Hey guys! So I'm starting my second project and I had a question about flotation so I figured I would start a thread here. Here's the boat, I got it cheap online. It has cable steering and is rated for up to a 35HP, but the previous owner had a 40HP bluestripe Mercury on it, which coincedentally is exactly what I had sitting on a stand at home!
Currently, I am working on my trailer to make it fit the boat, I will follow up with pics of that in the next couple days.
As the weather warms up here, I am prepping for Gluvit and Paint. I want to keep the original colour scheme and buff up the hull to make it shine. I filled it with water to find the leaks and a grand total of 8 rivets had the gentlest of weeps, so I'm going to do the epoxy on the inside for a little extra protection from the elements (this boat will see a lot of Lake Erie).
So as I am designing the layout, my idea is to put a deck in the front from the front bench brackets/supports to the bow, and to run another deck from bench 2 to bench 3. I'm going to leave the floor open from bench 2 to bench 1 open for the console area, and from bench 3 to the transom for fuel tanks. I want to put storage under the decks, a bow mount trolling motor, and a secured area for batteries. I attached some rough drawings, I'm sorry for how sloppy it gets lol. I am trying to make a wicked bass boat I can use until I can afford a decent one.
So the question I have is about the last picture, the floatation. The original setup is with foam under the 3 benches. I plan on using 3/4" plywood for the deck, and I am thinking of just filling all void space under the deck surrounding the compartments with foam. Would that be too much? I am worried about making the boat sit too high on the water and lose stability, especially with how quick water turns out there (in the bay of course, this isn't an open water boat), but I want it to be as balanced and unsinkable as possible. Looking forward to hearinf what you all think, I hope I didn't miss anything!
Currently, I am working on my trailer to make it fit the boat, I will follow up with pics of that in the next couple days.
As the weather warms up here, I am prepping for Gluvit and Paint. I want to keep the original colour scheme and buff up the hull to make it shine. I filled it with water to find the leaks and a grand total of 8 rivets had the gentlest of weeps, so I'm going to do the epoxy on the inside for a little extra protection from the elements (this boat will see a lot of Lake Erie).
So as I am designing the layout, my idea is to put a deck in the front from the front bench brackets/supports to the bow, and to run another deck from bench 2 to bench 3. I'm going to leave the floor open from bench 2 to bench 1 open for the console area, and from bench 3 to the transom for fuel tanks. I want to put storage under the decks, a bow mount trolling motor, and a secured area for batteries. I attached some rough drawings, I'm sorry for how sloppy it gets lol. I am trying to make a wicked bass boat I can use until I can afford a decent one.
So the question I have is about the last picture, the floatation. The original setup is with foam under the 3 benches. I plan on using 3/4" plywood for the deck, and I am thinking of just filling all void space under the deck surrounding the compartments with foam. Would that be too much? I am worried about making the boat sit too high on the water and lose stability, especially with how quick water turns out there (in the bay of course, this isn't an open water boat), but I want it to be as balanced and unsinkable as possible. Looking forward to hearinf what you all think, I hope I didn't miss anything!