My Bass Boat Restore

[FordsnFishin]

Last year, i finally decided to go through my boat and give it the love and attention she needed. But because it was still fishing season and a busy winter for me im just now getting around to sharing my process with you guys! Any questions from my adventure feel free to ask as i'm leaving out a ton of details right now for the sake of a extremely long post.

 

Back ground, the boat is a 1996 495 TF charger. 20'6 in length, originally it came with a 225 Johnson that was replaced with a 2009 mercury 250 direct injection by the previous owner. I bought this boat with intentions to do some upgrades cosmetically for the fact that it already had a strong motor and electronics were upgraded.

 

I bought this boat 3 years ago, i finished the fishing season as i bought it. That next spring i knew the first thing i needed to do was redo the wiring as the previous owner or owners were " top notch electricians ?". So i spent a week of evenings after work basically either totally rewiring or redoing everything in the boat. Lots of goofy, splices, wire nuts, tape, ect to remove. I replaced the old glass fuse panels with new modern fuse panels that now has everything labeled whats what, and all new rocker switches on the dash. Also added several switches, split up circuits, and put in a 12v plug and several usb ports for charging while on the water. Also during this process, i built a new deck for the batteries/oil reservoir in the back compartment and added new battery trays for my all my new batteries.

 

I fished the boat like this for the next year and the beginning of '19 season. An finally with the carpet flapping in the wind and the trailer with no brakes i decided it was time to bring the girl back into shape.

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bD1qGGWDKB6AqRDu6

 

Now i hope this link works for everyone, as this is photo heavy of the whole process i took and the before and after of the clear coat and interior upgrades i made. If not, it might take me a minute to get all the photos downsized and loaded up here.

 

First you will notice the original state of everything. Carpet worn, holes in it, and so thin you could look at it and it would rip. The clear coat was chipping so bad now that every time you laid your arm on the side you'd have to pull the chunks off your arm. This was primarily one the top 1/3 of the boat were the sun really hits. So i decided this is the area id be redoing.

 

First step was demo. I went through the whole boat and started ripping out all the old carpet, and removing all the storage doors. Carefully keeping all the hardware separated in bags for each door labeled which they go to. Then was the long and super fun process of removing all the old glue. I tried several methods, but ultimately i found the best tools to be a oscillating tool and a angle grinder with a cup brush. Hours and hours of removing glue i finally got everything clean, and vacuumed. Than i started the process of laying out my doors for for carpet. I wanted to do these first to allow them to cure and dry while i did everything else.

 

After the doors were done, i went to the clear coat. I took off all the big chunks of flaking clear first with a scraper. Then was the long process of carefully sanding everything thoroughly that i planned on clear coating. Starting in a coarse grit and working down to a very fine. Very careful to not sand down into the glitter and stay in the original clear coat. It was inevitable, that it still happened in some locations, but this boat was too be fished and not a show boat so it wasn't a big deal to me. After a full power wash of the whole boat, plenty of time to dry well, i wiped the whole boat down twice with acetone to make sure it was clean. Than i did the daunting process of applying the clear coat, i had never done this before. I opted to roll this on with foam rollers. Reason being, no over spray, a thicker coat, and was hoping a faster learning curve on me applying it. Overall, the whole process went pretty well with a few major things i did learn. One, i had to do this outside, and it being summer that scorching sun really played a roll in drying time and how fast i had to apply it. Two was because of the heat, how long i used the same roller. If you used it too long the clear would start drying and cause the clear to get to tacky and make a rough surface and orange peel. I ended up applying 2 of these thicker coats and felt pretty happy with the results. The last long process was to do all the of the wet sanding on the clear coat to remove any imperfections and orange peel i had. This took longer than actually sanding the boat for prep. But in the end is totally worth it. After all the sanding i left it to bake in the sun for 2 days and fully cure. Than the fun part, buffing and a coat of wax. After the buff and wax you really got to see the fruit of labor. She shines and glistens like a new boat now, and unfortunately the photos don't do it justice. While there are a few imperfections in it, she now looks 200x better than before and am extremely happy with the outcome.

 

After all that i was able to lay the rest of the carpet throughout the boat, replace the rub rail, and put accessories back in. Putting the doors and seats in were my final steps. But a few more upgrades i did along the way were,

-All new drum brakes on the trailer, flush brake lines, new fluid

-all new led lights on front and back decks and in back hatch battery compartment

-relocate 2 31 series batteries to front compartment for trolling motor, put in new battery charger for these that all link up to one 120v plug for easy charging of all 4 batteries. New trolling motor circuit breaker.

-New handles in boat and bungee cords for dock tie off ease

-fish ruler holder for ease of storage and easy to get to

 

An im sure there were several other things i just cant think of. Relocating the 2 batteries to the front were for several reasons. But mainly because the rear end of the boat always seemed to have to much weight and when i came off plane i would have water get into the back compartment. After running it the rest of the season i no longer have this issue and i can literally get onto plane within 5 seconds. However, it did take 3-4 mph off my top end, this is a fine trade off to me. I can still cruise at 60mph and the boat handles rough water excellently.

 

Overall i'm super happy with how everything turned out, and extremely ready to start fishing this year! Cabin fever is at a all time high. I apologize for the extremely long post, but i wanted to share what i had done! Thanks!

 

 

[FordsnFishin]

I would also like to give a big shout out to @Way2slow. During the clear coat and prepping stages i had a lot of questions and he was able to help me out with several things. Very knowledgeable and helpful guy, really appreciate your help buddy!

[Way2slow]

It scares me when somebody thinks I might know something about these things. 

They say you can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all of the time.  

 

 

 

[Bankbeater]

Boat looks fantastic!

[Bird]

Wow, very sharp. 

[FordsnFishin]

1 hour ago, Way2slow said:

It scares me when somebody thinks I might know something about these things. 

They say you can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all of the time.  

 

 

 

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. 

 

But really, thank you for your help sir. 

[Bama John]

What did you use for the clear coat? Nice job on the refurb.

[FordsnFishin]

2 hours ago, Bama John said:

What did you use for the clear coat? Nice job on the refurb.

I actually just had someone pm the same question, so I'll copy what I sent him. 

 

This was the hardest part for me. I did a lot of research and drove my self crazy. Finally I decided I had to make a decision. 

 

"Acme Finish 1" automotive clear

With acme "fast hardener".

 

One reason was I had actually talked to multiple people that has used this clear, boats/ cars/ projects and had great results. 

 

Two, and the main reason I didn't do a gel coat or other style was because this boat from factory had a clear coat and no gel coat on the boat. 

[kjfishman]

Impressive work! Looks better than new.

 

[NittyGrittyBoy]

Great job man! That's something to be proud of! 

[GreenPig]

Very nice. Lots of work right there.

[iabass8]

For being a little princess . you did an above average job on this. Well done . 

[slonezp]

It's a shame CLF is no longer a forum that anyone visits. Some of the old guys would be impressed.

[FordsnFishin]

3 hours ago, iabass8 said:

For being a little princess . you did an above average job on this. Well done 

Yep that's me!