Lund 12' V Mod project, pictures, help plz

Hello everyone, welcome to my future project one man bass boat. 1st I'd like to say this is my first time posting. I recently purchased this 12ft Lund & have decided that this awesome boat needs a awesome raised casting deck to match. I've been debating between M.G. WOOD or Aluminum. Both are option for the frame/support as well as the top deck. I have seen some aluminum diamond plate casting deck but $ & strength are worrying me. Wood is the logical choice, coated & wrapped in a (lund) red coloured carpet.

The boat is very wide for a 12ft, roughly 59+inches wide @ the top middle & roughly that wide throughout the back half of the boat. It has a V nose front that flattens out to a flat bottom in the back 2/3. My favorite part of this boat is that the seats double and crosser supports & there is no lips or seams to stub your toes on while walking around the boat . My goal is to compleat a semi raised deck in the front nose ahead of the second seat consisting of a dual storage compartment with possibly a small live well located below casting deck ahead of second seat.

What is everyone opinion or advise before I start buying supplies & materials

I have a very similar boat 58" wide. I'm not sure about the stability of the deck at bench height. Mine is very stable standing in the floor. But standing on the bench near the edge is a little questionable. I'm interested to see what you come up with. I would love to change mine up to not step over benches.

I think your low deck idea should work well. I'm not sure about the capacity of a live well. I guess it depends on what size fish we are trying to keep alive. What is the capacity for your boat? The crestliner is 605 pounds.

Thanks for the interest & following my blog, I want to know every ones input & opinion. I will upload some drawing of what I am thinking about. I am pretty sure a high deck is out of the question. I've been debating on how to mount the deck. There is a slightly lower "V" nose bench seat that is riveted in front of the boat that could be beefed up for the main front support for deck. The back of the deck will be supported by a series of "L" brackets. My QUESTION is if the deck is only 3-4ft long & supported at front & back... Do I need a middle support? Wood or aluminum framing?

Here some pics of what I'm thinking & I think the livewell idea is scrapped under the deck.

A pic of the front area in my boat that I plan to deck

Rough drawing

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=327709#p327709 said:

scoot » Today, 15:27[/url]"]Thanks for the interest & following my blog, I want to know every ones input & opinion. I will upload some drawing of what I am thinking about. I am pretty sure a high deck is out of the question. I've been debating on how to mount the deck. There is a slightly lower "V" nose bench seat that is riveted in front of the boat that could be beefed up for the main front support for deck. The back of the deck will be supported by a series of "L" brackets. My QUESTION is if the deck is only 3-4ft long & supported at front & back... Do I need a middle support? Wood or aluminum framing?

Here some pics of what I'm thinking & I think the livewell idea is scrapped under the deck.

Click to expand...

This is very similar to what I did with mine, in fact it look almost the same (except my boat already has an aluminum nose cap on it).

My deck started about 2" above the point where the sides of the bow start to curve in, on your boat it'd be the level with the seat top over the "V" that goes to the bottom of the boat. Why 2"? Because that's roughly the size of the 2x3" that I used to support that side of the deck. From the two outside corners, I ran two more 2x3's up to the bow level with the seat and placed them on a wedge that sits in the bow to make a triangle. Across the triangle parallel with the seat, I ran some 2x2's to give it some stability (in addition to a chunk of 2x6 that was placed for a seat base). All of these pieces were lap jointed to hold together, glued with PL deck adhesive, and then glued/screwed to the deck top. The whole piece weighs about 40#'s, and can be lifted in and out of the bow as I need it. Total area it added up front was almost 3'x4', and REALLY made the space usable.

I've considered re-doing it in aluminum, but honestly it's not that heavy, was very inexpensive to make (less than $20), and will likely last me as long as I have this boat.

One thing I'd recommend, DO NOT PUT CARPET ON IT. That's the one thing I will eventually get around to taking off. I hate it, and would rather have some kind of rubber mat or vinyl on it - still looking for that.


Also on mine:
- I put a cut down 5gal bucket in the front of the triangle under the nose cap to hold my anchor for transport.
- routed a hole that fits a standard battery box up by the bench, keeps the weight centered and forward.
- cut a hole in the center bench and mounted a removable 19x12" cooler all centered up. It's my deadwell/beer cooler/temporary dry storage if necessary.

It's a great start and idea.

thanks wihil, you gave me allot to think about and to be honest I was dead set on red carpet but after pricing some out & hearing your opinion..... I am double guessing my self. has anyone had any luck using a form of aluminum for the top deck plate with a wood support frame?

if so what thickness would I need? I am thinking 1/4' aluminum diamond plate might work @ look nice painted.

please keep the opinions & suggestions coming, I want the best plans before I start buying materials soon

No problem! If you want I can make a terrible picture in Paint and try to figure out how to get it on here.. :lol:

JMO, but if you're going to consider aluminum decking, don't go with wood supports - do it right the first time and go with a tubular aluminum frame. You can do the frame with "L" channel, but you need to make sure the mounting surface is level before you put the deck on. From that point it's just as easy as using rivets and done.

As for painting, that's up to you - but I found a local place that does that weird rubberized bed liner paint and I'm thinking about having my wood deck done in that. Still trying to figure out what they'd charge me to spray just the topside in a single color, but otherwise I'll be going vinyl.

Another option that has gotten a lot of good reviews around here is Hydroturf. Expensive, but would be a great top for a deck.

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=327812#p327812 said:

scoot » Yesterday, 15:21[/url]"]thanks wihil, you gave me allot to think about and to be honest I was dead set on red carpet but after pricing some out & hearing your opinion..... I am double guessing my self. has anyone had any luck using a form of aluminum for the top deck plate with a wood support frame?

if so what thickness would I need? I am thinking 1/4' aluminum diamond plate might work @ look nice painted.

please keep the opinions & suggestions coming, I want the best plans before I start buying materials soon

Click to expand...

you could use aluminum for the deck and wood for your support/frame but remember the wood will not last as long as the aluminum.

you could also consider building the support/frame out of aluminum angle or square tube and rivet it together and then use ply for the

deck and save money. and if you do use aluminum for the deck 1/4 inch is way to thick in my opinion and it will add lots of unwanted

weight. I would use like .90 guage for the deck and maybe smaller. theres not a lot of square footage up there so your framing/support

wont have to be very extensive to keep a sheet of ply or aluminum from flexing with you up there....

After much debate, I've decided on a removable simple wood deck with wood supports. Aluminum will be light but much more expensive & complicated. Now to decide colours. I would like to paint the boat eventually so I set out to find a traditional, new age, authentic Lund paint scheme to match me interior colours with. I love this colour combo & will match black carpet with red nose cap well

Jan 10th build journal entry: zero completed, one week till opening of bass! Crunch time. Re-finding motivation. Photo update with out seats

Pic