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I'm bored to death at work so I thought I'd throw my last boat project up here for you guys to look over. I bought a 16' Ouachita Jon Boat that was only 48" wide. This project involved widening that boat out to 72" and fitting it up with a bowfishing deck, 6 400W HPS lights, a 25 hp pusher fan, and a 75 HP outboard.
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The boat in the above pics is what I started with. I bought it cheap and after stripping the boat and selling the trolling motor, seats, bases, trailer, etc I was actually ahead $100. Below is a pic of the boat stripped completely down and cut in half in preparation for the build. -
To start tying the boat back together, I used channel that was tight but would hammer down over the existing stringers. These were welded on both sides using my Miller 350p and the Aluma Pro push pull gun.Comment
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Next cut a piece of 1/8" thick sheet and gave a good overlap on both sides. This was also welded on both sides. Continuous weld on the bottom for obvious reasons, stitch welded to the inside.Comment
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Tied in our runners on the bottom using 1/8" thick 2" angle. Also welded up the nose of the boat with 1/8" sheet. Doubled up the sheet for added strength where the winch eye will weld up.Comment
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The front of bowfishing boats tend to take some abuse. The bumper is 2 1/2" pipe 1/2" thick. Channel used is also 1/2" thick. This is the front with all the support tacked in.Comment
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Next built in the transom. Sheet is 1/4" thick as are all the supporting channel and tube.Comment
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Next, built offset for the outboard motor. Wanted to set the outboard back for performance but also to help the fan clear the motor later.Comment
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Next, got started on the front shooting deck and the light rail.Comment
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Started fitting up the pusher fan in the back. I had built this fan from scratch and was taking it on and off of my bass boat. It is being fitted into this boat in a more permanent fashion.Comment
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Gonna hit fast forward because this is getting long..... Put in subfloor and completed light rail. Wired everything in and hung the 75 hp Johnson Outboard. Went stick steer to keep the floor open. Attached are completed pics.Comment
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I know very little about boats, hardly anything about pusher fans and absolutely nothing about bow fishin’, but I like hacking old junk up and making something cool out of it. Nice work.Comment
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Yea, I had just gotten laid off and needed a project. Plenty of fab work and the fan itself is controlled by a joystick. Left and right turn the fan, up and down for throttle utilizing 2 seperate linear actuators. Getting that wired up and functioning right was definitely one helluva distraction for the mind!Comment
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Well you ought to be able to sell that sucker off for a good bit then. Sounds cool as ****.Comment
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I must say that you did a great job. The boat looks nice!Comment
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