The day has come..
 

Well we survived a year in Texas and while we have had great success for LMB, WB and hybrids you need a boat to be lethal in the summer.

My son bought a new 15' tracker jon boat and trailer and I am giving her a face lift and it's going to be a bass boat conversion.

We will have about $ 4,000 into it with dual fish finders, trolling motor, full electronics, bilge pump, batteries, ect.

Then we will have to save and wait for Trump's 2nd stimulus check to come late next month before we throw a new 20hp 4-stroke outboard on her.
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in to follow this build

More work..
 

Took Friday off and worked in the garage during a 100 degree day and was toast after 8 hours. Hit it again this morning to finish up the hatches and get the seat post components. Next will be mounting the front trolling motor, fishfinder, transducer, front battery and run wires to console.

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Sunday Update
 

The heat and humidity zapped me so I spend about 3 hours on her then have to cool down and get a second wind. Making progress..
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Soldered all the wiring and brought it back to the battery terminal. Next is to mount the 7" HD fish finder and attached the transducer to the trolling motor.
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Great job. But I guess your not worried about being swamped by wind waves or boat wake?

I'm not familiar with that boat.

It's a lake boat and I am putting additional 1" foam under everything. I believe I will still be under the maximum weight (by 20-30 pounds) and I am putting in a bilge pump..

I am use to taking my old 16' boat 35 miles offshore when I lived in Cali so this is nothing compared to that..
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Going to cut 4" off the front seat post to get it down to 17" and can extend to 24". All seat post just pull out so you can configure the boat however you want on a trip by trip basis. $ hours of wiring and 6-8 hours of finish work and I am done..
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Almost There
 

Heat has been brutal and I can't put in the time without paying the price. She is almost done. 3 hrs of wiring and 6 hours of finish work and I can stare at her until we get an engine..
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JUST WIRING LEFT TO DO.
 

Total investment so far is $4,000. That for a new 15" Jon boat and trailer and everything I have done. The only item not accounted for is the 7HDS Lowrance fishfinder that I had in a box from my last boat.
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This may be one of the coolest things I’ve seen. :cheers1:

Cherry on top!
 

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Nice build. Can you tell me where you got the seats?

A sporting goods store called Academy Sports. They are based in Texas but ship nationwide. Seats were $55 each.
https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/mar...dCatid=4111051
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coming along beautifully. How many water ways are near where you are in TX? You guys anywhere near the gulf coast?

Edit: Just saw location = Austin

2 hrs. from the gulf( Corpus or Galveston). We have a lot of big lakes with stripers & hybrids along with LMB, WB and crappie.

Going to expand our zone dramatically.

Will be ready for the water in 2 weeks - putting on finishing touches and just ordered a new 20 hp Suzuki outboard in white.
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Quality of work looks amazing

Have you broke her in yet?

Outboards have been on back order from Japan but we pick up the Suzuki this Friday and will be fishing on Saturday. Post & piics to follow....