Tpayneful

Here are the liners.

Here are the deck cutouts.

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to cut out around the console.

I used 3/4" pressure treated plywood for the deck and floor. I used deck screws to screw it together.

And anotehr one.

Here is another one.

Opps, the picture was too big.

Mercury89, Here is one with the deck structure.

Cart7, It had a 1976 115 HP Evinrude on it until last year. It was crazy fast but sucked down gas fast! You can't go far on a 6 gallon tank! I had to put two tanks in if I wanted to go anywhere. Of course the boat was only rated for 90 HP, luckily I never got into trouble with it. Last year the 115 broke a ring and I had to find another motor. I ended up buying a 1977 70HP Evinrude on Ebay. I tuned it up, replaced the lower unit oil, rebuilt the carburators, replaced the jets, let the shop set the timing and dyno the motor. It dyno's at the high end of the specifications for the motor. All said and done it cost me about $1000. The boat doesn't go as fast but it would go 35 MPH GPS. I am guessing that I will get a few MPH less with the added weight in the boat but it will be worth it!

Frogtog, I would do it but my wife might kill me if I spend another couple weeks on boats! It really wasn't that difficult of a job to do. I was really lucky that the last two weekends had great weather. If you just wanted to recarpet your boat, you could probably do it for about $100. The most expensive part of the whole deal were the hatches and liners. They totaled about $300 of the cost. Now I have to stop myself from sitting in the boat admiring my work!

The last one

Here is another view.

$500 later this is the finished product!

Pretty bad huh? Here is a 4th one.

Here is a third one.

Here is another one.

I have a 1980 Skeeter SS-1 Fisherman bass boat. It is 15', 6" long with a 70 HP 1977 Evinrude. I bought the boat 13 years ago. The boat was covered with cheep blue astroturf and had an improvised storage compartment on it. Last year the carpet came apart in most locations. I found a false floor which I removed. The orginal floor was fiberglass over plywood which had several weak spots. I decided that I needed to renovate the boat. I forgot to take a picture of the boat before I took out the carpet and storage compartment. But I did start taking pictures from then on. I built the deck out to the console, added two water tight storage compartments, one wet storage compartment, installed a new floor, changed the livewell top and carpeted the whole boat. I pulled up the carpet in December. The false floor was removed in February. The past two weekends I worked on the boat nonstop. I finished the boat on Sunday. Here is a picture of what it looked like when I removed the carpet.

I put a post it note on the steering wheel of my truck to remind me to unplug the boat. It really sucks when you pull up to the boat ramp and a 50 foot extension cord is still hooked to your boat!

I hated jigs and never fished them. Last spring I was fishing with a buddy and he was schooling me with 1/4 oz Black and Blue Stanley flip jig. I was throwing a rubber worm and he was out catching me two to one. His biggest was 3lbs off a log. I went to Gander Mountain and bought the same jig and trailer. He used a 2.5" craw chunk that is black with blue swirls in it. The next weekend I only fished that jig. I missed the first one but I caught two more in the first hour that I fished it. Both fish were about 2lbs each while most fish that I had been catching on worms were in the 1lb range. I fished the jig until mid-summer with great success. Using the jig also caused me to learn how to pitch. I pitched so much I my elbow hurt! Most of the fish that I catch on the jig, bite it on the initial fall. Most of the time I just see my line start moving to deeper water so I reel down and set the hook. Sometimes you feel the tap but line movement is the key for me. On some occasions I have had fish follow the bait all the way back and nail it as it comes out of the water! I fish clear water and the black and blue works for me. I fish it around docks, laydowns, brush piles and lily pads. Make yourself fish it this spring. Once you catch one on the jig you will have the confidence to use it all the time.

I usually practice catch and release but sometimes keep a few small bass and transplant them into ponds that don't have a good population of bass. I did this two years ago when the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries recommended the harvesting of small bass. The newest report last year recommended that we cut down on the crappie population. I transplanted all of the crappie that I caught to other ponds. I didn't kill fish but I did harvest some.

RockvilleMDAngler, That stinks! I hope they haven't charged your credit card. I did see a few copies of a silver buddy on ebay a while back and some at a booth at Bassarama.

Several Ice breaker tournaments were won on a Silver Buddy in central Virginia. Several retailers mentioned that the dstributor quit sending them and that the telephone number no longer works. Green Tops, Ken's Tackle and Gander Mountain sold out of all of their 1/2 oz silver ones. I happened to find four at Walmart. A few months ago I sent an email to their email address and asked them if they were still in business. They responded and said that the company was family owned and operated and that they had an illness in the family. They did not have the ability to produce enough to send out to stores at this time but they would fill internet orders.

T_Dot Boat 1 Edrive 16 foot Bass Tracker single console modified v hull aluminum boat 2 people Tackle and rods for a tournament Boat 2 16 foot Bass Tracker Panfish modified v hull aluminum boat 2 people Tackle and rods for a tournament Boat 3 16 foot Alumacraft single console (removed) modified v hull aluminum boat 2 people Tackle and rods for a tournament

A friend of mine has put together two all electric boats. One was a 16 foot Bass Tracker with a MinnKota Edrive electric outboard motor. It is a 2 HP motor. It is a 48V system and will push the boat to a top speed of 5.1 MPH GPS for two hours full speed. He sold it to a friend and built a second boat that is a 16 foot pan fish Bass Tracker with the Briggs and Straton electric outboard. That boat would go 6.3 MPH GPS for about two hours full speed. The only guy in the electric boat club that could come close had a 16 foot alumacraft with 3 101 lb thrust MinnKotas on the back. He used his front trolling motor to steer. He would go about 6.2 MPH GPS. The Edrive had less thrust but it has nicer controls and tilt and trim. It doesn't get clogged up with weeds too bad. The Briggs has awkward controls, no tilt and trim and a thrust ring around the prop that catches weeds all the time. If I was going to pick one, I would pick the Edrive. Everywhere that we take the boats people always stop us and ask about the motors.

My best purchase last year was BPS Extreme baitcast reel for $45 before Christmas.