advTHXance
Well-Known Member
As the title states, my poor old popemobile is getting tired. Shes a 1980 Fiberform thats served me well for about 5 years now or so. Shes been kind enough to take me from the Gulf Islands to Swiftsure and everywhere in between. Shes small in stature (and ugly to some) but offers a lot of room on board to fish, which is really all I cared about in the first place. I owe it to her to let her live out her final years in peace, so Id like to find a hull I can swap everything onto. This has been in the back of my mind since I bought the boat, as I originally bought it to swap the motor and trailer over to my old 17' harbercraft, which I ended up getting rid of after fishing the popemobile for a few seasons.
So the search begins. Ideally Im looking for something I can literally just take everything off my current boat and plop it onto a new hull. Im focused mostly on aluminium boats, in the 16' CC/SC range, nothing fancy just a serviceable hull with a console and bench seat, gas tank, fish box, a couple downrigger mounts and cleats... with as much dance floor as physically possible. Obviously I want something durable that isnt going to tear a hole when I hit a twig.
So I have an idea of what I want, but Im not sure of the best way to get it. Ive checked out a few local metal fabricators, some cnc build kits, looked online at used boats (not much out there that fits my needs), I even watched a guy on YT build one from scratch. Anyways, this is still in its infancy and the popemobile would surely last another couple seasons, so Id like to get some ideas (or past experiences) from the forum populace before I get too far ahead of myself. Chances are several of you have already been through this before.
Thank you kindly fellas and fellaettes
So the search begins. Ideally Im looking for something I can literally just take everything off my current boat and plop it onto a new hull. Im focused mostly on aluminium boats, in the 16' CC/SC range, nothing fancy just a serviceable hull with a console and bench seat, gas tank, fish box, a couple downrigger mounts and cleats... with as much dance floor as physically possible. Obviously I want something durable that isnt going to tear a hole when I hit a twig.
So I have an idea of what I want, but Im not sure of the best way to get it. Ive checked out a few local metal fabricators, some cnc build kits, looked online at used boats (not much out there that fits my needs), I even watched a guy on YT build one from scratch. Anyways, this is still in its infancy and the popemobile would surely last another couple seasons, so Id like to get some ideas (or past experiences) from the forum populace before I get too far ahead of myself. Chances are several of you have already been through this before.
Thank you kindly fellas and fellaettes