# Starting my mod (14ft alumacraft) - new pics 5/27



## alumacraftjoe

Started my modifications yesterday. This will be an ongoing project and I will post pictures as I go along. Just so you know I do not have a bunch of free time so this may be a drawn out process. Yesterday I removed fish finder, back seat, and the old flooring / carpeting.




Will post more pics after some more work. Going to try to get some stuff done during the evening this week, but most likely won't hit it too hard until the weekend! Wish me Luck!


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## Jim

Awesome! Great start to your project! I look forward to the pictures too. You can not rush perfection.


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## Waterwings

Look forward to the project updates


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## pbw

Man I love all the projects everyone has going on!


Good start man.. Nice Cruise a day gas tank!


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## Captain Ahab

That boat is perfect to modify  Save your old floor boards to use as a template

Nice project for sure


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## Nickk

cool!

I'm looking forward to updates.


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## chrmayo

Do you know around what year this boat is? There is one close to me thats for sale that looks very similar, except it has a heavily worn console and what looks to be somewhere aroung a 15horse motor. It had a 350 price tag on it back in the summer but has been sitting in the mans backyard for a while.


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## bassboy1

chrmayo said:


> Do you know around what year this boat is? There is one close to me thats for sale that looks very similar, except it has a heavily worn console and what looks to be somewhere aroung a 15horse motor. It had a 350 price tag on it back in the summer but has been sitting in the mans backyard for a while.



And you didn't buy it WHY????

I would pay close to 350 for an Alumacraft 14 footer without a motor or trailer. Even as old as the late 40s. Where do you live? If close, you better watch out, or that would be in my driveway this weekend. :lol: :lol:


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## chrmayo

Its in west tn. It looks very similar to the one in this thread, but it looks as it may not be as deep along the sides. From what I can tell it isnt beat up or anything.


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## alumacraftjoe

The year of the boat is 1976. Anyway I got a little more work done. Finished cleaning it all out Saturday. After going back and forth for a while I decided to paint it so on Sunday I primed it with self etching primer:






My 4 yr. old daughter came down with the flu so I got a day off work today so my weekend painting project got an early start. 










Should be able to get to the princeton white this weekend.


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## pbw

Nice! 8)


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## Captain Ahab

That is gonna look so sweet. WTG and great job.


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## little anth

dude that looks sweet i cant wait to see the finished project


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## Waterwings

That looks good!


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## jackspirko

Really like what you are doing. What type of fishing do you do and where are you at (geographically speaking)


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## bAcKpAiN

Good job on the paint! Did you spray, roll, or brush? That thing is going to look SWEET!


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## alumacraftjoe

> Really like what you are doing. What type of fishing do you do and where are you at (geographically speaking)



I fish mostly for bass, but will try for other species especially bluegill with my kids.



> Good job on the paint! Did you spray, roll, or brush? That thing is going to look SWEET!


I sprayed the primer then rolled and brushed the rest. Did the first coat of white and will finish this weekend and post some more pictures. I also have somebody making replacement stickers for the old alumacraft ones I took off(they were shot).


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## jkbirocz

You should have made a template/stencil of the decal, that would be simple to paint on, and imo adds a nice touch. You could still make it with the pic you took actually.


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## jkbirocz

Oh yeah, I really like the paint too, this will definately be one sweet boat.


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## alumacraftjoe

jkbirocz said:


> You should have made a template/stencil of the decal, that would be simple to paint on, and imo adds a nice touch. You could still make it with the pic you took actually.



I thought about that, but I tried to do that on a jon boat I painted before and I suck at it so I just took the picture and sent it to someone to make replacement decals.


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## alumacraftjoe

White paint added:


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## Captain Ahab

Looking good Joe! Think of all the stuff you could paint in that big white area :lol: 

Bit of advice - make sure you wax the white area several times a year - otherwise you will have a brown and white area pretty quickly


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## Jim

Looking great Joe!


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## alumacraftjoe

esquired said:


> Looking good Joe! Think of all the stuff you could paint in that big white area :lol:
> 
> Bit of advice - make sure you wax the white area several times a year - otherwise you will have a brown and white area pretty quickly



Yes! Learned that the hard way on a previous boat I painted :lol:


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## alumacraftjoe

Finally back at it... I know it's been a while, but I have been busy with teaching and coaching baseball. I am on spring break this week so after completing a wood laminate floor for my wife I have been working on the boat. I will post some pics either tonight or tomorrow. I need to get my computer from school as it takes xd cards.


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## pbw

Looks nice Joe. Love the color combo! 8)


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## alumacraftjoe

Well here are some updated pictures: 

First the paint job out of the garage.





Front shelf/deck to mount new trolling motor. There will be storage underneath and one fish finder mounted on top as well. Played around with the idea of mounting fish finder flush (kind of like built in, but would give up storage space and might be kind of hard to see from front deck seat.





Here is the small front deck. There will also be two storage areas for tackle (will fit 12 utility boxes) 





Dual rod lockers. Each side will hold up to 5 7' rods when I need that many. Hope to use one side as extra storage as I fish alone a lot. The main floor was finished and carpeted before I started taking pictures.





Hope to make more progress today and post more pics tonight: Anyway one last photo of my two biggest fans and occasional helpers:


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## Jim

Awesome progress!

Thanks for the update!


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## pbw

Nice!

I see you have two boat trailers?


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## bAcKpAiN

Very nice! I loved fixing up my boat, but must admit, it is much more fun using it!


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## alumacraftjoe

pbw said:


> Nice!
> 
> I see you have two boat trailers?



Yes you do. I also have a 14' jon boat that I have had for a while. It was previously modded by somebody else and I am going to redo it for electric only lakes or to sell.


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## Waterwings

Great paint and framing job! Looks real good! 8)


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## captclay

Looking good Cant wait to see the finished product


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## seaarc

That's lookin great Joe. What's the lenght and width of that boat? How many seats did you take out to get 7' rod lockers in there? I'm really liking that design. Keep up the good work. =D> 

Dave


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## alumacraftjoe

seaarc said:


> That's lookin great Joe. What's the lenght and width of that boat? How many seats did you take out to get 7' rod lockers in there? I'm really liking that design. Keep up the good work. =D>
> 
> Dave



14' length... I only took out the center seat. The seats attach at the top and there is a space which gives me the extra length to get the rods in. It's hard to explain w/out a pic so I will post some when I get back in town.


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## alumacraftjoe

Just bringing this back to the top. I have been working some when I have time. In the spring I coach varsity baseball so I have been very limited. Now that the spring season is over I plan to get the boat finished this weekend. I am stopping by Mike's on the way home to pick up some blue water led lights. Wanted to get all the wiring done before I finish the decking. I will have plenty of pics to post this weekend.


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## Waterwings

Looking forward to the pics! 8) 

You guys out of school yet?


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## alumacraftjoe

Waterwings said:


> Looking forward to the pics! 8)
> 
> You guys out of school yet?



Our last day is next Wed., then graduation on Thursday evening. What about you?


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## Waterwings

Seniors get their finals next Tues & Wed, underclassmen finals on Friday. Graduation on Friday night at 7pm. After graduation I have to work Project Graduation from 11pm to 4am. Gonna be a long ass day as I get up 4:30 to go to work, then have to work all night until the next morning. We had a meeting after work today, and my only question was "Will there be ample amounts of coffee there?" :lol:


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## alumacraftjoe

Got a lot of work done over the weekend. Spent a lot of time running all of my wiring before I finished the decking, it actually took longer then I thought so I still have some work left to do. I thought I'd go ahead and share some of my progress.

Trolling motor deck and new trolling motor. I also mounted the front fish finder and added storage hatch so I could store some stuff under the tm deck. I don't want to waste any space.









View of full front deck. There are two storage compartments(hard to see them) and they are lighted with blue water LED's. Wasn't quite dark enough to get a good picture of them and then it started raining so I save those for later.





Another view of the front deck w/ my blue water LED's for the front deck. I went with the blue, but this isn't the greatest pic because it wasn't dark yet. The rain was starting and I at least wanted a picture of them.





Left side Rod locker. Will hold at least 6 rods and is lighted with blue water led lights.









Right side rod locker. Will fit a couple of rods. Will mainly be used for misc. storage. Mounted the on board charger in this compartment and also a switch panel.





Back deck area framing. I still need to complete this section and mount the FF/GPS unit, but the rain started to fall. 





Wiring is all hooked up to switch panel and I will finish up the mount after I finish the wiring for the trolling motor as I still need to get in there as I am extending the trolling motor wiring all the way to the back of the boat.





Got these at bps on sale. Got base, pole and seat mount all for 21.99 during one of the sales back a few months ago. It was over half off normal price. I got a set for the back as well.





Got to decide what to hang off the back. I got both of these motors very cheap. First is a 93 Evinrude 8hp.. second is a 2006 B&S 5HP. Have less then 600 in both motors. I don't know jack about motors. The evinrude hasn't been run in 5years but is very clean. The briggs runs like a top. Got to decide whether to sell the evinrude and use the money for other things, or sell the briggs and use the money to have somebody work on the Evinrude.













Sure has come a long way since:


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## jkbirocz

That looks awesome, great job :beer:


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## alumacraftjoe

jkbirocz said:


> That looks awesome, great job :beer:



Thanks!


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## Old Bill

Joe, you have certainly done a great job!

I rarely fish at night anymore...I'm doing good to see in the daylight, but, I really like your use of the blue water LED lights!

Outstanding work in all areas. =D> =D>


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## phased

I am following all the builds and gaining lots of ideas from you guys. Your boat is looking great. Hope to start mine soon.


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## Jim

Very nice man! The LED lights look killer! Tough choice on the motors, but you can easily sell either or. I have been following some other forums and craigslist, people always want small motors like those. Bigger is better in my opinion, but reliability and trouble freeness(Is that a word?) always come first.


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## Tyler_W

OUTSTANDING job! So what are you going to do with that other fish finder?


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## alumacraftjoe

Tyler_W said:


> OUTSTANDING job! So what are you going to do with that other fish finder?



The other fish finder is for the back deck. It has gps as well so I won't get lost... :lol:


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## Waterwings

Outstanding job, Joe! Everything looks great! 8)


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## alumacraftjoe

Waterwings said:


> Outstanding job, Joe! Everything looks great! 8)




Thanks! Did all of you graduation stuff go o.k.?


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## Waterwings

yep, got to the school at 5:45pm and got the Color Guard ready, plus checked-in the 18 seniors from my homeroom that were graduationg. Graduation and the Project Graduation turned-out okay and the kids seemed to have a good time. I helped work check-in from 11pm-midnight, then went and found the food and coffee pot  . Then I roamed around awhile looking at the activities they had available for the kids, and shot the breeze with them, teachers, and parents. I went to the front of the lobby to ask a parent watching the front doors if he needed a break. he said sure........and never came back :roll: . At 3:30 am I told the teacher running the event that I'd been up for 23 hours straight and I was headed home. Stopped at Kroger on the way home, bought a bag of dog food, got home, fed the dogs, and was in bed at 4am. Got up this afternoon at 3pm. Now I'm really off-schedule


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## Preacher

This conversion is absolutely awesom. I am still in the what do i do stage, but this conversion gives me some ideas. I have a 12 ft gamefisher that does not leak which is a great first step. I hope ya'll enjoy the great boat.


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## seaarc

Fine job =D> =D> Joe. I'll have some more pics on mine soon I hope. Trying to get it to a point to do a float and run test before I finish the carpeting.

Dave


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## breachless

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I have pretty much the same boat (mine is a 1952 Alumacraft, but it looks identical to this boat) and I was wondering if you would be willing to answer a few questions:

-What is that PVC looking stuff that you have running along the rails of the boat and how is it attached? I like that idea as it would cut down on noise I would think...

-How much of an impact did all of that extra weight have on the boat? I have a mid-eighties 15 hp Johnson Seahorse that scoots that boat at about 30 mph in it's naked state with one person... Obviously it won't go that fast with a mod like this, but I am just curious as to how significant of an impact it really had...

-how stable is it sitting up in the bow running the trolling motor?

-did you do anything to compensate for the middle bench that was removed or does that bench not really offer much in terms of rigidity?

-how is it sitting up higher with the deck in the back when running the tiller?

-and finally, is there anything you would have done differently if you were to do it all over again?


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## alumacraftjoe

breachless said:


> Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I have pretty much the same boat (mine is a 1952 Alumacraft, but it looks identical to this boat) and I was wondering if you would be willing to answer a few questions:
> 
> -What is that PVC looking stuff that you have running along the rails of the boat and how is it attached? I like that idea as it would cut down on noise I would think...
> 
> -How much of an impact did all of that extra weight have on the boat? I have a mid-eighties 15 hp Johnson Seahorse that scoots that boat at about 30 mph in it's naked state with one person... Obviously it won't go that fast with a mod like this, but I am just curious as to how significant of an impact it really had...
> 
> -how stable is it sitting up in the bow running the trolling motor?
> 
> -did you do anything to compensate for the middle bench that was removed or does that bench not really offer much in terms of rigidity?
> 
> -how is it sitting up higher with the deck in the back when running the tiller?
> 
> -and finally, is there anything you would have done differently if you were to do it all over again?



It is pvc and it is slit and jammed over the rail. It really does cut down on noise and also does not get hot. That was done by a previous owner so not sure how it is attached. It is super hard to get off so I just left it on and taped it off when I painted.

Not too sure as I modded before I added an outboard. I have an 8hp and I can get about 7mph. I am not in a hurry and comfort was more important than speed. It does not seem too heavy and is easy to load on the trailer even when I have to pull it on in electric only lakes. Before I had the 8hp motor running I rented a 9.9 from a marina one weekend and it moved it much better. Think I need a bigger motor lol.

It is very stable!!!! Much more so then I thought. Jim fished with me at Dale Hollow and can attest to the stability of the boat.

My middle bench sort of hung on the hangers and wasn't really providing any stability I could see. I do have a floor and the side storage lockers that are connected to the front and back benches and the floor which probably provided more stability than the bench did by itself.

When I run the outboard I take the pedestal off and stick the seat down in the the mount. When we stop to fish put the pedestal back in.

I'm not sure if I would do anything differently maybe one big storage area in the front instead of two, but I really like the way it turned out! Hope this helps.


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## breachless

Awesome. Thanks for answering my questions! 

I think I am going to go for it here... Might wait until fall and make this a winter project, but I really like what you did with your boat, and I REALLY want a boat I can fish out of the bow from. I am sick of trying to work weedlines with the transom mounted trolling motor with the wind blowing me around like crazy. Having a light boat certainly has its advantages, but trying to stick on a spot is NOT one of them.

I would also like to be able to move around a bit without making a ton of noise.

This build-out looks to solve my two biggest problems.

I doubt it will look nearly as good as yours, but I am going to use this thread as a bit of a template for mine, and I hope you don't mind me copying you!


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## alumacraftjoe

breachless said:


> Awesome. Thanks for answering my questions!
> 
> I think I am going to go for it here... Might wait until fall and make this a winter project, but I really like what you did with your boat, and I REALLY want a boat I can fish out of the bow from. I am sick of trying to work weedlines with the transom mounted trolling motor with the wind blowing me around like crazy. Having a light boat certainly has its advantages, but trying to stick on a spot is NOT one of them.
> 
> I would also like to be able to move around a bit without making a ton of noise.
> 
> This build-out looks to solve my two biggest problems.
> 
> I doubt it will look nearly as good as yours, but I am going to use this thread as a bit of a template for mine, and I hope you don't mind me copying you!



You'll love it. I waited till fall/winter to do mine. That way when I was done I could go fishing. I may not be the speediest boat on the water, but with the extra weight the wind isn't near as bad as it was before I did the modifications.


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