boats on a budget

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

I don't think the people or companies would go through the trouble to break the motor down to ship it, most of the time I believe they crate ship the motors in one piece, I could be wrong. I do see allot of 20hp or smaller run through that site that I mentioned. I had a chance at an 18 horse tiller steer evinrude a little while back for $200 OBO I should of took the trip to look at it and offered him $150 to see if he would bite then converted it into a console steer. I wished I could find or afford those deals your talking about, I would buy them all day long. Had a chance at a 40hp McCaula for $200 OBO a few weeks back. I know where there are 2 35hp Evinrudes just across the road my uncle has for a decent price but I'm not ready for that size motor myself. My current project boat has a 85hp evinrude that I basically bought (a different boat) and all for $450 basically for the motor. Don't mean to hog the thread, but good luck on the project, interesting chatting with you.

I've seen quite a few "good deals" around, but like you, when they show up, I'm not ready for them, a couple months ago, there was a really nice 14 foot runabout, no outboard, and no trailer, it was laying in the guys yard, he bought the boat, robed the trailer and outboard off it, and dumped the boat for 75, well worth it, that's kind of what got me going on this project, I found that I could find a cheap trailer, in my case, it cost me 50, then start piecing something together until you have a complete setup, trailers by them selves are cheap, boats by them selves are cheap, motors by them selves are cheap, (for the most part) the cost starts going up when they sell boat, motor, trailer as a ready to go package, so I pieced mine together, plus I pretty much got just about exactly what I was wanting, I'm not 100% happy with the boat, but it will do, I wanted something that was 12 foot, aluminum, deep hulled, and wide, that's what I got, but I'm not overly impressed with the construction of the boat.

My plan is to continue to work on the boat, to make it into something I like, or at some point, come to the decision that no matter what I do to it, it?s just not going to be what I want, at which time I?ll dump the boat and find something else, I?m sure if it came to that, I could get my money back.

At this point, I?m happy with the outboard, I like the trailer, but would rather have smaller tires on it because there?s not a lot of fender clearance, but that?s an easy problem to solve, and I can find the tires cheap on craigslist, I like the gear I have for the boat, I?ve got enough life jackets, 2 sets of oars, still short a fire extinguisher, (had to borrow one for last weekends outing).

I like the way the boat handles in the water, I like the freeboard, it?s stable, you can stand in it with out fear of falling out, it?s not going to be able to do any high speed turns though, slow turns are ok with me, after all, it is a little row/fishing/cruising boat.

Loading it back on the trailer when the days done is a real challenge, I need to figure something out to make it easer to load, being mostly flat bottomed, it tends to want to drift across the trailer before you can get it loaded, I ended up getting it sorta on the trailer, then pulling out of the water, and walking to the back of the boat and lifting it into place, it?s light enough that it?s easy to move around

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: boats on a budget

I like the way the boat handles in the water, I like the freeboard, it’s stable, you can stand in it with out fear of falling out, it’s not going to be able to do any high speed turns though, slow turns are ok with me, after all, it is a little row/fishing/cruising boat.

I hear ya on the slow turns, believe me I was out in a 2006 125HP 18' Pro Craft of my uncle's, we were traveling a little better then half throttle coming into a real sharp bend in the lake boat houses and pears to the right sand bar and stump row to the left. My uncle didn't slow down for nothing as "WE" took this turn and I was holding on for dear life, he about gave me a heart attack and I'm just a young buck. The speedometer wasn't accurate but we were going to fast period and it wasn't on the safe side. Slow turns are alright with me from here on out and something that I will practice in my boat when I get it on the water. I mean it was just a narrow passage way at that. I don't care how well he knows that lake it was still dangerous.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

I hear ya on the slow turns, believe me I was out in a 2006 125HP 18' Pro Craft of my uncle's, we were traveling a little better then half throttle coming into a real sharp bend in the lake boat houses and pears to the right sand bar and stump row to the left. My uncle didn't slow down for nothing as "WE" took this turn and I was holding on for dear life, he about gave me a heart attack and I'm just a young buck. The speedometer wasn't accurate but we were going to fast period and it wasn't on the safe side. Slow turns are alright with me from here on out and something that I will practice in my boat when I get it on the water. I mean it was just a narrow passage way at that. I don't care how well he knows that lake it was still dangerous.

from what little experience I've got, I've seen people do some dumb things, this last weekend, I saw people anchored, fishing, on a narrow river, in small boats like mine, and right down through the middle of all these anchored boats, here comes some huge boats, 20 plus feet in length, just hauling tush right through the middle of these anchored boats, I'm in a little 12 footer, and I idle down and pretty much coast through the area simply because I didn't want to cause to much of a wake, some of those little boats seemed to me like that were just inches from getting swamped, I know for me I had to turn into the wakes of these speeding boats, and at one point, it looked like my bow might catch some water, it didn't, but sure looked like it could have. my question is simple, why don't those guys slow down going through such a crowded area?

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

OK, back to the boat building thing, not sure if you people can follow these pictures or not, but here's my idea on stick steering, I figured I'd build my own system, and use cables to get the job done, here's some pictures of the inside of the boat, my plan is to mount the stick where the center brace is on the center seat as in the first and second picture. the third picture is the back side of the middle seat, so it's got plenty of bracing. the 4th and fifth picture shows the channel that goes down one side of the boat, I can ad a channel to the other side and completely hide the steering cable.

what do you think? do I have a good idea, or does someone have a better idea?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: boats on a budget

i don't know if you will be able to get enough throw, but here's my idea. red are pulleys. yellow cables. purple termination points, orange stick. you will need 4 pulleys, termination springs, connector for the motor.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: boats on a budget

here's a couple of more pics.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

I found a nice wooden base ball bat while out on the water this last weekend, I'm going to have the bat turned down on the lathe, and use that as the steering stick.

thanks for marking out the cable paths in that picture TD, I'm still trying to figure out how to do that, I've got photo shop 7 and should be able to doctor up these pictures like that, just haven't figured it out yet.

Im not sure yet what to use for a throttle and shifting controls, will any control box work as long as I have the right cables?

is your motor bracket with the 2 pullys on it home made? and where do you find those pullys?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: boats on a budget

post pictures of each side of your motor, so i can see how it is set up. then we will find necessaries.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

post pictures of each side of your motor, so i can see how it is set up. then we will find necessaries.

OK, will do, it may be a couple of days before I get a picture of the motor, I loaned it out yesterday to a friend, he's headed out fishing with his 12 footer and wanted to try my motor out to see if he wants to get one like it, all he's got is a little 5 horse. I should have it back by Friday

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

OK, with a little grinding, prying, cussing, yanking and pulling, I got the front bench out, tomorrow, I'll work on the center bench.

the second picture shows the plastic conduit I found that I'll run the wiring through coming from the battery that will be placed under the front seat.

the benches are made out of 3/4 inch plywood, I'd like to go to a 3/4 inch hardwood, and stain it dark. I think with some new paint, and some nice stained benches, it will transform the inside of the boat

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: boats on a budget

WARNING!!!!!! you loan you wife out, before you loan your motor out. get all your wires in and a couple of extra before doing any glueing. voice of experience.

 

[kwikk9]

Re: boats on a budget

Fascinating restoration, Mr. Stuart. I "extended" my lunch hour a bit today so I could read the whole thread. Wish I had your patience.

thanks for reading the thread, but who said I was patient?:

Scratch patience, insert persistence

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

How about glutton for punishment? And I trust the guy that borrowed the outboard, he’d do the same for me, I just don’t have much use for his 5 horse at the moment.

Running some extra wire is a good idea, I’ll get the rest of the wood out of it, then we’re going to go over the stripping and prepping process, well, actually, you guys are going to be walking me through it….I hope

 

[kwikk9]

Re: boats on a budget

I've always enjoyed the PBS show "This Old House". How about a new series: "This Old Boat"?

 

[drewmitch44]

Re: boats on a budget

I got my sea ray for 50 bucks from a guy that had 3 boats in the yard and a wife that was nagging. I dont think i did so bad i used it for the whole summer. You can get pics from the shareaproject page. I stopped adding to the page a few months ago but you get the idea. Its a solid boat and it came with the loadrite trailer for the 50 bucks. Paid 800 for the 1986 yamaha 115 and then just got it ready for the season. Im going to put it in my parrents gerauge this weekend so i can work on it over the winter. They only live about a mile and a half from me so ill be doing a lot of work this winter on it. I got to get a heater or 2 so i can stand to work on it. I plan to pull the floor again and open up the bow and possibly make it a center console. not sure yet what im going to do so i stopped the shareaproject for now til this weekend when i start on the teardown and rebuild. I had pulled up the floor one time in the early spring and the stringers were solid and ill end up pulling the floor again soon. The shareaproject pics will continue this weekend hopefully. I got to get a kerosine heater or something. I plan to strip it and turn the hull upside down and do all the glassing i need to do and paint. Then its up to me to do what i want. I could not afford a nicer boat on the budget me and my wife are on, but i love this boat and im going to make it new this winter!!

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

I got my sea ray for 50 bucks

Sometimes the best things in life come cheap, I kind of like working on my boat, I can do with it as I please, I'll do the work myself, and know exactly what I got when I'm done, I couldn’t afford to go out and buy what I have right now, so for me, piecing it together was a good option.

I can't tell you how many times over the years I've stood on the bank wishing I was out on the water, and now, I can stand on the bank when I want to, or go out in the water, granted, I have to realize that I'm not going to be doing any ocean exploring with a 12 foot boat, but there's plenty of lakes and small rivers around to keep me busy for a long time to come. you get what you can afford, and work with it.

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

soo, I wonder what happens when I hit 300 posts........

 

[drewmitch44]

Re: boats on a budget

then you will have 300 of them!

 

[thrasher]

Re: boats on a budget

Nothing happens until you reach 400.. Then I think you become chief petty officer.

I am almost there (391 posts) and this post helped!!

Gary

 

[Mr.Stuart]

Re: boats on a budget

Nothing happens until you reach 400.. Then I think you become chief petty officer.

I am almost there (391 posts) and this post helped!!

Gary

Well darn, I figured at 300 the bells and whistles and lights all started going in the computer, that was a pretty uneventful 300th post ...but then again, I'm sure I'll have well over 400 posts by the time I get done with this boat, just wait till I get to the part about stripping the interior .....