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Upgrades to your boat

sofakingfast_1

sofakingfast_1

Active Member
Im sure some of you guys have messed with your boat this winter. What did you do to it? Ill start off. Here's my new tournament livewell. I wanted something portable so when were out messing around on the river i can leave the livewell at home.


My first mistake was getting 1250 gph pumps. I got a good deal on them that I couldn't pass up.So I bought them. Then I realized the pump port is 1 1\8" instead of 3\4". So that gave me some troubles. But I worked with it.


I got 15 ft. of 1\4" plastic wire cover for 6 dollars. Should protect the wires.

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Then I ran my wires to the console along the side of the boat.

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I ran 2 power wires from the switch, to up towards the livewell. The shared neutral runs from the battery to up towards the livewell also. I also hooked up a 5 amp inline fuse before the toggle switch.

I put a rubber waterproof deal over the toggle switch. Should waterproof it some. 2 of them for 5 dollars.

When I'm not using the livewell I can tuck the wires under the console.


Here's the wires running from the livewell. I drilled a hole in the livewell and put in that black rubber grommet so my wires wouldn't get cut.
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Sorry for the freakin huge pictures.


Just gotta plug in the yellow disconnects and hit the toggle. Up is the livewell circulation. Down is the livewell In\Out pump. That's what is in the 3rd to last picture. Gonna try it out next weekend at a tournament at the Lake of the Ozarks. Hopefully all works well. Ill post more stuff I do to it later. Might learn how to re-size pictures by then too
 
Hey, what you got for a boat. POST a picture of the entire unit if you get some time. I am having a custom jonboat built for my waterfowl needs and I love any extra ideas b4 he gets too far, right now its just the frame of 16X60 and i am still not sure how to customize the inside. Thanks in advance.
 
It's a 2008 G3 Gator Tough 1860. 2009 Yamaha 90 4 stroke.


I have some decals to put on it. And a Minn Kota Terrova. I'll post the final picture Thursday.
 
Decals should be in the mail today. Gonna mount the trolling motor tonight. Ill post a picture before we take off to the Lake of the Ozarks tomorrow.
 
Someone say upgrades?

I bought a 16' Lund last June....in August I gutted it down to nothing and rebuilt it in 9 days. Storage galore, 2 platforms, and room for 9' musky rods completely protected and out of the way. Fishes 2 people perfectly and has tunes for the wife to plug in her ipod and lay in the sun while I throw lures. :way:

I've got a few more things I'm going to tweak when I get it back in the garage after being stored. I loved doing this project and would love to do more boat rennovations like this.

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Dang that is very nice!


Just got back from a tournament late last night. Package with sponsor decals still hasn't came in the mail. Got the trolling motor mounted though. Ill post a picture soon.
 
Shoot2Kill, VERY impressive! Since we're on the topic, I've got one I'm pretty proud of too :way: It's a buddies 16ft. flatbottom that I helped him refurb a couple summers ago.

This is what we had to deal with :confused: Old, janky carpet and wet, rotting plywood. Just old, nasty, and ugly...
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A gutting job pulled out somewhere around 500 lbs. of crap, and this is the first step in the renovation, the base sheet of Polymax board, layed down after we fiberglassed the bottom.
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Framed up the front and rear decks with aluminum angle iron. VERY lightweight and sturdy.
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MAJOR rewiring job. Pretty much indestructible. This was eventually a waterproof compartment.
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Fully framed and sheeted. 1/4" polymax for decks, 1/16" for sides, 1/4" aluminum compartment lids. The rod holder lid (on the side) was eventually an aluminum lid as well (and a huge pain in the butt).
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We layed down the heaviest indoor/outdoor carpet we could find. Turned out way better than anticipated. These pics are the semi-finished product. We did some finish work afterwards, just never got pics. Overall, pretty happy with the rebuild. Cut over 400 lbs. off the boat, added a ton of waterproof storage and structural integrity, rewired everything, etc.
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Still much more impressed with your finished product Shoot2Kill. I'm curious what materials you used.
 
Sounds awesome man....wish I could see it...all I got are Red Xs in the whole thread but my pics! I'll have to check them out at home....stupid picture blockers at work.

To answer the question about how much I have into the rebuild...probably about a grand.....marine grade plywood (not cheap), carpet, glue, all the hardware, frame inside, the misc bolts that seem to add up, stereo, speakers, all new wiring, toggle switches, the heavy duty wiring for the trolling motor, 24V system and a starter battery, trolling motor mounts, etc etc etc.....it just kept adding up, but a grand isn't too bad for what I ended up with. Still need a on board charger yet too.....and a GPS/Map fish finder with lakemaster chip....haha.

I gutted it thinking to myself (and I actually told the wife this)....it's just plywood and carpet to re-do it........yeah....not so much. haha. :D
 
Dang, all the kickass rebuilds have got me thinkn its time to gut my 16ft big jon and make some serious upgrades. Gonna have to wait till next winter since its time to be hammering the walleye on the rivers:way:
 
Well I'm about a year late but here's my finished product. I still want to build a removable rod rack for the front and back for certain drifting situations but I'm happy for now.

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