Hey All,
I inherited my grandpa’s old ‘93 Livingston 14 and decided I want to show it off while I plan on giving it a little facelift. My gpa got this boat new from the factory with the pass thru windshield, front cap, side steering, 40hp Yamaha, custom overbuilt galvanized trailer, and 20+ gal fuel tank under the windshield to be a do-all fishing machine.
I grew up on this boat chasing legendary 20lb Lahontan Cutthroat at Pyramid Lake in Northern NV, various local trout/bass/striper lakes and had a few bouts offshore when my gpa used to tow it 2k+ miles to an hour north of Puerto Vallarta to their vacation house to catch dorado and sailfish!
I got the boat in about 2017 and haven’t really used it much but wanted to get it back in action. I recently gave it a tune up to get the engine running a little better and overall give it some tlc. I readjusted timing/idle, cleaned carbs, new water pump, spark plugs, buffed/waxed exterior, repacked trailer bearings, new tires, and rewired the fuse panel.
Picked up a 55lb thrust trolling motor from a buddy because I found the 40hp is a little too fast for trout.
I just took my wife and baby out last weekend for a test run and thinking about removing the deck between the front seat and rear crossmember to lighten it up and give back some room for walking back and forth and for leaning against the sides while fighting and landing fish. Going be be important for when my little dude is more mobile and not going to fall out
About 10yrs ago my grandpa installed the full rear deck with pedestal seats and deck hatches. It works alright for still water fishing but not super convenient for 2 guys moving about trying to land fish.
I’ve been drooling over the Freeman 14 build lately but not sure a center console is conducive for the type of fishing I do.
I’m playing with some concepts to build up a mini rear casting deck 6” above the aft crossmember (similar to the Freeman 14, minus the bait tank) and add jump seats and deck hatches and a place to mount downriggers in the rear corners.
I’ll probably keep the windshield, side steering and front cap because I like the convenience of having dedicated seating for trolling when it’s cold out. I’m thinking of building some sort of sliding seat system so I can slide the seats all the way forward and under the steering wheel if I want to stand and have more room to fish. Might also try and downsize my fuel tank to reclaim some storage space and weight under the front cap.
Eventually, I’ll add some turf to the front cap to make it into a practical fly fishing platform.
I’m working on designing some custom rocket launchers to hold rods (including fly rods and net) that will mount to the windshield.
Despite all the modifications, it planes nicely, super stable and cruises at about 20mph. Not entirely sure of the overall weight but I’ll be doing some more calculations in the future to see where I’m at.
I’ll keep you guys posted as I finalize my plans and build it out.
Anyways, Let me know what you guys think!
I’m open to ideas but also need feedback to keep myself from going too crazy on modifications that might make it too heavy or unsafe. Not bad for a 30yr old boat!
Cheers and enjoy the pics
Dylan
I inherited my grandpa’s old ‘93 Livingston 14 and decided I want to show it off while I plan on giving it a little facelift. My gpa got this boat new from the factory with the pass thru windshield, front cap, side steering, 40hp Yamaha, custom overbuilt galvanized trailer, and 20+ gal fuel tank under the windshield to be a do-all fishing machine.
I grew up on this boat chasing legendary 20lb Lahontan Cutthroat at Pyramid Lake in Northern NV, various local trout/bass/striper lakes and had a few bouts offshore when my gpa used to tow it 2k+ miles to an hour north of Puerto Vallarta to their vacation house to catch dorado and sailfish!
I got the boat in about 2017 and haven’t really used it much but wanted to get it back in action. I recently gave it a tune up to get the engine running a little better and overall give it some tlc. I readjusted timing/idle, cleaned carbs, new water pump, spark plugs, buffed/waxed exterior, repacked trailer bearings, new tires, and rewired the fuse panel.
Picked up a 55lb thrust trolling motor from a buddy because I found the 40hp is a little too fast for trout.
I just took my wife and baby out last weekend for a test run and thinking about removing the deck between the front seat and rear crossmember to lighten it up and give back some room for walking back and forth and for leaning against the sides while fighting and landing fish. Going be be important for when my little dude is more mobile and not going to fall out
About 10yrs ago my grandpa installed the full rear deck with pedestal seats and deck hatches. It works alright for still water fishing but not super convenient for 2 guys moving about trying to land fish.
I’ve been drooling over the Freeman 14 build lately but not sure a center console is conducive for the type of fishing I do.
I’m playing with some concepts to build up a mini rear casting deck 6” above the aft crossmember (similar to the Freeman 14, minus the bait tank) and add jump seats and deck hatches and a place to mount downriggers in the rear corners.
I’ll probably keep the windshield, side steering and front cap because I like the convenience of having dedicated seating for trolling when it’s cold out. I’m thinking of building some sort of sliding seat system so I can slide the seats all the way forward and under the steering wheel if I want to stand and have more room to fish. Might also try and downsize my fuel tank to reclaim some storage space and weight under the front cap.
Eventually, I’ll add some turf to the front cap to make it into a practical fly fishing platform.
I’m working on designing some custom rocket launchers to hold rods (including fly rods and net) that will mount to the windshield.
Despite all the modifications, it planes nicely, super stable and cruises at about 20mph. Not entirely sure of the overall weight but I’ll be doing some more calculations in the future to see where I’m at.
I’ll keep you guys posted as I finalize my plans and build it out.
Anyways, Let me know what you guys think!
I’m open to ideas but also need feedback to keep myself from going too crazy on modifications that might make it too heavy or unsafe. Not bad for a 30yr old boat!
Cheers and enjoy the pics
Dylan
Last edited:
Upvote
0
