Newbi with new boat and questions

Hello all,
I have found this forum a great resource with all kinds of good guys and ideas. So I thought I would start asking questions.
I recentley aquired a 14' with 3 bench seat in it. I want to pull the seats and deck it for the purposes of fishing in the summers and duck hunting in the fall/winter. I'm sure you guys have no problems taking seats out but I was wondering what it does to the structural integrity of the boat? Also was wondering if it was possible to use aluminum plate 3/8" to 1/2" stock for the transom plates? I will post pictures soon and start the project this spring.
Thanks in advance
Scott

Welcome!

Yes taking the seats out will weaken the boat. Will it be enough to matter? Depends on the boat and if you take out all of them.

Aluminum plat is not as stiff as good hard wood. I have seen it done but it warped after a couple of years.

Welcome aboard.....you have come to the right place for tinboat mod info.

I would not recommend removing all seats. 1 maybe, but all 3 doesn't sound structurally safe. Post some pics of the boat now so we can have a better idea of what we are talking about.

If you decide to not remove all of the seats, you may want to remove only the ones that would give you room to stretch out when you lie down in it. For this reason my 12' canoe is more comfortable to lie down in than my 14' tin.