# First project: Old semi V hull conversion



## BottomDweller (Oct 20, 2009)

Hey everyone, 

I’m new to the site and looking for some ideas on converting a v-hull 14 footer that I recently purchased. I’ve been looking through the projects on this site and am so impressed and inspired. What a great site! I am not nearly as experienced and crafty as many of you guys but I am hoping that with some direction and examples, I can do a decent conversion. 

I have a picture of my aluminum boat attached. I recently purchased it from Craigslist and started to paint it with rustoleum but am stopping in order to clean it up a little more. It does not provide me much indication on year, make or manufacture. The good thing is that it does not leak a drop and it has plenty of room at 14 and ½ ft to fit 3 people if needed. 

I guess my main initial question is, “Do you recommend coating the boat with Steel flex or bed liner even though the thing doesn’t leak a drop currently?” If so, will there be an issue with putting this stuff on this older boat (I think the boat was made at about 1965). I’ve seen where some websites do not recommend bed liner and I guess I was a little leery that Steel flex or bedliner would cause corrosive issues on the boat since it is so old. 

Other than that, I am just looking for front decking ideas. I’ve seen many. I don’t have a welder, so aluminum bracing might be out of the question. I think I would need to go with wood bracing. 

Thanks ahead of time for any suggestions/responses,

BottomDweller


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## River Rider (Oct 21, 2009)

Looks like a great boat to start with. As for the steel flex alot people recomend it and I have never heard or read of any issues with corrosion. The steel flex will help protect the boat as well as make a super slick surface on the bottom to help it slide over stuff.


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## danmyersmn (Oct 21, 2009)

I am not using steel-flex on my boat. The decision will be yours. If you decided not to use it then you can leave the bottom bear or paint it. Since you have no leaks to worry about either choice will be fine. You can also seal any leaks that may come up later from the inside using penetrating epoxy. One version of this is gluv-it. Or Cabelas sells a stick of rivet sealer. Its basically a stick of plastic. You heat up the rivet and surrounding area with a propane torch and melt the stuff into/onto the rivet. Its kind of ugly but its a temporary fix. 

You don't need to weld to use aluminium either. Aluminium angle can be fastened using rivets. Aluminium will be slightly lighter, and quite a bit more expensive. Wood is cheap, easy to use, easy to source, and works on dozens and dozens of builds. 

If you clean the hull properly like you would need to in order to paint it then steel-flex will work just fine. If you don't do any prep work at all and just throw on the steel-flex it will not damage your aluminium. It might not stick well and likely it will wear off quicker but as far as corrisive issues and age of the aluminium you have no worries.

Bed liners have been tried and most people are not happy with them when you are looking at "stopping leaks". If you want to use it as a coating for any other reason then you shouldn't have any issues. I sprayed the front part of my boat with bed-liner because its going to be a storage area. I used some Plastikote spray on bed-liner I had on the shelf already. If you read the MSDS you find that it really is nothing more then spray paint with a high solids content. Cheap rattle can bed-liners are not much more then that most of the time. You need to be looking at something like Herculiner or the custom spray on stuff like Line-x before you start getting into some of the more indestructible stuffs.

Welcome to the site post lots of pics. We are all hungry for boat-porn!!


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## BottomDweller (Oct 21, 2009)

Thanks for the info. guys. The outside of the boat has a really clean coat of solid rustoleum. The guy that had it before me used this. The inside is solid but has some left over hardened carpet glue. I thought about just cleaning it the best I can and then painting over it with rustoleum. Ultimately the whole floor will be covered with wood flooring anyway. If I were to use steel flex on the hull, would you recommend that I strip that rustoeum coat off first?


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## BottomDweller (Oct 21, 2009)

I've got a couple other questions for some of you guys when you get a chance.

1. I've been leery about drilling holes through the boat for bracing but I think I am going to give it a shot. My question is, "When mounting bracing, are the screws or bolts the only thing you need to prevent leaking from the drilled hole or do you need to coat the hole and screw with some kind of sealant?"

2. I am assuming I should use some special bolts/screws like stainless steel since they will be in contact with water..right?


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## shizzy77 (Oct 26, 2009)

I would avoid drilling through the boat to attach anything if at all possible. Attach to the braces on the bottom or to the existing seats.


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## danmyersmn (Oct 27, 2009)

BottomDweller said:


> I've got a couple other questions for some of you guys when you get a chance.
> 
> 1. I've been leery about drilling holes through the boat for bracing but I think I am going to give it a shot. My question is, "When mounting bracing, are the screws or bolts the only thing you need to prevent leaking from the drilled hole or do you need to coat the hole and screw with some kind of sealant?"
> 
> 2. I am assuming I should use some special bolts/screws like stainless steel since they will be in contact with water..right?



You don't need to drill holes through the bottom of the boat. Mount your braces to the ribs on the floor using either rivets or screws.







If your going to mount supports to the sides of the boat like in this pic then I would use solid rivets. They will seal the hole and stay in place. Bolts could work loose over time. If you go with bolts use 3M 5200 on them.


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## BottomDweller (Nov 5, 2009)

danmyersmn,
I have never used rivots before. Can you tell me what I need in order to do rivots like you did on the sides of your boat?


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## BottomDweller (May 30, 2010)

It's been a while since I posted any progress on my boat. Things have been busy. I have made some progress with a couple of things but still have a lot of work to do. The biggest things I've done are painting the inside of the boat, building some guide-ons, and replacing the transom which was rotten. The transom took more work than I thought but I'm finally done. The plans are now to put new bunks on the trailer, steeflex the boat, and do some work on my little motor.


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## UtahBassKicker (May 31, 2010)

Looking good BottomDweller. Have you made any progress on your decks yet? Keep up the good work, that transom looks stout.


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## perchin (May 31, 2010)

Keep up the good work...... =D>


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## BottomDweller (Jun 1, 2010)

No progress on the decks yet Utah but I have some plans. I received my steelflex in the mail the other day so I plan on tackling that next. I've alread flipped the boat and sanded down the hull. I just need to find the 8 hours needed to apply the liquid nightmare that everbody talks about.


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## BottomDweller (Jun 1, 2010)

Thanks perchin..I appreciate the direction you gave me earlier on the wood.


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## perchin (Jun 1, 2010)

BottomDweller.... when you do your liquid nightmare (steelflex..) it might not be too bad... after hearing opinions on what might have went wrong on mine, I've come to the conclusion that maybe It was too hot in my garage. I had read through the instructions, but had it in my head it had to be 80 degree's in the garage.. :roll: really only needed to be 60 to work. Hope yours does not give you fits, as most have had pretty good luck with it. If I had to do it again, I would do it at around 65 degrees and have a helper.


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## jackinok (Jun 2, 2010)

Bottomdweller,just a little info on your boat,you will find its a lonestar.As a LONG time user of this exact boat I will( if I may) give you a little insight.That is one of the best small aluminum boats ever made in my opinion,it was in production virtually unchanged from 1947,when lonestar made their first v hull,to i believe it was 64 when chrysler bought them.factory sales brochures list the first year as 48 for vhulls but my title is dated 47.My boat has been used HARD for 63 years and never leaked a drop.Due to its hard chines its the driest small boat ive ever used,ive had it out in all kinds of weather,including a tornado spawned waterspout that passed within 75 yards and never felt unsafe.There are a couple of things you should be aware of though,first is even though its hard chines run well forward giving it very good initial stability,its v bow runs well to the stern.This makes it somewhat tender(tippy) if you are standing in the bow without a fair load in the boat.You may want to check this out before you put a high deck up front.It may tend to slide out from under you.Second is when you are loading these boats on trailer with a hand tiller type motor,the front catches alot of wind making it very hard to load with one fair sized person in the stern in even a light cross wind.I would suggest adding guide boards on your trailer to make it easier to load,and moving battery(s) as far forward as possible to help keep bow down.that shelf that appears to be added in the bow would be a excellent place to put a heavy battery.Good luck with your new boat ,its a good one!one last thing ,on my boat the boxes under the seats are just air chambers.i dont recall what year they started adding foam to them.but you may want to consider adding some if yours are hollow and you cut holes for seats etc.Got to keep john law happy!LOL


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## BottomDweller (Jun 3, 2010)

Man, thats awsome info jackinok. When I purchased the boat I could not find any type of manufacturer name. I have been wondering for awhile what type of boat it is. The only thing I could find was some kind of stamped manufacturer design/logo that I guess may look like a star (was on one of the benches). What does Lonestar's logo/design look like? 

Its good news to hear that you have had no issues with yours. Mine has not leaked a drop either but the aluminum seems pretty thin and the boat is pretty light so I wanted to reinforce the hull with some steelflex. As far as decking I thought I would deck it below the bench seats alittle up front. My brother and I are big guys and I could see the boat getting out from under us if we were to make the front top-heavy (on a high deck). 

You mentioned boxes under the seats; do your boxes go all the way to the hull? I have my bench seats and they are about 4 inches wide but they don't really seem to have boxes underneath. 

Also, what size motor do you have on yours and does yours have a motor/transom support brace?

Thanks so much for the info.


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## jackinok (Jun 3, 2010)

Lonestars logo was kind of a shooting star. One thing that made these boats so popular was their weight,most fishing boats of that era were cartopped,and the weight of the longer boats were a big selling point.I dont Know about steelflex,in my (Own) opinion I think its unneccesary but a lot of people use it.
The issue with it being tippy in front may not be an issue if you are young enough to recover but I'm too old to climb back in(LOL).
There should be boxes about 5-6 "deep under each seat that do Not go all the way to the floor.these were not required at the time ,but since lonestar was started in 1946 by two bro's who were aircraft mechanics during the war,they added them from the first as an added insurance against drowning if boat was sunk.
The only thing that I have never liked about these boats is their lack of transom braces.In theory the piece of angle that runs across the bottom of the transom boards made it un-needed (good job on replacing yours by the way!).On mine i have never trailered the boat with the motor mounted for this reason, so I have always used fairly light outboards.My current one is a 5hp,though ive ran up to 30 (Way too much but i was working on motor).
Another thing you may check on yours,on mine there are no limber holes between ribs( these are what let the water run between ribs to back) so it does hold some water between ribs.Since my very early boat was made to be cartopped it was no problem,but I would check yours and see if it has holes to drain .The newer ones may I dont know.This might cause a problem with decking staying wet underneath.And I just thought of something else,if you are using a 6 gallon portable tank ,make sure it will fit in area behind rear seat.Mine does, but its tight lots of folks run a 3 gallon.Hope this helps!


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## BottomDweller (Jun 3, 2010)

Once again that is great info jackinok. I would love to see a picture of your boat, if you decide to post a picture. Have a good day...I'm sure I might have some more questions later. You seem to know alot obout these great little boats.


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## BottomDweller (Jun 6, 2010)

Ok so I am getting ready to steelflex. I waited too long to order a paint mixer so I thought I would make one with the limited resources I had. Does anyone think that the make-shift steelflex mixer I have pictured below is a bad idea? I know it looks really bad...lol.. I had a long carriage bolt and an angle support. I put both together but my bolt threads did not extend all the way to the bolt head so I used duct tape to secure. I guess I am mainly concerned with the glue residue from the duct tape mixing with the chemicals from the steelflex and causing some adverse reaction. Thoughts?


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## devilmutt (Jun 6, 2010)

This is what I used. I picked it up at Home Depot for a few bucks, it worked great.


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## perchin (Jun 7, 2010)

BottomDweller said:


> Ok so I am getting ready to steelflex. I waited too long to order a paint mixer so I thought I would make one with the limited resources I had. Does anyone think that the make-shift steelflex mixer I have pictured below is a bad idea? I know it looks really bad...lol.. I had a long carriage bolt and an angle support. I put both together but my bolt threads did not extend all the way to the bolt head so I used duct tape to secure. I guess I am mainly concerned with the glue residue from the duct tape mixing with the chemicals from the steelflex and causing some adverse reaction. Thoughts?



BottomDweller..... you may want to just cut off the head of that carrige bolt, then drill a hole in your L bracket and use a two nuts on the threads to sandwidch the L bracket. Then use the other end in the drill..... If your steelflex mixes as stiffly as mine it will probably just twist off the bracket using the tape  . You can look at my thread to see what I did that was similar.


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