# 14' Sears Gamefisher



## Macrosill (Feb 1, 2014)

So Long story short, I bought my 1st boat last year. It is a 14' aluminum Sears Gamefisher. I took it out once last year and new things could go better right away. I went out alone. Every bit of weight was in the stern, me at 180, 2 group 29 batteries and the trolling motor. No outboard. The bow sat very high. So high that the wind would spin the boat. I spent more time trying to keep the boat straight than fishing. I decided I wanted to move the batteries up front for some better weight distribution but that was easier said than done. There was no where to put the batteries, Since it is a Mod Vee hull I would have to build a flat mount for them. Since I am doing that I also decided I needed a flat floor. The exposed struts across the floor are just begging me, or one of the kids, to trip and get hurt or fall in the water. That needs to be fixed. I was reluctant to do anything for some time as the boat is in new condition and I did not want to ruin it. Well, yesterday I was bored and threw caution to the wind.

I started this mod by drilling out the rivets that hold the middle bench seat in place. The seat is out and I have a nice large area to build a flat floor. I cut the floor joists and they are in. 

My plan is to have a nice flat middle area along with a front deck at the height of the bench seats. I will have hatches on the front deck for storage and battery access. I am not sure about the rear deck. I may just cover the rear bench seat or extend a deck from the seat to the transom with hatches for storage access.

Thus far, the floor joists for the middle floor is made from kiln dried 2x4 16" on center. This gave me 5 joists. The last 2 I had to rip down to 2.5" so I would have the clearance to run wiring underneath.

I ordered some 2 awg copper cabling to run from the batteries in the bow to the 55lb thrust trolling motor at the stern. At 24vdc, with a 50amp load I will only lose .25v or 1.04" due to voltage drop. This is figuring a 16' run of cable. 

Picture to follow. As luck would have it my laptop crapped out yesterday and I have to send it to Lenovo for a new motherboard. It is going to take a few weeks. All my pic are on that machine so I will get some new ones today. The weather is nice and I hope to do bit more work today.

Wish me luck that my Gamfisher does not turn iintot eh USS Minnow!


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## earl60446 (Feb 1, 2014)

I wish you luck.
What do you mean you will only lose .25v or 1.04" in a 16ft run. I get the voltage drop, I don't get the 1.04 inch part.
I think 2 awg is a good choice though
Tim


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## Macrosill (Feb 3, 2014)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=340493#p340493 said:


> earl60446 » 01 Feb 2014, 21:15[/url]"]I wish you luck.
> What do you mean you will only lose .25v or 1.04" in a 16ft run. I get the voltage drop, I don't get the 1.04 inch part.
> I think 2 awg is a good choice though
> Tim



Tim,
1.04" should have read 1.04%. The voltage drop in my power cable will be 1.04%, lower than the acceptable limit of 3%. Sorry if I created any confusion.

Well, I worked on the boat yesterday morning for a few hours. I have the bow deck framed and the battery platform is in as well. Nothing is secured permanently at this point as I will be taking it all apart for 3 coats of Spar Urethane. The front deck has 3 hatches in it. One in the front that goes across the bow for storage and 2 side by side just in front of the original front bench seat for the batteries. It was a beautiful day, about 50 degrees and sunny. Unfortunately I had to go to work at 11am. Today we are in the midst of another snow storm. 10" expected today. Then more expected Saturday and another big one next week. Maybe March will be a better month to actually get some work done.

I scoped out some plywood and carpet at HD and Lowes the other day. Lowes has some nice outdoor carpet. Their plywood selection was a bit lacking for my needs. HD had the same or very similar carpet for a few cents more than Lowes. HD did have a better plywood selection. The best I could find that fit my needs was either 16 or 19/32, I looked at so many I confused them all, sheathing grade that was a 4 ply. The 3 ply boards are way to flexible. 5 ply would be better but I was not able to find it in anything less that 3/4. 

For the hatch doors I am planing on either piano hinges or some other type of hidden type hinges. Either way there will be support around all 4 sides of the hatches. I am also planning on just some nylon webbing material for hatch pulls. 

I need to get some SS hardware to attach the framing to the boat. The front deck will be secured with 4 bolts into the shelf in the bow and some self drilling screws into the front bench. I want to keep the hole count down.

My #2 cables arrived the other day. Those are going to work out very nicely.

That is all for now. I know everyone likes pictures. I will get some as soon as I can.


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## Macrosill (Apr 6, 2014)

It has been some time since I started this mod. The weather did not cooperate much so I was not able to get any work done. Yesterday was a beautiful day, although a bit windy. I spent the day in the driveway making some sawdust. The wind was kind enough to blow the sawdust everywhere, including in my face al day long as I made each cut in the plywood.

I know how everyone likes pictures so I took a few for you to see.

This is the boat as I got it, mostly. The frot deck is framed and I had removed the middle bench but I placed it back in for the photo.



Here it is with the middle bench removed.



Just an overview of the boat with the cardboard template for the front deck in place.



A close up of the cardboard template for the front deck. 



A close up of the stainless steel bolts I used o secure the front deck framing to the boat.



Those brckets were used to secure the middle bench to the hull. I am leaving them for 2 reasons. I can reinstall the seat in the future if I sell the boat and I do not have to mess with sealing the rivet holes if I were to remove them.



This is one of the brackets that secured the middle bench to the sides of the boat. I am not sure if I am going to enclose them somehow or just grind the rivets down enough to remove the brackets but still keep the rivet in place in the hull.



This is the battery tray, just forward of the front bench seat. I have a 24v trolling motor so I need 2 12v batteries. The tray is made from some 3/4 cabinet grade plywood and 1x material I had laying around. I needed to get the batteries up front to help distribute the weight better.



Just a close up of the tray support against the frot bench. The 1x material is cut to match up with the curve f the hull. Currently the tray is just sitting in place but will not move around as it is held in place between the bench and 2 ribs on the hull. I am thinking about adding some silicone to "glue" the tray in place.



This is the front deck in place. The big hole in the middle is actually going to be 3 hatches. The one in the front will be for general storage. The 2 next to each other are to access the batteries.

This is actually the second front deck I made. The first was 15/32 iirc, and was a bit too thin. The deck here is 5/8 4 ply and worked out much better. Sure, it is a bit heavier but I feel it is worth the difference in strength.



These are the floor joists for the main deck. I ripped them down from kiln dried 2x4.



This is a close up showing how the floor joists are cut to match up to the curve of the hull. They are just laying in there right now. I am thinking about "glueing" them in place with some dabs of silicone.



This is the main deck installed. It matched up with the curve of the hull and "snaps" in place. There is a notch in the hull that runs down each side of the boat. The deck is wider enough that it fits into the notch. Once in place I need a way to pull out the deck if need be. I used a screw but plan on either a bolt eye of just a 1" hole in order to pull up n the deck if I need to get under it to pull up on the deck while you puch the gunwales outward.



Here is a close up of a corner of the deck in place. You can see how the plywood goes into the notch on the right and lays against the front bench in this photo. I may have to trim the front and rear of the deck a bit to get some clearance for the carpeting. It might be a bit tight as it is.



I am currently urethaning the decks. There will be 3 coats on all sides when I am finished.


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## Captmike (Apr 7, 2014)

Looking good so far!


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## ccm (Apr 7, 2014)

Where your floor supports touch the aluminum you will want to put something in between the support and aluminum boat side. You'll be surprised how little movement it takes to wear a thin spot in a boat. Silicone, 5200, a thin piece of rubber are all good options to solve this issue. Keep up the progress its starting to look pretty sweet.


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## XtremeAngler17 (Apr 8, 2014)

Looking good! ill be watching for more pics/updates. Keep it up


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## Macrosill (Apr 15, 2014)

Not too much progress. I put the final coat of urethane on all the deck pieces last night. Probably will not have much time to move along any further until this weekend of next week. Slow and steady wins the race!


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## acabtp (Apr 18, 2014)

if i were you, i would take the boat out on the water as you have it now for a test run before you do anything else.

my boat's pretty similar to yours and i originally set my batteries up the way that you have them, but it made the front end of the boat sit way too low in the water and made the handling very squirrely with the bow wanting to plow hard into any turn, even when running the trolling motor, and running the outboard was way too dangerous. the front end of these types of boats have a lot less buoyancy than the rear due to the V hull. i ended up having to move the batteries to the rear when i redid the boat, and now it sits fine in the water and runs great.

just trying to save you some frustration and work later on.


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## Macrosill (Apr 19, 2014)

That is a good suggestion. It will force me to get out on the water next weekend. Tnx


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## Macrosill (Apr 27, 2014)

I took the boat out today. I had both decks installed along with the batteries installed under the front deck. Everything worked out great! I was even standing on the front "casting" deck checking on the stability. Next up is some minor details on he framing and carpeting.

Oh, I took my youngest son out for his first trip in the boat. We did not catch any fish but we did not get skunked either. Andrew caught a few bushes and a tree. We had a fun time out on the water today and are looking forward to may more.


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## IDAHOAUGER (Apr 27, 2014)

Looking great!


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## St3ven8r (Apr 27, 2014)

Your boat looks very similar to mine. I just started and plywood floor is 47" sitting in groove. I look forward to seeing your progress . 
How was he stability with the floor up that high? I'm a bit concerned but will do what you did and take mine for a test run when floor is secured. 

Looking good.


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## Macrosill (Apr 28, 2014)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=350352#p350352 said:


> St3ven8r » Yesterday, 22:48[/url]"]Your boat looks very similar to mine. I just started and plywood floor is 47" sitting in groove. I look forward to seeing your progress .
> How was he stability with the floor up that high? I'm a bit concerned but will do what you did and take mine for a test run when floor is secured.
> 
> Looking good.



To be honest, I did not build the "casting" deck for casting. I built it to have covered storage. The stablity of standing up there was not a concern. Now that it is built and I tried it I would definitely cast from it. When you first get up there it wobbles from side to side but nothing that would cause you to loose your balance and fall overboard. Now if there was a big wake and it hit you from the side you would have a fun ride. I most certainly will be spending some time up there without worries.

As for the regular floor, I am veyr happy with it. It made the fishing experience so much better. There was no climbing over a bench or triping over support ribs on the floor. All the gear did not slide down to the keel. Overall I am very happy with the performance. 

Moving the batteries up front made a huge difference in both performance and wind drifting. With the batteries i the rear the bow was so high that steering in a straight line was tough. Also anytime there was a gust of wind the boat would turn like a wind vane.

Good luck with your mod.


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## St3ven8r (Apr 28, 2014)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=350365#p350365 said:


> Macrosill » 28 Apr 2014, 07:02[/url]"]
> 
> 
> [url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=350352#p350352 said:
> ...



That's great. Thanks. Yep, mine has same issues and always wanted to go with the wind. Tripping over things is also an issue I was hoping to resolve as you did by removing the middle bench and putting in the floor. I'll be posting some pics as I get back to work on it (when the weather warms a little more).
Looking forward to seeing more of your build.
Thanks,
Steve


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