I'm an idiot! - Page 3 - FishingTN.com Tennessee's Fishing and Boating Community

JKTrevecca · #31 02-06-2016, 01:21 AM

Progress has been slow but I picked it back up this week. All of the deck pieces and framing are are cut, bathed in 2 coats of epoxy resin, painted the sides that aren't wrapped in flooring material, and fully installed into the boat. Tomorrow will involve installing the vinyl onto the aluminum hatch doors, re-assy of the console, wiring, and then it could technically go into the water. I'll still need to do my side storage pieces which I've cut but can't decide how I want to best utilize that space. I updated about 30 pics into the album here ( https://goo.gl/photos/7KKadFCFsfcLS78RA ) but also attached the most recent status photo into this post.

I hope all of you are doing well!

jaybird · #32 02-06-2016, 06:21 AM

That's coming along nicely

commdd · #33 02-06-2016, 08:48 AM

very nice! that looks excellent.

aero320 · #34 02-06-2016, 08:50 AM

Jason, you are going to really enjoy that boat. You have done an excellent jib!

agelesssone · #35 02-06-2016, 10:40 AM

When are we going fishing in it?

JKTrevecca · #36 02-15-2016, 07:55 AM

Couple updated pix.

Reel Tune · #37 02-15-2016, 08:12 AM

Wow, it's really coming along well. Thanks for the update

SalmonDaze · #38 02-23-2016, 07:59 AM

I keep coming back to this thread . . . Great build; you are probably about done; final pics?

One question on the tank; I can't seem to find the capacity here; did you say 35 gallons somewhere? If that large, does it have baffles? I wonder about the momentum of water carrying to one side in a turn or in rough water. Looks like it's pretty low to control center of gravity; but with about 300 lbs to control; baffles would help mitigate an unbalanced load, at least a bit.

JKTrevecca · #39 02-23-2016, 08:45 AM

For all practical purposes, the boat is done. I'll upload some pictures later today. My camera battery was dead last night. I finished it last night after work. I was super excited and my 6 year old was too. We threw the life-jackets, paddle, and fire-ext into the boat along with my son's new fishing rod he got for Christmas that has only been used once since then. He's begging me to stop and get McDonalds so we can eat on the boat like was always used to. It was almost dark and I just wanted to make sure she floats and all systems were working as intended so I told him we'd eat after the boat test. That didn't temper his excitement any at all. Nor did it mine.

I pull up to the nearest boat ramp and he begs me "can I get in the boat while you put it in the water daddy?". I agree and put his life-jacket on him and tell him to sit down while I'm backing the boat up. Plug is in and everything is ready. I back him down the ramp until the back half of the boat is in the water, hop out of the truck to release the winch, hop back in the truck to back him the rest of the way into the water. I can tell the boat is floating so I stop and get back out of the truck.

In all my excitement, I had not only released the winch, I had also disconnected it from the boat. So... my 6 year old son and my boat are ever so slowly drifting off into the middle of the cove as I stand beside my truck in absolute disbelief. It takes a couple seconds but as soon as my son realizes what is going on he enters full on panic mode. He rushes to the front of the boat, nearly jumping into the water as he reaches both hands out trying to get to me while fighting the urge to scream like a girl.

After about 7.2 seconds of thinking "how can I fix this without swimming?", I surrendered and remove my wallet, shoes, belt, and pocket contents proceeding to take the polar plunge and swim about 25 feet to my son's rescue. Luckily... the boat started and I proceeded to re-load it onto the trailer and go home while my son was shaking in fear.

I laughed it off and tried to get him to trust that everything was always okay in hopes he wouldn't be hesitant to fish with daddy next time. The jury is still out on that but as you can imagine, I still had to face mommy and explain why I was dripping wet with blue lips and near frost bite when we got home. Luckily, she's cool and thought it was hilarious but after laughing, I did get a "suggestion" to never put our kids in the boat while backing it into or pulling it out of the water. Fair enough.

So... I really am an idiot.

Pics and boat details will come later. Have a great morning everyone.

TnCreekMaster · #40 02-23-2016, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SalmonDaze

I keep coming back to this thread . . . Great build; you are probably about done; final pics?

One question on the tank; I can't seem to find the capacity here; did you say 35 gallons somewhere? If that large, does it have baffles? I wonder about the momentum of water carrying to one side in a turn or in rough water. Looks like it's pretty low to control center of gravity; but with about 300 lbs to control; baffles would help mitigate an unbalanced load, at least a bit.

I have a similar problem I own a 95 stratos walleye boat and the live well is huge its like a 50 gallon I could put a 4ft striper in there lol but I find that when I do fill it full and avoid a slack tank the boat lists to the port side so I usually only fill it half full but then comes the problems with making a hard turn and the boat starts to porpous on me. Would baffles help in my situation?

Thanks
TnCreekMaster

TNBronzeback · #41 02-23-2016, 08:52 AM

glad everything worked out for the better, aside from taking a swim!
im looking forward to the pics! that was quite the overhaul you did!

SalmonDaze · #42 02-23-2016, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TnCreekMaster

I have a similar problem I own a 95 stratos walleye boat and the live well is huge its like a 50 gallon I could put a 4ft striper in there lol but I find that when I do fill it full and avoid a slack tank the boat lists to the port side so I usually only fill it half full but then comes the problems with making a hard turn and the boat starts to porpous on me. Would baffles help in my situation?

Thanks
TnCreekMaster

The laws of physics, as applied to hydrodynamics and nautical engineering, are beyond my areas of expertise (but only by a parsec or two)

.

However, I can tell you that in my two previous boats I had baffles in my fuel tanks (80+ gallons each); and the control of "sloshing" was not huge; but noticeable. One of those things that allows you greater "peace of mind" than if not installed. If you've ever been in one of those "OH $h_T" moments when you thought you might have to . . . oh . . . I don't know . . . go swimming in 45* water after an un-tethered boat

you realize how nice it is to NOT be in that position.

Great story Jason. But I don't think you'll need to worry about backing the boat in with the son on-board. I doubt he's too traumatized; but I guarantee you're going to have a life-long advisor of how NOT to launch the rig.

gordonc615 · #43 02-23-2016, 11:10 AM

wow ! that's tremendous work

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

jaybird · #44 02-23-2016, 01:12 PM

Great story Jas. Glad it end well and you can laugh about it

JKTrevecca · #45 02-23-2016, 06:35 PM

Aside from a few details like a vinyl snap-in cover that needs to be sewn for the gas tank/battery compartment under the splash-well and some hatch lid pulls, my re-build is completed. I added about 50 additional photos to the album you can access here. https://goo.gl/photos/7KKadFCFsfcLS78RA In reviewing the photos I noticed the clear sealant fully penetrated the floor rivets as you can see in the under-floor photos showing the bait tank plumbing. Also, I noticed that my LED strip lights have at least 1 screw going through them from the storage hatch frame hardware. Oops!

Since the last update I painted the boat portion of the inside of all of the storage compartments, added LED strip lights (they are white but appear blue for some reason in the photos) to all interior storage compartments including the bait-tank, completed the re-wire for all of the remaining accessories and running lights, and finished the rear and side storage compartments. I also cleaned, re-caulked, and painted the splash-well, plumbed the bait tank in, and wired in the trolling motor etc. Nothing is ever 100% done in my world but I'm calling this completed.

She's not a brand new boat by any means but I'm pleased with the overall outcome of the rebuild. All in all, I spent a little more than $720 on the project which is about $220 more than I had hoped to spend but a lot less than a new boat. I'd like to add a 3rd battery and a 3 bank onboard charger later this year but that will have to wait for now.

I'm eager to fish out of the boat and see you guys out there soon. The march striper run on the Cumberland is right around the corner! Thank you for all of the encouraging words over the last 7 weeks.

I almost forgot. SalmonDaze. The bait tank is 30 gallons with no baffles. I'm not sure about the sloshing and it's impact on the handling of the boat but I'm sure that compared to the tank sliding around like it used to before I re-built this boat I'm sure I'll adjust to any handling issues that exist moving forward with the tank semi-permanently mounted. I know that I'm eager to find out! I'll try to add some action/on the water shots soon before abandoning this thread and leaving you all alone with boat building threads.