New Guy Here and New to boating.

Hi there TinBoat guys, this is a great site by the way with lots of information. Anyways, I'm planning on buying a 14' V Haul aluminum boat.

Whats the best way should i deck it out? any suggestions? or can i copy's someone's design?

Is it safe to drill into the haul of the boat? If so how do i seal it?

Last but not least, how do i do it? can someone walk me through?

thanks all

bassunpro said:

Hi there TinBoat guys, this is a great site by the way with lots of information. Anyways, I'm planning on buying a 14' V Haul aluminum boat.

Whats the best way should i deck it out? any suggestions? or can i copy's someone's design?

Is it safe to drill into the haul of the boat? If so how do i seal it?

Last but not least, how do i do it? can someone walk me through?

thanks all

Click to expand...

Welcome bassunpro! I'm sure you're going to find a whole lot of help from Tinboats and the great members. Everyone here will certainly give a helping hand should you need any information.

Lots of pictures are what drive this site, so if you can, upload a picture or two when you get the new boat. That way, questions will be a little easier to answer.

You can certainly deck a 14 footer, but the wider the bottom of the boat, the more stable it will be. Most people drill and screw/bolt into the ribs that run across the hull to avoid having any future issues with leaks. There are many types of marine sealant though, that will usually dry hard and can even be sanded and painted.


Overall, if you can get some pictures of the boat up here, you'll receive a lot more feedback. Welcome aboard.

Yea the second i buy one, forsure i'll have pictures, but that will be sometime in the near future. I just wanted to get some questions answered before actually buying a boat and then running into a dead end.

As meanmouth said, the wider the bottom of the boat, well in my own, words the better! Wider equals more room more stable more weight capacity more more more.

I recently went through the process of deciding what kind of boat I wanted, looking for, buying, and working on a boat. I just finally got it on the water. I think it is important to start from the beginning, so start thinking of what you are going to use it for and where you will be using it. Me, I wanted a lot from a little. I was looking for as much room as I could get, skinny water capability, big water capability, enough speed to make me happy and possibly do some redneck tubing or something.

So i decided on a semi v (v in front, flat in back), 14' length, and started scouring craigslist for the best deal i could find. Ended up with a 14' semi v 52" across at the floor (pretty wide for a 14, at least compared to a 1432 jon) and a running 40hp mariner for cheap, lots of work needed, but exactly what i was looking for.

so decide first what you are going to use it for, and where, then you will be able to better decide exactly what you need and what your looking for, in order to make it work perfectly for all of that! Best of luck! Its fun!