# Polar Kraft 1448 build



## Fishfried (Dec 16, 2019)

Been searching for a small fishing boat. I couldn’t find one I liked so I’m just going to build my own. Got a good Craigslist deal Jon boat. A 2012 Polar Kraft 1448L. I assumed it was a 36” or smaller bottom, ended up being 48” and since it didn’t have a trailer, was tough to fit in my 6’ truck bed. In great shape, some paint chips here and there and a dent on the rear bench seat, otherwise perfect. Very dirty but solid!


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## Fishfried (Dec 16, 2019)

Guess I should post some before pics.


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## Fishfried (Dec 16, 2019)

First thing I noticed is the live well in the center bench seat has a through hull fitting that I didn’t like so I took out the fitting and welded it shut. I happened to have a hole saw the right size so I cut a circle with some scrap and TIG welded it from the outside of the boat. Will build a custom livewell later.
Doing a basic “mini bass boat” build. Starting in the front of the boat with a big casting deck. No carpet or wood in this build. I want the deck to be flush with the height of the front deck and center bench seat.
Got a sheet of .125”, 5052 sheet 5’ x 10’ and 75’ of .125” x 1.5” x 1.5” angle.


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## Fishfried (Dec 16, 2019)

Framing in the front deck. Deck will have a couple hatches. Two small ones for tackle and one for batteries. I intend to use Nautolex vinyl to cover the deck. I need to find a good glue that works on aluminum.


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## checkoutmyjunk (Dec 17, 2019)

Looking good, keep us posted!


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## maintenanceguy (Dec 17, 2019)

Those 1448's are nice boats. Very stable for a smaller jon boat.


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## Fishfried (Dec 22, 2019)

Front casting deck support nearly complete, just a couple more vertical supports. I welded the top angles, riveted the vertical supports. I need to make a template for the aluminum deck, that should be fun...


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## Fishfried (Dec 22, 2019)

Front deck support.


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## checkoutmyjunk (Dec 23, 2019)

Nice work, I wish I would take the time to learn how to weld


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## Fishfried (Dec 23, 2019)

checkoutmyjunk said:


> Nice work, I wish I would take the time to learn how to weld



Thanks! I took welding classes at the Tech school about 17 years ago and worked as a welder for a couple of years.


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## Fishfried (Dec 24, 2019)

Between the middle and rear deck I got a custom hatch lid installed. I used some aluminum sheet, had someone in the shop at work press brake the long sides. I bought an aluminum piano hinge on EBay. Riveted the hinge to the hatch and to an angle that spans the two bench seats.


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## jerseycat9 (Dec 24, 2019)

Do you plan on doing anything for sound dampening before you cover the framework? The first jon boat I decked I didn't bother and it drove me nuts until I ripped it apart and glued down pieces of gym matting between the ribs which made a world of difference on the noise.


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## Fishfried (Dec 24, 2019)

That’s a good question. I have framed two other decks the same way and haven’t had a problem. With a straight edge, all the frame is within a 1/16”, so not much slop. When I get the aluminum sheet cut right I will lay a bead of silicone caulk on the framework, so it will be solid as can be.


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## Fishfried (Jan 6, 2020)

After reading the post about sound dampening again, I think I understand what you did. At first I thought you sandwiched the deck and the structural with the mat. I could put some blue foam board in between the ribs just for good measure. Thanks for the tip


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## Fishfried (Jan 6, 2020)

I want to put a pedestal mount on the rear bench seat. The bench is filled with foam and the aluminum is way too flimsy for the mount alone. I grabbed a bracket and it works great. There might be an easier way, but this is how I did it...


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## Fishfried (Jan 6, 2020)

Here are a couple more pics of the mounting bracket.


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## Fishfried (Jan 6, 2020)

With the base.


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## Fishfried (Jan 6, 2020)

Since I plugged the livewell in the center bench to use for batteries and fuse box I need To build a new one. I asked a guy in the shop at work to roll a piece of aluminum that I cut to be the same height as the deck. It’s about 23 gallons. I haven’t figured out how I’m going to put a lid on it. I’m thinking of using a cutting board and hinge it. I’ve made a couple aluminum livewell for friends and they have performed well.


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## Fishfried (Jan 6, 2020)

The space between the rear seat and transom will have three hinged lids. An aluminum piano hinge will be on the riveted to the seat and to the lids. I’ll press brake the panels to make them rigid. This will give the person fishing in back of the boat a little more deck room. I made some cardboard templates. I’ll cut out a notch for the tiller handle.


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## Fishfried (Jan 6, 2020)

Couple more pics of the rear deck area. I’d like to turn up the corner of the panel like the cardboard template in the pic. I’ll see if it works out.


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## TMO8853 (Jan 9, 2020)

Looks fantastic so far! Really great attention to detail!


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## Fishfried (Jan 26, 2020)

Finished the livewell today. It’s 17 1/2” diameter and the same height as the the deck. I’m installing a LED light in it and a recirculating pump. It has an overflow and a bottom drain. I’ll rivet it to the floor of the boat after I paint everything.


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## Fishfried (Jan 26, 2020)

A couple more pics.


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## Fishfried (Jan 26, 2020)

Slowly but surely this build is coming together. Hope to be finished by spring.


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## Pawatch (Jan 31, 2020)

Nice job on the boat! Looks like a solid build,thanks for sharing!


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## Fishfried (Feb 1, 2020)

Picked up my new trolling motor at Cabela’s today. I needed to fab a riser to get it to the proper elevation, in my case 3 1/4” was needed. I used scrap from my aluminum deck, 1/8” thick. TIG welded it together then ground it down so it will paint nicely.


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## Fishfried (Feb 1, 2020)

Couple more pics


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## k13west (Feb 2, 2020)

That looks great.

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk


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## drxfish (Feb 2, 2020)

Nice work!


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## thomasdgs (Feb 3, 2020)

The things I would do if I had access to a tig.... You've done some nice work so far, lots of interesting and original details. Looking forward to watching this one through to the end.


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## Fishfried (Feb 3, 2020)

Thanks for the “atta boys”! Can’t wait to post the final pic of the boat in the river for you all!


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## Fishfried (Feb 7, 2020)

Fabbed a “dashboard”. Will hold the fish finder, navigation lights and rod holder bases. The wiring will be easy to access from a removable panel that will screw to the front.


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## Fishfried (Feb 9, 2020)

Drilled holes from the battery box in the center seat (was the factory livewell). I welded a 3/8 round rod to a 15/16” spade bit to easily chew through the styrofoam. I did this on the front bench; trolling motor wires, lights and fish finder. And the rear bench for; bilge pump, livewell pump and lights. I used a piece of flexible 3/4 bilge hose attached to the shop vac to chase the holes to get all the tiny pieces of styrofoam out.


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## Fishfried (Feb 15, 2020)

I bought a Weiler cupped wire brush. It’s fantastic. I used it to take the paint off the aluminum tube rails. I figured the rails are going to get beaten up against the dock so I won’t paint them. This wire brush also made quick work of the Polar Kraft decals. 
If you use one of these, besides safety glasses wear a full face shield. The wires will snap off and get you! A few years ago I had one from a a different wheel go through my lip.


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## Fishfried (Feb 15, 2020)

A side note, if you use this wire wheel, it’s heavy. It broke a very used 15 year old Harbor Freight grinder in 20 minutes. I put it on another HF grinder and it survived. Took about 1 and a half hours to remove all the paint from the rails.


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## Fishfried (Feb 18, 2020)

Next up; running wires and mounting the battery charger under the front deck.


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## LDUBS (Feb 18, 2020)

thomasdgs said:


> The things I would do if I had access to a tig.... You've done some nice work so far, lots of interesting and original details. Looking forward to watching this one through to the end.




Even if I had a TIG I wouldn't be able to do that! Haha

Agree, three is some remarkable stuff happening with this build.


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## Fishfried (Feb 19, 2020)

Put the deck on for a minute before I fasten the totes to the deck supports. Looks almost fishable.


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## Fishfried (Feb 19, 2020)

Feels really roomy for a 14’ jon boat.


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## Fishfried (Feb 28, 2020)

Got the boat about 95% sanded and ready for paint. Extended the power cable on the new trolling motor. Ran wiring under the front deck. I hope to get a little painting finished this weekend.


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## Fishfried (Feb 29, 2020)

Finishing the sanding today, front deck and the floor. 100 grit with a palm sander. Tuff Coat will go on all the walking surfaces. Cold outside but sunny and dry, good for sanding.


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## Fishfried (Feb 29, 2020)

Ready for paint! Wish it were a little warmer!


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## Fishfried (Feb 29, 2020)

Ordered boat registration numbers and name for both sides and a transom sticker. What you think lol... 8)


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## Fishfried (Mar 1, 2020)

Not happy with the Tuff Coat color I chose, too light. The Total Boat Aluminum light gray....waaaaay too light, basically off white. I bought a quart of Total Boat black and mixed it. I also mixed the TB black with the Tuff Coat. Now the two paints pretty much match each other. I bought some big syringes so I could put the exact amount of black in each gallon of TC and TB.


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## Fishfried (Mar 1, 2020)

Here are the final colors after I mixed them. I would’ve added more black to the gallons of the Tuff Coat but I ran out of room in the cans. If you are wondering, I called TC and they said it was cool to mix the two together. Also, they said you could take to a paint store and have them add tint.


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## Fishfried (Mar 1, 2020)

Muratic acid washed all bare aluminum. No fun at all, luckily it’s breezy, those fumes...ugh


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## Fishfried (Mar 1, 2020)

Here are the acid washed panels.


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## Fishfried (Mar 1, 2020)

Due to the warm weather today I got quite a bit painted. The Total Boat Aluminum paint is pretty easy to work with. I thinned it about 20% with water. Using a Harbor Freight HPLV sprayer, impressed with it so far. Right now they are on sale for $9.99. I like the gray color a lot more than the Polar Kraft green. I hope it proves to be durable.


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## akboats (Mar 3, 2020)

I thought about buying one of those but id also have to get an air compressor. looking good though. I wish there was a way to follow the thread on this website where you would get email notifications if something new was posted in it.


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## Fishfried (Mar 7, 2020)

Wedged some foam board insulation between the angle deck supports. I put some construction adhesive on it too for good measure. Someone mentioned early on that sound dampening might be a good idea.


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## Fishfried (Mar 7, 2020)

Dabbed some silicone caulk every 6” or 8” on the aluminum angles. After positioning the aluminum deck-one piece, I put some weight on it to sit overnight. Tomorrow I put a few pop rivets in it and I’ll bolt down a seat base. After I apply the Tuff Coat non slip paint on the deck I will put the hatches on. The hatches have 6-8 screws that will go through the deck and the aluminum angle. 
Under the deck I have the onboard battery charger, some totes and buckets for storage under the hatches and the wiring for the bow of the boat. 
Weather permitting, I will get some painting done this weekend.


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## Fishfried (Mar 8, 2020)

Used Sikaflex 221 to fill any gaps between the bench seats and the casting deck. Fantastic stuff. 

The front casting deck is super solid and very quiet. I put half dozen rivets in it- in a couple spots that had some flex. Had to have a buddy come by to help with the seat base, Reaching under the deck with one hand and impact in the other was a bit too difficult.
Got quite a bit of painting done today. All the inside of the boat less the walking surfaces that get the Tuff Coat. Tomorrow I’ll do the outside except for the transom, I already got that done.

If I have time I might get some of the Tuff Coat primer down tomorrow. With a lot of luck I might even get some of the TC layer down. Weather forecast looks warm.

Here is a pic of the Sikaflex where the deck meets the bench.


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## Fishfried (Mar 8, 2020)

Jealous of those of you that have a two car garage to work in. Putting down the second coat of the Total Boat Aluminum.


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## Fishfried (Mar 8, 2020)

All the outside is painted. I got the floor down and the entire inside primed with the one part orange primer for bare aluminum and the two part primer on the painted surfaces.


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## Fishfried (Mar 8, 2020)

100% ready for the Tuff Coat on the walking surfaces.


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## Fishfried (Mar 9, 2020)

First application of Tuff Coat. Used a small roller and a 2” brush for the tight spots. Went on like I expected. It does like to seep behind masking tape, which made cleanup a little aggravating in a couple spots. Only used half of a gallon. I bought waaaay too much, I have enough Tuff Coat and paint for two boats easy. Hope to get another coat on tomorrow assuming it’s dry enough.


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## Fishfried (Mar 10, 2020)

I put the rear hatch lids on for a minute and the livewell just to get a glimpse of the final look. The second coat of TC went on pretty quickly. I still haven’t finished the first gallon, I put it on thick too. I’ll see what it looks like tomorrow, might have to touch up a couple spots...we’ll see. 

Guess I need to buy a trailer, got to get it off the floor in order to get the trolling motor on it. Got a boat cover ordered today, Boat Covers Direct, used The discount code for this website for $10.00 off.


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## Fishfried (Mar 12, 2020)

Plumbed the livewell/baitwell. Installed the aerator pump and bilge pump. I put an LED light in the livewell, it had a rubber gasket on one side, the nut looked super fragile, was afraid to over tighten it. Guess I’ll glue it in if it leaks. Livewell has a drain, overflow, recirculating pump and of course a pump in the rear of the boat for filling. The recirculater and aerator pumps both have aerating spray heads inside the livewell.


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## Fishfried (Mar 15, 2020)

Lots of wiring done this weekend. Mounted the trolling motor, still a lot of assembly on a Garmin even after the base is bolted down.


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## Turd Ferguson (Mar 17, 2020)

Awesome work man, that thing is so clean! Makes me wish I had acid washed and painted the interior of my build :LOL2: I was thinking about painting the top side of my hull with that Totalboat paint. Do you like it so far? How did it spray?


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## Fishfried (Mar 17, 2020)

The Total Boat Aluminum sprayed great! The first coat does not cover well. You have to do at least two, I did three coats. Thinned 20% with water. Dries fast. Seems durable, time will tell though. It goes over painted surfaces really well, I just sanded and washed the outside of the boat. 
I liked painting much more than the electrical I’m doing now. Everything is wired up and wires have all been ran to the the battery area, getting closer...


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## Fishfried (Mar 21, 2020)

Purchased a new YachtClub trailer, I checked all the bolts when I got home and lots of them were loose, surprised it didn’t rattle to pieces on the highway towing it home. Got the stickers on, so it’s legal. Put the CMC tilt/trim unit on last night.

Besides screwing down some rod holder bases- I want to get on the water to see exactly where I want them before I install them. I have to get the boat on the trailer to finish the trolling motor and of course I need to clamp the outboard on. 

I need to get on the water soon!


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## Fishfried (Mar 21, 2020)

The livewell that I repurposed for the batteries. I tried to keep it as tidy a possible. The switch panel is on the other side of the wall so wires didn’t have to run far. I’m pretty happy with it. The large hatch on the deck has a 2 bank charger in it. The only wires not in there are the trolling motor wires, I can’t run those until the motor is on.


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## Fishfried (Mar 21, 2020)

This is a pic of the three hatches open at the back of the boat, spans the rear bench seat to the transom. Aerator pump, bilge and the gas tank will be back there. The lids are rigid so I can stand on them. Decent about of storage too.


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## Fishfried (Mar 21, 2020)

Couple views of the LED lights. There is a waterproof one in the livewell too. Should be handy for cat fishing at night.


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## Fishfried (Mar 21, 2020)

This is the compartment that goes between the old center bench seat and the rear bench seat. Access to all the livewell plumbing is on one end. The aerator line and electrical to the transom, and the tilt/trim line runs under the angle frame.


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## Fishfried (Mar 21, 2020)

Just a couple pics. I’ll get a pic tomorrow when it’s on the trailer. Maybe I can do a walk around video?


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## Fishfried (Mar 22, 2020)

Motor is on. I can’t get it to fire. The priming bulb isn’t super firm. Dunno, might be the problem. It hasn’t ran in 4 months. But was completely overhauled and running in December. It’s an Evinrude, 9.9hp with 15hp carbs, 1994, 2-stroke.


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## Fishfried (Mar 23, 2020)

Maiden voyage today. Ran great. Stupid me had the fuel line on backwards the other day...GPS top speed 20mph and 17.5 upstream. The Garmin trolling motor is insanely powerful, quiet too, doesn’t make a sound. I messed with the Garmin fish finder for a minute, scrolled through the side scan and stuff. 

Only thing that isn’t working is the aerator pump on the transom. It turns on and spins the impeller but doesn’t push water to the livewell. There are no kinks, brand new line and pump. I have another pump just like it that works fine, it’s on the livewell for recirculating. I blew air through the line and there are no instructions. Anyone have an idea? I’ll post on the electrical board too.


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## Turd Ferguson (Mar 24, 2020)

As far as the aerator pump, it may have to be “primed”. Try turning the pump on and then reversing the boat. That will break the airlock and get water running through the pump inlet. Not sure why it happens, but I’ve seen it before.

Boat looks great man! I’m going to order the Totalboat paint this week, so thanks again for the review! I decided to go with black 8)


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