Time to restore the A-boat I killed!

[Speedman]

Absolutely, for me, the A-boat is set up for one thing...Fishing! I want to be able to cover alot of water fast! I mainly fish the Ct river where in high water can be moving as fast as 50,000 CFS! My bud has a 101 on his and sometimes, it is not enough. There have many times fishing down a shoreline when someone approaches from the other side and in between is a tree or dock and with the 107, the Aboat will almost go on plane to get there. plus who cares if I can only do 95 not 100. I have never even been close to being passed in a tourney and the 36 volt system lasts much longer during the day

 

[Speedman]

O.k., I need to drill a...gulp!...hole for my GPS wires to the right side of my counsel. any one have any better ideas? or where can I get a rubber plug for the wires? Home depot?

 

[SLOmofo]

The GPS will read thru fiberglass, On my XB2003 the receiver for the speedo is on a ledge under the consoul. Otherwise I made a piece out of aluminum. that attaches to the fish finder. On the front of the boat I just used heavy duty Velcro. They now make a mount for a GPS that attaches to the mount for the fish finder.

 

[Speedman]

let me re-phrase. I have a mount for the GPS puck but I have to run the wire for power and the transducer so I need to drill it out to get the wires down below

 

[Speedman]

out with old, in with the new, the process has begun with an easy seat change. then I got sick and have been puking for 2 days! oh and her's a shot of the livewell full of catfish from the other day! including a 10-4 and 10-14. Now I have to restore to Livewell as it is full of catfish slime!

 

[baitcaster]

Cool, but catfish???? In an Ally, :>

 

[GFinch]

I was at Clear Lake one year on vacation prefishing for a WON Bass team fish off. The last couple of days there was a Carp tournament. Bow fishing. Long story, butt. One of the boats in the tournament was an Allison!

 

[mtolley]

your boat is looking good! alot a better than mine. good job! mt

 

[Speedman]

Spent about an hour with the new buffer and some rubbing compound today, hit the badly stained side walls below the rod lockers...Lookin' good!!!!!!!!!!! I used some serious degreaser on the fishin butt seat and the highback and they look 10 times better!

 

[Speedman]

Mounted the lowrance x-15 up front next to the TM with a ram mount for the puck, no new holes except for the screws to hold down the bracket which will disapear if I ever take it out. Problem is, I took it out on a very muddy river and went back under and through forrests and now I gotta clean it again!

 

[Speedman]

Trailer Update: Dropped the digital camera in the livewell last week! what a dope!. The bunk boards finally caved in and I was able to remove all 4 bunks WITHOUT tools! That's how bad it was. Well off to the metal shop and the whole trailer has been sand blasted, primed, welded where needed. All new brackets custom made, new fenders, bunks etc. The boat will be painted in a high gloss WHITE, with black fenders. Should be done on Sun and I will borrow the wifes camera to get some pictures up. Then I think I am going to get new LED lights, then some new rims. So far I have about 800 bucks into it which is much better than 4k for a new one. I have just been too busy with tournies this summer to work on it, but if you look at some of the previous trailer pictures, you can see why it is time to redo! I'll try to get some picts up this weekend!

 

[baitcaster]

The trailer needed some TLC for sure. :help

I will have to do some trailer work this winter as well - I think. Mine isn't quite as bad as yours appears to be, but some fix-in is still in order. Good luck, look forward to seeing some pics.

 

[Speedman]

Well my boat trailer rusted so bad, I could pull all 4 bunks off without tools! Decided it was time to redo the trailer so I stripped it down and off to the shop for some welding, painting and total makeover. got it back today and will have it back together this weekend and hopefully on the water once again. I dropped my camera in the livewell last week! but the wife will take some with hers and I'll get them up tonite.

 

[Speedman]

Well the trailer is 99% done, gonna replace the rubber mats with diamond plating once the paint cures and maybe some of those fancy LED lights as well as put some new boards on the back of the wheel wells, but check out the difference from some of the before pictures. I spent less than 1k on this so far!

 

[Speedman]

here's a few more:

 

[baitcaster]

That looks great! I want mine done exactly like that. Sweeeeeet! :cool

What did you do with your boat while you were working on the trailer. I noticed it on the ground, they they lift it and set it on the ground and latter come back with the tractor and put it back on?

I was wondering how I would get mine worked on and what to do w/the boat in the interim.

 

[Speedman]

I borrowed the boat stands from the guy who rebuilt my engine. Most marinas have a bunch of them lying around. I then put a 2x6 under the back on the pad and jacked it up until the end was off the ground and slid the back 2 stands in. The I had my Uncle Ed bring the Kabota over and ran a strap through the tie ring and lifted the front up, then drove forward a little and put the other 2 in. The whole process took less than 10 minutes!

 

[brpdk945]

Dude,
I am seriously impressed.
Been watching this post, and DAMN!

I recently "restored" a xb02 I bought, so your post caught my interest. Dumped about 2k so far. Keep up the good work.

Later!:beer:

 

[22R]

This is the way that I stored mine while I was working on the bottom and the Trailer. 3 pipe stands, 2 Jack stands and 2 4x4's. No jacks required to remove the boat from the trailer other that the trailer tongue jack. Nice job on the restoration.

 

[jimmyb]

looking good speedman!

i admire someone with fish guts in his boat!