# 14' Aluminum Boat Restore



## azfish (Oct 31, 2009)

Good evening folks, 

New here, just some background, I work for a scrap metal company in Phoenix, AZ. I just bought an 14' Aluminum boat from the company that came in to be scrapped. I will post pictures later but want to ask some questions. I love to fish and before I moved here to AZ I had a small 12' v hull. Had to get rid of it before I moved, now 3 1/2 years later it is time to get a new boat and project to do. :shock: Anyway I have never re-stored or fixed up a boat before so I will need help. The boat that I bought looks like a great hull but no seats or even the original brackets to hold the seats. We are going to strip it down reseal and repaint it. My main question is this, I would like to build a deck in the boat for bass fishin, but should I try to somehow re-install the benches and work off that or just start fresh and build the deck with no benches at all? Thanks in advance and I will post pics next post.


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## azfish (Oct 31, 2009)

Here go the pics hopefully.


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## countryboy210 (Nov 1, 2009)

All Right, A Blank Slate- You Can Do Whatever You Want With This Boat! What's The Bottom Look Like? Any Leaks?

By The Way, Welcome Aboard !


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## azfish (Nov 1, 2009)

Thanks for the welcome and not sure about leaks yet. Just got it from work yesterday need to take it to inspection next friday then it comes home to start the redo. Bottom looks good but I know that doesnt always matter. We will really see once I bet it stripped and water tested. Local pond will help me check for leaks.


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## CarlF (Nov 1, 2009)

Nice find!
You will need to install some sort of gunwale-to-gunwale bracing, whether it is the original seats or some sort of bulkheads, etc..
ALso looks like it had a floor in it. Putting that back in will add some structural integrity as well.


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## Arkdave (Nov 2, 2009)

azfish said:


> Good evening folks,
> 
> New here, just some background, I work for a scrap metal company in Phoenix, AZ. I just bought an 14' Aluminum boat from the company that came in to be scrapped. I will post pictures later but want to ask some questions. I love to fish and before I moved here to AZ I had a small 12' v hull. Had to get rid of it before I moved, now 3 1/2 years later it is time to get a new boat and project to do. :shock: Anyway I have never re-stored or fixed up a boat before so I will need help. The boat that I bought looks like a great hull but no seats or even the original brackets to hold the seats. We are going to strip it down reseal and repaint it. My main question is this, I would like to build a deck in the boat for bass fishin, but should I try to somehow re-install the benches and work off that or just start fresh and build the deck with no benches at all? Thanks in advance and I will post pics next post.



Nice find on the Boat, Welcome to the Board, Some good Fishing out there, I lived in Mesa for about 12 years (wish I still did) Fished Pleasant-Bartlett- Apache and Roosevelt Lakes all time, Need to get that Boat fixed, You got a lot of nice weather coming up!!


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## azfish (Nov 2, 2009)

Thanks and yea trying to get it goin here. The weather is getting nice still pretty warm during the day though. Why did you leave Mesa? Hope to start working on the boat this Friday, once I get it registered then I can bring it home and start work.


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## Arkdave (Nov 3, 2009)

azfish said:


> Thanks and yea trying to get it goin here. The weather is getting nice still pretty warm during the day though. Why did you leave Mesa? Hope to start working on the boat this Friday, once I get it registered then I can bring it home and start work.



Oh "Old people problems" , All of which I hope will improve in the next year or so where I can come back!! Yea I watch the weather there like it's Home!! It was always Cooler up there on the Lakes than down in the floor of the valley, I love that place, Good luck with the Boat,There is a lot of "Know How " on this Site, use it , Ask questions!! Keep us up on how your Build goes,


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## Cheeseball (Nov 4, 2009)

You could almost put a little cuddy cabin in the bow of that. The possibilities are endless with that thing. I would start with a list of everything I knew I wanted on the boat. Do you want a live well or cooler space? Fish finder? Hidden gas tank?

Once you know what all you want on your boat design around that. Draw it all out.


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## azfish (Nov 4, 2009)

I thought of the cuddy cabin but not sure I could afford a bigger motor for awhile. Going to use a small gas and my trolling for now. But I have done just that, started a list of wants, and am getting ready to start drawing them out.


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## KICKEDBACK (Nov 5, 2009)

Hello to all of you. 1st post and looking forward to all the friendship and knowledge. I have a 14' mirro-craft (resorter) 1979
I wish it was a deep fisherman but I still love it. it was trashed including trailer when I got it with 3 motors. The 57 Johnson 5 1/2 sea horse, mod. CD14 is amazing. It did not look like it had more than about 75 hours after all these years. Cleaned up perfect and after some wd40 in the cylinder fired right up. I have put around 15 hours on it and it runs like new.( I did the water pump, fuel pump, lower unit seals, gear lube, new plugs, etc.) I even polished the solid brass prop.The other motor I have not messed with yet(1946 Champion) I wanted to say hi to azfish, I'm in Tolleson and if I can be of help to you please say so.I just mounted a Min-Kota power drive on the bow and I am discovering more and more about tin boats. This site is making me feel just like I do about my sea horse motor...yipeee. :LOL2:


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## Jim (Nov 5, 2009)

:WELCOME:

Thanks for joining! :beer:

Post some pics if you can of the boat and motors.


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## azfish (Nov 7, 2009)

kickedback thank you and welcome to the site. I am actually out in Maricopa, I probably will take you up on the offer to answer some questions or help. Thats awesome, glad to see another az er here on the site. I just got the boat home today with the help of a friend from work. got it registered and then brought it home. I do need to find a trailer for it though or maybe build one. I plan on starting the stripping of the boat tomorrow. Cant wait this is a project I cant wait to do. been wanting to do this for quite a while. 

If you look at the pics I posted and have any good ideas about how to start the build of a floor for this thing I'll take the suggestions, have some ideas but not sure if they will work. I would also like to see pics of your boat so go ahead and throw them up so we can check it out.


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## azfish (Nov 8, 2009)

ok got to work on the boat a little this weekend. and I mean a little. but I was able to take off the transom boards, the alum plate, and another goofy board that was back there. took out some screws and other junk. scraped as much down as possible, even had my wife helping for a little while. WOW........ :wink: 

I bought some stripper for the boat and plan to try stripping the paint next weekend, hope to get some help to make the process faster. will keep you guys updated as progress happens. Hopefully.


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## Arkdave (Nov 9, 2009)

azfish said:


> ok got to work on the boat a little this weekend. and I mean a little. but I was able to take off the transom boards, the alum plate, and another goofy board that was back there. took out some screws and other junk. scraped as much down as possible, even had my wife helping for a little while. WOW........ :wink:
> 
> I bought some stripper for the boat and plan to try stripping the paint next weekend, hope to get some help to make the process faster. will keep you guys updated as progress happens. Hopefully.



Did you Read the Thread in Here about putting Plastic Wrap over the Stripper to keep it from Drying fast? That might be something that would help you, As Warm as it gets out there!!


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## azfish (Nov 9, 2009)

yea i saw that actually. not a bad idea, i remember though the user said it didnt really make to big a difference. but your right out here it may. the stuff i bought was from walmart and says you can leave it on anywhere from 30 min up to 24 hrs. think i am going to try to put some on tomorrow night and leave it till wed when i get home from work and see what happens. fingers crossed. :lol:


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## azfish (Nov 15, 2009)

Well was able to work on the boat a little this weekend. Put a stripper on the paint inside the boat and worked well, but not perfect like I wanted. I ended up getting a wire wheel for my drill and wow did that work great. It took off the rest of the paint that the stripper didn't get. Going to finish the wire wheeling of inside boat during the week hopefully and start planning the interior next weekend. 

Keep you posted


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## CRAPPIE_SLAYER (Nov 16, 2009)

Glad it's working out for you. Getting that old paint off is ALOT of work.


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## Arkdave (Nov 16, 2009)

azfish said:


> Well was able to work on the boat a little this weekend. Put a stripper on the paint inside the boat and worked well, but not perfect like I wanted. I ended up getting a wire wheel for my drill and wow did that work great. It took off the rest of the paint that the stripper didn't get. Going to finish the wire wheeling of inside boat during the week hopefully and start planning the interior next weekend.
> 
> Keep you posted




Well at least it is a little Cooler for you to work on It now, One of My Friends that Lives in Sun City was on here this morning Griping because it was 50deg, and she had to put sweats on to walk


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## azfish (Nov 16, 2009)

> Glad it's working out for you. Getting that old paint off is ALOT of work.



Crappie you are not kidding about the paint removal. But first we used paint stripper and then I took a wire wheel to it. That combo seemed to work pretty well. However because of the amount of work that it is, I feel we may not strip the outside hull we may just sand it a little and repaint over it. I want this boat nice but it does not have to be showroom quality.  



> Well at least it is a little Cooler for you to work on It now, One of My Friends that Lives in Sun City was on here this morning Griping because it was 50deg, and she had to put sweats on to walk



Ark, that's the truth about the weather, geez it's been crazy hot way to long. The funny thing is that the early mornings have been nice and chilly here too. Enough for me to put on a sweatshirt for a few hours anyway.


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## Arkdave (Nov 16, 2009)

azfish said:


> > Glad it's working out for you. Getting that old paint off is ALOT of work.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I know, She has been there a long time, I talk to her every day, I knew it had been a long hot summer, I 'use' to love those cool Mornings, I could get out and Run, be cooler in the morning !! hope you get a lot done on the Boat , The stripping is rough for most, maybe get better now!!


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## azfish (Nov 21, 2009)

ok not to much progress on the boat to report but i did score 37 pounds of aluminum angle from work for only $20.35. Here is a picture of what I got, hopefully this will be enough for what I am going to do to the boat. I figured on a sub floor then build the seats from there and a front deck also. Anyway here is the pic and let me know what you think of the buy and the idea for the boat. 

Also forgot to ask, what do you guys recommend for attaching the alum should I get rivets and a gun or would just drilling holes and using ss bolts work just as good? Not sure if one is better than the other or not.
Thanks


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## Cheeseball (Nov 21, 2009)

Nice score on the aluminum! 

Get the rivet gun (the one with the swivel head) & rivets. Aluminum rivets are relatively cheap compared to ss or aluminum hardware. Rivets are easier too in tight places.


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## azfish (Nov 22, 2009)

thanks ill look into one today.


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## azfish (Dec 3, 2009)

Ok, thursday night and off for the weekend. My wife is out of town visiting family in florida so I better get some work done on the boat. Picking up my hitch and installing it tomorrow morning, and then maybe bringing home the boat trailer I've got waiting at work. I'll take pics of it when it does get home, and I should get it for less than $20.00 Gotta love working in a scrap yard. :LOL2:


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## Hydrilla (Dec 4, 2009)

Looking forward to seeing your progress!


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