Electric only restoration of 1985 373V

[grandpabrian]

I just bought a 1985 373V from a guy off of craigslist. I got the boat and the trailer for $700.00. The boat has been painted with line-x on the top cap and the carpet is pretty rotten. There was no outboard, which is what I was looking for. I have been happy to keep this boat in bad shape until I started fishing off of it more at my 15 acre pond. Now I am excited about using it and would like to take some pride in it and restore it to its former glory, maybe even join an electric only fishing club. Here is what I want to do to it:

Completely rewire the bilge, fishboxes,and front trolling motor plug in
Install new bilge and livewell pumps and controls
Sand the line-x off the top cap and repaint
Build a deck extension
Buy new box lids that will lock
Re-carpet entire boat
Remove steering wheel and all controls
Remove gas tanks
Replace rope in rub rail
Install a foot mounted trolling motor up front
Find a way to permanently mount a rear trolling motor
Mount a depth finder on the front
Install a battery charger
Get new seats (Two butt seats, and replace the outside seats at the consoles, middle seat will have a tread put down to use as a step)
Install rod holders

I know this is going to be a very long process but any help or advice that y'all can give would be awesome. I am looking at starting it this fall/winter when it gets cold. Don't want to miss any good fishing. I have looked on the forums at a few restorations but there is not a lot of detail on how to do things, just what the people did. I am particularly interested in the deck extension. I don't need any extra storage for what I use it for, but I want it to be super solid and flush with the front deck. If anyone has any advice on how to do this while still letting me use my rod locker (which, right now, is not flush with the rest of the front deck) I would greatly appreciate it. I am a total newbie at this and have never worked on a boat before. I am getting married in July and figure I will need a hobby to have an excuse to get out of the house!

[Fish.Team.Rose]

sounds like fun! can i buy your spare parts? lol... why not put a 3 or 5 hp motor on the back? then u can move a little faster and save battery on your pond

[grandpabrian]

sounds like fun! can i buy your spare parts? lol... why not put a 3 or 5 hp motor on the back? then u can move a little faster and save battery on your pond

It spills into the county's reservoir so there are no gas engines allowed.

[grandpabrian]

sounds like fun! can i buy your spare parts? lol... why not put a 3 or 5 hp motor on the back? then u can move a little faster and save battery on your pond

What spare parts are you looking for?

[jseasor]

i restored a 373v, you can do a search for "1989 ranger 373v restore" and see pics and get some ideas

[GeorgeSantaRosa]

Here is some pictures of my Electric Ranger 85 373V - I redone a couple years ago but just sold it not to long ago to buy a new Ranger Aluminum, Good luck with the project it will be fun!

[grandpabrian]

@jseasor - I already had your project bookmarked!
@georgesantarosa - that looks really great. I am probably going to copy it exactly. Did you have working livewells and bilge?

[grandpabrian]

Front Carpet.jpgFront Consoles.jpgFull Boat.jpgRear Carpet.jpgRear.jpg
Here are some pictures of the boat taken yesterday

[TOXIC]

I would say getting the topcap back to any kind of gel is going to be pretty close to impossible. Don't get bitten by the refurb bug too bad. You can dump a lot of $$ really quick. Make sure you are improving only what you need for the boat to be functional for what you want it to do. IMHO.

[GeorgeSantaRosa]

Yes I had the Livewell & Bilge working. It held 8 batteries and 3 battery chargers with the gas tank removed, I repainted the top cop with herculiner.

@jseasor - I already had your project bookmarked!
@georgesantarosa - that looks really great. I am probably going to copy it exactly. Did you have working livewells and bilge?

[grandpabrian]

@toxic I agree with you 100%. I think I am just going to reapply some bed liner so that it is more even and apply some to the transom and the interior walls of the boat also.

@georgesantarosa that is a lot of batteries. How long could you fish between charges?

[grandpabrian]

If anyone is interested in buying things off the boat that I will not be using (gas tanks, grab rails, etc) let me know. I will ship them. Trying to get some money for a bow mount trolling motor.

[Ranger391v]

I like your idea. I seen a TV show once where the guys were doing the same thing but out of a Triton TR-18 (I believe that was the size).

Just an idea for ya ..... and know that they are a little pricey ..... but didn't know if you knew about this 2hp electric outboard from Minn Kota.

E-Drive | Electric Outboard | Trolling Motors | Products | Minn Kota Motors

I know if it was me ...... on a 15ac pond, I might want to ride the kids around, and a console re-fitted to run that electric motor via the steering wheel might just be the ticket. Especially if that meant I got to sit in a seat while toolin' around the pond.

Good Luck and keep us posted! (with pic's )

[pennman]

If anyone is interested in buying things off the boat that I will not be using (gas tanks, grab rails, etc) let me know. I will ship them. Trying to get some money for a bow mount trolling motor.

douglasville, ga? if so i may want to talk to you about a couple things. thanx,mike

[grandpabrian]

douglasville, ga? if so i may want to talk to you about a couple things. thanx,mike

Yeah, Douglasville, GA. I live off of Ridge Road on the Paulding County line. I just took one gas tank out and it is in great shape. Going to take the second one out this weekend. I also took off the windshields and the one for the passenger console is in good shape. If there is anything in particular you are looking for let me know. Shoot me an email brian.headrick@gmail.com

[grandpabrian]

I like your idea. I seen a TV show once where the guys were doing the same thing but out of a Triton TR-18 (I believe that was the size).

Just an idea for ya ..... and know that they are a little pricey ..... but didn't know if you knew about this 2hp electric outboard from Minn Kota.

E-Drive | Electric Outboard | Trolling Motors | Products | Minn Kota Motors

I know if it was me ...... on a 15ac pond, I might want to ride the kids around, and a console re-fitted to run that electric motor via the steering wheel might just be the ticket. Especially if that meant I got to sit in a seat while toolin' around the pond.

Good Luck and keep us posted! (with pic's )

That is nice, but a little bit expensive for what I am doing. Thanks for the heads up though.