closed off the bow with a deck

[jimmy fins]

Well I decided to close up the bow and made a casting deck for those calm days, =D> . Especially site fishing for Northern Pike in the reeds! Also re powered the ole tinner with a new 15 hp Merc. I'm hoping for 20 mph. I was getting 12 mph with my 8 hp Honda. Can't wait to try it out, maybe tomorrow if the boat launch is open enough to get out. [-o<

Jim

 

[sixgun86]

Nice job! That motor looks delicious! Will be a lot faster.

 

[Jdholmes]

Looks great...how did you choose to frame it? Any pics of that?

 

[Brine]

Looks good. Is that an electric anchor?

 

[theedz]

That is a great looking boat! I would definatly put that deck on there! I like your setup because the deck will be lower than most others I have seen. Do have a question though, using wood or aluminum for the deck? If wood how do you attach it to the supports? Also where did you ge the rail guards for the sides?

 

[jimmy fins]

Well just got off the water. COLD!!! ran the 15hp Merc. She ran like a spanked ape. went from 12 mph to 24 mph! =D> Scary fast.

Jdholmes: Make a temp-let out of cardboard then simply just cut 3/4" plywood and fastened them to the existing seats. You can see this in the {before} picture, notice the marker lines on the seats. Left the middle to be open with a hinge for storage. It my not last but held my 230 lbs butt so far. :shock:

Brine: That's a hand line reel for walleye fishing the Detroit river.

Theedz: Most of your questions should be answered above. Regarding the rail guards, Just pipe insulation from Home Depot. Spray glue the rails let it get tacky then press it on. Rail guards helps when i'm dock fishing for pan fish, keeps the noise down from the boat banging the docks especially steel one's.

Hope this helps.

Jim

 

[Jdholmes]

Awesome, i cannot wait to find a 15-20hp one of these days for my 14 valco.

I think your are the first guy I have seen forego the framing altogether....but if it works it works.

 

[theedz]

Jimmmy I guess did you just use self tapers to put the deck on the seats and then carpet over it? Or how did you cover up the screw heads?

 

[jimmy fins]

Awesome, i cannot wait to find a 15-20hp one of these days for my 14 valco.

I think your are the first guy I have seen forego the framing altogether....but if it works it works.

Yeah. The reason why I tried the wood only without the middle supports is. The distance between the two bench seats seemed close enough, and the thickness of the wood I was using. This may come back to bite me but....If so then I will fix it better.

theedz: I spray glued the carpet around the curve side first, leaving the top exposed enough to drive self tappers through the bench seats. Then finish gluing the carpet from there. Also I would consider nuts and bolts with big fender washer underneath the aluminum bench seats, instead of self tappers, they don't hold as well with out installing a bunch. #-o Problem is you need to remove the floatation foam to do this but I believe it would work better. Learn as you go

 

[UtahBassKicker]

Very nice. This set up just keeps getting better and better. Well done!