# Lund C-14 project



## kevbry (Jul 21, 2014)

Since this place has been such a help while I've been planning and working on my own boat, I figured I'd post what I've been working on.

I have a late 70's Lund C-14 which had spent nearly a decade slowly being absorbed by the trees in my brother's neighbour's yard. I picked it and a '99 Mercury 8HP for a pretty decent price and hauled it home to start working on it.

As it was, it came on a decent but ratty looking trailer with 8" tires; way too small for highway speeds. My brother's 16' Lund is in the background... we like our old boats.




The bunks were not placed properly, and were in pretty rough shape. One of them had punched a good dent in the bow when it was last loaded.




The first change was to upgrade to 13" tires. They're actually just standard radials, which work perfectly for something like this. They absorb bumps much better than trailer tires due to the softer sidewalls, and are way, way cheaper.




Next up was a test on the water. While the boat held water just fine, the primer gasket in the carb had completely disintegrated. It poured gas out of the carb, so I wasn't able to take it for a test run. When I got home I decided that I might as well fix up everything while I was at it. I completely disassembled the trailer, then repainted it with galvanized metal primer and spray cans.

Trailer frame primed




Parts painted




Built new, wider bunks to replace the junk that came with it. They're cedar stair rails on fir 2x3 with lots of Thompson's Water Seal. The carpet is very nice, thick waterproof carpet runner, all glued on with construction adhesive and stainless staples. It killed me to cover them up... they were beautiful.




It took way longer than I'd expected, but the trailer is back together. I moved the winch post all the way forwards so that the transom actually sits on the bunks now, which should reduce stress on the bottom.




Kit's 1970 Lund C-14 thread
https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=26611 
was incredibly helpful. From the moment I bought it I'd decided to deck in the front, and will be using aluminum angle just as in that thread. The angle all came from garage sales and the local scrap yard. If I'd paid retail price it would have been well over $100, but I got the angle for around $1 per pound. This part isn't done quite yet, but it's next up on the list.




Today's project was replacing the seats, since they'd almost completely rotted away from their years in the sun. The original plywood was some sort of sealed 5/8" ply, but I replaced it with 1/2" (actually, the metric equivalent) since I was going to be carpeting it over. I bought all new stainless fasteners, and drilled a few holes in the supports that the original builders had missed. A single 4x8 sheet should be enough to do both seats as well as the front deck. One slight problem was that the benches are actually a bit over 50" wide, so I had Home Depot cut the ply into 50" and 46" sections, then cut the 50" section into two 13" seats. Each seat was extended to 13" from the original 12", since the original length wasn't quite wide enough to give the center screws much purchase. I'll cut the contour for the front deck later on.




Next up is to deck in the front across the seats, install the fish finder transducer and speed sender and add a top deck to mount the trolling motor to. We're taking it out for a spin this afternoon, which hopefully will clear the dock this time through... fingers crossed. I'll update as things progress.


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## fool4fish1226 (Jul 22, 2014)

Very nice - be sure to let us know how the test run went :beer:


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## sworrior (Jul 22, 2014)

Looks great. Can't wait to see the completed project.


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## kevbry (Jul 22, 2014)

Test run went pretty well. Couldn't get up on plane no matter how I trimmed or raised the motor, but I already had a lower pitch prop ordered which should fix that problem. Got the idle mix set just right and some practice putting it on the trailer, so I'd say it was a success. Plan is to build the rest of the front deck tomorrow and take it fishing on the weekend.


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## rscottp (Jul 22, 2014)

I love seeing another Lund on the site. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Will be curious to see if the prop change gets you up on plane, 8hp is a bit light for that hull I think. I had a 8hp on my 12' Lowe and it pushed it pretty good with me and my dog, think we used to hit about 20mph.


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## Timtactical (Jul 22, 2014)

The trailer looks great. That is one thing I look at while parking at the ramp. Nothing like a nice and tidy trailer. It would be interesting to keep wood bunks without the carpet.


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## kevbry (Jul 24, 2014)

Thanks! I did think about leaving them uncovered, but I figured they wouldn't last long that way, and might bust up the hull even more.

The front deck supports are now in... just need to find a piece of cardboard large enough to make a template for the plywood.


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## rusty503 (Jul 24, 2014)

Here's a tip for cardboard. If you are a member of one of the warehouse clubs such as Sam's Club, go to the area that has paper products like paper towels, toilet paper and such. I found very nice sheets of cardboard separating the layers of stuff on the pallets. At my local Sam's I asked about them and they said they just throw them away. I grabbed a bunch of them for my floor templates.


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## sworrior (Jul 24, 2014)

As a woodworker I love the bunks. Carpet would be a travesty but necessary I guess. I have a similar alumacraft model f I'm working on but not certain about the stability with a casting deck up forward. Did you notice anything similar with your boat?


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## kevbry (Jul 24, 2014)

I'm not sure about how stable it'll be in my boat. It's fairly narrow, so I'd imagine that it might be a bit tippy. If it just ends up looking decent, gives me somewhere to sit and keeps the dog out of the battery I'll be happy.


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## kevbry (Jul 29, 2014)

Front deck is installed. Had to support the whole thing upside down so that I could actually reach a few of the fasteners, which was a huge pain. I'm also a bit nervous about the strength of the angled supports on the side, but time will tell. Next up are hinges and a latch for the hatch, then a motor mount for the front.


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## DanMC (Jul 30, 2014)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=360549#p360549 said:


> rscottp » 22 Jul 2014, 19:29[/url]"]I love seeing another Lund on the site. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Will be curious to see if the prop change gets you up on plane, 8hp is a bit light for that hull I think. I had a 8hp on my 12' Lowe and it pushed it pretty good with me and my dog, think we used to hit about 20mph.


Same here, Love Lund boats paired with Honda outboards (got two) !


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## kevbry (Aug 1, 2014)

Finally all finished, ready for a week long test next week.

Scored a super cheap cover from Princess Auto (the Canadian Harbor Freight). It's actually very well made and feels durable; much more so than the covers at Cabelas.




Scariest part of the whole thing was drilling holes in the transom for speed and sonar sensors. Had to mount them further out than I'd like just to keep them away from the bunks.




Fish finder is a Garmin Echo 200 with the add-on cover and speed sensor. GPS-city in Alberta was much cheaper than anywhere else I looked. I unfortunately made a mistake in picking this model, as it isn't fully compatible with my trolling motor, so I had to install the stock transducer. The 200 uses 77 and 200 khz, while the US2 on the motor uses 83 and 200.




Battery box for the fish finder is strapped to the back seat with cheap tie down straps, with aluminum angle on the bottom and a flat bar on the top. Excess cable is stored inside to keep it out of the way, and everything outside is covered in wire web to keep it safe. Just enough extra room inside for a screwdriver or two. I'm a bit of a cable management nut.




Front hatch is hinged with a stainless piano hinge from Lee Valley tools, since all the "stainless" hinges at Home Depot were rusting. The battery box fits under the hatch with about 1/4" to spare... I got lucky. A 60 amp breaker is bolted to the front of the box. Slight mistake here was putting it too close to the center, where it interferes with the tie down strap. I used aluminum bar to hold the strap rather than the cheap plastic tie downs the box came with.




Trolling motor is a 55lb thrust Powerdrive V2 with iPilot I lucked into for about $650. Overkill for this boat, but only having to use minimum power settings means my battery will last longer.




I found that the Minn Kota quick disconnect plugs are actually an Anderson Power Products SB50, which can be had for between $2 and $5 at industrial electronics stores. They also make nice dust covers for the plugs, which are around the same price. 




That's it for the build. My biggest lessons learned were to go to wholesale and recycling places for supplies; I saved a lot by buying hardware from a bolt supply place rather than a hardware store, and the aluminum was dirt cheap at the scrap dealer. If I were to do it over again I'd try to use 1 1/2 or 2" angle for the whole front deck.

Next project is to finish up the compass-guided motor driver board I've been working on for a wrecked Powerdrive I found at the scrap yard. It's probably going to take a while now that I have the real thing.

Hopefully it catches fish


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