I found this 1976 Lund 14 foot boat on CL a year ago. At the time, I didn't have any plans to do any conversion. The PO had repainted the exterior in red and black. It didn't look bad from a distance but up close the paint job left something to be desired. The flooring and seats had seen better days. After finding tinboats, I spent a lot of time reviewing what others had done with their tins and decided I would try a conversion. There probably isn't much that I did that hasn't been posted before, but I want to share my project.

The 900 acre lake that I live on is going through a fish renovation. In the fall of 2012, the DNR did a 100% fish kill to get rid of the rough fish that had taken over the lake. They started a restocking program with Bluegills, perch, walleye, crappie, bass, catfish and muskies. This fishing is coming on strong. I bought this boat with the hopes of taking my grandkids fishing.




The boat came with a 9.8 Mercury 110 tiller. I wasn't sure what I bought at the time but so far its been a good running motor. The 9.8 gets me around our lake. (just not so fast).




The PO had cut out the center of the middle seat leaving the two stubs and brackets. The plan was to incorporate this into my conversion to maintain the stability that the brackets provided.


Ripping out the old flooring and seats was relatively easy. Some of the screws and bolts holding the original seat boards were a challenge. I had to bring out the big hammer


The next step of paint removal proved to be a very time consuming project. There were multiple layers under the existing paint. I tried several different types of chemical paint strippers. The brand that Walmart carries proved to be the cheapest and it worked as well or better than more expensive brands I tried. I also used a wire wheel and an orbital sander on stubborn areas. It took quite a few applications of the chemical stripper to get through the multiple layers.




My plan was to paint the upper portions of the exterior sides and the leave the lower portion and bottom as clean bare aluminum. I spent considerable time polishing the upper section to get it ready for self-etching primer. I used Rustoleum self-etching rattle can primer on any bare metal areas before priming and painting.


On the interior prep work, I decided to remove any loose paint and to just sand the interior smooth in preparing it for paint. There were some areas where the sander got down to bare metal. I spot treated those areas with self-etching primer before applying the primer and paint.

Nice boat to begin your project with can't wait to see the progress.

I used Rustoleum paint products for all of the painting on my project. I felt that if I prepped and followed the instructions that it would probably meet my needs. As I mentioned earlier, I used rattle can self-etching primer on any bare metal. I used 2 coats of Rustoleum's gray metal primer on top of that. The interior was Light Machine Gray. I used Rustoleum marine top coat Battleship Gray on the exterior upper section.

I live in the Midwest and I planned to either trailer or have the boat up on a lift when I wasn't using it. So far, I haven't been disappointed with the Rustoleum. Time will tell.


I taped up the exterior and applied the self-etching primer


I put two thin coats of gray primer and then the Top Coat Battleship Gray. I used a rolling and tipping method of applying the top coat. I applied the paint with a small roller and then followed up with brushing in one direction with just the tip of a small brush. I was pleased with the result. I used two coats of the top coat as well.





I primed the interior with two coats and then applied two coats the Light Machine Gray.

The next step of the project was the framing for the flooring and decking. I decided to use wood for my framing. I used cedar 2x4 and sealed them with a couple of coats of spar urethane. For the decking I used 5/8 inch ACX plywood which I also sealed with spar urethane. I attempted to attach the framing by bolting it to the existing seat supports. I used stainless steel for all the hardware.

In order to keep the boat from getting too tipsy, I tried to keep all the flooring the casting decks as low as possible to provide a low center of gravity. There is a casting deck in the bow and also in the stern that use the same level as the original seats. The center flooring was kept as close to the boat ribs that I could.



I used a couple of angle aluminum for the lower main flooring supports that I attached to the seat supports. The lower main flooring is bolted to these angle supports.




The rest of the framing was attached by bolting the 2x4 to the splash tray and seat framing. I had to customize the back center compartment to make sure that the gas tank would fit.

I determined where I wanted the seats to go and created the framing to hold the seat base plates. I decided to use the Attwood Swivl-ease for the 3/4 inch pin posts. I did some online searching and found the base plates with the metal bushing. I thought they would hold up better than the plastic bushings. I used two plates on the back seat. One in the middle for still fishing and one offset to the right for operating the tiller.



The framing for the main center floor was done with 2x4 laid flat to keep the center of gravity as low as I could. I made sure there was enough clearance below the flooring to mount the seat base in the center section. I allowed for the placement of a storage area in the area closest to the bow since there was around 5-6" depth that could be used. The back section of the main flooring didn't have much clearance for storage. I put flotation foam under the flooring in that area.




The front deck framing used the front seat support. On my Lund there was also a small seat support in the bow of the boat. I built up that seat to attach the very front deck framing.

This picture doesn't show it, but I put two seat bases in the front casting deck. One was placed where the original seat was. This allows a passenger to use that seat when the boat is moving where his feet can be down on the main floor. I placed the second one about a foot closer to the bow so that the front seat can be placed on a pedestal post for casting from the bow deck.


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Once the framing was done, the next step was to cut and install the plywood flooring and decking. As I mentioned earlier, I used 5/8" ACX plywood sealed with a couple of coats of spar urethane. I used a cardboard template for cutting the bow decking. I found that I needed to fine tune the plywood cuts multiple times before it fit like I wanted. The center flooring was basically a rectangle so that was an easy cut. The rear deck was almost a rectangle. I needed to trim a bit to make it fit by the splash tray.

I don't have very many pictures or the work in progress. Here are some pictures of how it turned out.







Once I had the decking and flooring cut, the next step was to cut the opening for the storage areas and seat bases. For storage I had three areas behind the rear seat. The center one was where the gas tank would be. There was also one on each side of the gas compartment for other storage. There was also a storage area on the center flooring just behind the front seat. The bow decking also had a fairly large storage area where I plan to put life jackets and my battery. I also used a hole saw to cut out the opening for the seat bases. It was a little nerve racking to cut the openings in the decking that I had just spent a fair amount of time fitting. It all worked out.

I should mention I was planning on covering the flooring with a marine vinyl. In order to accommodate for the thickness of the vinyl, I trimmed the doors to the storage compartments by 3/8" all around. This allowed the doors after they were covered with the vinyl to fit properly. I found some vinyl hinges online that were considerably cheaper that what stainless steel ones cost.




The next step was to cover the decking with the marine vinyl. I did a lot of searching online and found the best deal at Defender.com. I ordered 6 yards of the 72" wide Nautolex vinyl flooring. This ended up being plenty. I also bought 1 Qt of the Nautolex #88 adhesive. One quart was not nearly enough and it was rather expensive. I ended up buying some contact glue from Menards to finish the flooring (a lot cheaper). I was concerned that the contact glue would be too unforgiving but I found that I could pull the pieces apart and realign the vinyl if needed. I think it may have been because the temperature was cool and the contact glue had not completely dried. I used a roller made out of a small paint roller with a piece of PVC pipe over the roller to roll the vinyl smooth. Anyway, it all worked out OK.







I purchased some boat numbers and a couple of Lund stickers.

As I mentioned in my opening post. The primary reason I bought the boat was that I hoped to take my grandkids fishing.

This is what it was all about.

How is the stability when standing up front? I did my 14 foot '56 Traveler very similar to yours, but I have yet to take it out on the water so I am still questioning the stability up front.

Top notch build too!!!

Thanks. I am very happy with the stability. Although it was only me in the boat, I didn't feel uncomfortable or tipsy at all using the pedestal seat on the front casting deck
S

Awesome! I hope the kids had a great time fishing! I think the boat turned out super nice. The vinyl was a neat touch. How did that work out?

Thanks. The kids really had fun. I think in this case, the size of the memory was inversely proportional to the size of the fish.
I'm very happy with the vinyl. Easy to clean. Not slippery and no snagged fish hooks.

Could you send me a pm if possible op. How did weight of wood work out for floatation of boat ? I like your setup very much. I have kids and like the idea of all the seating u have. Thanks for any help.

Boat looks great.
How much flotation foam is in the boat now?
Tim

I put the original big pieces back under the front seat and rear seats. I also put new pieces under the lower floor in front of the rear seat. Also the entire framing and deck are wood and fastened to the seat structures. I assume that the wood would have buoyancy if I was ever swamped. I live in the midwest so I only am on small inland lakes.

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Schukster,

This is a real nice build man, well done sir!

Thank you. I am adding some rod holders and a bow mount trolling motor this spring. I'll post some pictures when I'm done

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