bridge boat build

R

rob_g

Active member
I got this boat awhile ago from a friend. He got it years ago and we've been talking about building it forever with intentions of hunting the finger lakes, st lawrence sea way, or south jersey for snow geese.

The biggest hurdles next are to reinforce the transom for the 70hp tiller and a front deck for storage and spot for the dog. The transom will have to get wedges put on it as the transom is 90 degrees on these boats.

Ive added extra support on top of the floor stringers, and decked it in 1/8 aluminum sheets riveted down so far. I will try to update this as I go. I know alot of you guys are always interested in these boats.

Added some pictures of when I first got it and the condition it was in. These are the most difficult boats on the planet to clean all the crap out of in between the stringers! Float tested it last week to make sure it wasnt taking on water before i put the floor down.

thanks for checking it out

Rob
 

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rob_g said:
I got this boat awhile ago from a friend. He got it years ago and we've been talking about building it forever with intentions of hunting the finger lakes, st lawrence sea way, or south jersey for snow geese.

The biggest hurdles next are to reinforce the transom for the 70hp tiller and a front deck for storage and spot for the dog. The transom will have to get wedges put on it as the transom is 90 degrees on these boats.

Ive added extra support on top of the floor stringers, and decked it in 1/8 aluminum sheets riveted down so far. I will try to update this as I go. I know alot of you guys are always interested in these boats.

Added some pictures of when I first got it and the condition it was in. These are the most difficult boats on the planet to clean all the crap out of in between the stringers! Float tested it last week to make sure it wasnt taking on water before i put the floor down.

thanks for checking it out

Rob
Click to expand...
Rob,
Did your friend lower the gunnels? The bridge boats I've seen have much higher sides.
RM
 
I can't remember if he put the build on this site, but Troy Fields used to guide seaducks out of re-worked Bailey bridge boat. A search under his name might turn up some photos. Haven't seen him on the site in a while.
 
Those are definitely cool hulls. A lot of work had been done to mine when I purchased it. The transom already had a wedge on it. Wiring had all been done in PVC conduit to a control panel. The bow had been covered about 3' back with aluminum, which provided some covered storage. I ran a Yamaha 4-stroke 60 tiller on mine. I also had pods fabricated and welded to the transom ( like the beavertail style). If I were to ever get another, that would be the first thing I would do. They were priceless for working around the transom, dog entry to the boat and also added some buoyancy to the stern area. Especially since there is not a splash well. Have fun, the only issue I ever had to pay closer attention too was that, that particular "bullnose" hull design likes to punch through swells and waves as opposed to parting them like a V-hull would do. I'll see if I can some pictures. And yes, I had a hard sided, permanent blind for mine, all aluminum.
 
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