# Alumacraft Mod



## bmatt150 (Oct 16, 2012)

Greetings, I have been lurking around on the forum for a while and decided to join in with my boat.  Being that there is a general lack of aluminum boats, I figured it would offer a different vantage point from what is normally done on the forum.  Less than a year back I picked up an Alumacraft v14 bench boat with a 15hp nissan on the back. This isn't your typical micro skiff, but it only drafts between 7-8 inches, has super high sides, goes 18-21 depending on load with 2 people, and best of all weighs next to nothing. I am able to pull it behind a saturn ion with no problems.










There were a few things that I didn't like about the standard set-up of the boat, no nose cap for a trolling motor, lack decks, and little storage. The first thing I did was to get a nose cap put on and mount the trolling motor. You can see from the picture that it is a sturdy little thing and I fish from it whenever I can. 



















After a hiatus due to work and school, I finally sat down in July to create a front deck for me so I didn't have to fight with the benches. Using an angle grinder, drill, and a measuring tape, I cut some 1.5 inch angle aluminum and some .125 inch aluminum sheet. Being that I can't weld, I used pop rivets to hold the monster together and I am still amazed I pulled this off so well. (If you look carefully you can see the trusty ion with 24mpg while towing in the background)


















































































... and the final product. I still need to put something over the benches and deck to add grip, reduce glare, and keep the heat down.


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## spahlinger85 (Sep 16, 2013)

Oh heck yeah ! That looks real good. You should make it hinged so you can put stuff under it. Real nice job


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## bmatt150 (Oct 16, 2012)

Thanks Reiko, I put hinges on after I took the picture. It is a nice place for the trolling motor battery, extra gas can and whatever else I feel like putting under there.


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## bmatt150 (Oct 16, 2012)

Hey all, I wanted to give you an update on the Alumacraft.  I wanted to cover my decks with something to keep the heat down during the summer and add grip so it wasn't quite as slippery. I couldn't justify getting sea deck or a similar product to cover my seats/decks (too pricey), so I picked up some of the harbor freight foam squares. They were attached with 3M super 77 and are holding up well so far.










I also picked up a work platform from Northern Tool that I am in the process of using to extend my back deck. It was the longest work platform that I found and being relatively cheap, I decided to go for it. I removed the legs, added some aluminum sheet to the top to make it flat and will be adding some foam matting. I will take some pictures of this monster when I get time to finish up this project.


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## mark_gardner (Mar 18, 2009)

nice job


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## blondmonkey777 (Oct 18, 2012)

sweet setup my neibor used to have one a few years ago and we fished it everywhere from st johns to the intercostal to near shore a little when it was calm. the only thing is he kept on having problems with the rivits coming loose and leakin but the company stood behind it and replaced the both twice with no charge.


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## bmatt150 (Oct 16, 2012)

Thanks Shadowcast. One bad thing about having a riveted boat, the rivets tend to leak after a while. At this point in my life, I would much rather have to replace a few rivets than take the boat to a welder if there is a problem. I have known of too many boats that had bad weld jobs that resulted in burning through the aluminum.


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## HialeahAngler (Dec 18, 2008)

I love those hulls. The best thing is you can fish them inshore or off due to the V and high sides.


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## devrep (Feb 22, 2009)

I like aluminum skiffs. grew up fishing in my dad's Feather Craft and my 1st boat was a Star Craft. Very light, shallow boats. The high sides and light weight of my StarCraft did cause it to be blown around a lot in the wind. I installed front and rear casting decks on it and it worked great. 

I'm surprised I don't see some Orlando Clippers being used as shallow water fishing boats. They were nice boats too.


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## TwoKids (Jan 2, 2013)

BMatthias - I admire your craftsmanship, thats some awesome looking metal work you have done there. Brings back memories for me. Bought my first boat in 8th grade, a T-12 Alumacraft V bow, low sides, with an 8hp evinrude. Down in SoFla we used to take the C-14 canal west, sit on the floor and duck under the sawgrass expressway bridge which was about 2-3 ft high, then drag the boat over the spillway d1ke and fish the glades. My friends and I had some great trips in that boat. Believe it or not we even used to kneeboard behind it! Thanks for sharing your build, its cool.


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## bmatt150 (Oct 16, 2012)

Thanks TwoKids, it is surprising that you don't see more of these boats around down here. They seem like a great compromise skiff for taking chop and getting shallow. For what I do, this thing is perfect and my mods are holding up great.


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## airbornemike (Oct 2, 2013)

Nice build, very useful craft up here on the great lakes, carp guides up here use very similar boats


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## WhiteDog70810 (May 6, 2008)

I also am surprised more inshore fishermen don't like these vee hulls. As stated, they are a good compromise of draft and seaworthiness. I think the main issue is that most of them are riveted and are notorious for leaking. That being said, I wish I could lay my hands on my Dad's old 14' Starcraft. We were Midwesterners who moved to Louisiana, so we used that old boat until Dad could buy something a little more comfortable and caught ridiculous numbers of fish in the process. 

Nate


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## devrep (Feb 22, 2009)

my old 14 ft StarCraft leaked quite a bit at the rivets on the keel. One Saturday I decided to fix that. I had my son lay under the boat with a small sledge hammer, I got in the boat with a hammer and a pin punch just larger than the rivets. I had him press the sledge hammer up on each rivet and then I set ea one with the pin punch. Was a lot of rivets and a lot of work but that boat never leaked a drop after that.


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