Standing in a Valco

I have a 14 foot Valco with the three benches intact.
I do not want to remove the benches.
Is there a way to build up the floor between the benches that will enable me to stand while on the water?

Yep...

# 1: post pics and you will always get more response.

#2: do you want the deck on top of the benches or do you want to just raise the floor a bit off the bottom of the boat?

Both are not difficult.

Here are some pics of the boat...
I just want to raise the floor a little off of the bottom, in hopes that it will add enough stability to stand.
Most of my fishing will be in the ocean, the bays and around shore, so I dont want the floor to be too high...just enough to stand.

Remove your seat tops, and bolt a two by two horizontally across the vertical surface of the benches. Use those two by twos as the starting point of your frame work...it should be a very easy mod.

I have seen your mod before, and like the simplicity - it is very similar to my boat....made me wish I had done a stain on my wood.

Remove your seat tops, and bolt a two by two horizontally across the vertical surface of the benches. Use those two by twos as the starting point of your frame work...it should be a very easy mod.

I have seen your mod before, and like the simplicity - it is very similar to my boat....made me wish I had done a stain on my wood.

The bottom of your boat looks fairly flat in the one picture. It looks like you could stand on it as is. If your looking to just ad a flat floor at that hieght thats a pretty easy thing. It will make it so you don't turn an ankle in the channels but it will not make the boat any more stable...maybe I am reading your post wrong but if you can't stand in it now, adding a floor doesn't help.

If its stable enough to stand in now but you just want it so you don't have to be as carefull placing your feet...(which is what I think you mean) then you can either just follow the contour of the bottom with thin flat outdoor plywood. Or build it up just enough to make it flat across. Something I am considering with my own boat.

Sorry if I am missreading this.

Agreed that you should be able to stand up in it as is...

I haven't added the floor to the rear portion of my boat (the same boat as yours) but have no problems walking around...It's plenty stable, even standing on my front deck which is substantially higher is no problem.

But that isn't what I took it to mean...I figured you just wanted a nicer floor which is my next addition...

Maybe I should be able to stand up in it already...perhaps the difference is that I am always in the ocean as opposed to a lake. Maybe the ocean is just rough enough to warrant staying seated in this boat...we can stand barely to move around a little, but it is not very stable...maybe a floor won't be of any help.

Oh wow, yeah the ocean may be a little more rough...I don't know that I would be too confident standing in mine there either.

I don't take my tin into salt water at all. I use my slightly larger and heavier fiberglass boat for that but even then I have to be wary of the conditions.

Once we anchored in Huntington Harbor by the Naval weapons depot next to PCH and was waiting for the incoming tide. The tide came in so fast I was praying that my anchor was set firmly. Even inside of the harbor is kind of dicey at times.

Anyway, I made a plywood floor for my tin to level it out. I built a simple sub floor for the middle section and just laid a thin sheet of quarter inch plywood on the stern section. The plywood is not attached to anything, it just rests in place and can be easily removed for whatever reason.

.....and the plywood floor after paint.

Nomowork...
That was all that I was planning on doing with 1/2 inch ply...
but did it help you to stand in your boat? Did it actually make a difference?

It will make it easier to stand only in the fact that it is flat...that really depends on the person. I can stand in my 14 Sean Nymph just fine but to walk around I bend over and either grab the sides or get close. The olny way to make it more stable is to make it wider (the boat) that would mean some kind of outrigger. But on the ocean I am not sure that would be possible. I guess it would...they do it for Kayaks all the time.

If its rough I won't stand no matter what boat...I have been in some rough stuff in bigger boats and I keep my butt on a seat or low in the boat. Little lite boats like our tins just make things worse...

If you willing to build a floor and try it I say go for it. You'll likely love it just for the fact that you don't have to look at your feet to walk around. But It add no stability to the boat. If you can't stand up now you won't then. Outriggers on there may do the trick though...

BTW you don't take that thing far from the shore do you?... I'd be a little afraid of my boat in big water like that.

I probably take it out no more than a mile from shore...I stick to the bays and just outside the bays.

The plywood floor helps a lot, especially in the middle section where the "V" hull is more noticeable. I still won't take this boat into the salt water. I think it's too light to handle the currents and the winds.

A mile off shore is a long way! I have taken a 15 foot sailboat out that far as I had more confidence in it's ability to float, even upside down (via first hand experience) but I won't go that far out even in my fiberglass 15 foot outboard. High winds push that boat around too.

As Jason L. stated, I have been in larger boats out in the ocean in some pretty good size chop and still had to sit and grab on to something while moving.

If you're set on going out in the salt water here in So Cal, I think a 16 foot plus deep V is the minimum I would take IMO. Now that I have a vehicle that can tow something that big, I need the space to store one which is the reason I have smaller boats. There is hope though. My son is planning to buy a larger house!

Keep it safe.

I dont know if you are familiar with "the Wall" just outside the LB Harbor...maybe its half a mile, not sure. But its not that far out. My Valco does fine out there...it gets a little rough on the other side of the wall, so we stay inside.

Protected water is different. But still be careful as I have heard the weather can change rapidly and then your in trouble.

JasonLester said:

Protected water is different. But still be careful as I have heard the weather can change rapidly and then your in trouble.

Click to expand...

.....and don't forget the rouge waves, especially if you're anchored! We almost stuffed the bow of our open bow fiberglass boat just outside the breakwater when just one large swell hit us while anchored.

So far so good...in the future I'll be getting a larger boat...I'm just not ready yet to part with Pop's Valco. I just got a 25 HP motor that I'm gonna try out in the bay. Once I decide to sell it I can pick up something more appropriate for the areas that I fish.

sirbeigealot said:

So far so good...in the future I'll be getting a larger boat...I'm just not ready yet to part with Pop's Valco. I just got a 25 HP motor that I'm gonna try out in the bay. Once I decide to sell it I can pick up something more appropriate for the areas that I fish.

Click to expand...

Or you can keep it for freshwater fishing....I'd hate to part with my family's boats too... I'm not sure I would... I have several boats and places to keep them though. My Grandfather is in a nursing home now. He is able to get around fine but needs some help taking care of himself. So I have his bass boat. Its an old SeaStar trihull. It will beat you to death running down the lake but is nice and stable for fishing. Its not pretty to most people but I love it. I will never let that go anywhere. I haven't fished in it for years. Hope to this summer though, With him.