# 13'4" Gregor welded V



## mtnwkr (Feb 15, 2011)

I guess after all my lurking I should contribute to the board. I've been using a 12' smokercraft shallow V for flyfishing out of the last few years. With just me I can stand, fish, dance, whatever. Add a dog or another person and it gets tippy real fast. I'm also surrounded by bays and inlets and used it for crabbing when the weather was *perfect*.











This boat was my grandfathers and he bought it new in 88', I bought it off him a few years ago as he was to old to use it anymore. 
I wanted something a little bigger, wider and deeper. My goal was to find a 14'er that was big enough to take out in the salt with a few crab pots or salmon fishing but still small enough to fish all the small local lakes by myself. 
After much looking I bought this 13'4" Gregor welded aluminum. When I bought it the guy told me it was 14' and I believed him, not bothering to put a tape on it myself. Wish I would have. Too late now though. The size is ok though, Its 16" at the transom, 20 in the rear, 28" up front and a beam of 64". All welded, no big dents, repairs or damage. Came with a sweet running Honda BF100s that although is a little underpowered, moves the boat 17.5mph with the dog and I in it. haven't had two adults in it yet. Also came on a galvanized EZloader. 
this is the day I brought it home. 










took it out the next day...Sue approves. 






First up was replacing the seat tops. The old plywood was mostly rotted but came out in big enough chunks to use as a template. I thought about cutting a walk-through in the middle seat but decided to use it as storage instead. 
This is what I found after removing the old wood. 






I cut the middle foam in half and moved it to the sides, stuffing in more foam wherever I could. 










New seat wood.. Later cut the middle bench in three. 






Missing some pics but here is the somewhat finished project. 






4 coats of spar varnish on the seat wood. Used a SS piano hinge on the middle bench, worked great. I ran small SS screw into the seats from the bottom instead of rivets so they are easy to remove for future projects. 
To be continued...


----------



## Brine (Feb 16, 2011)

Looks Great =D> 

Great looking pooch too!


----------



## Decatur (Feb 16, 2011)

Looking good!


----------



## Zum (Feb 16, 2011)

Nice job,hope it works well for your fishing needs.


----------



## basstender10.6 (Feb 16, 2011)

Nice job :LOL2: I like that boat and that honda is a great engine!


----------



## mtnwkr (Feb 21, 2011)

A few more pics. Got the "super" transom completed. It's 3 ply's of 1/2" plywood laminated together, with an easily removable sacrificial 4th sheet on top for when it gets all chewed up from mounting/un-mounting the motors. The support brackets were welded to the floor so I just bent them out of the way to get the old out and the new in. When I bent them back into place it broke free most of the weld so I had to have that re-welded. There's now a pinhole leak from the weld going too deep. :evil: maybe seeped 1/2 cup of water over three hours of fishing, so oh well. Might put some 5200 on it and call it a day. 





Here's a shot of the middle bench seat, all wired up for the battery. I'm leaning more towards cutting it into a walk through and just having the storage in the back. 






When the weather warms up I plan to gut it and paint the interior and carpet the seats. Not sure if I want to do floor boards or not, the floor is pretty flat and I could do without the extra weight and maintenance. I think just laying removable carpet over whats there would be fine.


----------



## mtnwkr (Feb 25, 2011)

I picked up a transom saver and it worked great right out of the box. This is just a $20 walmart special but seems to be fine for what I need, which is just to get it high enough to not hit the ground on rough roads. 






My trolling motor had a super long shaft. I took the head off and it was a simple task to cut it down and shorten the wires. It now rides just high enough to clear the top of the main outboard. 

This is the MK Riptide saltwater motor, not sure if they're all the same inside.


----------



## EasternEasy (Mar 1, 2011)

Looks great! I'm going to be poaching your work here as it looks very similar to what I'm getting into on my beater. Can you tell me what the measurement is on the transom from the inside corner of the triangular brackets. I'm trying to figure out if I have enough room to mount a Johnson 9.9 and a minn kota trolling motor on the transom. Your set up looks like you've got plently of room. How does it steer with the troller?

Easy


----------



## mtnwkr (Mar 1, 2011)

Those triangle brackets are 15", and the transom width is about 65", so I have about 35" between the brackets. I'm collecting materials to gut that middle bench seat, deck the rear bench back and front bench forward, and carpet the beast. I'm less worried about my mods now that I bought a nice cover(on sale at walmart). 
I was wondering if anyone has removed the little support brackets that mount from the seats up to the sides? They don't seem like they would do much unless the boat was dropped on its side. The gunnel rail is pretty beefy and seems it would give all the support it needs. They really take up a lot of room and it seems most boats don't have them..


----------



## EasternEasy (Mar 1, 2011)

Good luck with the decking. 
My boat's too small and shallow (and old) for decks. I've got a little twelve footer I'm reno'ing for a spring trip and puttin' around on the river. I don't want to deck mine but am interested in putting in a storage bin and some type of bow storage for an anchor etc on mine.

I see what you mean about the braces. I usually end up tucking a net or an oar behind it but they are a PITA. I'm loathe to start removing anything that looks remotely structural, because given it's age, I figure it needs everything it's got.


----------



## mtnwkr (Mar 7, 2011)

From this






To this


----------



## EasternEasy (Mar 7, 2011)

Dude - that boat looks great! I like the middle bench storage you've done, and might try something like that. I might have a bit more work to do it on mine as there is metal edging on the seats that is riveted into the frame of the benchs. 

No problems bolting the rod holders through the hull?

Easy


----------



## mtnwkr (Apr 3, 2011)

Painted the outside. Used the super flat camo paint from Walmart, it turned out better than I expected. I just need new decals for it now.. 

from this..






to this..


----------



## philparham (May 15, 2011)

* Hello, I really liked your story about your boat. I have a similar story. My parents are also older and can't use there 15' Gregor boat anymore. My sons and I are restoring the boat as much as we can afford. We painted the hull and now we are down to the seats. I liked your idea about the wood with hinges.But what should we do with the old foam? Should we use the empty space for storage or replace it with the old foam and new foam?. And should we use a type of hard wood for the tops? * Thank you for your response 

Phil


----------

