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The tale of a 1648's ultimate makeover.

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Garsticker

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Well guys, I promised earlier in the year that id post up some pics of my boat renovation, so here they are. Now this build isn't on the same level as any of whiteriverrambo's builds, but I'm dang proud of it, and it was my first time welding aluminum (with a 10' non spoolgun mig welder) haha.

The boat started out with a heavy, wooden 2x4 deck with 3/4 inch plywood as the decking material. The boat wanted to nose dive bad with 3 guys on the deck, so I needed something a lot lighter. Plus with all the batteries located under the deck, that didn't help either. Not to mention my rail was built out of 1/8 inch thick steel tubing. We gutted the boat, and started from the bare hull....


After I figured up how much tubing and sheet metal I needed, I wire wheeled the paint off of where I needed to weld, and went to work. These are the cross pieces for the deck going in


After I got those in, started fitting up the decking material


Rail started going up!


Other side is up and welded on
 
Discussion starter · #2 ·
My welds are looking a little better at this point, haha


Started laying down some paint after the rail was finished


Getting the lights mounted up


Started wiring up the lights today, and it's turning out great so far.


She ain't all the way done yet, but I have it back on the trailer and I'm planning on doing a test run on the water tomorrow, but for a high school kid on a relatively tight budget, I'm more than happy with her so far. Hopefully this is the start of a great welding and fabrication career for me! Thanks for looking, and as always, I'm open to any suggestions or comments. I'm glad I finally got to make her a really nice rig, even if she is a 1648 and not a 2072 haha. This boat is lots more than a hunk of aluminum to me, it's all the time and effort put into it that makes her special!
 
#5 ·
Garsticker said:
My welds are looking a little better at this point, haha View attachment 182178

Started laying down some paint after the rail was finished View attachment 182186

Getting the lights mounted up View attachment 182194

Started wiring up the lights today, and it's turning out great so far. View attachment 182202

She ain't all the way done yet, but I have it back on the trailer and I'm planning on doing a test run on the water tomorrow, but for a high school kid on a relatively tight budget, I'm more than happy with her so far. Hopefully this is the start of a great welding and fabrication career for me! Thanks for looking, and as always, I'm open to any suggestions or comments. I'm glad I finally got to make her a really nice rig, even if she is a 1648 and not a 2072 haha. This boat is lots more than a hunk of aluminum to me, it's all the time and effort put into it that makes her special!
Click to expand...
like it!! what lights are those??
 
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Discussion starter · #11 ·
So I finally got her out for her water test yesterday, and she did ok but I wasn't as impressed with the stability as I thought. I like how it sits on the water with 3 guys up front, even though there was virtually no weight in the back at all as of yesterday. So I know this question has been asked 67,459,000 times on here, but is there ANY way I can help out the stability. If I put more weight in the back so the boat sits down in the water more will that help because there will be more boat in the water? Or am I wasting my time on a boat that's too small.
 
#14 ·
Garsticker said:
So I finally got her out for her water test yesterday, and she did ok but I wasn't as impressed with the stability as I thought. I like how it sits on the water with 3 guys up front, even though there was virtually no weight in the back at all as of yesterday. So I know this question has been asked 67,459,000 times on here, but is there ANY way I can help out the stability. If I put more weight in the back so the boat sits down in the water more will that help because there will be more boat in the water? Or am I wasting my time on a boat that's too small.
Click to expand...
We did a 1448 that wasn,t going to be stable or haul the weight that's when we put 20 foot alum pipes on the boat worked amazingly well!!
 
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#16 ·
Garsticker said:
How did you put pipes on it, ha mean like pontoons?
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Yes ,there are some pictures on[ bowfishing boats forum] think by now on about page 12 under [test post] will be able to see what they look like on a boat if you have questions will try to answer.
 
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#20 ·
dockers2424 said:
are the back tires touching the ground?
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Not the way it,s sitting the rear axel is a torsion axel when you are sitting on a bump sometimes it is not touching. the pipes extend below the bottom of the boat about 5 inches so you get to use all of their floating ability my horse power is not quite enough to get up totally on the pipes when wide open if I could it would really boggy kinda like a tri-hull. other than the hull the pipes and the pods are the only floatation we have shouldn,t sink.
 
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Garsticker
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