Boat Conversion

[Z-man2002]

i have an old 16' fiberglass sea king boat with the front 6' of the bow enclosed. What i would like to do is, open the bow up and put a seat and a casting platform up there. i know alot of you are going to tell me to sell it an buy a new one, but i have three kids and not alot of money. I just want to be able have one of the kids or another passenger up there when fishing. i'm wondering what to use to cut the fiberglass, what to use as floor supports, and any other things i should do?

thanks in advance,
matt

[Steve Bakken]

This is a very frequent request from our customers. We pre-mark the cut line and then use a sawsall with a coarse blade. A handheld jigsaw also will work fairly well. The sharp edge of fiberglass can be finished off with sandpaper. We try to use the original stringers as a foudation for the floor and build up from there. Hope this helps. There is also some good advise on the the boat floor thread in this same forum. If you have any other questions I'd be happy to try to help you out.

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Steve @ Bakken's Boat Shop www.bakkensboatshop.com

[chunkytrout]

This guy aint going to tell you to buy a new one! Boat projects can be hell or a blast depending on a number of things. Goto IBoats dot com and check out their project boats forum. There is tons of good info there and really helpful people.
Hey Steve, have you ever converted a trihull to a center helm?

chunky

[Steve Bakken]

We've done several variations of that type of job. There's a little more to it than a standard column but it's very do-able.

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Steve @ Bakken's Boat Shop www.bakkensboatshop.com