Lund Fisherman 1800 info/advice

[kball4]

So I am being gifted a late 90's Lund fisherman 1800, it was my uncles and due to finacial hardships it sat unused and uncovered for 10+ years.  So I have a fun rebuilding project on my hands, I assume the floors are rotted and needs a complete rebuild.  My main uses for boats are salmon fishing and crabbing/shrimping with the occasional bottom fishing trip to the straights.  How does a boat this size handle the sound?  Are their any changes to the layout that you would change from the factory. Oh it's an outboard with a 115 johnson ocean runner.

[Skillet]

One of my favorite Lund models.  The layout is great for trolling, pots, jigging. Hull is well suited to handle the sound on an average day.  Deep boat.

Are you planning on repowering?  I believe those hulls max out at 150, but this may be a pre-IFS model and max out a little lower.

A great platform to build on.  Hold their value well.  Should be a fun project.   

[Stein]

It will do OK in the sound, but they are really not designed for that type of fishing.  The transom looks like it will take water fairly easily and the hull design isn't optimized for cutting big waves.  I'm not sure on the construction, but bet is is on the lighter side.  If that is the case, they would be subject to stress cracks if you get into pounding on it on a regular basis.

I did use a lighter boat for several years before upgrading and it can be done.  Pick your days and know when to pull the plug and run home.  For salmon you will need a kicker and downriggers.  For any sound fishing, I would have a top to keep you out of the rain as much as possible.

If you are only using it for what you mentioned, go spartan in the back when you rebuild, get as much usable deck space as you can.  Those boats have a bunch of space up front already, so don't waste anything in the back with extra seats or carpet.

Finally, should have been first, put two good bilge pumps in there and have a manual backup.  Without a self bailing bow, you will end up with a bunch of water in the boat at some time.

[kball4]

I may be forced to repower if the motor is seized and it has a jet lower which I have no experience with.

I'm not a fan of open bow boats but hey it's free.  What is a Spartan? Some kind of extended transom?

[Skillet]

Stein is right, they aren't built as heavy as a Northriver or Weldcraft, etc.  It's a riveted boat, .100" hull.  I've spent a lot of hours fishing out of one, some of those tournament fishing walleye.  We beat the snot out of it, and it  earned my respect as a tough fishing platform.  10 mile full throttle runs through steep chop will test a boat. The 1800 Fisherman model is a fine boat that will handle most of what the Sound had to offer.

If the splashwell height is a concern, a set of WaveWackers solves the problem.

Based on my personal experience with these boats, I would not hesitate to dive into this project and build a boat that you'll get years and years of service out of. 

[Crunchy]

That boat will work fine in the sound.  The motor would work but not ideal depending on your budget.  Get a kicker motor, two downriggers, decent sonar and you will be ready to rock.  it will get expensive depending on how much other gear you have.

[Skillet]

I may be forced to repower if the motor is seized and it has a jet lower which I have no experience with.

I'm not a fan of open bow boats but hey it's free.  What is a Spartan? Some kind of extended transom?

A jet lower?  Total mismatch for this hull.  You'll probably want a prop lower.  And now you've got me thinking your uncle tried to run rivers with it, so check out the bottom really well before you start. 

Stein just meant don't build it too heavy on the stern.  I'd suggest you rebuild to stock specs, those sterns are fine.  If you build too light in the stern, you'll have some terrible handling characteristics at speed (and lower top speed) caused by the bow not lifting out as far as it is designed to.

[Alchase]

Very popular on Hood Canal and the straights. Our neighbor on the Canal has had one for years. They are around 4k lbs dry weight, so they have some weight to them. When anchored, and tide goes out, you will not be able to drag it to water, trust me we tried, LOL.
Can catch side wind a bit, but I would not hesitate to take one out of Sekiu or Point No Point.
Just be smart and always keep an eye on the weather.

[Stein]

Sorry, spartan as in simple without a bunch of extra stuff.  I looked online at pictures of that model and most had full carpet and seats against the transom.  If I was doing a rebuild, I would rip all that out and go with a simple marine vinyl type floor or glassed over wood, something that doesn't hold water, blood, sand, etc and can easily be hosed out.

When I was running a Smokercraft riveted boat, I had to take it in to get some cracks reinforced and welded, more due to the thinner metal than rivets.  I never had any issue with the rivets, but you can't pound and flex thin aluminum over and over again and expect to not have some issues.  The local welder fixed it up perfect for $150, so not a big issue.

It will easily handle the sound and nearshore straits on good weather days.  The biggest concern I would have is if it didn't have a self bailing bow, looks like some do and some don't.  I pretty much scoop water at least once or twice a season and that would be 50 gallons of water each time you need to get back out as quickly as possible.  If you couldn't, your number of days on the water would just be much more limited.

With the transom, just be careful of following seas and boat wakes when setting pots and trolling (and bilge pumps).  I always back into the wind and tide when setting shrimp pots so I don't have a huge scope on the line when putting out 400' of line.  That makes for some exciting times when the weather is bad and transoms are low.

If I got one for free and the choice was to run that or sit on the beach and fish, I would absolutely get it running and take it out as much as I could.  It isn't ideal, but the price was right and it will work plenty good to get you on a ton of opportunity.

[kball4]

Cool guys thanks for the info.  I am selling my house and moving into a 5th wheel while my house is being built so this project will be a good time consumer. 

[Bill W]

I have the 1800 Fisherman and it works well in the Sound.  I've also had it in the straits and also out in the ocean.  I wasn't a big fan of having it out in the ocean as it's an open bow.  You will need a dependable big motor on it.  I had a 115 hp Yamaha with an 8 hp Yamaha kicker and a pair of electric downriggers.     Even though your boat sat out in the open for 10 years it may be all the boat needs is a good cleaning and servicing the motors.

[kball4]

Hope for the best prepared for the worst.

[Angry Perch]

Very popular on Hood Canal and the straights. Our neighbor on the Canal has had one for years. They are around 4k lbs dry weight, so they have some weight to them. When anchored, and tide goes out, you will not be able to drag it to water, trust me we tried, LOL.
Can catch side wind a bit, but I would not hesitate to take one out of Sekiu or Point No Point.
Just be smart and always keep an eye on the weather.

I'd have thought  it'd be closer to half that weight?

[Alchase]

Very popular on Hood Canal and the straights. Our neighbor on the Canal has had one for years. They are around 4k lbs dry weight, so they have some weight to them. When anchored, and tide goes out, you will not be able to drag it to water, trust me we tried, LOL.
Can catch side wind a bit, but I would not hesitate to take one out of Sekiu or Point No Point.
Just be smart and always keep an eye on the weather.

I'd have thought  it'd be closer to half that weight?

I think you are correct!
I can’t find the spec sheet I was reading earlier, but the 1800 Fisherman is basically the same maybe a little lighter than the 1800 Tyee which is 1400 lbs not 4000 lbs.
I must have read it wrong.

[Pnwrider]

Very popular on Hood Canal and the straights. Our neighbor on the Canal has had one for years. They are around 4k lbs dry weight, so they have some weight to them. When anchored, and tide goes out, you will not be able to drag it to water, trust me we tried, LOL.
Can catch side wind a bit, but I would not hesitate to take one out of Sekiu or Point No Point.
Just be smart and always keep an eye on the weather.

I'd have thought  it'd be closer to half that weight?

I think you are correct!
I can’t find the spec sheet I was reading earlier, but the 1800 Fisherman is basically the same maybe a little lighter than the 1800 Tyee which is 1400 lbs not 4000 lbs.
I must have read it wrong.

That’s dry weight. It doesn’t factor in motor, fuel, fluids, electronics, gear, etc. for example, my current boat has a “dry weight” of 3900 lbs. I have a receipt from it scaling at over 7600 lbs. granted, that included the trailer so subtract 1300-1500 lbs from that.