14' Lund Dreamboat and trailer w/mods

[sickbayer]

How do you clean off the oxidation? My boat needs that done big time.

Two ways that I know of are scotch pad and water and elbow grease or the easier way is aluminex SP? That stuff you brush on and brush off. Then flitzs polish I never polished to mirror to hard to maintain. I did this once a year and my boat also went in the salt too.

[fishnislife]

How do you clean off the oxidation? My boat needs that done big time.

Tons of products out there Mike. I did a lot of research and talked to some people about cleaning aluminum. What i landed on and have done is a product called H2O at home. My wife has a friend who sells it. It is a little labor intensive but i have enjoyed the progress. The product is all natural and wont effect the water you put the boat in (with chemicals) or negativally react with the aluminum.
Im not interested in the buffing and mirror shine, but this product alone has got me close to that without having to use a buffing wheel.

http://thechildrensnook.files.wordpress ... 12-218.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



fishnislife

[sickbayer]

If you don't polish oxidation will happen within 8hours. Aluminx is an acid based wash but I never found nothing that came close to brush on wash off.

[fishnislife]

If you don't polish oxidation will happen within 8hours. Aluminx is an acid based wash but I never found nothing that came close to brush on wash off.

I will check out that aluminx. What do you mean by brush on wash off? With the alumlnx product?


fishnislife

[sickbayer]

Yup you just put some in a Ziploc box get a 4" paint brush from harbor freight brush it on leave it 30seconds and hose it off. I did my thunder jet that way worked in 2' x2' area if there was a really bad spot id used scotch pad.. Like you I thought I had tried everything until I saw that stuff. It reduced my usual two day job to one.

[fishnislife]

Yup you just put some in a Ziploc box get a 4" paint brush from harbor freight brush it on leave it 30seconds and hose it off. I did my thunder jet that way worked in 2' x2' area if there was a really bad spot id used scotch pad.. Like you I thought I had tried everything until I saw that stuff. It reduced my usual two day job to one.

Did you take any pix of your work? Also, does the scotch pad scratch the aluminum at all?


fishnislife

[Bodofish]

Yes the scotch brite will leave little scratches, it is an abrasive, you need to polish after (it's a re-occurring theme). The acid treatment is one to be undertaken with great caution, no kids any where near it. Although the Aluminex is probably they least poisonous of the group. When reading reviews some folks have thought it not too effective, I think it's probably not being used right and you must polish after or it will oxidize again in a matter of hours. Be careful of any older products as many of them contained hyroflouric acid. So very poisonous on so many levels, even a stray wiff of the fumes can cause lasting and immediate problems. Stay away from it!!!! SickB is right on, it did a very nice job on his boat, saved a lot of scrubbing.

[sickbayer]

I just used the same kind as you'd use for pans in the kitchen. Tiny scratches that buff out, sometimes none as the cleaner did the work aluminum will be almost white and you have to polish. And bodo is right this stuff will harm you if you don't use protection. Sorry no pictures.

[fishnislife]

Took the couple minutes that I had and wired up the trailer yesterday. I found double butt end connectors with the shrink wrap already on them. Wired up the ends, crimped, put a little flame to them and finished them off with electrical tape.








fishnislife

[Idstud]

Im not sure if you plan on hitting the salt or not but I would look into adding teflon on your bunks. It will help with the on and off the trailer and with carpet in the salt it holds the salt water against the boat even if you rinse it off. It creates some kind of suction to keep it there with that wait of the boat. My ex boss had this issue on his 16ft hewes craft and it ate a hole in the bottom of his boat where it sat on the bunks. Hewes craft warrantied the issue and put those teflon bunk covers on to fix the issue.

[fishnislife]

Thanks stud. It will see the salt a little, but primarily it will be my bass huntin' machine. If the bunks i have break down or make it stick, I have strips of teflon i can get and throw on her.
Great advice. I'd hate to see someones boat eaten through by salt. It's good to hear that Hewes made it right. Quality company for sure.



fishnislife

[clarkbre]

...There was a guy on here about 4 years ago who did his on Mods with a very similar Lund, 14'? It was almost the same boat as mine...You have to see this guy's mods, they were the best I've ever seen on a boat like this. His casting deck in the upper portion of the bow, lifted up for storage, etc.

Not to sound arrogant but hopefully it was my 16' Lund WC16 that you're talking about. If not, here's my mods anyways. I was on about 4 years ago and am getting back into the game (someone once told me kids will change you life!!! )

Similar to yours, I used mine in freshwater mostly but also take it on the Sound sometimes. Now that my kids are getting of fishing age, I will be taking it out this year. Here are the mods:

The front deck made of 3/4" Marine grade plywood and coated in 4 coats of poly resin.


The underside supported with angled aluminum that is bolted in with the hatch. It's strong enough to walk on it without any give.


This is the hatch in the middle seat. The seat was wide enough to store a standard 3 gallon fuel cell. With the 15hp motor, I have never come close to running out of gas.



Here is the electronics set up. Top left clockwise, Ram mount for GPS, Humminbird depth finder mount, switch panel for bilge pump and depth finder, and the outlet for my trolling motor. The white PVC you see on the right is the conduit to run wires from the battery that is located in the the front hatch.


For the trailer, I added these guide ons. While they are not glamorous, they are extremely helpful in retrieving the boat.

[rseas]

The following link has some good small boat mod ideas. Ok, I'll admit I started the thread but that said it may be helpfull.

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/forum/vi ... eck#p81538" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[fishnislife]

Thanks a lot rseas.
Hopefully your post is motivation enough to get my boat mods going. I have thoroughly planned out everything but right when I have some hours to work on it......I just take it out fishing. I have spent 3 days already this year, about 14 hours mapping out the bottom of Kitsap Lake for monster largemouth feeding spots.
I like what you did with your deck. I already have the carpet, glue, brackets and wood. Now I just need to start pulling tape and cutting. Hardest parts are finding what to support off of from the bottom and the angles the boat takes.




fishnislife

[Live2Fish4Life]

Great thread guys! That boat is looking great! Can't wait to see what else is added. Im looking to do some mods on mine as well

[fishnislife]

It has been a while since I posted any details....but I am just about done.
I didn't do any major mods last year because I couldn't justify putting it out of service and not fishing for awhile. So I just hit the water instead.
This year I will post pics with updates every couple of days to keep you guys updated on my progress, success and failures.


I pulled the bench seats off and took out all foam.


The boy helping out


I found the most effective way to get this out to be with the claw on the back of a hammer


This ended up producing 6 full garbage bags of foam. Now on to cutting up the bench seats, adding carpet, new gunnel brackets and hatches for storage.

My newest problem-
I have to figure out how to run kicker boards off this bow hitch bracket to support the casting deck. Or something that I can attach to support or hang the 2x2's I plan on running back to the front bench seat.



fishnislife

[sickbayer]

Brillo pad water and elbow grease or paint brush and aluminex sp? And no elbow grease.

[Larry3215]

Fun project!

You could maybe put some couplers on those bolts and run new bolts thru the 2x4 into the couplers? Id replace those nuts first

How are you planning to replace the foam?

[fishnislife]

Fun project!

You could maybe put some couplers on those bolts and run new bolts thru the 2x4 into the couplers? Id replace those nuts first

How are you planning to replace the foam?

Good idea on the couplers

As far as the foam, I have no plan on putting any in the boat.




fishnislife

[Larry3215]

Interesting decision. Not the way I would choose to go, but its your boat. Remind me not to go out with you though