22' Lund 165 mercruiser modify

Hello to all the members. I'm new to iboats and have found your forums very enlightening. I've recently aquired my boat and love it. It is a relic but it has charm. Boat runs very well and is in good condition. It was shelterd and maintained. My idea is to try and bring her to the 21st.century. The bow is huge and am considering shaving it down approx 6" at the front to 0.0" at about halfway towards the stern. Also considering fabing a wakeboard tower. This boat has plenty of power and life in her. I have concerns as to performance and safety of lowering the top. It sits high in the water. Any pointers or considerations would be apprieciated. Am a machinist by trade thanks

Re: 22' Lund 165 mercruiser modify

Bushrat2012 said:

Hello to all the members. I'm new to iboats and have found your forums very enlightening. I've recently aquired my boat and love it. It is a relic but it has charm. Boat runs very well and is in good condition. It was shelterd and maintained. My idea is to try and bring her to the 21st.century. The bow is huge and am considering shaving it down approx 6" at the front to 0.0" at about halfway towards the stern. Also considering fabing a wakeboard tower. This boat has plenty of power and life in her. I have concerns as to performance and safety of lowering the top. It sits high in the water. Any pointers or considerations would be apprieciated. Am a machinist by trade thanks

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Ayuh,... Welcome Aboard,... I'm havin' a hard time visualizin' what yer sayin'....

Got any pictures to help explain,..??

Re: 22' Lund 165 mercruiser modify





Thanks Bond-O. I want to drop the front height about 6'' at an angle toward the stern. Just a slight shave to make it a little less cumbersome while looking out the front. With alum it shouldn't be to hard.

Re: 22' Lund 165 mercruiser modify

Bushrat2012 said:

View attachment 168788View attachment 168789View attachment 168790View attachment 168791



Thanks Bond-O. I want to drop the front height about 6'' at an angle toward the stern. Just a slight shave to make it a little less cumbersome while looking out the front. With alum it shouldn't be to hard.

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Ayuh,.... Sounds like a can of worms,... Get a taller seat....

Re: 22' Lund 165 mercruiser modify

It would appear Bond-o that the number of posts that you submit would indicate that trolling is what you do best.

Re: 22' Lund 165 mercruiser modify

Hey rat, welcome to iboats!

Heads up, my buddy bondo there might not be able to figure out how to type on his puter with more than one finger at a time, but he is a true master mechanic.

I can't quite figure what you are going for either. Though I'm a master knuckle dragger so there are a lot of things I can't figure.

Can you draw up some lines/plans on that photo so we can see what you are thinking?

Welcome!

Re: 22' Lund 165 mercruiser modify

jasoutside said:

Heads up, my buddy bondo there might not be able to figure out how to type on his puter with more than one finger at a time, but he is a true master mechanic.

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Yep, & psst, that's Moderator under his user name

As in 1 of the moderators of this most generous forum, not that he's moderate in any thing he works on :facepalm:

Welcome to iboats....

Post up where you're boating, you might miss that extra tall bow in 1 of the Great Lakes or the ocean.....

Just for info, where is the gas tank located now? Between the front console & the motor's doghouse? Relocating the tank further up front might bring the bow down some, and may not overly bias the weight distribution of the hull....

Just based on the limited profile in the pix you posted, dropping the bow 6" and tapering it back to the 1/2 way mark, may make the end point look like a slight 'crown' in the gunwale. Even more like a high spot while not underway, or on the trailer.

Read thru some of the Starcraft resto's in that link in Jas' signature line there's lots of interesting restos & mods in many of those threads.

It's your boat, so you're certainly free to make the aluminum fit your needs, wants & vision of how it 'should' be.....

Welcome again.....

Re: 22' Lund 165 mercruiser modify


Thanks, point taken. Mods shouldn't need to be flipant. Thought about the crown. it would be less noticeable the further i go back. there is a 18 gal. tank in the bow. I'm enjoying the waters of northen manitoba and sask.

Re: 22' Lund 165 mercruiser modify

Now that you've drawn a line along the hull, and moved it further back to lessen the crown, it kind of looks like there will be an inch or more in console height needing to be removed too. If not, there will need to be some strange looking fabrication to tie the existing taller consoles into the now shorter gunwale.

Not boating in big water, correct, my canadian geography is failing me currently, so you might not miss the taller bow.

A taller seat post would surely lessen the cumbersome view...

And be much less time, effort, & money. Might consider sitting on a 5gal bucket to see how much the view changes. If the bucket is taller then the current seat post anyway.......

Re: 22' Lund 165 mercruiser modify

You should try a taller seat, or try just sitting on your throwable cushion. I think if you took the bow rail off it would give the boat a sleeker look.

I'm afraid if you try what you are proposing you will end up destroying the boat you like so much. Pulling the rubrails and gunwales off and making the cut would be the only easy parts. Getting it back together while keeping it looking right would be a nightmare. Maybe get a ballast bag and put it in the bow to give you some more wake and a lower prifile. I think bond-o's "can of worms" analagy is spot on.

I am also a machinist and toolmaker. I started my much less agressive rebuild last year at this time and ended up getting a bodyman friend to help me with the interior fabrication.

BTW welcome to iboats, got to love those old 165 Mercruisers, I had one in a massive old Glasser runabout once, it ran like a top.

Re: 22' Lund 165 mercruiser modify

Bondo may be flippant (some may call that direct) but I (along with Imuss) very much agree that a can of worms will be opened along with that bow.

Cool thing is she's all yours and a blank canvas so have fun!

Re: 22' Lund 165 mercruiser modify

Bushrat2012 said:

View attachment 169094
Thanks, point taken. Mods shouldn't need to be flipant. Thought about the crown. it would be less noticeable the further i go back. there is a 18 gal. tank in the bow. I'm enjoying the waters of northen manitoba and sask.

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Removing the rail, horn, and light, modifying that bow "platform" so it doesn't have a crown to it, would really update the look of the boat.
I'm all for making things like you want, and generally don't like it when people don't offer help vs opinions about what they think is best. But in this case, they would probably be right. The thing is, if you update the look of what you have you won't notice the bow as much.
And best of all, that is a big water boat. The hull is shaped accordingly. If it's to big for your water you could certainly sell it for a good price after the rebuild, and buy a smaller boat more suited to your water size.