dixieboysles

got some more work done on the boat this evening. It "looks" complete now---but its not...lol. I carpeted the wood board that goes on the back bench and installed the seat. However I sat on it tonight and when you lean back, the back of the seat scrubs the top of the bench surface. SOOOOO now tomorrow, im gonna cut some aluminum spacers to go between the seat and the swivel and see if that works. if not, ill have to make a small platform for the seat and swivel....great. Lets hope the spacers work. As you can see the seat is not very far off of the bench. Also, my order for the rod holders for the lefthand side of the boat got canceled due to no stock. So i reordered today from a different vendor and should have them monday. Sunday, going to wire the whole boat up and try it out next week

yeah I will when I get off work man

I think they will to an extent. Miy rod butts did not snap in, they just sit in there. I understand the dilemna there. I think they will stay in place as long as your are not shakeing the boat like crazy. now one of my rods with a thick butt holds in place well

I searched up and down to find the perfect rod holders for my jon boat project. I didnt want those ole cheap Berkely rod holders either. Well after much searching, I found the ones i wanted. Rod Saver SM6 rod holders. These come in three different models: SM4, SM6, or SM8, the numbers designating how many rods they will hold. I just needed them to hold 6. Quality: These are very good quality. The actual holder is made out of marine grade rubber. Then there is the "original" Rod Saver strap that holds them in while traveling. Mounting: There are 6 mounting screws holes on these. They come with screws but I did not use them as i was going into thin wood. I used 3/16"X1/2" rivets. These kinda posed a problem for the rubber but nothing a few washers dont take care of. User Friendliness: These work GREAT for holding the rids one way. In order to hold 6 rods they hold 3 in one direction and three in the opposite direction crisscrossing. This is kinda tricky placing rods, but other than that, I LOVE these rodholders! I ordered mine from Amazon.com for 17.95 shipped apiece

a few things ive got done the past few days: Rear light pole Socket: Then the seat support for my rear swivel seat. My papa cut a 1/8" steel plate and drilled holes for me to go up under the wood on top of the back bench. Today i cut a pocket in the bottom of the wood for the plate and nuts to recess into. I used a skilsaw and a router. Tomorrow the board will get carpeted and the seat will get mounted. I also installed the front seat today to the swivel and to the pedestal but did take pics. and here are my GREAT RodSaver SM6 side mount rod holders! Before anyone askes, i know its over the ligth but no it will not hinder it. Im using LEDs in the lights and a little ol rod aint gonna block all that light. Those bulbs should be here soon. After tomorrow, ALL i lack is wiring and fastening all the panels down and this boat is DONE!!! next is the trailer painting and new bunks for it and this WHOLE project is done!!

One of my Rod Holders came in today!!! These mount on the side of the boat during transport and to keep the rods off the floorboard of the boat: I have one more coming next week

Thanks!!

Got the side courtesy lights mounted yesterday with the help of my beautiful fiance! She made the boat look even better...lol Mocking the Depthfinder into place; a Garmin 140

Thanks! yeah i like a low deck on a jon boat. lowers the center of gravity. Alot of guys make these thing like bass boats which they are not and they are very prone to tipping. This boat is a 1440 so its pretty stable though! I just like this setup best. simple and easy!

UPDATE 9/18/10 Prepare to be amazed! i got ALOT of work done on the boat this week/weekend!! The boat is now officially 95 percent done!! This past weekend i got all of my wood on the project coated in two coats of Fiberglass resin to waterproof it as I cannot use treated on aluminum as it will oxidize and pit aluminum. I also got EVERYTHING carpeted with the exception of the back peice of wood that goes on top of the back bench that the swivel seat mouts to. I have to get my papa to make me a bracket to come up through the wood to mount the seat to to make it more stout. Then I will carpet that final peice this week after that is done. I used contact cement, almost half a gallon to attach the carpet. its not going ANYWHERE!! I bought two toggle switches to hook my two running lights and courtesy lights to. I mounted them on the front face of the casting deck. All I have left on the boat now is to mount the seats, attach all these panels permanatley, and wire all of my lights, fishfinder and trolling motor. Also, you will notice that the lights are no other than RANGER domelights! lol ANyways on to the pics. on the front face of the casting deck there is a 12x9 hole there that i just hanvnt cut the caprt out yet, ran out of time today. that is my storage access under the deck for stuff. Nice carpet! The wood i have to still carpet and mount my swivel seat to Ranger domelight FTW! my light switches: casting deck. my fishfinder will be mounted here also I have now owned this boat a year and you can see its come along way! I have about 1100 in it right now including purchase price of boat and trailer. Next im working on painting my trailer and making it purdee like the boat Just for reference, this is what I started with:

UPDATE: Alright, I intalled a new Bow Eyelet that I bought from iboats.com. I backed it with a 1/4" thick piece of aluminum plate so that it is even stronger. Also as you can see, where the paint is still soft, i rubbed off some paint Going to fix that soon. I hope this paint hardens up good! I then placed on my new decals and numbers, but read that in NC, your numbers have to be 3", so i took them off, ordering some more today.

alright I have an update!!!!!!!!! took the boat to my friend's body shop today. We turned it upside down, I cleaned it with miniral spirits or something, then wiped it down with a tack cloth. Then primed it with etching primer on any bare aluminum surfaces. then wiped it with a tack cloth again. Then he showed me how to use the gun by applying the first coat. Then i applied two more coats while wiping with tack cloth between coats. It turned out amazing! I used Parker Coatings Bay Grey Duck Boat paint and I couldnt be more impressed with the covereage and the quality of the paint.

Nice PolarKraft! looks great! I have a 1985 Polarkraft 1440 myself. not finished but here is my build so far: http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1266949833 I am going a different direction than you. I went with a casting deck up front (still need to cover in plywood but it is framed out you can see. Then i wnet with an aluminum floor so that i dont have to worry about rot. I also ripped out the middle bench but kept the back bench for rigidiypurposes. going to mount the seat to that and put a pedestal up front.

UPDATE 5/26/09: Picked the boat up yesterday with a new gunwale on the front! I looks awesome! I had to have it mad in two pieces as I went to like 5 different places looking for a 1 1/4" pipe that was long enough. Fianlly found some, but it wasnt long enough. But he had one long piece and one short piece. So I had him piece it together. Where the weld it, i will grind it smooth and it all gets painted, so it will look fine. I must say the front of the boat is STRONG again! That means this week (probably saturday) I will put it up on some sawhorses and epoxy 4 slow leaky rivets. Then i will pick up a can of Nason (by dupont) etching primer from O'Reilly's (good stuff) and prime any bare metal spots. Then in a week or two, Ill wash her good and then paint her flat grey! Now remember all that front bech is bieng covered with a 3/4" plywood casting deck!

i picked up a Garmin 140 basic fishfinder for 100 on Amazon. Does what it needs to do! Then pick you up a few rods and reels as you need them.

Thanks! Thats the reaction I get just because it not pretty "right now". I have enjoyed this project much more than I would if I just went and bought a new boat and trailer because of the effort and time that I have put into it. Sure a brand new 14' boat would have been nice, but for the money i have in this one, you couldnt find a new one for cheaper. A brand new wide 14' jon boat plus trailer is gonna cost around $1300. i will have around 1100 in the boat and trailer BUT that is with casting deck, swivel seats, fully carpeted interior, trolling motor, etc. Plus I can say "I BUILT this boat. THe boat was actually in GREAT shape other than the bow and the little spot in the floor. they are now fixed and its time for paint! Then you really will way WOW

got the front bench braced to the front of the boat today! used 16 guage aluminum sheetmetal cut to size and bent to the right angke by the local machine shop. Looks 10000000000 times better. going to the welder tomorrow to get the gunwhale (1 5/16" aluminum pipe) capped over that sheetmetal and tied into the side gunwhales. more pics

yeah! UPDATE finally an update. Not a big one, but an update none the less. Work slowed down on the ol' boat this past month. Finally able to get back to it. I attacked the front of the boat yesterday. Whoever owned the boat before me was an idiot. They tried to fix the front they hacked up with the wrong type of welder and it was really awful looking. You can see where I had to cut the front gunwhale off as it was pretted messed up. I had to get the boat ready for the welder for the last time. Where the gunwhale was, I am having a 1 1/4" diameter aluminum pipe put there. The welder is going to mill a slit the length of the pipe and cap if over where i had to cut the old gunwhale off. and then tie it into the side gunwhales making it really strong. Then where that front bench meets the front of the boat, you can see their awful attempt at welding! i cut all that stuff off. Going today to get a piec of aluminum cut to tie the front bench in back to where it was. Before: After: Yes I know it looks rough, but after tomorrow it wont! But I'm sure you guys have seen worse!

Update 4/12/10: Yesterday, the future father-in-law and I got some more work done on the boat. We framed out the front casting deck/storage area using 1x1 aluminum angle. It turned out real nice and is VERY strong. We used 3/16" x 1/2" grip aluminum rivets to hold it all together. As you can see, there is plent of bracing. Also, has the front seat pedestal sandblasted by neighbor and then I primed it with etching primer and painted it with Krylon Fusion Satin Black (love htis paint). I have to go this week and pick up a full sheet of 3/4" plywood to cap it off now and also to cap off the back bench. Everything that you see in wood and metal is going to have gray carpet on it. Im also going to carpet the inside under the casting deck in the storage area so that when things are in there, they aren't banging on metal. To do this now: -mount plywood for casting deck (all plywood will fiberglassed for waterproofing) -mount plywood on back bench so i can securely mount a swivel seat -carpet entire inside of boat (excluding the area behind back bench) -install both seats -wire up fishfinder and running lights -have front of boat reinforced with 1 1/4" aluminum tubing (you can see where we had to cut the old reinforcing off because it was ragged.) -paint boat paint trailer so as you can see, we've made alot of progress, but still have alot to do

Saturday, me and the future father-in-law worked on the boat some more. We got a big step done! We got the floor and sides cut to size! That metal roadsign i bought now makes a nice floorboard! I have to cover it in boat carpet now that i have in my building. Also the sides that you see will be covered in boat carpet. The sign wasnt quite long enough, so we butted a trimming from the sign when we cut it up the the end we needed extedned and then put another peice under is and pop riveted it all together. Its VERY storong and will never rot! i wanted to go with all metal floor, but i think im just gonna go ahead and make my front casting deck out of 3/4" plywood. I have to have a piece anyways to go on the back bench so that i can mount my swivel seat to it. Pretty much the whole inside of the boat will be carpeted except for the area behind the back bench. It sjust about ready for paint. I have to go this week to get some 1x1 alum. angle to frame the front deck. ^^^here you can see where we riveted it together

UPDATE: Me and my buddy got the support system for the metal floor im putting in. The boat ribs are not flat which poses problems when putting a flat floor in...lol. So I bought some 1x1 aluminum angle and ran it side to side capped on the ribs. It was still giving in the middle some (more than I liked) so i also put som vertical angle in to support the middle . The flooring system is very stout now! I am using a 3/16"-1/4" thick roadsing i bought at the local salvage yard for my floor. It is being covered in gray marine carpet i bought at Lowes. My friend there got me a deal on a remnant he had that was 8'-9 3/4" x 6' for $20!!! that is enought to do my middle floor, and back bench! I still need to buy about 10 more feet I think. on to the pics: here you can see the vertical support in the floor, this made it VERY stout. Also, where the floor butts up to the face of the back bench, there was no support, so i riveted some angle there to support there

I have been looking and i want to find the rod holders like the ones in the picture! They are great to hold the rods while you travel and all and to keep them out of the way in a jon boat!

UPDATE: 2/3/10 Got some more sanding done last night! Almost done with that crap! We also went ahead and cut out the middle bench to make even more room in the boat; I'm going to put a fixed pedistal in place of the bench with a swivel seat on it. I use AutoCad everyday, so at work today, im going to draw out my floor template with measurements i took last night and then transfer the template to some thin plastic sheets that we use for templates for granite. That way I can just trace it onto my sign and cut it out! I'm a little ticked because when i was cutting out the becnh, we placed an old blanket down in the bottom so i wouldnt get bottom of boat dirty from my boots. Well, unknowing to me, the blanket had oil on it and got a little on the floor of boat. So now i have to sand that part again and make sure i clean it extremely well where the oil was!

^^My 5 pounder biggest yet! Dang I thought mine were big until i seen a few on here! Mine are good size for virginia though!

alright, i picked up my flooring for the jon boat today! Its a bigass roadsign! No i didnt steal it, i bought it at local salvage yard...lol I think this will be better than using plywood (ill neer have to replace it, thats for sure!) Ill cover this in boat carpet and it will look awesome! I just have to get existing rivets out of it, clean it good, measure and cut and place in boat now!