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

Great job so far.

That little 8 horse Merc going on the transom?

I'm not planning on it it's going to be a little heavy.That's riverats motor that I borrowed for my Jon boat. I have been watching craigslist for a 5 or 6.

I started sanding on the inside of the hull tonight.

OK... I see what you are doing now. If you're doing just to have a project, have the fun doing it, and to say that you did it, then I understand, but why ruin a perfectly good sailboat, when there are plenty of small, lightweight fishing rigs out there. Is there something inherently better about this hull for fishing than all of the other actual fishing boats designed for fishing?

I'm not being critical, It's a cool project, I just don't get it. As Spock would say, "It's illogical."

.


Irish I found this discarded hull banged up and waterlogged. If it would have sailed it would have cost more for the rigging than I was going to put in it.and I don't do much sailing here in central Alabama. However, bare with me here, I do actually hunt and fish. Right now Including all materials I have less than 200 dollars invested and I have a what amounts to a flat bottom Gheenoe that's very light and stable.

I thought I'd share the project here on a hunting web site. Seriously this is the stuff that rednecks do when we pick up stuff on the side of the road. We find a use that suits us and don't look back. When I strap riverats motor on it and sink it on bankhead. I won't be out much and I'll have a hell of a video.

I'm going to paint the script A on the bow and clear coat the primer.



That or a little runway and pretend it's a carrier.

OK. That's kind of what I thought. You found it derelict and re-purposed it. Kind of like I did with by converting an old wooden box into a bar at the cabin. I do stuff like that all the time. I love re-purposing stuff for other things than it's original purpose.

I guess what got me confused was when you posted an ad looking for more of them to convert over, that made me think that it was a common thing for people to do, which got me wondering what the reasoning behind it was.... Did they make some kind of great fishing rig that the original builders of the sailboats never envisioned? Etc...

I get it now. It's a cool project.

These are the kind of projects, where our wives walk out in the garage, look at us, shake their heads, and go back inside and pour another glass of wine.

They don't realize that we are still just boys at heart, but with more tools and more money.

There's no reason to ruin your little dinghy.

I'm just about done with it for now. I finished the primer and then built the transom up for an outboard.



I used 1 x 8 pine and crossed the grain and glued it.



It looks tall at a glance but it gives me the clearance and height for a short shaft tiller from 9.9 on down. I'm still thinking a 5 or 6 is what I'll want just for the weight.

that thing brings back some memories. dad had one just like it before you converted it. he rigged a long pvc handle so you could steer from the cut out to an old trolling motor on the back with an on off switch from a vacuum in the end. we used to load it up in the back of the truck and fish ponds with it when i was maybe between 8-12 years old. it sunk on us one time in the river not completely, too much foam inside. we always went upstream so if something went wrong we could float back. I remember floating back with the boat about 2 inches underwater and us paddling lol i imagine it was a sight to see for others not so fun for us.

Looking good

I ran it with the 8hp Mercury Wednesday. It did pretty damn good honestly. I need to get the motor in the water a little deeper and angle the transom back to lower the trim angle to get the bow down a little but it will idle that little boat fast enough to go upstream.

Gotta get stickers now... 😁

That is a cool little boat!

I finished and painted the bottom and reworked the transom to get the height and angle of the motor where I needed it. I'm calling it good for this year.

Looking good! Keep up the good work.

Fine job Matt!

Matt, I’m damn impressed with what you made that thing into.

I appreciate it ya'll. I had no idea what I was getting into but figured if I screw it all up I wasn't out anything so why not.