Question on getting started

Hi everyone, I'm a new member to the site and I'm really impressed with all the great info and nice modications made.

I have a 14' Sea Nymph jon boat, I believe it's a 1995. It's in really good condition-garage kept, etc. My only problem is, I have NO storage space. Now this boat is very narrow. I would like to put a nice big deck on it but feel that would be unsafe. So I would just like to put a small deck up front with storage compartments underneath and also cover up the back that holds the trolling motor battery and misc. other things. Was thinking about only running the deck half way back to the middle seat. I already have the two seats fixed up nice, figured I'd leave them as is.

So I guess my main question is, when you frame it up, do you somehow tie into the hull of the boat?? If so what is the best way to do this. I am a big novice at projects like this, the simpler the better for me. Would really appreciate some insite on this!! Thanks a lot.

If you follow my Front Decking thread I use Simpson Strong ties available at home depot to connect to hull supports. Also I connect to the alum seats.

First off welcome to the site
These guys will hook you up and give you plenty of ideas.
you might want to post a few pics of your rig so we can get an idea of what you want.
you can also check a few of the older threads here for ideas.

Things to include with the pictures:
your size and ballpark weight
anyone else fishing with you?
what size outboard do you have
what type of water do you fish (rivers,lakes)

welcome and good luck
Wayne

Welcome Steel CURTain,
Thanks for joining!

Try to get some pics up if you can so we can look at it.

I will try to get some pics this weekend. I have my boat stored for the winter at another location. I plan on bringing it home this weekend so I can start working on it.

I don't know off hand exactly how wide it is but I do know it is pretty narrow. I weigh 180 and usually fish with my dad who is about the same weight. We usually fish on small to med size lakes and do some river fishing. I have a 3.3 hp Mercury on it and a 50 lb Minn Kota Endura tm on the back.

PBW, I read your whole post, it was really good information!! Your boat turned out really nice!! I thought about trying your method but I noticed that your hull supports are squared on the top, on my boat they are rounded so I'm not sure how that would work.. When you attached to the side of the seat up front, did you use rivets??

welcome to the site.

Welcome to the site! i am sure we can help you get your mods squared away

Where are you located?

Hey, thanks!! It's nice to talk to you guys, everyone seems very helpful.

I live in central PA, near State College. I see you are in Bucks County. That's cool!!

Welcome to the site.

I added a bulkhead to the front of my boat, put some reinforcements and add lids for storage. Tied the bulkhead into the hull with 2" angle brackets and alum angle.

sccamper, that is exactly what I want to do on my boat. Yours looks really good, you did a great job!! The problem though for me is the edges of my seats and the ribs of the boat are rounded, not squared like yours. I think this will make it harder to tie into. I was gonna get my boat out of storage this morning and take some pics to put on here but we got four inches of snow last night and I decided to hold off. Didn't want to drive the trailer on crappy roads.

Thanks CURT. My bulkhead sits on the floor, used 4 2" corner braces to fasten to the ribs. It souldnt matter if your ribs are round as long as the brace can be screwed/riveted to the center of the rib. The alum angle braces probally do more to secure the bulkhead than the corner braces. Same as the ribs, as long as the alum angle is centered on the rounded front seat area, it can be screwed/riveted.

Thanks a lot for the info!! I'm gonna try to get my boat out of storage this week (supposed to warm up) and start my project. I'm excited to get started. I really liked how your mod turned out sccamper, I'm planning on using yours as my reference if thats ok. I will post some pictures of my progress as soon as I can get started. Here in PA we still have about a month till I can get out on the water, that should give me time to do my project. Making some storage room should make day trips down the river or on lake more enjoyable without our gear laying everywhere!!

Thats the cool thing about this site, you can look at how everyone else did their conversions and pick things from other to use in yours. You can also see things you might have thought of doing and after seeing someone elses, decided to do something differant.

sccamper said:

Thats the cool thing about this site, you can look at how everyone else did their conversions and pick things from other to use in yours. You can also see things you might have thought of doing and after seeing someone elses, decided to do something differant.

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Well, I finally got started on my project yesterday. I think my dad and I made pretty good progress. I decided to deck the front with two storage compartments. I would also like to close in the back which I will start at a later time. I'm going to apply the water seal today. Let me know what you guys think!!

Looks nice! 8)

Here are some more pics..

Good start keep it up!

Looks good! Have you thought about how you're going to support the decking near the sides of the hull?

I been thinking about that. If you look at the pictures and see the green board that is across the seat. I have attached (didn't post a picture yet) a piece of 2X2 on the end of that board on each side for more support on the sides. The pictures are a little misleading, there isn't much room between the frame and the side of the boat and it is extremely solid. I don't think with the plywood down there should any problems. Also, my boat is pretty narrow and I'm not gonna want to be standing right near the side anyhow unless I want to be diving in!!!

Yesterday I got the back of the boat pretty much framed, turned out really well I thought. I don't have any pictures to post yet, hopefully tonight.