the CDI. The lead wires from the CDI connect to the coil packs with a post similar to the plug wires only smaller. Its a small post with a round clip on the wire that just snaps onto it. The connectors on the wires were old and you could see they were really thin. On the posts you could see charring and eveidence of arcing. So my theory was that after the engine got warmed up the heat would soften the clips up just enough that they were not keeping a solid connection and losing the current transfer before it got into the coil pack. Replaced the connectors on the lead wires with some new ones and snapped them down on the posts and she has run all day since with no problems. I have only taken the boat 3 blocks from the house to ramp due to the hubs and bearings and not knowing what condition they were in. Friday I replaced the hubs and bearings and seals. Took it on a 25 mile test drive Saturday. Hubs slightly warm just where they need to be. Ready to start taking it to my favorite holes.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Nov 28, 2014)

Well, Shes going back into the construction phases. I Have been holding off on the front casting deck and finising the bench for the passenger seat to be added due to the fishing still being good down here but this last cold snap has put me off fishing for a bit and with the wife carrying one in the oven I need to be home a little more often now anyways. First a most important mod will be the raised front deck. It drives me nuts when I am by myself fishing and standing at the front of the boat. I dont like being down low in the boat. The rear deck is fantastic. Sits up level with the top rail of the boat and theres nothing in the way to pitch and flip or skip lures with low roll casts. The front deck however puts you about 16-18" lower than the top rail and its a pain. My buddy that usually fishes with me is always up front and when I first told him the plan about raising the front deck he was against it. Now, he keeps begging me to get it done. Well today after work even though its freaking cold, I will begin framing the deck out in aluminum and get it ready for the plywood. I will have full use of the front deck as storage area. The trolling motor batteries will be up front for now but I may end up repositioning them to the rear once its decked and I see how the boat handles with the added weight. I did actually get an upgrade on the powerplant. I did some work for a business acquaintance a few years ago restoring 2 pontoon boats and he owed me $1200. I was having lunch with him a few weeks ago and we went back to his shop and he was getting ready to pay me and I noticed a newer looking 40hp Mercury 2 stroke ELPTO sitting at the back of his shop. You could tell it had a few years worth of dust on it. So I asked him about it and he said he had gotten it a few years ago on a boat he bought to restore and that he could never get it running. Hes not very engine savy which is what our business agreement was actually based on. He restored the boats and I would repair the motors for him. Anyways, I told him to give me the motor and $300 as payment and at first he was against it but after some talking and infoming him that the $900 he was basically giving it to me for I could end up spending in parts alone, he decided to go ahead with the deal. So I headed home with my new 40 horse. I got to the house and put it on a stand. Checked everything over and it all looked good. Hooked up the water and a battery and fuel tank, added some oil to the injection tank and turned it over. It turned over no problem but wouldnt crank. This is where it gets good. I begin running through my processes for eliminating the issue. KISS right? First thing I look for is the kill switch. Directly under the ignition is a little cover which simply states "RUN" with a little sideways slot in it just the perfect size for.... huh, a key. So I take the key out of the ignition and slide it down in and hear the switch click. Put the key back in the ignition and turn it over and it immediately fires up. The water jet was weak and after dunking it at the ramp and running it pulling water on its own power determined the impeller had failed. $20 later the engine was on the boat running like new. 30mph me and another on the boat. All gear and of course the necessary cooler full of beer and ice. It does however need a new prop. You could see where it had hit either a submerged stump or rock at some point and did some major damage to the fins. 2 of the 3 fins are missing pieces off the ends the size of a quarter the other missing a piece about the size of a dime. All in all though it runs perfect. Couldnt be happier with the deal.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Nov 28, 2014)

New motor and some fishing pics.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Nov 28, 2014)

OH, and the boat has been named, "Marriage Counselor" Wife hates it. I think its fitting lol.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Dec 7, 2014)

Well the construction of the raised front deck officially began lastnight. Got home from work and broke out the shop lights and went to work. Ive drawn the framing up multiple times and been very particular on the details. Measuring multiple times before marking the aluminum then multiple times again before cutting. I want to maximize all my storage options with the new deck. I will be raising the deck 10.5 inches and will have three hatches. There will be a 12"x 30" hatch at the very front and a 15" x 24" hatch on each side. Each compartment will be enclosed and separate from the other compartments so that I can keep different things stored separate from the others. Framing will be all alluminum. Wood decking on top and the walls separating the compartments will also be wood. It was nice to see it start to take shape as the framing starts to come together. I will get pics up as soon as i can.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Dec 10, 2014)

Pics as promised. The deck is extremely solid. I surprised myself with how well the job has turned out and how fast it's going together.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Dec 11, 2014)

Quick update photo of this mornings progress. Been at it since 9 so the last 2.5 hours has been spent checking measurements two or three times then cutting hatches and gluing and wrapping the carpet.


----------



## gillhunter (Dec 11, 2014)

BoatDawg4120 said:


> gluing and wrapping the carpet.



Looking good! Gluing carpet is not my favorite task :LOL2: .


----------



## WPS (Dec 11, 2014)

Nice job on the deck!


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Dec 11, 2014)

Thanks guys. I don't mind gluing. I've done enough to make it a quick painless task for me now. I wasn't able to get a good pic with the hatches in place before it got dark. I'll get some tomorrow after work. Gotta put the rear section of decking on still but ran out of carpet glue. Wife is picking up another quart for me while she's out tonight. So far Ive used a full gallon. Not too bad tho. Hopefully I'll get the new seats I wanted for Xmas from her. I dropped a few subtle hints. You know. Pics to her phone. Stuck to the fridge. The mirrors. Her car windshield. Lmao. Not that bad. She knows what I want.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Dec 13, 2014)

Well. Here she is guys. All the decking is complete on my build. Very happy with it. Can't wait to get on the water. I have a few more braces to secure but all in all she's done. Looks awesome. I only have two pics but will get more monday when I'm actually near it during daylight hours. Sat and sun I am at work from dark til dark lol. The pics make it look smaller than it actually is. Deck measures 53" from front to shortest point on the back side. It's 63" from front to the console where I decked to. Front is 43" wide. 63.5" wide at the back side of the front deck. Every inch of space under the deck is usable storage. Happy as a fat kid eating cake right now.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Dec 14, 2014)

The wait is killing me. I want to get on the water so bad. Im off tomorrow but gotta family day planned at the Disney parks. Will be a good day for charging my trolling motor batteries back up tho. I have relocated the batteries to the rear of the boat. The boat runs 1000 times better with the weight in the back. The weather looks to be perfect for fishing this next week. Great thing about working the weekend is that it leaves the fishing spots wide open for me to hit during the week. Im excited about all the free space that having the storage is going to allow me to have. No tripping over tackle boxes or the trolling motor batteries. The raised deck allows me to move the trolling motor pedal wherever I need it on the front deck. The cable length left me extremely limited as to where I could position the pedal with the deck being set down so low. I will get some better pics and update everyone on how it does in the water in use.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Dec 29, 2014)

Ive taken the boat out a couple of times now. My only issue no is that there is now too much weight at the back of the boat. If I am by myself or just have me and my daughter on the boat it jumps up and planes out very quickly but as soon as I add another adult to the weight it doesnt want to plane out for a while. Once it does plane it moves just as fast as it did before I moved the batteries to the rear. Now I am trying to determine how to better balance the boat.


----------



## BoatDawg4120 (Apr 19, 2017)

Been some time since I last posted. Boat has gone back into rebuild and modification status within the last few weeks. Rewiring and replumbing. Also adding some much needed accessories. Marine radio new bilge and the old bulge pump will be used as a back up I have a new switch panel and fuse block coming in. Entire deck is being redone once again. Sitting outside under oak trees with no cover took a toll on it. Not to mention my livewll plumbing started to leak I. Multiple places and would make the boat take on some water when out fishing. Pics will be incoming of the progress shortly. Here's a few with the deck ripped back out again.


----------

