Bare hull- reworking the Titanic for a 3rd time

[Nick Zito]

Enter "the titanic," a 1964 hull that's been hunted out of in varying arrays and remodels since purchase by my duck hunting "family."

I ended up doing a bunch of work to this boat before covid for time and materials, the owner used it once, sunk it, I revived it again, then he stopped hunting and let it go to waste over 5 years.

He was going to have it cut up and donated, so I got paid (again) to transfer it off his property to another friends house where she and her boyfriend were going to overhaul it.

Two years ago her house burned down, project never resumed. After another year of trying to get the paperwork, I inherited this hull again.

Looking for ideas on how to retool this boat. This is a deeper V boat, and pretty much everything you see in it is rotten except the hull itself and the floor board over the bilge. It historically was used in LIS but closer to shore for sea ducks.

The photos I have are from the earlier editions, not current state.

What would you do with it? Give me some ideas (other than throw it away). Powered by a 2006 eTec 40 (still runs)

 

[Eric Patterson]

Nick

Have you thought about cutting the hull down, fitting bulkheads, and then decking it to make a big sneak boat? It looks like there is an existing chine that would be a good place to remove everything above it.

 

[Steve Sanford]

Enter "the titanic," a 1964 hull that's been hunted out of in varying arrays and remodels since purchase by my duck hunting "family."

I ended up doing a bunch of work to this boat before covid for time and materials, the owner used it once, sunk it, I revived it again, then he stopped hunting and let it go to waste over 5 years.

He was going to have it cut up and donated, so I got paid (again) to transfer it off his property to another friends house where she and her boyfriend were going to overhaul it.

Two years ago her house burned down, project never resumed. After another year of trying to get the paperwork, I inherited this hull again.

Looking for ideas on how to retool this boat. This is a deeper V boat, and pretty much everything you see in it is rotten except the hull itself and the floor board over the bilge. It historically was used in LIS but closer to shore for sea ducks.

The photos I have are from the earlier editions, not current state.

What would you do with it? Give me some ideas (other than throw it away). Powered by a 2006 eTec 40 (still runs)

Good morning, Nick~

With that deep V, I imagine it was a nice vessel for the Sound. My question looking forward, however, is: What sort of gunning boat do you "need" ? As you know, the deep hull certainly limits its value for use in and around marshes.

Also, when you say "everything you see is rotten" do you mean the decks etc? It certainly looks like it has enjoyed some fine workmanship in spite of its "storied" career afloat.

I know I am not supposed to suggest the "discard pile", but....as I suggested to Joe LaPorta, you may want to find a different hull to put that eTec on...

https://duckboats.net/community/threads/devlin-honker-build-prep.356620/

(I just saw an O'Day Day Sailer on FB Marketplace for $0.....)

All the best,

SJS

 

[Nick Zito]

Steve, the stepped deck is rotten, as is the electronics panel and the floor/piece on the bow. The main deck is still solid as if the hull and foredeck. The gunnels in the bow is also rotten. So perhaps I overstated, i will grab some photos this week after I get all the garbage out of it (quite literally, it was filled with what looked like a liquor stores worth of wine bottles and beer cans from who knows, random UV destroyed duck gear, etc)

I don't have a boat for the larger sound so that would be the target if used. I don't mind retooling it for sea ducks/scaup here and selling it to someone who has more time than I do.

I have a duck wrangler 15 that is my general purpose marsh boat/closer to shore in the sound boat, other than the fleet of paddle crafts.


Eric- would that work with a V this deep? I'm not opposed to it, but it may not suffice. I don't know what this thing drafts either, but not much is my guess

 

[Eric Patterson]

Nick

I think it could. Having said that I bet the hull is probably fairly heavy and like Steve says there are other hulls out there better suited.

 

[SJ Fairbank]

Nick,

I've been following this thread. I'm still not sure what I would do if the boat was mine. One thing I'm always nervous about with older glass boats is waterlogged fiberglass. It makes them heavy as heck and eventually weakens the glass enough that it fails. Since this hull did time as a sinkbox, that concern would be top of my list. If you decide to continue with a renovation, my inclination would be to use it as some type of marsh grass/blind boat. Perhaps cut down as Eric suggested, it would be a cool build to run deck timbers across the cockpit area and build a large sneak boat.

If you want a larger boat to hunt the sound, do yourself a favor and find a tin boat. There are used 18 foot hulls out there that are well suited to use in LIS. I appreciate the durability of Al if you get tangled with rocks or need to beach it, glass hulls don't do so well. FWIW, I did have a Duck Wrangler 17 which was a good platform for coots and Old Squaw. But my favorite way to hunt them is out of an open 16-20 foot aluminum, no blind of any kind, just sit on the floor between the seats. As you know they are not the wariest ducks around. Broadbill on the other hand......

Best of luck with this project, I'll be curious to see if you can make something work.