My "New" Boat Project 2024

fishinsteve reply :

Hey all,

I love this site and the info it has! I thought, as so many other have in the past, that I would like to share my mod of my boat. The previous owner had no idea anything about the boat, but the tag says its an Aluminum Boats Inc. Kingfisher. That means nothing to me (as I cant find anyhting on the net about that company), but I'm certain Low_Budget_Hooker could tell me more about it

The first picture is the boat completely stipped of the seats and I used a wire brush to scrape off all the loose paint.

I will provide updates but as anyone who has a 2.5 year old can attest, the weekends are my only time to get to work on her.

Hope you like the transformation!

fishinsteve reply :

The next picture is the beginning of the bracing. The stern braces are going to support a "box" that will go side to side, hopefully with compartments. Not sure how to make it solid enough to support but I'm thinking of stealing an idea from a post I saw on here that used angle aluminum (keep in mind I'm scared of drilling holes through a perfectly good hull;)) And my plan is have a floor run about two feet from the box, straight up to the bow hence the one lone brace up halfway. That was all we could muster today, a couple cold ones got in the way

More to follow next week!

smallieking reply :

how long is the boat?

fishinsteve reply :

Hey smallieking,

I guess I should have mentioned that, 14.5'

Here is one pic of the bow section. I'm putting this one in cuz I've seen Low_Budget_Hooker identify boats that no one else could.

Thanks for lookin!

smallieking reply :

o yea just wondering i have a small v bottom boat just for fishing some smaller lakes where i live its 12 foot and i was thinking about adding a small deck to it but i dont think i will

fishinsteve reply :

Well, I'll let you know if its worth it once I finish this one up

fishinsteve reply :

Hey all,

Does anyone know anything about the Aluminum Boats Inc. company? Cant find squat on the net about it.

I'm more curious as to the possible year of my boat....the former owner said '68.

Its a Kingfisher if that helps anyone!

Thanks

Low_Budget_Hooker reply :

Did a little research couldn't find anything on Alum boat inc.

Look on the serial number (should be a small alum plate riveted on the transom, could be inside or out). Anyway, the last 2 numbers are usually the year.

fishinsteve reply :

Thanks for helping. Will do tomorrow as I'm working on the framing for the seating section. Will have more pics up tomorrow evening.

fishinsteve reply :

Got lots done this weekend!!

Framed up the seating section at the back. I used 2x2 PT (none of the PT touches the aluminum though, I read a post by LBH saying that PT can eat aluminum).

Here is the start of it. Framing around the tank.

fishinsteve reply :

Here is the finished framing of the rear seating and storage. The tank will be about 1/4 covered, and is easily removed. The right and left sides will have storage bins, one of which is for the anchor and rope.

The framing is connected to the transom with angle aluminum, stole that from a post on here too...lol

fishinsteve reply :

Today I cut out the top of the seating area. I'm using 1/2" European plywood (its hard as a rock, as my jigsaw would attest to). Now its time to Thompsons and carpet.

fishinsteve reply :

Here is a picture of the carpeted top on the back seating and storage area.

fishinsteve reply :

Got to work on framing up the floor/deck this past weekend. I only used cedar which is nice and light and naturally rot resistant. Still used Thompsons on all of the bracing. Also put on a coat of Tremclad Aluminum paint....looks decent!

fishinsteve reply :

Here I just cut out the floor and was dry fitting it in. And of course my helper had to pose in there too

bassmedic46 reply :

Didn't find anything on alum boats either.

fishinsteve reply :

Thanks bill45!

Yeah its an absolute mystery!

Should have the rest of the carpeting done this week and have it finished up for the weekend to give er a test run!

skunked_again reply :

that is looking very nice. i think guys enjoy being in the boat even more knowing they made the boat from scratch.

fishinsteve reply :

Hey thanks skunked_again

It has been a lot of fun workin on the project. Cant wait to get it on the water! So far the bill for the redo is only at about $100 too

fishinsteve reply :

Well ladies and gents,

ITS DONE!! Finally got my bass catching machine completed!

fishinsteve reply :

From the front

fishinsteve reply :

A little bow cover storage area for life jackets and what not

fishinsteve reply :

Back seat and storage area

fishinsteve reply :

Back section with storage area doors open

fishinsteve reply :

Nice big "casting" deck

fishinsteve reply :

Another view from the front

fishinsteve reply :

Final view from behind. To attach the carpetted deck I used LBH's technique of cutting an "X" in the carpet and pulling it back to insert the screw and then used a water resitant adhesive to place the carpet back down over the screw....I cant even tell where I put the screws. Thanks LBH for that tip on your post!!!

Thanks all for reading and looking at the pics. Its been a total labour of love and now its getting down to 3 weeks for Walley and Pike season, so you know its gonna get out on the lake soon.

All in all it cost me about $200 in materials. If you are thinking of doing a mod like this, READ as many posts on here as you can, there are a lot of people in here that have done wicked jobs, and their experiences helped me to figure out how to do mine.

Thanks again for lookin!

fishinsteve reply :

Finally found some information about Aluminum Boats and Canoes Inc.

1954 The dream is born. Aluminum proves to be a better material to craft boats and Princecraft is founded in Princeville, Quebec, Canada. The original name of the manufacturing company is called Aluminum Boats and Canoes.

1973 Sensing a growing market for boats, Aluminum Company of Canada (ALCAN) purchases Aluminum Boats and Canoes. ALCAN merges the acquisition with another of their aluminum boat manufacturers called Springbok.

alarcher reply :

Great work on the boat! It looks great, I'm getting ready to add some compartments to my deck and this forum helps a lot as you say. Again awesome job and let us know how it fishes!

fishinsteve reply :

Thanks alarcher,

As skunked_again said, I know I'll enjoy it more knowing I did the work to make er what I wanted!

Good luck on your boat and post pics, always fun to see what others are doing!

Gatorbassman reply :

[split] [link=http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1209737075][splithere][/link][splithere_end]

fishinsteve reply :

Hey all,

Finally gonna get my boat out on the water this weekend....hopefully she floats

I'll let you all know how she fished!

Later

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My "New" Boat Project 2024

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