Yet another boat.

[SPEEDY]

Well I finally finished (for now) the little boat I'm keeping, its a little 11ft tinny of unknown manufacturer that I picked up in virgin condition (no holles drilled or cracks, dings etc) that was probably 30 years old or so.

Anyway it came on a dodgy trailer with a little 2.3hp motor, well I fixed the trailer up some and put the big boat I was selling on it, then put this one on the good trailer.
Then I was looking for a better motor for it and found a mint 8hp Evinrude that unfortunately came attached to another junker boat, well I swapped the motors over and fixed the junker into something good (see previous thread)
Then I decided to clean up this boat, so I stripped it back with wire wheels, scour pads and some aluminium cleaning solution that was pretty much phosphoric acid.
I got it bright and shiny and it looked good, but then I woke up a couple of days later and decided to paint it, so it got an etch primer, then a coating of two pack, followed by some artificial turf for flooring and 4 rod holders fitted to finish it off today.
It will be getting a hatch/mini casting deck made later on.
But heres its evolution in photos.

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[SPEEDY]

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Man boats are a lot more work and almost as much money as Blasers

[thechamp]

Boat - 'hole in the water where you pour money'.... Rest of that should be 'bigger the boat, the bigger the hole'.

The two best days of a boat owner's life are: The day he buys it. The day he sells it.

You definitely picked a project to tackle. Once it's done you should have an enjoyable boat to use. Throw a little camo net over it and you can hunt out of it. Smart move painting it. Aluminum boats are quite pretty but they sure don't stay that way. Water stains can make them look pretty bad.

Know you aren't married but one of the sayings here is that if you have a wife and a boat, you can loan out the wife. She'll come back in good shape. Loaning out the boat can cause lots of damage to not only property but friendships as well. They're not real good about taking care of themselves.

[Dinger]

My old granny used to say 'If it flies, floats or f%#@s....rent it, it'll be cheaper in the long run'.

I've manage to stay away from planes, owned a boat for a very short period....it was gifted, but as a very happily married man I am prepared wear the added expense for the last one!

[SPEEDY]

Yep they are money pits, but I love small boats, if I find a lottle punt come up for sale I will probably be on it like siht on Olsens dcik

But on a more scary note, I found an old 10ft tinny on someone's front yard for sale but with no price listed but I think I could probably grab it for a couple hundred bucks.
If thats the case I will buy it and fix it up, I have an electric motor sitting around not doing anything yhat I could put on it.

[9.3x64]

Good on you Speedy, you have done a good job on it.
Little boats are fun.

[SPEEDY]

I realized the when I have big boats, I don't use them.
But little biats are so easy and user friendly that you can use them anywhere.
I even put it in from the bank in shallow water where bigger boats would instantly get stuck.
I can run this boat in just over a foot of water, 6" if I lift the motor and push it with a paddle.

[mchughcb]

Looking good now.

[thechamp]

Bigger is not always better. Said the guy with the dingy...

Depending on what you're fishing for and where you're doing it the big boats simply can't get there. I used to chase black bass as often as possible. At one time I had a 20' Champion which was one awesome bass boat. It took rough water like nothing else did. Problem was that when you fished the inlets on the big lakes and were among stumps it was a bear to get that boat in and out without scratching it up or getting hemmed in by stumps. I went back to a 18'6" and it still handled the water extremely well but the boat handled so much better in those areas.

Main thing is to make sure the boat is equipped with floatation and flotation devices that can be relied on to keep you alive should something go wrong. Wear them and don't worry about looking like a pansy because you do. Better to be a live pansy....

[SPEEDY]

I've got a lot of experience in little boats, I've just found them more fun and user friendly for my purposes.

[secondtry]

I've got a lot of experience in little boats, I've just found them more fun and user friendly for my purposes.

Ditto.

A good little boat handled by someone who knows their stuff can be eye opening in terms of where it can go and the weather it can handle.