I have a 1748 seaark mud runner and the bottom has some pretty bad hooks. I pulled up the floor and started beating out dents and was thinking about adding a few more braces to help this boat last a little longer.
In the second picture you can see the cross braces the tie all the longitudinal runners together. My first thought was getting a few more of these welded in since I had no hooks where these braces were. Then I started thinking about adding more longitudinal runners but was wondering about the weight. I kinda figure adding more runners lengthwise will be stronger. I plan on getting the metal myself and doing all the cutting and fitting then taking it to a welder to get welded to save money. Any advice or insight will be greatly appreciated thanks.


Sent from denda this

How are the weld beads looking? I got a Sea ark 24x72 mv and the welds are cracked everywhere. I seal welded a 3/16 tread plate floor to steady her up. My biggest regret was not welding in more bracing and ribs before I set the floor.

Most of the welds are ok I have only found a couple that were cracked. I don't run big water much just tons of stumps but the few times I've been caught in rough water it felt like it was worse on the boat than the stumps.


Sent from denda this

I'm no welder or metal expert at all but I think the welds on the braces should be a little closer together.
This is the best pic I have of the hat channel right now. You can see where the edges bend up cause there is such a long span between welds. I think I may see if the welder can weld an extra stitch in between the others when I put more stringers in.


Sent from denda this

When you get a minute, get the dimensions of the hat channel. They don't look very tall and there are no true "cross braces" in that boat so they really don't have a true support.

That so called piece of bent aluminum cross brace is doing nothing for support.

If you beat all the dents out and then go back with more long runners it will definitely help but it will never be like a new boat.
when doing that you really need to go back with top cross braces or its just going to bend the hat channel again.

As far as the stitch welds they aren't really too far apart, but what I've found is on the hat channel you cant stagger the welds like they did to get good support out of them

The boxes welded to the bottom of the boat aren't helping you either.

There should NEVER be anything other than a long runner welded to the bottom or you take a chance on getting hooks wherever something is touching the bottom

Thanks willett Im going by the welding shop in town today to talk to him about the material and what I need to do so he wont have nearly as much work. Im trying do everything I can except welding it so it wont be as expensive. I will measure the hat channel this afternoon and post it on here too. The braces I was planning on getting welded in would be 2x2 square 1/8 wall tubing or should I just put more of the hat channel back in there?

Measure how far between the hat braces you have now. From the pictures there looks to be about 7-8" between the actual braces (not the lip)
2x2 or 1x2 will work depending on how much space you want to take up but the height of the hat braces will determine if you can use a 2" tall tube.

If you want braces between the side of the boat and the first hat brace you are going to have to cut out the boxes to do it "right" other wise you won't have a brace under the box and end up getting more dents under the box.

If i was going the work and you told me you were going to do as much as you can ahead of time I would tell you:
Cut out the crappy so called cross braces that are in there now and then grind the rest of the welds off of the top of the hat braces.
Use a stainless steel wire wheel to clean the bottom of the boat where he will have to weld the new braces down.

I measured the hat channel and those braces are 2" high from the bottom of the boat. I'm gonna cut the cross braces out and would like to know how you would put some back in since I want them to sit flush with the floor. Is it better to notch the cross braces or cut individual pieces to weld between the longitudinal runners ?


Sent from denda this

IMO it would be better to notch into the longitude brace with the cross brace.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Ok I got some work to do now! Thanks again for all the advice I'll update this thread with some pics as I go so maybe y'all can point out some mistakes before I get too far.


Sent from denda this

Damn, Seaark could've saved some money by using flat bar for a cross brace, that aint no good right there.

put the floor back, and put for sale.... Bring me a 4K, and let me build you a good hull.

** Prices start at 4K
Nicely Equipped for 5K

Sauce as you know and others reading this Sea Ark boats may have been good/decent boats back in the day they are lacking nowadays. My 24x72 mv is a poorly made boat. I've had to do a lot of rebuilding on mine.

Those Factory hulls are nice for the a trolling motor or small outboard. But a 25hp or greater will mess some stuff up!