New Floor a rebuild build along (pic heavy)

[Neighbor_guy]

Well after a dozen years of use and abuse the middle two "floating" decks (flat floor) of my boat have gone soft and did not survive the winter. It is a '76 Starcraft aluminum fishing boat, for those who want specifics. So here we go...

The front and back decks are permanent. The middle two are free floating and removable, and as I said, have gone bad.

You can see how twisted and warped they are, they are also missing a few of the struts underneath. (more on that later)

[Neighbor_guy]

Quickest way to get the size right? Use what you already have...

"B" Deck

"A" Deck

The "B" deck is cross cut of a sheet of plywood, 4' across. The "A" deck has a taper to it.

It is not much, but it is important to the fit of the floor.

Next time... cutting the floor, laying out the struts

[Neighbor_guy]

Ok, new day...

Cut the new floor, round the edges and measure for the strut placement....

Second View...

The floor is 5/8 green treat. Green treat!! Not to worry, it will have no direct contact with the aluminum of the boat. After measuring and laying out the location of the struts I carefully removed them from the old floor. Like I said, why change what is working. The struts are made of oak and untreated cedar. They are shaped to make contact with the bottom of the boat while alowing the floor to remain flat, and water to flow under them for drainage.

So after firming up and replacing a couple of supports I reinstalled the struts to the bottom of the new decks. "A" deck on the right, "B" deck on the left. You can see the shape of the bottom of the boat if you look at the size and layout of the struts.

Up next... Carpet, check for fit, remodel and addition???

[marine_man]

Nice work! Thanks for the pics!

marine_man

[JimBuck]

Great post neighbor_guy. Thanks for taking the time to post your process. I love seeing how people decide to remodel there pride and joy. Looking forward to more..

[Neighbor_guy]

The saga continues...

Time for carpet, being on the "budget plan" the carpet has to be reused. So I swept it off, shook it out, and got started. When these decks were build in '96 they were built in a hurry to solve a problem, how to keep a cooler in place? Unfortunatly that meant some things were overlooked, like staples...

These are rusted out and in many cases just powdered. So as the son of an upolsterer I managed to procure some Stainless ones, ouch, they are spendy.

So if things work out, the carpets will fit the same way they did before. With the carpet wraped around the bottom eliminating plywood to aluminum contact.

Perfect...

So lets put em in...

The fit is good, better than ever...

They fit good, a little play, but they will settle in place.

Here is a look underneath so you can see what I ment about the way they sit against the bottom.

If you look close you can see that they dont realy sit flush just yet, once they settle and the carpet flattens out they will rest on the bottom, but there is enough space that water will still flow from the bow down to the stern for draining.

Next up, remodel... What could it be???? Electronics related Expanded Decking???? Hmmmmmmm... Stay tuned....

[delmuts]

Looks great! Thanks for taking the time to do the pictures!

[Neighbor_guy]

Well, here is my next project. After years of keeping my trolling motor battery in the back of the boat I moved it to the front two seasons ago.

Current set up...

It is wedged up underneath the platform for the Bowmount trolling motor. This set up is ok for the trolling motor, but there is no good way to get anything else hooked up to it and the battery must be removed to charge it. So here is the plan....

I am going to move the battery to here...

The plan is to move the battery down onto the lower front deck tight to the bunk. Add a second Battery for a 2 battery 12volt system that I can run the trolling motor, electronics, and future lights off of. And build a box to enclose the hole lot of it. (just a little demanding eh?)

So here is the start.

Batteries on the left and right, hookups in the middle. We will see how it turns out. There is not a lot of space available, so I have to use what is there wisely...

But now that I am looking at it, the front seat may be hard to sit in if the platform is expanded by 9inches... glad nothing is attached. I am thinking I will be looking at tight to the other bunk before I go to far.

More to come....

[propster]

I'd cover it with a hinged lid and carpet it and make a "step" up to the upper deck. Nice work.

[Northlander]

Ya make sure to at least get some plastic battery boxes to keep it dry. I would also take out the wood on the benches and sand them and then put a good sealent on them. Looking real good man. Keep up with the pics.

[Tyler23]

wow that made a big difference. good job!

[Big A]

You must have stayed somewhat silent with the northern ice .... or is that the reason all this came about.. lol

I will be at the house around 1630.. ifins you need a hand with anything further.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Nice work Neighbor Guy!!!! I fully understand the "Budget Plan." I absolutely love seeing what guys with a little imagination, elbow grease, and lack of monster funds can do with an older boat. I did something similar to my boat last year. It's truely a labor of love but in the end it's soooooooo worth it to have a boat you can be proud of, fishes a lot better, and is just stinkin cool!!!

Nice work so far. Thanks for the pics. Can't wait to see her when she's done.

[Neighbor_guy]

.... I would also take out the wood on the benches and sand them and then put a good sealent on them.....

The benches get treated with Boiled Linseed Oil in the fall and again in the spring if they need it. That is why they are grey in color. You can see the staining on the bunks. I have tried 440 Spar as well as primer/paint, and it has all failed. The oil has realy been a good treatment for them, and I like the grey look they took on as well.

No pics from yesterday, I ran out of time, I will get more tonight. IF I can pull this off it will make a big differance in the efficiancy and usefullness of this boat. I have added a lot to her over the years, front and back decks, floating flat floors, Bow mount platform, electronics(later today). Not bad for a hand-me-down boat, but when you can not afford to buy new, or even "new to you", you need to get the best out of what you have.

[Neighbor_guy]

Ok, go big or go home right...

After looking, thinking, sleeping, and mulling over the placement of the battery box I decided that against the middle bunk would be better than against the front bunk. The increase in size of the would have made it nearly imposible to sit comfortably in that seat. So I scraped the first set of framework and created a new set.

I then measured, drilled and set the new "Battery" posts in the frame. They are Gorilla Glued into place.

I let the glue dry overnight and procured the rest of the materials I would need. I tell you what the battery cable was almost a budget buster, spendy, spendy stuff, they made me buy the entire 25' box. And for whatever reason I did not take a good picture of the new cables, but here is the jist of it. I put the batteries in place, measured, cut, and terminated the cables to the new posts. + to +, - to - so it is a 2 battery 12 volt system.

Then I placed my "terminal strip". Now I realize this may not be the recomended way of doing things, but it works for me.

Then I hooked the whole entire mess back up to the posts and pulled out the meter....

We have conductivity!!!! power to the posts and power to the strip are only 2/100th of a volt off. (If you look close they are 11.53 and 11.51 volts, but the one is dead, and the other has not been charged since october)

[Wanderer]

So much for your idea of the "Show us your POS!" thread.

Looking good! I think I'm just going to retire the red boat if this ride is available for Tuesday night.

[Neighbor_guy]

Now that I was done putzing with the batteries it was time to concentrate on the box. In order for this to work it has to support the weight of an over weight adult, or your average large tackle bag and a bag full of plastics , so I had to figure out how to get it sturdy. I decided to use 2x2 stud work for the frame and framed it so the finished box would be at the same height as the bunk. Lets just say the "floating deck "A" has become slightly more permanent...

Remember, "budget plan", so I did some rumaging around and came up with a chunk of plywood sidding that I could use for the face of the box. So after measuring I carefully scribed a patern and cut the face of the box.

I still had to dry fit it and trim it 3 times to get it to fit the way I wanted it to, but It worked out.

As luck would have it, I had enough of a piece of 5/8" treated left from the floors to create the top of the box. It just so happens that the board on the top of the bunk is also 5/8" . So everything was cut, scribed, and dryfitted together, then atached using piano hinges to create access doors.

After I figure out if the everstart is still good or not, and replace the other (or both ) the plan is to screw the battery doors shut. I can still pull the screws to get at them if needed and with the hinges opening a full 180 they can be removed and replaced almost at will. I will have to get a latch of some sort for the center door as it will need to be opened more. On/off switch and plugs and the like. I will need to stain and seal the sidding, I supose I could oil that too, but I have never done plywood.... I guess we will see.

I then wired up my new toy(gps/sonar unit) from the back of the boat and my old toy(x67c) from the front, along with the trolling motor power to the box, made sure it all worked/drew power, and shut her down for the night.

For the time being I am running the cords in the channel and tapping them in place. If anyone has anyother idea's, feel free to toss them out.

Thanks for following along. Start to finish, for the floor and box rebuild/remodel was just over $100, but less than $120. The budget buster was the battery cable at $53 for a 25' box. I guess anything over 10' means you buy the box. The plywood for the floor was $27. Those were the two big ticket items, the rest was just scrounged up and swiped from other projects/people, or reused. On a side note... If anyone has a peice of grey indoor/outdoor/automotive/BOAT carpet 58"x24" let me know, I might have a place for it.

P.S... This one's for Big A...

I blame the beer...

[turtleboy]

Nice budget conscious upgrade. Looking forward to seeing the finished product in action. One note- I'm no expert, but doesn't that battery compartment need some ventilation for safety? It looks awfully sealed off. How about some ventilation holes in the sides, or even a larger cubby hole into the center portion for access and storage?

[Big A]

Least you had a northern ice in there ! pretty good concept to wrap it up at 6 mooseheads and an ice lager .... after that... I would suspect youd manage to get that six panel door in the back of the last pic attached to that boat somehow ! ...

now .. as I was saying ... show the good folks at home some pics of that almighty trailer she is sitting on !! that is bound to turn up some eyebrows ! L O L !!

Good job.