# 1956 Arkansas Traveler, 14 footer



## Hotpickle (Feb 25, 2018)

Hey guys! So I'm starting my second project and I had a question about flotation so I figured I would start a thread here. Here's the boat, I got it cheap online. It has cable steering and is rated for up to a 35HP, but the previous owner had a 40HP bluestripe Mercury on it, which coincedentally is exactly what I had sitting on a stand at home!

Currently, I am working on my trailer to make it fit the boat, I will follow up with pics of that in the next couple days.

As the weather warms up here, I am prepping for Gluvit and Paint. I want to keep the original colour scheme and buff up the hull to make it shine. I filled it with water to find the leaks and a grand total of 8 rivets had the gentlest of weeps, so I'm going to do the epoxy on the inside for a little extra protection from the elements (this boat will see a lot of Lake Erie).

So as I am designing the layout, my idea is to put a deck in the front from the front bench brackets/supports to the bow, and to run another deck from bench 2 to bench 3. I'm going to leave the floor open from bench 2 to bench 1 open for the console area, and from bench 3 to the transom for fuel tanks. I want to put storage under the decks, a bow mount trolling motor, and a secured area for batteries. I attached some rough drawings, I'm sorry for how sloppy it gets lol. I am trying to make a wicked bass boat I can use until I can afford a decent one.

So the question I have is about the last picture, the floatation. The original setup is with foam under the 3 benches. I plan on using 3/4" plywood for the deck, and I am thinking of just filling all void space under the deck surrounding the compartments with foam. Would that be too much? I am worried about making the boat sit too high on the water and lose stability, especially with how quick water turns out there (in the bay of course, this isn't an open water boat), but I want it to be as balanced and unsinkable as possible. Looking forward to hearinf what you all think, I hope I didn't miss anything!


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## Weldorthemagnificent (Feb 25, 2018)

Those leaky rivets can be tightened up by bucking them. As for the foam, you can fill your whole boat and it won’t float any better or worse. The foam is only there so the boat won’t go to the bottom if it’s swamped. Put as much in as you can, hopefully you never need it. 


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## Hotpickle (Feb 26, 2018)

Weldorthemagnificent said:


> Those leaky rivets can be tightened up by bucking them. As for the foam, you can fill your whole boat and it won’t float any better or worse. The foam is only there so the boat won’t go to the bottom if it’s swamped. Put as much in as you can, hopefully you never need it.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




Awesome, thanks! I'll look into bucking rivets. Are there any recommendations for spray foam before I head into Home Hardware and see what they got?


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## Weldorthemagnificent (Feb 26, 2018)

Just use the rigid foam board. Blue or pink they both float. 


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## water bouy (Feb 26, 2018)

What kind of canopy is it under. I could use something like that.


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## Hotpickle (Feb 27, 2018)

water bouy said:


> What kind of canopy is it under. I could use something like that.




It's a 20 ft portable garage from Canadian Tire. They go on sale pretty frequently. They got 2 peak styles, I went round


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## Hotpickle (Feb 27, 2018)

Quick little update, I replaced the bumpers on the trailer. They were originally spray painted 2x4's and didn't really fit the hull of this new boat at all, it rocks side to side. So I coated 2x6's in helmsman and wrapped them in outdoor carpet, leaving a gap for the L brackets on the trailer so I could snug them up pretty tight. This afternoon and tomorrow I get into the grinding and sanding.

The picture with one bumper on the trailer is the old one for reference.


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## Hotpickle (Mar 1, 2018)

Another update. Yesterday I was able to spend a full day out with the boat. The new bunks are way better, but they could fit better so I will work on that this weekend. I got the wire brush work all done, and removed the drain plug. Its starting to look way better. I didn't really want to do the transom, but it's in pretty bad shape and I dont wanna do any work on this boat next year, so this weekend I will pull it out and get started on that. If I have time, I will start sanding and prepping for paint too (but I anticipate the transom takin a couple minutes).


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## Hotpickle (Mar 3, 2018)

Alright so today after half a dozen broken drill bits, I managed to get the old rotten transom off. When I replace it, I wanna thicken up the back plate to support the 40. It was originally 1/4" plywood. Is it enough if I go to 1/2"? Or should I go to 3/4"?

Also, I want to rig up some sort of power trim or jack plate, can be a manually pumped unit so i can easily trim the motor in shallow water and not have to run to the back. I've googled arlund a bit.... Has anyone here done it before? I'm not interested in spending double what I paid for the motor on a cmc unit.

I'm sorry my pictures are getting rotated I'm not sure what's going on


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## Hotpickle (Mar 3, 2018)

The transom is 1 3/8" thick plywood if that makes any difference


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## Hotpickle (Mar 13, 2018)

Quick little update, over the past week I finished the hull prep. Now I just need some warmer weather to apply the gluvit and paint. I have also stenciled out the decks, I'm really excited to get working on these!


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## Hotpickle (Apr 10, 2018)

Got an update on the boat. I have decided to coat the outside of the hull in raptor liner with 10-15% reducer to keep drag to a minimum. I want this boat to be as indestructible as possible. I sanded the hull with 120 grit sandpaper in preparation, and temporarily mounted 2/3 of the transom replacement. Today, I fitted both decks. I'm going to continue putting all the pieces together while I wait for the temperature to warm up enough to seal up the hull


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## Hotpickle (Apr 14, 2018)

The last couple days I put the front casting deck amd dash together. I'm setting up the doors on the dash to open down the middle, swinging out. There's going to be hooks in the hull to tie them back, I plan on storing my tackle in there. The hatch in the floor is going to be for the trolling motor battery.


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## hotrod5337 (Apr 23, 2018)

hello sir. let me know when your done with this boat as i am going to buy it from you. thanks and have a nice day

seriously that is one awesome looking boat! your doing a great job on it!

what size motor is it rated for?


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## Hotpickle (Apr 23, 2018)

hotrod5337 said:


> hello sir. let me know when your done with this boat as i am going to buy it from you. thanks and have a nice day
> 
> seriously that is one awesome looking boat! your doing a great job on it!
> 
> what size motor is it rated for?



Haha, thanks! The boat is rated for 35 hp, but the previous owner ran a 40 hp on it without a problem so I got a 40 with a hydrofoil on it.


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## Hotpickle (Apr 23, 2018)

So at the end of last week, I got both decks laid out, cut and shaped. The casting deck in the front took the longest, but I'm pretty happy with how it's coming. The final sand has been done on them, and I'm going to seal them with Helmsman this week. We finally have some spring weather, so the sealing of the hull finally gets underway next week! This gives my decks extra time to cure, which I'm pretty happy about. My goal was to have this going for May, but early June looks a little more realistic (which is tough when you are watchin boats head through town on their way to the lake all day!)


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## Hotpickle (Apr 30, 2018)

We got a break of great weather, so I called an audible and applied the raptor liner to the hull! I used 2 cans of #8 etch to cover the bare metal. I had previously sanded down the original paint. I borrowed an air compressor, and sprayed it on using the Schutz gun provided at 80 psi for a smoother finish. I also added 5% of a polyurethane reducer I had leftover from my last boat to smooth it out a bit. It took 4L of raptor liner to coat the entire boat. It's early, but I'm extremely happy with it!! It came out better than expected, I think it was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks to the user who got me on this track (I had started a different thread about this a few weeks ago.. I can't remember offhand who it was but I'll follow up with an edit)

EDIT it was @my demeyes that made the suggestion. Thanks dude


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## Weldorthemagnificent (Apr 30, 2018)

Be like fishing out of a skillet!


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## Hotpickle (May 8, 2018)

Alright so now that the raptor liner is dried, the boat was flipped and the gluvit was applied. I put the boat on skids because I'm also doing some maintenance to the trailer, so we will definitely see how this stuff holds up. 

I put the gluvit on in 2 layers, and gave it 48 hours to dry. Today, I painted the inside. There's a little overspray, but whatever. I'm really happy with how this came out, it looks like a totally different boat


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## Hotpickle (May 28, 2018)

I finally finished the decks. I have put new foam in, mounted the seats, and anchored the decks. Everything is fitting well. Now I have to rig up the steering, the motors, and accessorize the inside!!


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## Hotpickle (Jun 13, 2018)

Alright here's the finished(ish) product... Taking it out for rhe weekend to test it out. Steering wheel is only in llace temporarily until I figure a better way to get it on, but I replaced the old pulley and cable system.


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## Weldorthemagnificent (Jun 13, 2018)

Nice!


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## akboats (Jun 14, 2018)

that is one sharp boat definitely like that color combo. but would definitely get too hot for the black down here in texas.


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