GatorTom

The aluminum angle is really easy to work with. Buy in bulk if you can (It keeps the cost down). I'm not sure of the current layout of the inside of your boat, but if it is like mine was, the benches provide some structural integrity by keeping the sides of the boat from spreading out. That's the main reason that I kept my benches. You can get away with removing the front benches because the deck acts as one big bench. You may be able to get away with removing the middle bench all together and back bench. JMO

Looks like a nice boat. You got a deal! I redid a boat like that last year. Mine is a 16' Starcraft. It had bench seats in it. I made the deck as high as the bench seats. I think mine is a little wider than 60" though. The link to the share-a-project for my conversion is in my signature. Post up some more pics when you pick it up. You might want to start a share-a-project on it so others can reference it on their builds.

If it's aluminum, you'll need a self-etching primer. Any decent automotive paint will be fine for the paint.

20-25 feet (the tops of the old trees were just sticking out when it was down). I limited out the first time I went out and only caught 3 nice size ones the second time.

I usually remove the hook when I fillet the fish. ;D

I always have to have a chew right after I launch. And I won't spit out of the same side of the boat that I'm fishing from.

Elevation shouldn't affect a gps reading. The lake I live on was about 15 feet down last year for repair on a stand pipe. I went out in my little bass hound with my handheld gps and marked a ton of spots I found. The lake is back up (actually about 2 feet higher than full with all the rain we've had) and I've been out twice. The gps readings are almost dead on to the structure I marked.

You also might want to cut those bolts on the backside of the stick-steer mount shorter and put some type of plastic cap on them. Those things are bound to give you a nasty scatch sticking out like that.

It depends on the bite. I've gone out on the lake I live on and caught 20+ bass in 3-4 hours. I've also been skunked fishing on the lke for 8+ hours. On the small farm ponds I fish, I've never been skunked, but I have had days of only 3 or 4 fish in 5 hours. My best day on a farm pond was 100+ bass in 5 1/2 hours.

Well, I'm almost done with the boat. I've at least got it to where I can take it out on the lake again. All that's left is the TM, fish finder and bimimi top.

Lightly sanding the lawn chairs just to scuff them up a bit helps the algae adhere to the plastic and start growing quicker. This is what brings in the bait fish.

I'm updating the share a project site almost daily. That site as well as this forum and other places on the web has a ton of info and pictures of different people's modifications. I took about a month researching and getting ideas how to do mine before I even had the boat.

I'm using 1/8"x1 1/2"x1 1/2" and 1/8"x1"x1" aluminum angle. You can get it at most hardware stores. All connections are made with 3/16" aluminum pop rivets or stainless bolts, lock washers and nuts. The bracing is connected to the ribs with stainless self-tapping screws.

Not hard at all. All the hardware is stainless. So there was not a lot of stuck bolts. One thing to be careful of...the bench seat are designed to provide structural support to the sides. If you take them out, you need to think about what you are going to do to replace the support they gave. In my case, the casting deck will act as a big support replacing the front seats and I'm putting the rear 2 back in and boxing them in.

It was kinda funny. I found a boat on Pensacola craigslist that I really liked. On my way home I picked up a Thrifty Nickel and there was an add for this boat. I called the guy and stopped and looked at it on my way home. I really liked this boat too. I slept on it overnight and picked this boat up the next day.

Keep looking. It took me about 4 months of looking in the papers, craigslist, etc before I found what I was looking for.

I got this 1968 Starcraft and 72 25hp Evinrude with electric start for $800. I cleaned the carb and replaced the impeller. The motor runs like a champ! So far, I've gutted the boat, primed and painted it, replaced the trailer, and installed the floor bracing. Next up is deck bracing, livewell, storage, bench seats, and foam floatation. Let me know what you guys think and give me any suggestions.

I didn't like the plastic jon boat TM mount that BPS sells. It has A LOT of flex in it. Also if you ever hit anything that lifts your TM up, it can push the bracket out of the handle on the front of your boat and SPLASH! You'll be fishing your TM out of the water by the cord. The metal one the BPS sells isn't much better. The quick release bracket and the adjustable extension arm make it too flimsy. You'd be better off fabricating a metal bracket and bolting it to the boat. The head on you TM can be flipped around easily. I have the same TM and have mine flipped around.