Is anyone interested in me putting up some photos of how I turned a bare hull into a Bass, Bream, Barra boat ?.

Go for it mate, pictures are always good.

Wot you on about Frank

I put a photo of ewe in the nutty some time back disappearing into a cave

Think you gotta get faster camera ,, I was gone befor the shutter clicked....

Well my computer is as slow as a wet week, something bothering it and can't work out what to do to speed it up.

Anyhow here we go.

Boat as I bought it, completely bare.

Click to view attachment First thing was to make and weld some ribs into the sides.
I got some old alloy roof racks that i had laying around and made the ribs from these
Click to view attachment Next came the floor bracing, first the centre floor followed by rear and front floor Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment I tacked it all together inside the boat, then dragged it out onto the concrete and welded it all up. Click to view attachment

I might add that this as with most of my projects are materials that I have laying around the place,, I don't buy fancy new stuff to work with,,, wish i could it would make life so much easier. You will see different sorts of materials used throughout the project and this is the reason.
I work on less then a shoe string budget.

Once the structure was all worked out and fastened in ( I will add that all flooring and structure can be removed at any time with no damage done to boat ) it was time to add some flat stuff.
My step son was working in a cabinet making factory at the time so I got some treated board from them less then 1/2 the price of fabricating panel, let alone marine ply,,, couple years so far and still not walping or splitting,,,, I will also add that this floor is a tempory fill in till I properly figure out exactly where I want everything. Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

once the floor was in it was time to see where I was going to control the boat from and make a console Click to view attachment

After fitting the steering and working out the seating arrangements it was time to throw some cheap carpet in. I got some stuff from Bunnings and all I can say is I'm glad this is only a tempory fit out, cause the carpet is absolute crap,,,, you would thing that a bloke that was a carpet layer and shop propriator for over 20 years could pick a shitty carpet ,,, but I have to confess I got stung,,,, never buy this shit again. Click to view attachment
Time to get the jig saw out and make a few holes to store some stuff, I sort of worked out roughly where I wanted a few hatches to go before I made the re enforcement for the floor so it was just a matter of marking it all out and cutting,,,, Click to view attachment
By this time I had also made up a smalish rod holder to fit on the console and painted it, and added nav lights.
Time to fit the electric,, made up a suitable bracket and welded it on.
You might notice that all the obstructions console, controls, electric motor are all on the one site of the boat,, I done this on purpose as I wanted the PORT side of the boat free of any obsticles to make that side the jaffing/netting site, so far it's worked a treat.

Click to view attachment

Just fit some seats and there you have the basic boat,,, I got the old seat pedistals from the Savage lancer ( I don't have any seats in that as it's a proper fishing boat and it's stand up or sit on the floor, ) and cut them down to size, welded up some inserts for shop bought seats,, probably the most expensive items to date other then electric and battery,,, bloody nearly $100 bucks a pop, but thought I would blow my budget a bit and have some comfort,,, yet to take a photo of this boat as it sits now, with 2 x springfield seats and a front bum seat for the leckie.

The base on the right is on the seat on left and there are 2 off.
Click to view attachment

When I can score some suitable alloy ( or pinch a school seat ) I will make wide gunwails and have a rod locker under it right down the port side, eventually have built in esky cut into rear twart which is part of my rear cast deck at the moment but never use it, so might as well have an eski there.
A bit later down the track when I get some dollars together i will build myself another alloy trailer for it.
The one it's on now is converted from my lancer trailer and a bit on the large size.
I also have down rigger hanging off the arse of the boat now,,, must clean it up and take some more photos,,,, One day

Where's all the nutty pics Frank ??

Couldn't ewe get your flash to work

ps] got suckered into doing a new alloy floor for one of chris's customers was going to kill cholios better get down there & finish it off

That's how we first met on that other site

I have since deleted the nutty pics. thought that might be why my puta running so slow, cause of all the pics on it, but not the case.

thanks for the read frank the boat looks good, as for the carpet Clark Rubber sell a fair quoit brand, its well worth a look

Paul

Try starting in safe mode + networking Frank, is it still slow then?

BTW have you tried the boat out yet Frank, curious about stability with the extra weight up high.

Fed. Been using the boat for a couple of years now and the stability is great, can walk around the decks without too much movement, with just 2 in it and normal sized guys, it is the best bass boat I have fished out of, with the guys I usually have with me,,, old overweight geriactrics with mobility issues, it is always their prefered boat to fish out of.
and being so low profile it's a lot easier to get in and out of for the old cripples.
It's 4.9 metres 16' so don't need to wear life jackets that hinder your movements.
It is a fairly heavy boat for a bass boat, but you have to compromise somewhere, I had a 40hp tohatsu on it and it flew,, now have 30 hp mercury and still gets along good enough for my needs.
Many of my mates describe it as the poor mans skeeta.

Smart man's skeeter if you ask me, I've seen those bass boats with 150s on them what a lot of bullshit.

Reckon you should get wun Fed

Since ewe keep telling us how smart ewe are

Yo Frank when ewe gunna start on Fed's new goat ???