Getting serious this time...flounder boat project

[FishNette]

Since purchasing an old flounder boat recently, I kept wondering what would make it better. It's a little small and 'tipsy' for floundering(2112 warned me of this), so the only thing I could come up with was to replace it with a larger hull. I found a used 20' Weldcraft that is stripped and in need of repair, and I love a good project. We started working on it this weekend and made major progress with rebuilding the front which had severe damage.

I plan to get serious with this one...stay tuned!

[Curmudgeon]

Cool! The pipe looks like a great solution for the bow repair.

[03Marine]

It looks like the previous owner didnt take care of it. At least its in good hands now. Cant wait to see the after pictures. I might just patrol over there and scope it out some time.

[WestEndAngler]

Nice progress! Should be a fun project!

[Reef Drifter]

Re: Getting serious this time...flounder boat project

Good luck ! Ready to see the finished product

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[2112]

Oh heck ya. A 20ft hull is going to be a stable and shallow drafting platform to turn into a Flounder boat

Keep it light, every inch of draft is so critical to a flounder boat especialy in Galveston's typical off-colored waters.
It's easy to over engineer these things by adding things like to thick tubing for rails and fan mounts, diamond plate floors and what not but these things all add up to unnecessary weight.

A boat this big would justify a honda V-twin 18hp fan with a 3 blade composite prop most likely using a minimum pitch.

Oh ya, dont use rudders. You want the entire fan to rotate on it's mount.

Looking forward to following this progression.

[FishNette]

Oh heck ya. A 20ft hull is going to be a stable and shallow drafting platform to turn into a Flounder boat

Keep it light, every inch of draft is so critical to a flounder boat especialy in Galveston's typical off-colored waters.
It's easy to over engineer these things by adding things like to thick tubing for rails and fan mounts, diamond plate floors and what not but these things all add up to unnecessary weight.

A boat this big would justify a honda V-twin 18hp fan with a 3 blade composite prop most likely using a minimum pitch.

Oh ya, dont use rudders. You want the entire fan to rotate on it's mount.

Looking forward to following this progression.

We plan to use the same fan motor from the other boat and mount it on a swivel(no rudders).

We will be putting diamond plate on the floor, however, to make up for our poor footing under certain conditions. But we will be keeping the add-ons to a minimum. A 5' deck up front and a center console and some railings. That's pretty much it.

What size outboard do you guys recommend?? I'm thinking 115-150 hp. Thanks

[Rollo]

Nice progress on the nose may have been a work boat once upon a time!....I like that yamaha 90 in a 2stroke for weight savings speed shouldnt be much of an issue the right prop would turn it on!!

[2112]

Rollo is right about the speed thing.
Hauling azz at night even if you know your areas is a potentionaly dangerous thing.
Also I think fast flat hulled john boats are inherently dangerous at speed
I hung a 60hp on mine for this reason. It's light and still gets up on plane. I think now I could have done just fine with a 40hp
There is no good reason to add big hp to a flounder boat, even if you are thinking of adding sponsoons on the transome (Wich you should and will) to offset the weight of your outboard.
Keep thinking-keep it lite as possible.
With all the moneys save on the big out board could also be used towards a Vtwin honda and then reason I keep bringing up the Vtwin thing is my friend use to have a Vtwin on his boat. That engine could push the air hard, very rarely did we ever have to get out of the boat because we were stuck on a tire or something plus the Vtwin IDLES AND RUNS SMOOTH wereas my thumper has a lot of vibration when idled down to that sweet spot gig speed. All that vibration is hard on electronics, welds, light bulb filiments etc.

These are just my thoughts and I would have built a little different knowing what I do now.

[coachlaw]

I think diamond plate might not be your best option. IMO a marine plywood floor painted with sand grit will give you much more traction and should save weight too. Just a thought. Looks like a cool old boat. Reminds me if the Ugly Mudda.

[FishNette]

Thanks for your comments. I just hate to under power the boat or make it too heavy, either. It does have sponsons on the back which are quite large. I'm leaning toward a 115. The Galveston Bay Complex is quite large and I don't want to spend all of my time traveling at 25 or 30 mph. 40+mph would be great!

[FishNette]

More pics of progress...
Fuel tank


center console

[FishNette]

more pics...

[fishinganimal]

Looking good!! Curious what you overall weight will be on completion.

[FishNette]

Looking good!! Curious what you overall weight will be on completion.

Me too. The aluminum is about 80 lbs per sheet(4'x10'x.125"). We will probably use 5 full sheets, so 400 lbs of aluminum, 400 lb outboard motor, 700 lb boat hull, 300 lbs batteries and rigging. That's 1800 lbs. plus gear, fuel, and 3 people should put it at about 2700 lbs total.


Does anyone here know how to caculate what the draft might be??