Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

Greetings to all!
I am new to this group, but reviewing all the great advise and outcome of your restoration projects has enticed me to make a go at fixing up a 12ft Sea King for fishing on tidal rivers on the Chesapeake.

I have taken out the seats and benches and want to first put in a floor. There is a groove all around the boat (forgive me as I don't know what it's called). I'm wondering if I should try to cut my flooring to fit in this groove, and if so how do I secure it?

If anyone has tackled this boat before that would be great, but I am open to any advice.
Thanks to all in advance
-Dennis

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

Maybe the floor(plywood?) would just lay in there with it's own weight, then you could remove it occasionally for cleaning, hull repairs/modifications? Good Luck!

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

Dennis,

Get them PICS posted soz we can see what ya gotz. Oh, boats gotz decks not floorz. And just as and FYI NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use Pressure Treated Wood in your Aluminum boat. The chemicals in the wood will react negatively with the aluminum and cause a corrosive reaction that is REALLY BAD!!!!. Use Stainless or Aluminum hardware.

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

I guess Wood has a speach impediment today .

Yes pics would greatly help.

YD.

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

Welcome to iboats.

A 12 foot boat has a very limited weight capacity to begin with. Any weight you add to the boat such as a deck or other will subtract from the capacity. The total capacity for a sea king 12 ' is 500 lbs. That includes the motor, fuel, people and gear. Depending on what you use for power that usually takes away 150 lbs +/- so the people capacity is now 350 lbs or 2 175 lb guys NOT COUNTING gear and beer.

Think over your project very carefully. The seats can not be deleted since they are part of the structure and on top of all of that keep in mind a 12' boat tends to be tippy.

Now people have made removable decking for the smaller aluminum boats and it just stays in place using the well known secret - gravity.

The 12' boat in my opinion is a great boat and left "original" is usually the best bet.

What are you intending to use for power? A simple 9.9 HP outboard is the maximum HP that boat will handle. If you go electric the deep cell battery will weigh in at about 65 lbs.

I hope I have not confused you. Yes please, do not use pressure treated wood (the acq treatment reacts with the aluminum) and it would not provide any benefit anyway.

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

Thank you all for helping me out! I took several pictures, but I can't figure how to pos them here. I've been looking on the site for insrtuctions, but haven't found them yet.

Before I joined this post I made the first cardinal sin, I put a 2X6 pressure treated board on the inside transom (please forgive me as I don't know the correct nautical name for that). Okay, I took it out. So what do I replace it with? A non-pressure treated 2x6? Will marine plywood that is painted suffice for transom material? I'm worried the screwing down of the motor mount will eat away at the plywood. Solid wood?

I have a 6 horse power (I think) Johnson that I have been running on it. I also have a minkota trolling motor I would like to put on the boat. I was thinking of putting the battery under the front/middle seat. The good news is I weigh 170lbs (I could loose 10-15, so I'll keep that in mind). I planning on putting just one other seat to seat only two. I will only allow beer on board if the first mate is under 175lbs. Oh, and I will through back any fish that weighs over 5lbs, or dispatch the first mate.

I bought a 4 x 8 sheet of outdoor plywood for the decking. I just didn't think the 1/2 inch would handle the weight, so I bought 3/4 inch.

More when I figure how to post the pictures. You can guess how skilled I am with power equipment. Thanks all!

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

Hey DM

To post your pics from your PC Click the Square icon in the menu bar with the Green Tree in the center. Click Select Files then browse your PC for the file(s) you want to upload(up to 6m Hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple files) then click upload. That's all there is to it. Ext. Grade Ply that you are gunna use for your deck. Buy a gallon or two of Epoxy resin and coat the plywood with it. Then when ever you drill or screw into the wood just make sure to use 3M 4200 on the Threads to seal it up. If you do this, the wood will last a L-O-N-G time. Make sure to soak the edges of the plywood really good. Thats where you run the most risk of getting water penetration.

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

Hey Commander Woodonglass,
When I click on that icon I get a message box that asks me to enter the URL address for my picture. There is no "select files" in the box. I have contacted the site manager for help. Stay tuned. Thanks.

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

dmattva said:

Hey Commander Woodonglass,
When I click on that icon I get a message box that asks me to enter the URL address for my picture. There is no "select files" in the box. I have contacted the site manager for help. Stay tuned. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Select files refer's to Manage attachments. When you reply you should select Go Advanced and scroll down. Manage attachments is a button listed under Attachments heading. You would receive a faster response contacting a Moderator for issues.

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

OK, sounds like your Settings are not turn on correctly. At the top of the forum page in the upper right corner in the Blue band click on Settings. In the settings window, in the Left menu Scroll down and find MY Account and click on General Settings. In the General Settings window Scroll all the way to the bottom and you will see this...



Make sure and check the boxes like these. You will then be able to download without going to the Advanced Section.



Send me a PM if you have further issues.

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

View attachment 84259View attachment 84257View attachment 84255


Hey, Thanks for the help with being able to download my pictures! I sent my question to the moderator, but never got a response.

Anyway, here are my 5 alotted pictures of the boat. First picture shows the inside transom with a pressure treated 2x6 that I have installed, and have now REMOVED.

The second picture shows the bench bracket that I have drilled off. It shows this groove that runs the perimeter of the boat. The front seat was mounted on the upper bench which you could only sit facing the stern. So I want to move the seat and bench somewhere between the existing benchs. That means I need to relocate the bench mounts. One thought I had was to leave a elevated mount up front so a fisherman can move up to that seat when we're casting for lunkers.

The third picture shows my initial attempt to lay down a template with cardboard and paper along the groove. I'm not sold on putting the decking along the groove, but I don't know how else to put it down. I bought some aluminum rail to mount on the ribs, but I don't know the trick on how to lay it down. I paricularly want to put a storage compartment in front for an anchor. And perhaps this foward decking would be even with the front seat.

I would also like to put in some storage benches between the seats along the sides of the boat.

The fourth and fifth picture show more of the bow and groove.

I'm anxious to get started, so work me Commanders. I sure appreciate your advise and assistance.

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

Go to the advanced tab and try again. The 1st to pics are there but the last three didn't make it.

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat



Here are some more of the pictures that didn't download from my previous post.

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

dmattva said:

I sent my question to the moderator, but never got a response.

Click to expand...

Which Moderator?

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

My apologies if I am offending anyone, I am new to using this site. I posted my concern about posting pictures by clicking "contact us" at the bottom of the page. If there is a more appropriate way to contact a moderator, I would be grateful to be informed.

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

dmattva said:

My apologies if I am offending anyone, I am new to using this site. I posted my concern about posting pictures by clicking "contact us" at the bottom of the page. If there is a more appropriate way to contact a moderator, I would be grateful to be informed.

Click to expand...

Yes the Moderators are just recognized by title. No real list to refer you to. Okay I see which button you used and I will remind the Administrator if they are contacted to contact us. The message just went to the wrong person No harm no foul.

How are you going to attach that deck? You will need to secure it since you have removed the seats and lost the support ties with the side of the hull.

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

You could learn a lot from this thread...

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=309879&highlight=lakelover

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

I am planning on putting the seat support ties back in. I have followed coolnes restoration on the same boat and he used aluminum rivets. I need to reposition where I want the benches put in. Just like the PO of coolnes did. The way they were positioned before you couldn't sit forward in the front seat.
I am planning on laying the decking into the groove. Do you think I should glue the decking in the groove? If so what glue would you recommend?

Hopefully I can get some work done this weekend.

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

Welcome to the site Dmattva..

Please take heed of the max weight capacity of that lil bugger..I have a 14 footer that is tipsy at times.
Will it always be just you in this or you plan on filling it with a buddy and ice chest and all the goodies? 500lbs adds up real quick..Heck I am half of it!

Re: Restoring a 12ft Montgomery Wards Sea King Aluminum Boat

View attachment 88789
Hey all,
I've been working on this boat and will be taking pictures to show you how I'm doing. Cutting the plywood to fit the decking was an emense challange. I tried the cardboard/paper template approach, but didn't really do that well. Hopefully, the carpet will hide some of my mistakes. I have on important question that I need to solve to get my front decking on. I need to make another seat bracket like the one shown in the picture. I'm guessing I'm going to have to buy a sheet of aluminum and fabricate my own. Unless one of you know where I can find one or something close. Thanks.
-Dennis