Budget boat build

[Overkiller]

Hello all, I was going to post up a thread documenting the redo of my old glastron. Turns out putting a new deck in a boat is a lot like work and I found a different hull to fix up so the Glastron is looking for a new home, minus motor, controls and anything else I could unbolt. My new boat is ugly as hell but I'm hoping the fish won't mind. It's an 18ft VIP center console, I picked up off the craig about a month ago. The previous owner had replaced the deck and transom about 2 years ago, and painted it. The gelcoat is still shiny where the paint has flaked off, so I think a good majority of it will go away with a pressure washer. No money in the budget for cosmetics so it's going to stay ugly for quite awhile. Structurally I think it's fine, hope so anyway. It has a nice casting deck up front, 2 live wells, and some silly extensions on the rear that make for a nice place to fish from the rear but tight quarters for a V6 to turn. I don't have much money into it at the moment but I spent the last of my boat fund today at academy getting most of what I need to be legal on the water. I'm hoping to take it out in a week or two and get it wet. Unless the stars align and I get really lucky it will just be on the trolling motor but it still beats my canoe. My budget is tight and is mostly whatever I can sell, hustle or scrap. I think I have enough crap laying around to make it happen, we will see. I have tons of questions and I'll try to keep this thread updated so anyone with a similar dream can learn from my mistakes. Without further ado I give you Fugly as she looked the day after I drug her home.

[Overkiller]

Sorry this picture is a bit out of focus but you can see the weird extensions off the rear.

[Overkiller]

The first order of business was to hang the motor on the boat, this proved to be a bit harder then I had imagined. If you don't have a lifting eye for you motor and you plan on removing it I'd caution you against it. No combination of straps would get it to hang in anyway but scary. It ended up dropping and almost certainly cost me a coil pack. I made a lifting eye to bolt to the flywheel and it was smooth sailing. It was on the boat with shiny stainless bolts in about an hour. What's the only thing better then a great neighbor? A great neighbor with a tractor.

[Overkiller]

Here it is bolted up.

[Overkiller]

OK here's potential problem #1. The platforms off the back make for a narrow spot to mount the motor and my motor is quite wide. Here's a picture showing how far the motor can turn before it hits the platform. I don't know enough to know if it's enough turning angle or not.

[Overkiller]

top view of motor turned

[Overkiller]

Here's potential problem #2 I showed this picture to my boss and he said it looked to him like the motor wasn't hanging far enough down. The motor is mounted as low as it can be in holes that were already on the transom. I'm hoping it's just a angle thing from the picture. The motor is trimmed up a bit in this shot. I can take another with it all the way down if it looks wrong.

[Overkiller]

Just a side view of the boat with the motor hung, the angle you see the motor at is the same as the previous picture.

[Texfish]

From the looks of the pictures they keyhole transom looks like it's for an inline 3 cylinder.

[Overkiller]

Here's a shot looking back at the motor from the console. You can see the 2 live wells, in other pictures you can see the through hulls coming out the sides. I don't know how to plumb live wells as I've never had one. I'll have to do some reading on that. For now I'm guessing plug off the ports and put the bubbler from my bait bucket in there. You can also see the bilge area where the previous owner had the battery mounted and piece of pvc on the left side that the steering cable goes through. I haven't made up my mind on where I want to mount the battery and gas tank. There's storage under the front casting deck but with the hull design it's not too big, enough for life jackets, trolling batteries, and a few odds and ends. It seems like the console area is going to be the hot place to keep stuff like my tackle bag so I hate to have it full of gas tank. I do like having the battery there though. How much gas should I carry? I can make a 14 gallon tank to fit in the bilge area. I think I like that idea. Are there any downsides I'm missing? I will be premixing, no room or desire for a separate oil tank.

There's also a storage box in front of the console, it's insulated but doesn't have a drain. I'm thinking of getting a 94qt igloo cooler and mounting it behind the console to be the primary cooler, just use the one in front when we catch so many fish they fill up the first one I guess. Not really sure yet. The height of the console is kind of awkward, it's too short for me to be comfortable driving standing up. I'm thinking of building a leaning post/t top over the aforementioned igloo cooler to get me in the right height range to drive and provide some much needed shade. I know I've seen some before but I haven't searched around for one yet. Anyone have any pictures handy for inspiration?

I need to do some more thinking on console layout tomorrow. It's wide enough that two people could be behind it to be out of the wind once I make a windshield for it. Right now the holes where the controls were are spread out taking up the whole console area. I'd like to cram them together on the right side to make it easier to drive with a passenger next to me. That'll leave plenty of room of the left side for switches and one of those fancy sonar gps deaies I'll never be able to afford, they sure do look awesome though. I had a morse helm on my glastron and the steering cable was locked up. I got lucky and found an 18ft morse cable and rack on the craig for $50. I need to figure out how to get it through the pvc pipe from under the console to the back, and hopefully find a clean way of getting from where it pops out of the hull to the motor. I'm guessing it comes apart some to get through the pipe, right now it has big inflexible bits attached to both ends. I'll investigate more tomorrow. I have the side mount Johnson controls off my glastron and a set of top mount mercury controls I picked up. My preference is to use the merc ones as I can't think of a way to mount the Johnson ones that doesn't look like poo.

I'm going to try to get some quality time in on the boat tomorrow between honey-dos and daddy-dos. I'll post up any progress I make and anymore questions I come up with. Don't be bashful with advice or criticism. I don't claim to know what I'm doing.

[Overkiller]

From the looks of the pictures they keyhole transom looks like it's for an inline 3 cylinder.

Yeah I don't think they had this motor in mind but it's what I got. Do you think it'll work, or will maneuverability be too hampered? The hull is rated for 150hp by the way.

[Dawg]

You could try a jack plate, manual one will work, set the motor back some which might get you more turning radiaus & you can lower the motor some also

[Texfish]

Yeah I don't think they had this motor in mind but it's what I got. Do you think it'll work, or will maneuverability be too hampered? The hull is rated for 150hp by the way.

Only way to know for sure it to give it a whirl.

[kenny]

That boat spent part of it's life in Louisiana, that's where the weird sponsons came from. I admire your goal of fixing up that rig, but the money would be better spent on an upgraded canoe, kayak, or jonboat.
That rig is just going to frustrate you, and ultimately break your heart and bank! Does that old engine have any compression? Did you get a title with the boat, so you can get new TX numbers?

[Overkiller]

That boat spent part of it's life in Louisiana, that's where the weird sponsons came from. I admire your goal of fixing up that rig, but the money would be better spent on an upgraded canoe, kayak, or jonboat.
That rig is just going to frustrate you, and ultimately break your heart and bank! Does that old engine have any compression? Did you get a title with the boat, so you can get new TX numbers?

A Louisiana thing you say? That makes sense as it was born in Vivian, LA. The model is a XR 179 O/B and my limited searching hasn't turned up another one. Aside from the complications with the motor fitment I like the goofy sponsons. They certainly add a lot of fishing area to the boat. As for your advice to scrap it I certainly appreciate you taking the time to respond but I'm sure you'll understand if I need a bit more to go on before taking your advice. I already have a nice fishing canoe and I don't want it. It's a tough place to spend 4-5 hours and the range is limited. It's not bad with the trolling motor but I've had to paddle it home in a mild breeze and it sucked. I also have to decide who get's to stay at home which is not what I'm after. The only way I could see to upgrade the canoe would be to make it about 3-4 feet longer, 4-5 feet wider and hang an outboard off the back. As for a Kayak if I were only interested in fishing by myself I could really like a Kayak. I want to take my family with me and a nice Kayak is damn near as much as a used boat. A john boat I have no real beef with but I don't see why a cheap john boat is preferable to a fiberglass boat. The hull has no visible damage and I have every bit of faith that it'll be buoyant. While I have no doubt there will be frustration before this thing hits the water I don't see anything to make me believe it's a lost cause. If you do please let me know.

Yes that old engine has compression. It has 95 psi and all 6 cylinders with 0% variation. I have not run it yet as I haven't done the water pump yet. On my last motor the water pump came out in 2 pieces when I finally changed it which was after I had been running it. I don't want to take a chance so I'll wait. The new OEM pump and housing are sitting on my tool box and I might start tearing the lower unit off this afternoon. I have the title for the motor btw. I'm expecting some money to be spent on the ignition system as I damaged a coil pack when trying to swap the motor without a lifting eye. Of course you roll the dice with any outboard without a factory warranty but I like my chances. I wish it was a fair bit skinnier at the moment but I think it'll run.

Title for the boat, yup got it. Without a title a boat is of no use to me. It even has current stickers but they're on my desk as the previous owner didn't put them since he was planning on repainting it. New TX numbers? That's a new one to me, I never had to change hull numbers on the other boats I registered. I just wrote a check to TPWD and they gave me reg stickers. I know that the hull numbers are missing the space but that seems minor.

Please let me know what you're seeing that makes you think I should abandon it before going any farther.

Thanks,

Travis