# 14 foot project.



## Mr. Fahrenheit (Jul 6, 2012)

hey guys. 
1st off- this site rules!
I got a 14' aluminum boat the other day, and im going to paint it, put a casting deck in the front, maybe a rod locker and livewell. i just have a few questions about the supports. How am I going to secure them to the bottom of my boat? im not taking out the bench seats. i have a few pictures. and i am sure i will have many questions as my project continues... so I am glad you guys are here!


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## Johny25 (Jul 6, 2012)

Welcome  and yes we are awesome...... and now you get to be awesome with us :lol: 

Ok you can rivet through the top of the ribs on the bottom, you can bolt through the side of your bench seats or you can just lay it in like some others have done so it can all be removed and cleaned, you can screw braces and what not to your wood transom, and you can also use the back of your U bolt on the bow if it comes through like mine did? There are lots of ways to accomplish what you want. My advice would be to look at the V-mods and see where you want to go with it.


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## Mr. Fahrenheit (Jul 8, 2012)

Well, you see, i plan on using 2x2s and 2x4s for support. i just dont have the tools to do much work with aluminum. but i have been looking and cant seem to find how anybody has actually secured them to the floor. im thinking maybe just cutting a groove in the end of the 2x4 for the ribs to go into and lay it across(parralell to the ribs) and put sopport beams going up from there. maybe putting some sort of glue on my bench seats just to sort of make me feel a little better about things being held in place. i feel like it might jump around if i get over some big waves or bumps in the road. dontcha kno?


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## Mr. Fahrenheit (Jul 8, 2012)

this just struck me. maybe i could get some brackets attached to the supports and just rivet those to the ribs? i suppose i could go grab a cheap rivet gun.


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## Mr. Fahrenheit (Jul 8, 2012)

Another thing. what kind of paint should i use? im gonna start painting this weekend.


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## Andrew04 (Jul 9, 2012)

I used rustoleum topside, comes in nice colors, and costs$12 /qt! goes on extremely sticky, takes a full 24hrs to dry, but it's pretty tough paint, really covers.


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## Mr. Fahrenheit (Jul 11, 2012)

Right on, ill have to look into that rustoleum stuff. Does anyone happen to know where i can get " Gluv it" besides online?


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## Mr. Fahrenheit (Jan 15, 2013)

SO - i decided that i needed to fish the rest of the summer.. And couldnt fish while the boat was under construction.. Forgive my absence! So its winter now up in Minnesota, and as soon as i get my tax money, im going to let loose on this boat! Ill put pics up when i get started, got tons of new ideas flowing!


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## shawnfish (Jan 15, 2013)

are you sure your boats a 14 footer? looks like a 16 and you have more benches than most if any 14's ive seen


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## Mr. Fahrenheit (Jan 15, 2013)

Oh and side note. Me and 2 buddies took it out fishing (for the first time) and out in the middle of the lake we realized it was leaking like a fountain! So i grabbed a plastic worm, and shoved it through the hole, and it didnt leak the rest of the day. Patched it up with some marine epoxy for the remainder of the season. I think im going to drill it out and rivet the hole, just to ensure it will hold after winters. The temperature changes are brutal up here..!


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## Scott Mac (Jan 15, 2013)

That looks like it could be a 16' Lund. That color above the splash rail looks like Lund to me. Anyway let the fun begin. 
FYI you can screw into the ribs in the bottom and use stainless sheet metal screws if you come from the top (be sure they are not too long) or you can go thru the sides of the ribs and attach brackets using a stainless bolt and stainless nylock nut. They make a drill bit that flexes and you can get it down parallel to the bottom and drill thru the side of the rib (like from the front to the back). Your drill chuck is to large in dia. to get it that close to the bottom. use an eye bolt with a hole just slightly larger than the flex shaft as a guide. It will get hot so take your time and use a pair of vice grips to hold the eye bolt. I will snap a few pictures of what I did when I pull my floor out to carpet it. That should be within the next week.


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## Gators5220 (Jan 16, 2013)

Jon Boat Jerry did a nice job with his floor using rivets and brackets, if I was going to copy anyone's techniques for platform riveting and aluminum work it would prob be him, atleast for riveting.


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## Mr. Fahrenheit (Feb 14, 2013)

I made these at work today. They will be the bases for my pedestals of my seats.(saved me 100 bucks!) 7x7 Stainless steel, Tig welded a stainless steel tube on there. To test the welder's skill i had him do a mock up, and i smashed it with a hammer in a vice for a while. I beat the crap out of that thing. Haha. The weld held up, so I'm thinking it will support me. I have 3 of them. One for up front. (the butt seat) 2 in the back right next to each other. One will be in the center , and the other will be off set 7" to the side. This is so when i am running the motor i am not directly in front of it. When i have arrived at my destination, I can move the seat to the middle for the person fishing in the back.


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## Mr. Fahrenheit (Feb 14, 2013)

Oh by the way, it is indeed a 14'. Its an old Alumacraft Model F. Im not sure what year. Quite old tho, im guessing 60s.


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## jetmech (Feb 14, 2013)

If you are looking to save some weight I am selling floorboards from an old airplane. Very light and strong. A 7 foot by 19.5 inch wide by 3/8 thick weighs less than 8 lbs. Pm me if interested.


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## Driftingrz (Feb 14, 2013)

how exactly are you wanting to set up your decks? not sure if this helps but this is how i did mine

for the Raised deck i used self tappin screws into the front bench and pedestal in the bow and framed it out from there 







if you still want the use of your benches you can so something similar to my big rear deck (middle bench removed).. it is Removable still. i test fitted the supports until i liked where they sat then secured them onto bottom of deck. with the tight toleranches it wedges it self between the benches very tight with the carpet. it takes 2 people to pull it out. but its completely removable. it sits in the ridges on each side of the boat and its rock solid even with my 250+lbs

here the supports are before they were trimmed to fit


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## Mr. Fahrenheit (Feb 14, 2013)

Well, I have a new plan. I am going to deck the whole front half, with a rod locker extending on one side of the boat. Livewell and storage compartments, ive got it alllll planned out...  ... and a lower floor in the back. I decided i am going to take the bench seats out. Every one of them. I feel like the aluminum on the benches is just too chinsy to work off of. Another thing, i was really nervous about drilling the rivets out, and putting new ones in. But im sure now that i can confidently drill holes and rivet braces in to hold 2x2s going across. I like that bottom floor deal you got going there. I'm still not positive how im going to do it. But i am definately going to make it removable, so i can acess the plumbing headed to the livewell.


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## gholmes (Feb 16, 2013)

Not sure about the year, but I'm quite certain you have an Alumacraft F7. I recently picked up a very similar boat myself. Mine is a '72 model F7. It is 14' and has the same configuration of seats. 




The Hull ID Number (HIN) is located on the bow, just above the bow eye (included a pic of another F7 to show you where it is). I emailed up Alumacraft and gave them the full number and they were able to give me all the specs on the boat (year built, max HP, safe load, etc).


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## Mr. Fahrenheit (Feb 22, 2013)

SO: here is my solution. Today at work i whipped this up. It's like .17something stainless steel. The aluminum we use at my place of business (misery..!) is very soft, so i decided to go with steel. It was 16x18 to start, put 2" bends on the sides of it for support. I know it would have been fine without any bends or what, but i decided to put some more support on there in case i run into a log or something. I drilled 5/16 holes in there for the bolts, going to put some large washers in there... So Paul Bunyan himself could try to rip this thing off, but i highly doubt he could do it.. It seems to be pretty solid. 
For anyone looking for info on this: My transom depth (from top to bottom) is 16", it's a fairly shallow boat. The plate i made will be sticking up 4.5" . I have a Long shaft motor, it is 22" from the (clamps??) to the cavitation plate. Plate is 12" wide. Origionally 16" but i put 2" bends on each side for support. So it is 12" across, it will not effect the turns of my outboard. If you have questions, do not hesitate to ask, i have plenty as well.


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## Mr. Fahrenheit (Feb 22, 2013)

That is my jack plate. I didnt want to set it back a few inches, and i made this at work... Which saved me 84$ at the least!


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