# 1652 Lowe Olympic John Duck/Marsh Boat Updated 9/25/13



## T Man (Nov 11, 2012)

Well, the real work started today on the "new" boat. It sat in my buddies garage for the last 5 years, and for the last 2 has been our storage rack/table for our mowing gear. Last Thur the stars aligned and I bought it for a song. The motor needed a new diaphragm, and after the shakedown I found it had a spun hub. Over the last 5 years I have been buying boats cheap, doing a little work and turning a profit on them to get to this point, each time getting a little bigger. This boat is the perfect size for what I want to do with it, but it needed a little work and until I graduate I am on a shoestring budget. Today I got down and dirty with it.


The beginning:










Cleaned it out and stripped the wiring out. Also removed the middle bench to make it a full walk through










Next spring, I am going to spend the time and pull all the old cracked peeling camo wrap off the outside and do my own thing to it. There is a beavertail boat at the Cabelas in Kansas City that has the paint scheme I used on my last boat that I really like. Everything, inside and out including the motor (the whole thing, not just the cowl) will be painted to match. 

The old 14' paint.
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/543225_638523507415_555840752_n.jpg


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## T Man (Nov 11, 2012)

Well, we had rain until 2pm today, so all of the outside work on the boat was ceased. (It went from 70 yesterday to 30 today!) I did manage to get the motor cover painted however. Last night I hit the entire thing with 100 grit on my orbital sander and then primed and laid the base coat tan down. Today I came back and added the top coat of brown and got to thinking that I wanted the motor designation back on it. I took some tape, found a mercury 25hp logo online, and traced it off my laptop. After some *very* careful cutting I made a (hopefully) good stencil. It is drying right now, so pictures will be up in the next hour of the results. If it looks awful then a repaint will be a 5 minute job. If it looks good, I will contemplate doing the mercury on the side....not looking forward to that.

The motor with that god awful wrap on it






Making my stencil






Applied and masked (I did say I was on a shoestring budget)


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## T Man (Nov 11, 2012)

Success!!! I need to get the paint off of the gasket, but otherwise, im happy with it.


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## Moccasin Don (Nov 13, 2012)

I like that camp stencil! Where did it come from?


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## Moccasin Don (Nov 13, 2012)

*camo...


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## T Man (Nov 13, 2012)

Thank you, but its not a stencil. It is nothing more than a tan base coat, then holding saw grass (first boat) or twigs from a pine tree (new boat) you mist over it. Most hunting camo is so detailed that at a distance it masses into one dark blob. If you do it this way, at a distance, there are dark and light spots that break up the boat outline much better.

You can go over it with a coat of green to give more depth, like I did on this shotgun:







Or put detail in to break up the monotony:


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## T Man (Nov 14, 2012)

I understand this isn't everyones cup of tea, as most of you are building (very well I might add) shiny fishing boats. Your input and opinions however are appreciated. My last boat was a 1432 semi-v, so going up to the 1652 is going to take some getting used to. Tell me what you like, dont like, or what you would do differently.

Paint Teaser...

Gunnel






Front of console


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## HRalston (Nov 14, 2012)

T Man- I really like that paint job- If you havent already completed the paint, would you mind posting some pics of you process, i.e. how you held the stencil material in place (I know you said you used natural foliage). 

I plan on doing a similar pattern and I've already gotten my base tan done.

Thanks in advance and looking forward to seeing your build come together.


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## T Man (Nov 14, 2012)

HRalston said:


> T Man- I really like that paint job- If you havent already completed the paint, would you mind posting some pics of you process, i.e. how you held the stencil material in place (I know you said you used natural foliage).
> 
> I plan on doing a similar pattern and I've already gotten my base tan done.
> 
> Thanks in advance and looking forward to seeing your build come together.



I would be happy to. It is the same method I use for painting shotguns. I will see if my girlfriend has the patience to record me doing a section of the transom for a quick how to.

Just so it is known, I dont use parkers duck boat paint, or any boat paint for that matter. I have used rustoleum or krylon flat camouflage paint for the last 4 boats. The finish isnt as nice as it could be, but it allows for quick easy and cheap touchups for the inevitable ding or scratch.


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## reedjj (Nov 15, 2012)

Love the boat and the paint looks great??? Interesting console though....looks like it saves space..


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## HRalston (Nov 24, 2012)

Have you gotten any more painting done?


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## T Man (Nov 30, 2012)

HRalston said:


> Have you gotten any more painting done?




I have painted the transom and put the base coat down on the inside. At the moment I am completly overwhelmed with the project. Working 2 jobs, and going to school full time doesnt leave much time to get anything done anyway, so when I do get time to work on it, I dont really know where I should start: wiring, decks, etc. I have started framing the decks, and began to run my conduit for my wiring, which I will get some pics up of here in the next few days hopefully. Tomorrow is free, so I hope to get the framing completly done, and maybe do some work on laying the decks.


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## T Man (Dec 2, 2012)

A picture of the transom painted:






I started building the decks as well this weekend. 

Started out by framing:






I then cut out the plywood to cover the deck






Using a jig saw, I cut a hole I could get my arm through to be able to reach in and trace the openings for my hatch cutouts.






Once the hatches were traced, I cut them out 1/2" larger on each side in order for my doors to have some structure to close onto, and to allow room for the carpet.






In the first picture of the deck you can see the red tub. It ended up fitting perfectly into the openings I had planned, so I decided to use the how to provided by tinboats.net on building a livewell. As soon as I get a through hull fitting, it will be completely done. I am beyond happy with how well it works. (I need to touch up the white paint inside) The insides of all of the hatches will be painted white for ease of visibility.







Once the front deck was done, and sealed I decided to move onto removing the wrap. Originally I was planning on waiting until spring to pull the tape, but it has been so nice the last few days that I decided to go ahead and go for it. My girlfriend decided to give me a hand, which was sooo nice, as this is soul crushing work pulling 2"x2" sections of tape off of a 16' boat. 






All gone, washed, and prepped for paint:












Once all of this was done, I began to think about rod storage and a place for my push pole. I had an old cheap rod holder set from wally world that I cut and re-purposed to hold 3 rods on one side and a rod and push pole on the other. Still not in love with it but once the floors are in, I will decide whether it stays or goes.


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## NLaudy (Feb 12, 2013)

You get the doors installed on the livewell or any other work done? Really like your build!


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## T Man (Feb 13, 2013)

A few updated pictures. The floor is still not in the boat, however the leak in the transom did get fixed. I had a blind on during duck season, but now that its fishing time, that is in the basement for the summer. I used t nuts to mount the trolling motor so it would be removable during duck season, but still have a solid mount during fishing season.. 

The front deck with the lights. I used a shower grab bar and conduit clamps to mount the lights.













The blind down and up










And the rear deck


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## bigwave (Feb 13, 2013)

Good job on the light rail.....great idea.


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## RiverBottomOutdoors (Feb 13, 2013)

Any details on the lights and how they're rigged?


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## Pweisbrod (Feb 13, 2013)

Great build. Nice to see another duck boat.


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## CountryRN (Feb 13, 2013)

Nice looking boat. I like the blind and camo work. I am tearing into a 18x60 SeaArk to do a good refresh job on it. Only difference is that I am having to get a little welding done before I can get into running new wires.
What material did you use for your blind.


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## NLaudy (Feb 13, 2013)

That looks great! Are your hatch doors wood? What did you use for the handles and hinges? I really do like that setup!


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## T Man (Feb 13, 2013)

thanks for the comments guys. To answer a few questions, yes, my hatch doors are 1/2" plywood with a piece of 3/4" underneath for bracing. The hinges are nothing more than continuous hinges. My handles are small d ring tiedowns. I would give a link if i werent on my phone. I got them at home depot. The blind is built out of 3/4" conduit. I can give some more details if youre interested in building one. It is covered with fastgrass. It was supposed to only be a temp blind for this year but it worked so well i may just make some improvements and use it next year.
As for the lights, they are some cheapies i bought at walmart. I think it was 25 for two. I have them wired so i can use the inners or the outers or both. They were indespensable during duck season.


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## Hanr3 (Feb 13, 2013)

Nice job.


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## NLaudy (Feb 14, 2013)

T Man, thanks for all the info! If you ever get around to taking more pictures, snap a few closer shots of the hatch doors. Would like to see what holds them on the inside. Were you able to find the hinges local? Was looking at some today at a hardware store but wasn't sure what kind of metal was best. Didn't see any stainless ones.


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## TxTightLiner (Feb 15, 2013)

I like it. Good lookin paint job!
I am interested in how you built the blind, materials/cost etc..


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## T Man (Feb 15, 2013)

TxTightLiner said:


> I like it. Good lookin paint job!
> I am interested in how you built the blind, materials/cost etc..




If you google "Scissor Blind" or "Conduit boat blind" you will find tons of designs. Cost for me was free because I had the conduit laying around from an old blind I built, but it is about $4 for a 10' stick and I used 4 for my blind. If you use 3/4" EMT conduit you can use 7/8" bimini hardware.


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## T Man (Feb 15, 2013)

NLaudy said:


> T Man, thanks for all the info! If you ever get around to taking more pictures, snap a few closer shots of the hatch doors. Would like to see what holds them on the inside. Were you able to find the hinges local? Was looking at some today at a hardware store but wasn't sure what kind of metal was best. Didn't see any stainless ones.




Gravity is keeping my hatches closed. When I get around to carpeting the boat they will just be slam fit hatches. None of them face into the wind so they stay closed when trailering. I bought the hinges at home depot. I think it was $15 for a 6' long hinge.


I bought a new prop today. $80 for a Merc. takeoff. It was brand new so I went ahead and pulled the trigger. While I was walking around I saw an old Feathercraft vagabond and fell in love. It had a gutted interior, but the lines were beyond sleek on that old tin. Im thinking it may have to become mine.


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## NLaudy (Feb 15, 2013)

Good stuff Tman! The hinges is more what I was curious about. Will have to look for some at Lowes next time I go.


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## TxTightLiner (Feb 16, 2013)

Thanks. I have plenty of conduit laying around, Ill get put one together.
So the grass stuff , where did you buy it?


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## T Man (Feb 22, 2013)

TxTightLiner said:


> Thanks. I have plenty of conduit laying around, Ill get put one together.
> So the grass stuff , where did you buy it?




It came with the boat when I bought it, but Cabelas, Bass Pro, and Rogers have it. It is avery fast grass and it comes in a 4x4 sheets and i belive there are 4 sheets to a package.


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## T Man (Sep 25, 2013)

Here are a few pics of my progress on my bilge remodel. I just glued down some 1x2 PVC strips to act as attachment points for my batt and fuel tank hold Downs. The 5200 takes 7 days to fully cure so the batteries and cinderblocks are just there to provide clamping pressure. The battery weight wont change so they are on the port side to ballance driver weight. The fuel tank will be mounted on the centerline because the weight is variable. Depending on how I set up the rest of the bilge, I can carry up to 3 more 6 talon tanks increasing my range to well over 100 miles.


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## T Man (Oct 24, 2013)

The back deck is finally back on. I've been waiting on my battery tray to arrive and it finally did today. The missing bilge hatch is receiving a final coat of paint and it will be ready to install. 3 coats of spar urethane and 3 coats of paint should give it a little longevity. I still need to roll a couple coats of deck restore on but it is more of a nonskid than a wood protectant for my application


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## willsbarbour (Dec 2, 2013)

Looking good. Glad to see another waterfowl boat on here :mrgreen: 

What kind of lights did you mount on the bow? Want to do the same to mine but can't decide on how many/ what kind to use. Boat looks good so far


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## T Man (Dec 2, 2013)

willsbarbour said:


> Looking good. Glad to see another waterfowl boat on here :mrgreen:
> 
> What kind of lights did you mount on the bow? Want to do the same to mine but can't decide on how many/ what kind to use. Boat looks good so far



Cheap Walmart lights. I like all 4 but its a huge draw on power


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