I finished renovating my 1980 Skeeter 2024

Tpayneful reply :

I have a 1980 Skeeter SS-1 Fisherman bass boat. It is 15', 6" long with a 70 HP 1977 Evinrude. I bought the boat 13 years ago. The boat was covered with cheep blue astroturf and had an improvised storage compartment on it. Last year the carpet came apart in most locations. I found a false floor which I removed. The orginal floor was fiberglass over plywood which had several weak spots. I decided that I needed to renovate the boat. I forgot to take a picture of the boat before I took out the carpet and storage compartment. But I did start taking pictures from then on. I built the deck out to the console, added two water tight storage compartments, one wet storage compartment, installed a new floor, changed the livewell top and carpeted the whole boat. I pulled up the carpet in December. The false floor was removed in February. The past two weekends I worked on the boat nonstop. I finished the boat on Sunday. Here is a picture of what it looked like when I removed the carpet.

Tpayneful reply :

Here is another one.

Tpayneful reply :

Here is a third one.

Tpayneful reply :

Pretty bad huh? Here is a 4th one.

Tpayneful reply :

$500 later this is the finished product!

Tpayneful reply :

Here is another view.

Tpayneful reply :

The last one

cart7t reply :

Not bad. Looks good.

My second boat was a late 70's SS-7 skeeter with a 115 Evinrude. 17 1/2 foot little speed demon, unfortunately it didn't take rough water very well. d**n thing bounced all over the place. The thing had great storage though.

frogtog reply :

Looks great! You want to do mine?

Tpayneful reply :

Frogtog, I would do it but my wife might kill me if I spend another couple weeks on boats! It really wasn't that difficult of a job to do. I was really lucky that the last two weekends had great weather. If you just wanted to recarpet your boat, you could probably do it for about $100. The most expensive part of the whole deal were the hatches and liners. They totaled about $300 of the cost. Now I have to stop myself from sitting in the boat admiring my work!

Tpayneful reply :

Cart7, It had a 1976 115 HP Evinrude on it until last year. It was crazy fast but sucked down gas fast! You can't go far on a 6 gallon tank! I had to put two tanks in if I wanted to go anywhere. Of course the boat was only rated for 90 HP, luckily I never got into trouble with it. Last year the 115 broke a ring and I had to find another motor. I ended up buying a 1977 70HP Evinrude on Ebay. I tuned it up, replaced the lower unit oil, rebuilt the carburators, replaced the jets, let the shop set the timing and dyno the motor. It dyno's at the high end of the specifications for the motor. All said and done it cost me about $1000. The boat doesn't go as fast but it would go 35 MPH GPS. I am guessing that I will get a few MPH less with the added weight in the boat but it will be worth it!

mercury89 reply :

I have the exact same boat, Skeeter SS-1 Fisherman, except mine is a 1984 with a 1984 merc. on it. I want to do exactly what you did to yours: recarpet, deck extension, rubbing compound/glaze/buff gelcoat. These boats are darn fast, I have a 75 horse on mine and it goes 45-48 with just me in it.

I really like the job you did on the deck extension back to the console, do you think you can post some more deatails on what was needed to do the extension? Thanks.

mercury89 reply :

Here are a few pics of mine

cart7t reply :

Nice to see you guys carrying on with the old sponsoned V hull boats. Both in very nice condition.

Tpayneful reply :

Mercury89, Here is one with the deck structure.

Tpayneful reply :

Opps, the picture was too big.

Tpayneful reply :

Here is another one.

Tpayneful reply :

And anotehr one.

Tpayneful reply :

I used 3/4" pressure treated plywood for the deck and floor. I used deck screws to screw it together.

Tpayneful reply :

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to cut out around the console.

Tpayneful reply :

Here are the deck cutouts.

Tpayneful reply :

Here are the liners.

Tpayneful reply :

Here are the hatches.

Tpayneful reply :

Wet storage compartment.

Tpayneful reply :

With the lid.

Tpayneful reply :

The livewell always bothered me so I sealed it, screwed it down and installed a hatch door in it!

Tpayneful reply :

That is about it. Mecury89, your boat looks alot better than mine. Mine never really had a gel coat to shine. The white fiberglass is really dull and flat. I will use this boat for another couple years and then buy another one. It has been a really good boat to me.

mercury89 reply :

Wow, thanks Tpayneful, those pics are really great. They really gave me some ideas for my deck extension. You did a great job, it looks darn good, just go and catch some fish.

kclevenger reply :

Hey. Your boat looks great!! i have the same exact boat, same engine and all. I love your idea of extending the front casting deck and adding the storage compartments. Actually i was wondering if you could send me those dimensions and mesurments so i can copy you great idea!! my email is kyleclevenger@clearwater.edu, or if you have AIM my sn is Snobrdguy16. I would greatly appreciate it!

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I finished renovating my 1980 Skeeter 2024

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