# 2004 highsider rebuild



## Spooky (Jan 22, 2008)

I bought a 15' 4" highsider about 10 years ago from a dealer in Gulf Shores Alabama. I ran it for several years on the Sabine River then I moved to Idaho and ran it on the Snake River for 3 years. No one pays a decent wage in Idaho so as much as I love the Rocky Mountains I decided to move back home to Texas. The past few years after some motor trouble its been sitting in my backyard rotting. I decided it was time to bring her back to life.

I don't have any before pics but the seats were rotted, the transom was rotted, and so was my trolling motor mount.

First I sanded the bottom of the hull and applied some Gatorglide G2.


Then it was time to gut the interior. I cut out the front bench and made a front low deck out of some 1/2" bluewater 26 Coosa board.


Stringers. I used a piece of junk Micarta board I got out of the trash from work as a backing plate fore the front seat base. This stuff is heavy. I doubled up on the half inch Coosa on the middle and rear seat bases.

I had the misfortune to be in friends boat with no flotation that sank in the middle of a lake many years ago so I decided to put as much flotation in as I could.

Front low deck installed.

I've always hated walking on the flimsy floors of the Gheenoe so I decided to put in some false floors for and aft of the center bench. I added some Coosa stringers and used pour foam to give a little structure between the hull and floor. It's very solid now. Makes a huge difference.


Here is the rotted transom.

Ground out and ready for the New Coosa Transom.

I decided to extend the height of the new transom 2" instead of going with a jack plate.
 
I also added a set of rod tubes and made some flotation pockets for the rear. I decided to go with Springfield taper lock seat bases and some short posts for the seats. the rear bench ended up being to tall for my wife's short legs so I cut it down. I really liked the Tempress low back seats I had before but the Cordura nylon was not very durable or UV resistant went with vinyl this time.

At this point I was out of Cossa. I had a small sheet of Divinycell I used to make caps for the top of the flotation pockets. 

I filled in the top of the center seat with some Coosa and I'm going to add stick steering from the center seat with a EFI Suzuki. 

I painted the interior with Overton's primer and Tuff Coat in sand color.



That's how she sits right now. Paint is not dry as it sits.
The weather man has been lying so its too humid(Raining) for it to dry right now.  

The motor is on order and should be here next week. Lets just say its a EFI Suzuki DF9.9B with a short shaft conversion and a souped up ECU. Yeah... lets just say.


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## BayStYat (Sep 12, 2012)

WOW thats some top of the line work. Looks better than new!


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## RigaRoo (Aug 14, 2011)

Looks awesome


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

What did you use for foam. You did a great job


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## tomahawk (Mar 9, 2012)

Sweet!


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## Spooky (Jan 22, 2008)

Thanks yall.

The foam is 2 lb density 2 part pour foam from US Composites. I reused a good sized chunk of the original flotation foam in the rear bench. Leveled it all with a handsaw, a hacksaw blade, and finished it off with a orbital sander.


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## Spooky (Jan 22, 2008)

Well motor is here. Unfortunately I've had a unrelated monetary setback that may keep me off the water a few months. I still need stick steering and remote cables.

I've got a 9.9 sticker for camo but the model number is on the ID plate on the transom bracket plain as day.  I guess I wont be making any trips up to the Buffalo River in Arkansas. Its not illegal to overpower in Texas so I think I'll just leave it as is.


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## Shalla Wata Rider (Aug 14, 2013)

Great work!...Sorry 'bout the set back...I think we've all been there or are there with ya' .
Looking forward to here your thoughts on that EFI.
Best...


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## Gramps (Nov 1, 2007)

Looking mighty good Spooky! Sorry to hear about your situation, but everything shall come to pass!


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## Spooky (Jan 22, 2008)

Thanks yall. Hopefully I'll get it all sorted out before too long.


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## Spooky (Jan 22, 2008)

Got some more done. I ran out of webbing spray have to get some more.
Shark eyes, battery tray

New seats, storage door, floor drain

vent cover for front seat base access

rod tube covers, rear drain, vent cover for rear seat base access 

Flat bar to spread the load of the motor mounts

The 20 is a good bit bigger than my 15 was


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## Spooky (Jan 22, 2008)

Finally ordered all my steering stuff. I got the shift cables installed and all the electrical done. I'm still waiting on my stick steering to ship. I left the switch panel where it was on the back of the center seat so I would not have to patch the hole. I need to rout the wiring harness for the throttle not sure where to hide it all its excessively long.

1000 gph bilge & battery terminals. I have 4 gauge wire in the rub rail to the battery in the front. The steering arm is in the way so you can't see it but I have one of those cheap tach hour meters on the transom.

I built the throttle bracket out of 16 gauge steel.


I was going to order a nose cap from Custom Gheenoe but I'm broke so I fabbed up a trolling motor mount out of some scraps of micarta board and fiberglass mat. it came out ok. Its a bit rough but it'll do the job. 



Mount also does a good job of hiding the battery. I stole the battery off the mustang just to have the electric start working.My old trolling battery is toasted. I'll pick  a new one up a few months down the road.

The only thing I have left to spend money on is trailer tags.I cranked it up and ran it in a tank for the first time today. Very quiet at idle. I still have to mount the trolling motor. Once the stick steer gets here I will have to build a mounting bracket and then I'll be able to get on the water. Can't wait.
I have four places for rods. Two tubes in the back and I have two of these mounts in the front.


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## Spooky (Jan 22, 2008)

Finished the trolling motor.



Here is a better pic of the tach /hour meter.


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## gillz (May 20, 2007)

Looks Great!  [smiley=bravo.gif].
Let us know how she does with that motor. You'll definitely need more pitch then the stock prop on your boat. My Zuke was hitting the rev limiter with a heavy aluminum Jon Boat. Just FYI, It will feel like the engine is misfiring, just back off the throttle a bit until you get the prop dialed in.


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## Spooky (Jan 22, 2008)

Thanks. I was kinda expecting that from what I have read about the motor, main reason I went ahead and bought the tach. Did you re-prop your boat? What kinda speed are you getting?

  Got a tracking number on the stick steering its supposed to be here tomorrow. My first day back at work. Figures.  I hope to have it installed and be on the water by next Tuesday or Wednesday.


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## gillz (May 20, 2007)

Well, the motor is going on the Flats Stalker 18 I'm building and I sold the Jon boat the motor came on, but I was about 80%-85% on the throttle before it hit the limiter and was getting 25 mph with one adult and one child (~280lbs). On the FS18 I'm going to switch to a four blade prop and drop 2 in pitch from the stock as a staring point. My thinking is drop one pitch for the light load and one for the extra blade. I should probably buy a Tiny Tach eventually also.


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## Spooky (Jan 22, 2008)

Did not make it to the lake I'm going tomorrow. I finished the steering. I went with the 840 wish I would have held out for the 870 but its on backorder. Here is the stick steering and bracket.


I had to flip the steering tube. Unfortunately the steering was not centered so I had to add a couple of 7/8" washers to center it.


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## Spooky (Jan 22, 2008)

I went to the lake the past two days and got several hours on the new motor. Today I had enough hours on the motor to do some WOT runs with my GPS. At 6150 rpm I'm consistently running 23.8 MPH. If I push the throttle in further I end up in the rev limiter. I still have a little over 1/8 of the throttle left and can hit 24+ MPH bouncing off the rev limiter. I expected at least 25 MPH so I'm a little disappointed. Prop selection for this motor is limited but Suzuki makes a 11 and a 12 pitch. I'm thinking the 12 pitch prop will be the way to go rpm range on the motor is 5300-6300. Might still hit 27-28 MPH. My Highsider is a little heavy I went overboard with the flotation foam. I've heard that this hull is slower than a classic anyway.

As for the motor itself I really like it. Its very quiet throughout the rpm range and I don't miss the 2 stroke smell. It does have a little more vibration between 2000-3500 rpms than my 2 stroke mariner 15 did but its smooth at idle and from 1/2 throttle on up to WOT. Really liking the electric start. 

The boat rides excellent on smooth water to minor chop but its not too fun in the ruff stuff. Once on plane its a nice dry ride. Really wet off plane and kinda wet at headway speeds in the wind. Overall I'm very happy with the way it turned out. Stick steering, ride, and visibility from the center seat are all fantastic. 

Here is how it sits in the water. A little low in the back but not too bad.


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## gillz (May 20, 2007)

Congrats  [smiley=1-thumbsup3.gif]. Those aren't bad numbers to start. I read somewhere a four blade helps with the low range vibration. Have you considered raising the motor up. You might get a few more MPH.


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## Spooky (Jan 22, 2008)

The transom is raised 2" from stock and the cavitation plate is just a smidge above the bottom of the hull. I don't really want to add any more weight back there so I'll probably leave it where it is. I'm gonna order a new prop and see what I get.


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## Spooky (Jan 22, 2008)

Ordered a 12 pitch prop and added some folding cup holders.


Also modified a transom saver to work without power tilt and the motor locked.


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## noeettica (Sep 23, 2007)

OK let's get an update


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## Spooky (Jan 22, 2008)

Well I've had a string of bad luck, old age creeping up on me, or some bad Karma(although I can't think of the cause). I broke the 12 pitch prop on my first trip on a log in the river. I was getting 24.6 MPH upriver @  5800 rpms WOT with just me and a full load of gear. Started back down river and did not get to run very far before I broke the prop on a submerged object. Bent one blade over and tore out the edge of another. Lower units ok though. I briefly saw 26 mph downriver @ 5800 rpms WOT.

I have a stainless Powertech SRT3 9.5x11 on order to replace the 12 pitch Suzuki.

Yesterday I took my wife out in the boat for the first time with the stock 10 pitch. I did not have the GPS with me but the boat was running 6180 rpms with the both of us and the same loadout of gear as I run solo.
I'm hoping the 11 pitch SRT3 will be in the sweet spot for me running solo as that's how I fish most of the time. I'll be real happy if I can hit 6000 rpms but 5800 would work.

We ran up into the backwater of Caddo lake on the Texas side and I managed to tear up the steering. Found a major flaw of stick steering on a highsider. The steering cable sticks way past the side of the transom when turning so there is no protection. I managed to snag a tree running through a tight spot between some cypress. I bent the tube in tube section of the cable and could not steer. The tube is crimped and there is no way to fix it. The tube is pretty fragile and cant take any abuse. It was a long trip back to the boat ramp on the trolling motor. I have a new cable ordered. I want to come up with some sort of guard cause it could happen pretty easily again in tight spaces.


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