New project!

Just picked up my new hull. I'm going to put a deck on the front and rear. Need some advice. I plan to use 1" angled 3mm aluminium riveted to the sides to continue the line of the front bench, then build a couple of cross pieces off of them to support a plywood deck. There really isn't any easy way of putting supporting uprights from the bottom of the hull, so I'm hoping that the bench and the side pieces will be strong enough. Any thoughts?

First off that is a beautiful boat! Second you can weld or rivet aluminum tube grid from the seat to the underneath of the front deck. Then you can drop down supports from the deck grid to the rib and rivet angle brackets to it on both sides.



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Agree with the above post, before I would start drilling holes down the side of that hull I would try to work off of that front deck first in the manner described.

Thanks, I had looked at that, but it's a rolled edge and not so easy to attach to, also I need access to the underside of the deck and would ideally like the deck to extend underneath the foredeck to give extra storage space to just stuff things under, but leave them accessible.

I was looking at the sealed rivets, combines with a bead of marine sealant to give the angle bracket along the side as good a level of adhesion and strength as possible. The bench seats are riveted in, so presumable it's possible to get a good watertight seal with blind rivets, especially in combination with sealant.

Would there be much advantage to using 18mm ply over 12mm? I was hoping to save some weight with the thinner ply.

Been thinking more about your suggestions, and may have found a good solution. I probably need to put some ply under the foredeck to support the TM, so if I made the ply cover the entire underneath of the foredeck I could then have a fixing to hang some of the casting deck structure to. Thanks for planting the idea!

Hey Tim,

You could make this deck so it’s removable. What if you rivet a C channel a long the front edge of the bench seat. And cut the plywood so tight. That you push it up under the fore deck, then pull it back in to the channel. Then screw though the channel into the wood decking. And put angle aluminum bracing screw to the wood underneath. Like in a bass boat hatch. 2 or 3 pieces should do the job for no flexing when you walk on it. Worst case if it was the pounce the front of it would only pick up and hit the foredeck then fall back down. Unless you put some kind of a strap or fasten it up front so it wouldn’t bounce. Then all your weight it’s just in that one deck board with the bracing underneath. Idk just a thought. Or run a kick plate down to the deck. From the TM piece. Glenn


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Thanks Glen. I was thinking of running the deck over the front seat and fixing down into the front seat, so your suggestion would work, though in a slightly different way. Thanks.

Unbelievably beautiful boat. I would not personally put any holes in the exterior for decks. Pay to have it welded. If that isn't an option, then lay the plywood over the seat and use foam for structure. That along with the plywood resting on the bow "floor" would be plenty of support. You would probably need a separate backing support for the trolling motor. That way the floor is still somewhat removable.

With something that new and shiny I'd go the extra mile to be sure that anything I added was completely modular and removable.

You could design a lightweight structure that just sits on the floors and does anything you'd want to do.

I agree with the above posts, beautiful boat and there is a way to do things without drilling very many holes, if any! Take your time and think it out, you won't be sorry!
I put 2 sections of floor in, added a front deck extension, and made a platform to mount a deckhand anchor winch on, all modular and removable without drilling a single hole.
Here's the deck extension.

overboard said:

I agree with the above posts, beautiful boat and there is a way to do things without drilling very many holes, if any! Take your time and think it out, you won't be sorry!
I put 2 sections of floor in, added a front deck extension, and made a platform to mount a deckhand anchor winch on, all modular and removable without drilling a single hole.
Here's the deck extension.

Click to expand...

Clearly has too much time on his hands! [emoji6]
Awesome final product...

Thanks for the suggestions guys. As much as I want to get the boat done, I can't fish out of it until the season opens in the middle of June, so I have time to contemplate. I'll get some measurements and try to see what the best solution will be. Other than the natural reluctance to drill holes in a new hull, Is there any good reason to avoid doing it? With sealed rivets and plenty of sealant I can't imagine it's likely to cause leaks, especially as it will be above the water line.

Modular construction can be easily removed.. allowing for easy modifications....allow for quick changes in the floor plan with different modules for different types of fishing.... being able to use the boat without the modules...ease of cleaning and maintenance....

It's basically taking the engineering up a notch and it's a little more expensive, but the challenge and results are much more interesting imo.