14' Western Tinny - FIV I

[sschefer]

This is the Fish Intercept Vehicle I, a 1988 14' Western that I prototyped last year and then rebuilt this year. I finished it last Friday and sold it today. The pic's don't show the Minn Kota Terrova 55AP/CP that I sold with the boat. I bolted it on and bolted down the seats per the buyers personal liking. Yahoo! Now I can buy my Trim and Troll system for my 18' Tinny, (FIV II)

I inherited the boat and priced it at 2500.00. I sold it today for 4500.00. I doubt that I acutally made any money but I think I got most of it back.

I stripped the boat clean in December and then put it away until two weeks ago. It only took two weekends to get it done. There's a secret I'll tell you about doing this type of retrofit. You don't over design for one, just lay down two 1x1/2 by 1x1/2 by 1/8 aluminum angle for stringers then the deck and build on top the deck using thin (.020) aluminum angle for your tie in's. The deck is 1/2" shop grade ply sealed with GluvIt the sides are 1/4" shop grade ply. below the deck are pool noodles that are cut in half lengthwise and laid in. The center of the deck only has a span of 15" between the stringers so there is no flex whatsoever. Two guy's can lift the boat off the trailer with the motors on it. It's light! I sold it before I had a chance to even put it in the water but it would do 25 before and it was at least twice as as heavy.

By the way, see the transom in the last pic. That's why you should never use HTS2000 to repair .065 aluminum. It didn't hurt it but it warped the heck out of it taking it all the way up to 732 degrees. I should have known better. It doesn't show that bad, the camera flash highlights it and makes it look worse than it is.

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: 14' Western Tinny - FIV I

SWEEET! Nice work all around. Any pix of the refit process...we're photo junkies at this site.

 

[sschefer]

Re: 14' Western Tinny - FIV I

SWEEET! Nice work all around. Any pix of the refit process...we're photo junkies at this site.

Thank you.. I do have other photos, I just didn't want to clutter up the site. I'll put some more up.

More Pic's

The old three piece transom board-- Gone !! That green thing is the new transom board with a generous coat of Copper Green. Later it was coated with GluvIt and then a coat of white Rustoleum Oil Base, (it's just what I had laying around) and then finally shot with Rustoleum Hammered Finsh dark gray.

Here it is completely stripped and wire brushed. I found a couple of cans of Moeller Zinc Chromate at West Marine, (a rare find in California), so I shot it first with that and then with Rustoleum Primer and then finally the gray hammered finish.

Here's what the transom looked like after several years of trying to find things that worked. In the end, the simple solution was the best. This is also what it looked like before HTS2000. The HTS2000 did work so I'll give it that but because of the .065 thickness it didn't matter how many heat sinks I put behind it, it still warped.

This photo shows the aluminum angle that was used for the stringers and how I used it for tie in's. I later moved the sides out 3" and gave them a slight bow towards the front. It made it look more symetrical and it gave it an extra six inches of room inside. All of the electrical is run down the sides. There's a Guest onboard charger, terminal blocks, switch board and fuze box to handle anything that might want to be added in the future.

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: 14' Western Tinny - FIV I

Thanks, we loves eye candy. If you just sold that rig, got another project in mind?

 

[sschefer]

Re: 14' Western Tinny - FIV I

Thanks, we loves eye candy. If you just sold that rig, got another project in mind?

Yep, I have a 1991 MonArk Legend 1800 FS that is tore down. I just finsihed putting a new transom board in and tomorrow it's going off to the boat doctor to get a gash in the bow stitched up.

And then there's this one I saw yesterday, LOL.. I'll always have a project boat and often two. It helps to have two that way when one stumps you, you just go work on the other one for a while.

 

[sschefer]

Re: 14' Western Tinny - FIV I

The new owner took the boat out this weekend with his wife and grandchild. He reports that the boat is remakably stable and he marked a top speed of 31mph on a portable GPS. He will send pic's of his day on the lake soon and I will post them.

 

[270WSM]

Re: 14' Western Tinny - FIV I

Hey SS, love the simple design and it looks great. I was just curious aobut the aluminum angle that you used. What did you use to fasten it to the sides of the boat? Also, how did you fasten the stringers to the bottom of the boat? With "L" brackets? Did you use any cross supports for the top pieces of ply on the sides that run from the boat wall to the inner board? Thanks for the inspiration and help.

 

[sschefer]

Re: 14' Western Tinny - FIV I

Hey SS, love the simple design and it looks great. I was just curious aobut the aluminum angle that you used. What did you use to fasten it to the sides of the boat? Also, how did you fasten the stringers to the bottom of the boat? With "L" brackets? Did you use any cross supports for the top pieces of ply on the sides that run from the boat wall to the inner board? Thanks for the inspiration and help.

1. I used 1x1 .020 aluminum angle on the sides and drilled and riveted through the hull using alum/alum closed end blind rivets that I got from Fastenal. I used a 6 blade crimper to add some relief at the curve near the bow. It's well above the waterline so closed end is really overkill.

The only thing that bothered me was the rivets on a welded boat but the current owner say he gets asked if it's a Lund because of that so I guess I'll let that pass.

To fasten in the stringers I just made 2" wide "L" brackets from 2" 1/8 thick aluminum angle and then riveted them to the existing ribs. To keep it straight I laid the stringer in and marked it but then put the brackets in one at a time fastening them to the stringer as I went. This let me compensate for the changes in the bottom and kept everything level and straight.

Regarding the cross supports, yes. I put four on each side spaced fairly evenly. The tops and sides are only 1/4" ply but they are removable so if you feel you need to put more in you always can.

 

[plsports]

Re: 14' Western Tinny - FIV I

did this boat previously have bench seats in it?

 

[sschefer]

Re: 14' Western Tinny - FIV I

Yes it did.

 

[plsports]

Re: 14' Western Tinny - FIV I

what kind of bracing did you do to keep the hull rigid without the seats? i just bought a 1964 lonestar 14ft boat that i want or least just the middle seat.

 

[sschefer]

Re: 14' Western Tinny - FIV I

what kind of bracing did you do to keep the hull rigid without the seats? i just bought a 1964 lonestar 14ft boat that i want or least just the middle seat.

Take a close look at the picture of the raw ply wood and sides. Do you see the thin wall angle that runs midway up the side from stem to stern? That's added in. I just pop riveted it in from the outside. I also added some bracing in the side compartments. You kind of have to be creative but the theme was to keep it simple and I kept with that. If you flip it over you'd see that it is actually forming an arch. There's no stronger method of construction.

 

[plsports]

Re: 14' Western Tinny - FIV I

you wouldnt happen to have any more pictures of the build process would you? i love your layout. be a while before i get to that stage i bought a 1964 14' lonestar and im strippin her down to teh aluminum.... wow what a job im sick of sandin and wire wheelin lol im gonna go get the DA sander tomorrow.

 

[sschefer]

Re: 14' Western Tinny - FIV I

you wouldnt happen to have any more pictures of the build process would you? i love your layout. be a while before i get to that stage i bought a 1964 14' lonestar and im strippin her down to teh aluminum.... wow what a job im sick of sandin and wire wheelin lol im gonna go get the DA sander tomorrow.

No, sorry no more pics. I was doing this one at the same time I was doing my 18'. This was kind of a just get it done thing so I didn't stop to take a lot of pics.