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Posts: 82
| I have a 16.5' Alumacraft Deep-V. I want to put a flat floor in it, and was wondering about putting a front casting deck in as well. Any opinions as to why I should or shouldn't do this? TIA |
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Posts: 282
Location: north west wisconsin | i did it in a 14' removed the bench seats and everything, some will say you if you take the floation foam out your going to be in trouble. I suppose if it capsize's but I am very aware of what kind of water I take it into.. watch for danger,
What I did was I left the bench seat brakets on the hull and fastend 2x12 onto them, then I built around the bow so it would hold the false floor. I also built a battery compartment unerneath so I had some support to the bottom of the boat.
the rest of the boat has a sheet of treated plywood with indoor outdoor carpeting on it set right on the ribs of the hull nothing fancy there and i built a casting deck in the rear out of 2x12 set side by side so its actually 23 inchs wide. I would'nt go to high with your casting decks because it can make the boat very tippy, I learnd that the hard way, I can post some pics of what I did.
My boat floats in about 1 fow with just me and my gear in it, im 210.
good luck |
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Posts: 516
Location: Kildeer, IL | The foam also helps insulate the floor so that every movement doesn't transfer into the water. You can always pour new foam once the floor is put in. If you do this, make sure you have a couple of relief holes drilled so the foam has a place to expand. That stuff really goes nuts. |
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Posts: 227
Location: New Brighton, MN | I did it to my 16.5 Lund. No regrets yet, except that I wish I used better quality materials. Definitely use marine grade plywood for the deck, stainless steel hinges and screws all around. Reinforce your pedistal seat base well (if you're installing one).
Also, make sure you don't set the casting deck too high. it can make for awkward figure 8's |
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| Floydss, I would like to see some pics of your boat. I recently inherited a 14 ft deep v aluminum boat. It is an old Crestliner ski boat actually. I think I am going to make it work this year and try to build some casting decks next winter. I thought about leaving the bench seats in and building over them, then using the space underneath as storage. I have a lot of ideas right now, but I am not sure if they will work. Getting the casting decks too high was one thing I was worried about. Is there a good gauge on how high I should go with these? |
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Posts: 1023
| I did it to my 14.5 aluminum. I left the front seat in and used it as part of the support. I just added a rear deck using aluminum channel as the beams - that is the way to go - very light and strong! If I had your boat I would leave the seats in and use aluminum channel beams with the seats to support your deck. You will lose some storage space but the floatation will still be there and the seats may help your boat structurally(?). That would be the easiest way. You could stand on your seats in the water beforehand to test the tippiness then. My boat is very stable and my deck is pretty high but the Lowe Seanymph 146 are very shallow - almost bass boat-like (poor man's bass boat anyways). It's not fancy but it has plenty of musky slime in it. |
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Posts: 2091
Location: Stevens Point, WI | I did this years ago with a 14ft Alumacraft. I really think the marine grade plywood is worth the money compared to treated wood. Instead of using marine carpet on the deck I actually used Herculiner Bed Liner and it worked awesome. Excellent grip, seals the wood almost better than anything. At the time they only had black so it got pretty hot, but now their are several colors including a light grey that would be cooler. The only other problem I had with it was you definitely cannot go barefoot on it, tears your feet to shreds. As mentioned previously it is essential to use stainless screws and other fasteners. Good luck with your project and post some pics of the final product. |
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Posts: 82
| Thanks for all of your input guys! I've removed the seats already. My boat has ribs that come up about 4-5" from the bottom of the boat at the end of the ribs. I have a friend that has a metal shop and we are going to rivet and weld a floor support system on top of the end of those ribs. For flooring, I plan on using that marine "wood" made out of plastic. I have another friend who works in a boat manufacturing company here, and can get 4'x8' sheets at cost. I plan on putting a battery/storage box, gas can box and a livewell in it as well (I will be fishing for lots of other species other than Musky). I was going to put a rod box in, but have since changed my mind. My front casting deck will only be 8-10" higher than the floor, leaving it about 10" from the top of the boat. I already have the seats, carpet and all that jazz. IF I ever get it done, I'll post pics.
Edited by Decatur 5/17/2008 9:06 AM
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Posts: 1023
| wow - that sounds impressive. You are doing it right - way nicer than my not-so-handy work! |
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Posts: 227
Location: New Brighton, MN | I would say that you should keep the casting deck as close as possible, or slightly above the water level on your boat. lower is more stable, higher is fun, but awkward figure 8's and unstable in a smaller boat.
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Posts: 358
Location: London, England | Do you know what brand name that plastic "wood" is which you can make decks out of? A strong nylon re-enforced plastic sounds like a much better solution than plywood. |
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Posts: 82
| Tim Kelly - 5/19/2008 1:02 PM
Do you know what brand name that plastic "wood" is which you can make decks out of? A strong nylon re-enforced plastic sounds like a much better solution than plywood.
No, I don't know the brand name, but they use it for boat decks all the time. It supposedly lasts forever. |
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Posts: 4
| Tim, Trex decking is the brandname you were looking for.. Awesome stuff! Easy to work with without all the splinters! Doesn't come in sheets, just standard board lengths. |
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| trex is NOT the name you are looking for, it is a very poor solution for this application. It is very dense meaning very heavy. It contains a large percentage of ground wood fiber and therfore WILL produce mold and mildew, and is non structural, even as decking it is about as rigid as a 1/4 " plywood. There are composite sheatgoods out there - quite expensive, try old menards. |
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