MrGiggles
Well-known member
I bought this boat back in July. I've taken it out 1-2 times per week steadily since then, weather permitting.
I wanted to add a foot control trolling motor, which required a plate to be mounted on the gunnels. The boat looked silly with just the plate, so I decided to add a casting deck over the front bench. It is very stable up front and fishes great.
If I were to do it all over again I would have taken the deck further back over the second bench as well. The space there now is not that useful, and I could have put a livewell, dry storage, and a seat mount in there.
As far as construction goes, I placed a pair of 2x4 stringers that run between the front step and bench seat, fastened with 1/8 aluminum angle and SS screws. The stringers also function as supports for the hatch lid. The deck is 5/8" exterior ply with exterior carpet from Lowes. Carpet is glued with contact cement, wrapped around, and stapled.
I'm not that crazy about the carpet, but it is very forgiving, hides a lot of flaws, and was inexpensive.
The battery is mounted under the small hatch door. That's a Humminbird Piranhamax 4 DI on the bow.
I am going to open up the filler panel that I have mounted between the TM plate and the front deck and use it as a storage area, quite a bit of wasted space in there.
I quickly grew tired of carrying a tote with gear around in the boat, so I decided to enclose the rear as well to make it into a better storage area. You could call it a casting deck, but with the short transom and heavy motor I have on the back, there is very little freeboard when standing back there.
The rear deck is constructed the same, but I used carpet adhesive instead of cement back there. It has a stronger bond but is harder to work with. There is only one 2x4 stringer on the rear (goes from the back of the bench to the transom), and again it supports the hatch doors.
I also replaced the transom board with white oak.
The seat has a plastic quick release mount from BPS.
Hopefully someone may find what I've done to be helpful (even if for nothing else as a "what not to do"). It was my first build and things could have been done better, but it really improved the usefulness of the boat, and I didn't spend much on materials.
I wanted to add a foot control trolling motor, which required a plate to be mounted on the gunnels. The boat looked silly with just the plate, so I decided to add a casting deck over the front bench. It is very stable up front and fishes great.
If I were to do it all over again I would have taken the deck further back over the second bench as well. The space there now is not that useful, and I could have put a livewell, dry storage, and a seat mount in there.
As far as construction goes, I placed a pair of 2x4 stringers that run between the front step and bench seat, fastened with 1/8 aluminum angle and SS screws. The stringers also function as supports for the hatch lid. The deck is 5/8" exterior ply with exterior carpet from Lowes. Carpet is glued with contact cement, wrapped around, and stapled.
I'm not that crazy about the carpet, but it is very forgiving, hides a lot of flaws, and was inexpensive.
The battery is mounted under the small hatch door. That's a Humminbird Piranhamax 4 DI on the bow.
I am going to open up the filler panel that I have mounted between the TM plate and the front deck and use it as a storage area, quite a bit of wasted space in there.
I quickly grew tired of carrying a tote with gear around in the boat, so I decided to enclose the rear as well to make it into a better storage area. You could call it a casting deck, but with the short transom and heavy motor I have on the back, there is very little freeboard when standing back there.
The rear deck is constructed the same, but I used carpet adhesive instead of cement back there. It has a stronger bond but is harder to work with. There is only one 2x4 stringer on the rear (goes from the back of the bench to the transom), and again it supports the hatch doors.
I also replaced the transom board with white oak.
The seat has a plastic quick release mount from BPS.
Hopefully someone may find what I've done to be helpful (even if for nothing else as a "what not to do"). It was my first build and things could have been done better, but it really improved the usefulness of the boat, and I didn't spend much on materials.
