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1860 g3 build

19K views 105 replies 23 participants last post by  Kayakfish1  
#1 ·
Figured I'd go ahead and start up a thread on it, I boughy my dad's old boat and I'm selling the bass tracker to offset the cost.
It's going to be a long build, not much work just a lot of expense that I'll have to do over the next few months.

Anyway here it is

G3 1860dlx center console

Plan is to rebuild my troller (hopefully this week)
7' long elevated deck following the lines of the boat with a 1.5" overhang covered with black tip
4 400w and 2 250w in custom housings with digital ballasts
New interior lighting
And some kind of lockable bow storage under the deck (no idea how I'm going to do it but hopefully I'll rig something up) if anyone has any ideas feel free to chime in (but no I'm not going with BNIEL BOAT BOW HOLDERS)

Should be a fairly simple, functional, factory looking rig once I'm finished, new welder should show up this week and hopefully within a couple weeks I'll have materials to start on the deck. I set this boat up once with lights rails and a separate deck (the one I repurposed for my tracker) but I'm absolutely not going that route again. Hopefully I'll have it all finished up before spring, maybe sooner but I'm setting a long goal so hopefully I don't start rushing to finish it
 
#4 ·
I'm in! This sounds like it could be a cool build man! Are you planning on making the deck out of steel or aluminum? I thought I saw your deck on the tracker was steel so I'm just wondering.

I agree with eshaw too. There is no problem with an elevated deck as long as it isn't too high. Obviously you know what you're doing since you have previously had a deck on this boat. Good luck!
 
#5 ·
It's going to be aluminum, hopefully by the time I get done with it I'll be decent at welding it lol I've never done any aluminum welding before.
The plan is on the deck to be elevated just high enough to fit lights underneath, about 12" above the gunnels (about 6" lower than the old deck was and I could fish 4 people on it no problem), I thought about a flush deck but 90% of the time I am able to go is during the day so an elevated deck will be a must in my opinion.
 
#6 ·
The bass tracker went to it's new home last night, and the welder and spool gun showed up this week so hopefully I'll be able to order the aluminum and start on the deck in a couple weeks, we lost our bow hunting property so now I'll have plenty of free time to work on it until November
 
#7 ·
First trip on it since it became mine was a success, only issue was my dad forgot to tell me he didn't plug the holes where he took his 3 separate fish finder transducers off...... We only almost sunk before we noticed the water in the floor, 15 minutes of pumping with the bilge pump later we were fishing again (800gph so around 200 gallons of water).
Got to finally shoot my osprey I bought a few months ago, and it is sweet

I've never seen so many grass carp before, we were seeing schools of 15 -20 at a time but we couldn't get close enough to shoot at them and we're only able to get shots on fish that were holding tight to cover
 
#8 ·
Picked up a 24v troller off Craigslist this evening, haven't heard back from the dude that's supposed to be pricing me some aluminum so I really can't do anything but wait for now
 
#9 ·
Haha i converted him to the dark side (spinner & osprey kinda on osprey ) .... and I know you said no bneil holders but ..... they do work well just think about it ... for the price you cant beat them
 
#10 ·
Shooting your osprey is why I have one now lol
I've got a pretty good idea about my bow storage, it'll keep the bows out of sight and locked when in transit
 
#11 ·

Got the tubing for my frame Friday and picked up my flooring this evening after work, flooring has "cosmetic imperfections" and that saved me about 300$ since my neighbor can't use it for his business. If all goes well I should get a good start on it Saturday
 
#13 · (Edited)
View attachment 228666
Got the tubing for my frame Friday and picked up my flooring this evening after work, flooring has "cosmetic imperfections" and that saved me about 300$ since my neighbor can't use it for his business. If all goes well I should get a good start on it Saturday

That sheet of diamond plate the pattern on one half definitely looked "jacked" for sure, but looks like will work out good for you...
 
#15 ·


Was able to get 90% of the welding done on the deck today, just gotta add legs and weld the top, I just threw it on to stand on it and see how it felt, feels solid as a rock. I think it turned out good for my first time welding aluminum
 

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#16 ·
Looks good man! If you store your boat outside you might want to consider putting a cap on those open ends of the frame. Wasps love that stuff. You could either weld a piece over it or spray some expandable foam on there too. Just a suggestion.
 
#22 ·

Got 6 legs on the deck, just gotta add a leg in the middle near the back and then do some corner bracing and it'll be ready for the top to be welded on
 
#25 ·
Thats not a bad idea. Throw those turnbuckles on first then jump up on it and see if there is any wiggle before you start drilling holes in the boat but I think it looks good!
 
#26 ·
Plan for tonight is to get the sheet welded on the top then tomorrow drag it to the city lake I got ran off of for bowfishing and jump up and down on the deck and see if my troller will reach the water
 
#30 ·
Got my diamond plate welded on, just gotta do a few finishing touches in the morning and put the tun buckles on and mount the troller and it'll be time to test it out
 
#31 ·

Got the deck secured Saturday and mounted the trolling motor this evening. The turn buckles didn't work so I decided to mount ratchet straps to the legs to hold it down. Hopefully the motor will reach the water, if not I'll be ordering a longer shaft in the near future.
I'm hoping to order my lights by the end of the week and it'll be almost ready to get bloody
 
#32 ·
I have been fighting the turnbuckles as well since I put a wood flush deck on years ago. They sounded like a great idea but they never have stayed really tight due to vibration. Remember if you try jam nuts that one side of each turnbuckle is LH thread... I think my next time I need tension I will use straps as well.

That pic looks like plenty of water for the troller with weight on the deck, but time will tell.