Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

[zigzag]

OK... well, after some serious thought I've decided to go ahead and restore and convert my 1973 18' Holiday to an open bow... it will end up either a CC or side console.. the theme here is simplicity or minimalist. I wont be spending tons of money making things nice and fancy.. i want it to be a very functional family/fishing craft. in its holiday form it was fine. although there were some things that started to bug me. it was cluttered with the back to back seats, fishing with the kids was not as easy as i thought it'd be, i was continually trying to climb over seats and coolers and such to get to them before they had a hook in the ear (which did happen!... haha, remind me & I'll post a pic!). also, one of my biggest complaints was having to crawl out on the bow to drop and retrieve anchor. it became quite a chore, either climbing up through the windshield OR around the edge if the top was up.. almost took a swim more than once doing that!.....

So, with out any further ado, here is my boat..

 

[zigzag]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

Now don't be fooled by the pictures... the hull itself is in great shape, but everything else was falling apart.. the seats are broken, the floor is shot.... the dash is falling apart. and on and on..

today is Monday.. on Saturday i made up my mind and went to town stripping her out. I literally pulled two layers of 1/2 inch flooring up with my hands... luckily, i did not have poured foam so that was nice.


took her to the car wash to clean her out.. wasn't bad at all really. I figured i'd save you guys all the gory detailed of striping her down..




after alot of thinking and reading here on the site it figured it was time to start looking at how i wanted to cut out the bow. under the hood there was some framing. after looking at it for a while i decided to only cut it open back to the cross beam and leave it at that. i would have liked to open her up almost the whole way but after weighing the pros and cons i decided to leave it alone. ill be left with some storage space under the remaining bow.. i don't have to worry as much about rebuilding under there and it leaves me plenty of room for a trolling motor in the future.

 

[zigzag]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

you guys will have to excuse the crumby pics.. im using my cell to take them as i go.

so i followed jasons lead here and continued with the width and added 1 1/2 to that and made that my cut line. I would have liked to keep a nice curve the whole way around but the more i thought about it, the more i didnt want to have to struggle with making trim look good. this should work out nicely when its all said and done.

here what i was looking at under the bow...




so i measured an inch of this wood and make a line under the bow... drilled a number of pilot holes to find my way up top

 

[zigzag]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

and now for the cut! close your eyes...




done!... no turning back now!



all in all, im happy with it.. im going to need some help with my splashwell.. i want to shorten it up a little.. i've got the edges of the cut bent over and have been starting a mental list of what my next steps will be.. i'll be back on tonight with a few more pics if anyone is interested.

 

[barato2]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

came out pretty good so far. yes, love to see more pix!

 

[GLG fishing]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

Nice to see you doing the mod to the boat.
Look forward to seeing more pictures as you move along in the project.
GLG

 

[Bwana Don]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

We are interested, proceed with more pictures. Actually I think this is a cool project. I'm contemplating cutting a Jet like Jason did. Or find a 14' Mariner, I don't know yet.

Congratulations on starting your project.

Don

 

[zigzag]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

thanks guys... yeah, i kinda just said the hell with it and started rippin and tearing. just ate some dinner and was staring out the window at the boat... im thinking ill probably open her up a little more.. at first i was happy with it but i could cut another foot off. i think ill sleep on it and see what i think in the morning.

more pics:

 

[zigzag]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

heres some splashwell pics. my splashwell has the jump seats on either side.. which im thinking might be eliminated. im not totally sure yet though. if i go CC i could keep the 2 jump seats, have the steering seat and a seat in front of the console.. i guess my goal is to seat four.. if i dont go CC i was thinking about a side console like an SS with a passenger seat opposite of mine.. but this would all be situated about midship.. the consoles would be modeled after an SS but, the fronts of the consoles would have built in seats.... id have to sketch it up... the main driver n passenger seats would be on posts..

slpashwell tacked back on... i could take it back about 8 inches and still have room to tilt my motor:

 

[starcrafter65]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

So is that going to be a center console?

 

[Starman8]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

Your bow cap looks like the size on an SS, in other words, that cross-member up there has important structural integrity, and removing that might be ????

 

[zigzag]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

well im not sure if im gonna go CC yet or not.. its kind of all up in the air right now. And yes, starman, i think you're right.. if i removed that cross member id have some re-engineering to do. might just leave well enough alone. its solid as it is apart from where i removed the dashboard cross member. i wouldn't really gain any useable space by cutting anymore, it'd just be for looks really. the plan is to plate off the cross member once i have a floor back in and turn that area into some type of storage compartment. im thinking about an extended raised deck up front.. i mean ill have the raised portion run back further than most.. that would give me much more opportunity for creating storage space.. i don't typically keep much on my boat anyway.. just the usual, jackets an oar or two, anchor, some safety gear and a few misc. things like my brass naked mermaid lady lighter that doesnt work... shes just on board for luck!

 

[Starman8]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

Take a good look at most of the RESTO's and the floor you pulled in relation to the bow nose and tapering floor.

With a perfect cut up there, you may consider a soft fill between the beveled sides of the plywood and the hull sides if that area will be walled off for storage, many options, and if you add a casting platform in the bow, you may end up only having top access versus door access?

Where my ply met the hull at the tip(under the bowcap), I used the rolling caulk to seal that seam all around, then carpeted it and it stores the anchor/rope/bowlight.

My bow/port storage is a 24v battery system and charger

My bow/star is for the soft stuff, but my weight is evened out with the house battery star/aft.

The red interior is the basic framing of an 18SS

The changes incorporated the bow of my former 2000 Star

The Aft has my perm 22 gal tank and trim motor/pump

I walled that off with a removable wall, have access panels to service, and they are vented

I built a rear deck that created storage, a casting platform, and also can have 2 jumps attached when needed.

 

[zigzag]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

all good points.. i may very well end up mimicking a SS in relation to the bow. i do like the way it is setup. that would provide the extra seating if i needed it, plus id have easy access to storage. this conversion may end up looking like a SS when its all said and done.

as far as the soft fill goes, anything that gets fit up there will have it.. when i pulled the floor out of the bow i could see where the original had been rubbing the aluminum to the point that it had left indentations.

if i go with the SS setup, i will just omit the cushioned seats and just carpet plywood.. and make it plenty strong enough to stand on and act as a casting platform.

balance if one of the things im after here. it was always a concern of mine when it was a holiday.. along with the motor, the stern also carried a battery and fuel tanks.. it always seemed heavy in the rear so ill be trying to eliminate that by designing thins to disperse weight between people and gear. my brother has a nice fuel tank but it is more of a square shape so it would not quite work below deck... however, i have a few ideas that may allow me to work around that.

here's a nice picture of my old flooring! ...so much for using it as a template!!

 

[Starman8]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

here's a nice picture of my old flooring! ...so much for using it as a template!!
View attachment 116642

multiply your number of pieces by 10, that was my floor.......................lol

are those roofing shingles????

 

[64osby]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

ZZ great work so far. I love the room and options with open bow boats,

So you'll end up with either a Holi Sport or a Mari-day depending on your console choice.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

Cool!

Yah, I don't think you would have gained very much usable space up there had you cut any further. You'll obviously need to work out some butt joints for the trim but I think you can make it look good with a little effort. Should be much easier than the route I took too.

 

[zigzag]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

ZZ great work so far. I love the room and options with open bow boats,

So you'll end up with either a Holi Sport or a Mari-day depending on your console choice.

haha.. i like that..

 

[zigzag]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

Cool!

Yah, I don't think you would have gained very much usable space up there had you cut any further. You'll obviously need to work out some butt joints for the trim but I think you can make it look good with a little effort. Should be much easier than the route I took too.

I'm trying to work that out right now. I have to tie the gunwale back together where i removed the original dash and possibly add some structural bracketing there too. Thinking about maybe a padded or carpeted rail as seen on some SS's, that would hide a lot.

No, those arent shingles! wouldn't have surprised me though! its some carpet and vinyl....

 

[zigzag]

Re: Holiday to Open bow conversion.... aka: the unthinkable

can someone post a pic of the bracketing for the seating/platform in the bow of their SS? from what i have seen the seem to be riveted on. anyone have any ideas on how i could add some angle to make brackets without having to drill and rivet through my boat?? i haven't done too much to her in the last few days.. im still in the staring at it stage.. this will probably last a while but my next planned step is to get the floor pieces cut so i can visualize things. has anyone ever heard of Advantec subflooring? it is awesome stuff.. hard as a rock and virtually waterproof.. supposedly can be submerged for 6 months without absorbing any water! ive used it many times and i can say withoout a doubt that it is great stuff. i have a few small pieces that have sat outside for the last few years and besides being a little grey and weathered it is pretty much the same as the day it was bought. it comes in 4x8 sheets, 3/4" thick and costs about 20 bucks a sheet. been thinking about giving it a shot.