~~New Life for an old Smoker Craft ~~

[A9]

Cool Project... That is a great boat for little lakes, bass and trout slayer for sure....

I really appreciate the "internal combustion engines prohibited" signs, it means that I can fish all day without being bothered by the jetski / wakeboard people and there waves. Just relax and fish on a nice quiet lake.

I have a similar setup, 12 lund with an electric Minn Kota. Easy to launch and trailer, no gas $, a great first boat for someone looking to tag some bass and trout on the local lakes...

Did the coating stuff applied to the bottom of the boat add any additional weight? I'm not familiar with the product, just wondering if any significant increase in weight was felt?

[edge540]

It looks like it would add weight but I applied a gallon of the stuff and the cured weight of the product is 8 pounds. Kinda ironic that water is also 8# Per gallon and I was always hauling around at least a gallon of water The goo is a 1/8" thick over all of the rivets and thinner everywhere else so there should be no chance of water getting in now. This is what we put on the bottom of aluminum driftboats. It is an epoxy that is impregnated with kevlar. You can coat a hammer head and drive nails without chipping it, Its slick as snot and wicks into holes. Im one of those anal retentive kinda guys that has to do everything perfect so this goop really bugs me to look at it. Oh well its only on the bottom of the boat though and if it keeps the water out Ill be thrilled. Best way to keep a smokercraft from leaking is to leave it parked in a warm dry garage.... By buddie has a brand new one that he bought last year and it leaks way worse then mine.

[Mike Carey]

It looks like it would add weight but I applied a gallon of the stuff and the cured weight of the product is 8 pounds. Kinda ironic that water is also 8# Per gallon and I was always hauling around at least a gallon of water The goo is a 1/8" thick over all of the rivets and thinner everywhere else so there should be no chance of water getting in now. This is what we put on the bottom of aluminum driftboats. It is an epoxy that is impregnated with kevlar. You can coat a hammer head and drive nails without chipping it, Its slick as snot and wicks into holes. Im one of those anal retentive kinda guys that has to do everything perfect so this goop really bugs me to look at it. Oh well its only on the bottom of the boat though and if it keeps the water out Ill be thrilled. Best way to keep a smokercraft from leaking is to leave it parked in a warm dry garage.... By buddie has a brand new one that he bought last year and it leaks way worse then mine.

My boat has developed a leak, this may be in the cards sometime down the road. Good to know about it.

[arniejl]

Good looking paint job. Well done!

[edge540]

My boat has developed a leak, this may be in the cards sometime down the road. Good to know about it.

Mike is your boat riveted or welded? If its riveted you can tighten the rivets pretty easy.

[edge540]

More progress, framework is actually pretty light. Im laying out battery hatches, live well hatch, fuel tank/bilge hatch, bow storage and some tackle storage areas. The front and rear will have full decks with a foot wide bench down both sides that will have rod storage inside. I ordered "bass boat seats" and Ill be dumping a ton of interior down lights. Cant wait to fish this thing!!

[Mike Carey]

My boat has developed a leak, this may be in the cards sometime down the road. Good to know about it.

Mike is your boat riveted or welded? If its riveted you can tighten the rivets pretty easy.

welded. Gonna live with the leak for now. No time or energy to tear out the flooring. Also, I was thinking the gunk goes insode the boat, but in your case it went on the outside. Not sure how good that would work for the rivers where I'm alwasy dragging the boat up on shore.

[edge540]

[ Not sure how good that would work for the rivers where I'm alwasy dragging the boat up on shore.

This is the same thing I use on the bottom of my drift boat to armor the bottom for the same reason, also makes it slide on the rocks better then aluminum. Would be alot of work to to take everything out of your boat to roll it over though. Easy way to find the leak is to put a couple inches of water inside the boat while its on the trailer and see where it runs out underneath.

[Mike Carey]

[ Not sure how good that would work for the rivers where I'm alwasy dragging the boat up on shore.

This is the same thing I use on the bottom of my drift boat to armor the bottom for the same reason, also makes it slide on the rocks better then aluminum. Would be alot of work to to take everything out of your boat to roll it over though. Easy way to find the leak is to put a couple inches of water inside the boat while its on the trailer and see where it runs out underneath.

yup. I really should do that this year. No excuses...

rolling my boat over sounds like zero fun. So it's not an issue with your drift boat huh? I would think that the material would get abraided and ripped up over time. Maybe I'm thinking it's softer and more plyable than it is.

BTW, I was curious, are you thinking of filling the spaces under your framing with flotation? I used pour-able flotation on a interior rebuild of a 16 ft fiberform and it work amazingly well. Fills all the voids quite nicely.

[edge540]

yup. I really should do that this year. No excuses...

rolling my boat over sounds like zero fun. So it's not an issue with your drift boat huh? I would think that the material would get abraided and ripped up over time. Maybe I'm thinking it's softer and more plyable than it is.

BTW, I was curious, are you thinking of filling the spaces under your framing with flotation? I used pour-able flotation on a interior rebuild of a 16 ft fiberform and it work amazingly well. Fills all the voids quite nicely.

Its super hard and full of ground Kevlar, seems to be bulit proof. I have had good luck on the drift boat so far, let me know if you need a hand fixing your leak, It is likely a crack or loose fitting on a welded boat. Id fill it partially with water and see were it comes out.

As for the flotation.... Yes great point since i pulled all of the flotation/ bench seats out. Once I build the live well well I will fill the area with some kind of pourable foam. I plan to full all of the foam slabs out of the bench seats and glue them to the underside of the deck. Of course the wood decks are actually "Flotation" of some sort.

[edge540]

More progress, most of the frame is done, rough cut all the decking. Now I can cut in all of the hatches and trim everything so that the there is clearance for the carpet to wrap the edges.

[edge540]

More saw dust on the floor, built a spot for a cooler and cut the rear hatch for the fuel tank/ battery storage. Built a spot for the chicken sh!t dog to sleep while i fish. Rod locker under the side benches ect.

[edge540]

Ive been at it all day and its starting to look like something. I have all the carpet on the decks and hatches time to start screwing all the cool stuff on. It looks kinda funky cause nothing is screwed in place yet but you get the idea

What do you guys think???

[The Quadfather]

Edge... I have to say that I get STOKED every time I see this thread come up. I've been building a wooden boat for too long, unfortunately it has lately become a corner project in the garage growing cobwebs.
But I gotta tell you your Smokercraft is BY FAR my favorite rehab. project that I follow. Before you even started the deck, just what you did with the first work, to include the trailer work. It's one nice looking boat.
I too was starting to wonder about your weight that you are adding, and I would def. look for some areas to use the mix/pour flotation.
In the end.. you better put up some of the original photos alongside the final photo.

[edge540]

I used an entire package of stainless steel staples today(1000) along with 3/4 of a gallon of out door carpet glue. I hinged some of the hatches and got the rod lockers set up, dam they work slick. I can fit up to 8 foot rods on each side and not worry about damaging them. Live will is ready for plumbing and then buoyancy foam will be poured around it. Cooler fits well in its hatch and seems like I will have a ton of storage elsewhere. Ive added up the total of all the deck materials Minus the weight of the bench seats and it looks like Ill add less then 200 pounds including the live well pumps, plumbing, lights, Power pole seats glue screws hinges and carpet. Should be good, I plan to try it in my pond next week and see how stable it floats.

[edge540]

Edge... I have to say that I get STOKED every time I see this thread come up. I've been building a wooden boat for too long, unfortunately it has lately become a corner project in the garage growing cobwebs.
But I gotta tell you your Smokercraft is BY FAR my favorite rehab. project that I follow. Before you even started the deck, just what you did with the first work, to include the trailer work. It's one nice looking boat.
I too was starting to wonder about your weight that you are adding, and I would def. look for some areas to use the mix/pour flotation.
In the end.. you better put up some of the original photos alongside the final photo.

Thanks! Im getting pretty amped up now that Im approaching my goal. I have put some serious hours into this thing along with a few bucks a pay check but its been rewarding. I really like the boat and have had some great trips in it. I wanted a serious boat with all the bells and whistles of a big boat but still be able to hit the "No Gas Engine" lakes. Cant wait to hit the lake every night after work starting in a couple weeks.

I would love to build a wooden boat some day but I seem to something to start with. What kind of boat are you building?

[spindog]

Yo edge, that's some boat! You really kicked butt on that thing. Impressive!!

[MotoBoat]

Your boat has some serous fab work going on. Fun project you're sharing. Tinkering in the garage has a way of getting contagious and out of hand. A guy with tools, a little knowledge, and handy is a dangerous combination. Good quality work.

I have fished most of my life out of a 12ft or 14ft aluminum boat like yours. They are stable. But still can't go crazy on the leaning over the side in calm, let alone rough water conditions. What is puzzling me is that the center of gravity has been raised significantly and wonder what the stability factor will be like? The placement of the live well, with water in it should help counter the bobbing effect.

It's been a few years since I had the 12 footer. But still recall when some one leaned over the side of the boat. It was best for me to slide my butt across the seat to the opposite side of the boat to stabilize and level the boat. My stability curiosity has been peaked with the addition of the raised deck.

Another question I have is. Are there drain holes in the three strakes (ribs) attached on the bottom, outside of your boat? My present, all aluminum lund does. And was wondering if they were plugged when addressing the leak and coating the bottom of your boat?

Again, really quality work your doing.

[edge540]

Yo edge, that's some boat! You really kicked butt on that thing. Impressive!!

Thanks Bud

Your boat has some serous fab work going on. Fun project you're sharing. Tinkering in the garage has a way of getting contagious and out of hand. A guy with tools, a little knowledge, and handy is a dangerous combination. Good quality work.

I have fished most of my life out of a 12ft or 14ft aluminum boat like yours. They are stable. But still can't go crazy on the leaning over the side in calm, let alone rough water conditions. What is puzzling me is that the center of gravity has been raised significantly and wonder what the stability factor will be like? The placement of the live well, with water in it should help counter the bobbing effect.

It's been a few years since I had the 12 footer. But still recall when some one leaned over the side of the boat. It was best for me to slide my butt across the seat to the opposite side of the boat to stabilize and level the boat. My stability curiosity has been peaked with the addition of the raised deck.

Another question I have is. Are there drain holes in the three strakes (ribs) attached on the bottom, outside of your boat? My present, all aluminum lund does. And was wondering if they were plugged when addressing the leak and coating the bottom of your boat?

Again, really quality work your doing.

Thanks, This is a 16 foot boat that is almost 6 foot wide so its as stable as a barge. I hope to find out soon but I think all will be fine. I spend most of last summer with 3 big guys all standing on the tops of the old seats while casting for bass.

Thanks for the reminder on the strakes, I need to check that the drain holes were not filled in with the epoxy. The holes let them drain and prevent freezing. Leaks should be a thing of the past, We bucked all the rivets and replaced a bunch of them and then sealed the whole mess in goo.

Steve

[edge540]

Another day of progress, Wifey went to a family outing with my monkey so I spent all day on the boat.

Got more of the recessed hatch handles installed, added recessed interior lights on the sides of the rod storage so the center of the boat will be lit up. Starting to plan out wiring. Mounted the switch block only to change my mind... need a bank of 8 switches not 3 Mounted the bow light and stearn light, both are pull outs that store in clips under the bow and stearn hatches. I installed the rear Lawrance for the back seater and added My daughters compass on the side( all boats must have a compass, just ask her). Floatation foam is tucked into a bunch of voids between hatches. Cooler dropped into its hole. Bow mount motor installed on the frond deck, Seat basses done.....

HOLY COW I NEED TO CLEAN THE SHOP NOW