Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk AL Fishing Talk Sailboat conversion...

I'm going to convert the sailboat I found into a wide bottom fishing canoe. The fiberglass on the hull has been repaired so I started cutting today. I'm up for suggestions and ideas at this point. I want to keep it simple with two seats to fish from. I can fiberglass some and I can also work with aluminum and rivet structure.

You better put a good bilge pump in it. I like the idea, but I don't think that thing will set 3 inches out of the water. It would be good for super shallow though.

That's a concern but it floats higher than it looks like it would.

Are you going to put a trolling motor on it? If so, you may want to consider adding a keel to help it track straight.

Float test was today. That boy weighs 250 before dinner. I can stand in it easy. It handles like a mod V pirogue and drafts shallow.

Awesome. Glad I was wrong. cool little boat.

Need a 25hp Evinrude on it!!!!

Do those rich folks know that the riff-raff snuck into their pond?

You could make a hell of a duck sneak boat out of that thing.

I

I was thinking the same thing. A little cano paint & there you go

You need to cram some of the foam back into it unless you want to turn it into a new fishing hole.

I started glassing the keel and cockpit drain holes last night.

WnS I'm going to fill the nose with foam and glass that in.

I now see that it already has a keel. I thought those things were slick bottom, and just used the keel board, or whatever it is called. Looks good.

Are you gonna cut that keel off some? Sailboats have, long ones a fishing boat won't need. it will prevent you from getting shallow! You can use spray foam to add floatation. Yes, you need floatation! You need braces too. I saw a guy break a pirogue without braces trying to pick it up to drain rainwater. Without braces that thing could fold up.

Perch that slot I covered in the pic above was for the drop in keel. There is nothing attached. I started on the floor and got one coat of glass over it yesterday. I just finished spraying the foam it's still curing.

Look N good

Finished filling and closing in the bow. I'll start sanding and glassing it in next.

Hell, I'm always trying to weight my bow down and your are lifting yours up! I'm guess you probably aren't going with trim tabs?

I got side tracked on some other stuff(I'm sure you have all been on the edge of your seats!) but have been piddling away at this. The patch work to the hull is sanded finished and primed underneath. The glass inside is almost done but lacks sanding. This is the first test to get a feel for the balance and measure exactly where I wanted the benches.




Here I wanted to see what it looked like WHEN I fall backwards. The old couple in the background got a good laugh.




I was concerned with height in the rear and wanted to reinforce the transom. I dug around in a couple catalogs and dreamed this up. It's 2 inch aluminum angle riveted and glassed to the rails underneath. I'm going to wrap it all to add more strength.



I added a second piece of angle to the middle of the transom and tied that in to the existing plates on the inside.