My first boat

[CanoeBasser]

Hey everyone i hope yall are all having a great start to 2016. i just took a big leap and bought my first boat its a 1985 Bass Hawk it is in decent condition has some patches i inspected them and they were done really well with a concrete base. it has a galvanized trailer in good condition also. for just the boat and trailer i payed $1000 it seemed like a steal! although the paint job is completly terrible! i was wondering if you guys had any ideas on a cheap way to get the paint looking halfway decent again!

[gulfcaptain]

Why would they patch a fiberglass boat with concrete?  Um that would be a big concern to me because concrete doesn't flex and fiberglass does.  As for your paint job, odds are your gelcoat is pretty much gone so there probably isn't much you can do to bring it back.  You could spray it with a marine acrylic paint or get it wrapped.  But I'm sitll wondering and iffy on the concrete patches......not the right way to fix a fiberglass boat......cheap and bassackwards, but not right.  Welcome to boat ownership....you should understand what boat stands for if you haven't already.

Bust

Out

Another

Thousand

[CanoeBasser]

i meant to say fiberglass based! my mistake lol

[gulfcaptain]

1 minute ago, CanoeBasser said:

i meant to say fiberglass based! my mistake lol

That's much better.....lol  

[CanoeBasser]

i mean 1000 for that aint bad right

[gulfcaptain]

If you're happy with it and are willing to put in the work to get it where you want, a boat is just the platform to fish from. 

[CanoeBasser]

bass bro is doing a sale on trolling motors and i got my eye on a nice 65 P/T im looking at getting then it will be fish ready just got to make it look nice:P

[gulfcaptain]

24 minutes ago, CanoeBasser said:

bass bro is doing a sale on trolling motors and i got my eye on a nice 65 P/T im looking at getting then it will be fish ready just got to make it look nice:P

As long as it's solid.  It's a $1000 boat.  Don't worry about the paint/gel coat, make sure your motor is solid and free of issues and have the electronics and trolling motor you want.  Then go fishing.

[CanoeBasser]

i mainly fish on lakes so im not worried about navigation but do you have any recommendations on reasonable  trolling motor mount electronics fish finder wise

[gulfcaptain]

You still want to make sure your motor is up to par.  Nothing will ruin your day quicker then your big motor quiting on you.  As for the other, do you homework and research what you're wanting before you go buy anything.  I'd say at least a 24v trolling motor and a min of 80lbs to start.  As for electronics, look around and find what you want.

[CanoeBasser]

my motor is good it just got reworked lots of stuff replaced in it!

[sprint61]

Is the motor an 88 spl? Great motors and easy to work on if so. 

[Brent Christian]

Anymore pictures? I had a Bass Hawk it fished pretty good and wasn't a bad boat at all.

[warrior1]

make sure it's safe and you have a great platform to start off with, so good job.  My first is an aluminum and going on two years with it and just deciding if I want to upgraded the motor or move up to something else.

Have fun and go get em!!

[CanoeBasser]

[GetJigginWithIt]

Paint job does not look that bad. You have the retro look.

[River Dave]

I think that looks great for a first boat, certainly miles above my first one and, you're right about that price, seems like a steal to me. If it floats and the motor runs you've done very well.

 The gelcoat on my last boat was super oxidized when I bought it and it came right back with some 3M rubbing compound I picked up at West Marine. My boat went from looking like chalk to nice and shiny in a couple of hours. I'm at work now so can't tell you exactly what the stuff was but it came in a blue bottle and said "for heavily oxidized surfaces" on it.

You mentioned a new trolling motor and, if you're on a budget, the best deal I found was the 50# Minn Kotta Powerdrive V2 at Cabellas for like $400. There are certainly better (and much more powerful) units out there but I bought mine last year and it works great. I have a much heavier boat than you so I was a little worried about being under powered but that hasn't been a problem at all so far. It will pull my 19' bowrider upstream in the Niagara River which says a lot. Just throwing that out there as an alternative to the big expensive ones. At any rate great boat and good luck to you next season. 

[blongfishing]

Nice boat! I almost bough a bass hawk last summer but ended up getting a stratos just yesterday. The paint on the top of mine is faded and the gel coat is worn from the sun. From what I have read it looks like you can put a gel coat on it and do some buffing and it will look brand new. I am sure you will love the boat. It is nice and you will have it on the water ripping lips before you know it.

[CanoeBasser]

thanks for the support guys!

[lo n slo]

is that new carpet i see?

[CanoeBasser]

carpets not new but its in d**n good shape for the weather its been in!

[GetJigginWithIt]

Sure looks nice. How is the transom? Can you put your weight on the motor and have no flex? Sure is a good looking boat.