Posts: 3480
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
The starboard saddle tank was placed below the decking. I ordered it through Aftermarket marine online and they custom built it. I then cut out the foam, got the tank in to fit, then greased up the tank before I added spray foam around the tank to keep it in place. Added a vent, to the outside of the boat, a fuel outlet for the motor in the splashwell, and the cap on top of the deck.
For the back deck, there are a couple of things you could do to make it solid enough to use, and removable.
If you added some reinforcing aluminum slatsbelow the side decks, you could then use 3/4" marine grade plywood, and some angle aluminum around the edges to make the deck with some of those slide locks you see on bathroom stalls to slide into side holes both front and back of the deck through the reinforcing aluminum slats. The back of the deck could rest on the splashwell, but I would reinforce the splashwell, although it is pretty solid as it sits. That way you could remove the deck if you needed to.
If you don't want to have the deck removable, then you can add a vertical piece of plywood to the front, then use a couple pieces of angle aluminum to attach it to the floor. Good solid foundation as well. The back of the deck could then be screwed down to the splashwell as well. If you chose to add a stereo, it would be a perfect place to mount speakers.
I would say you could add a top seat base and sit on that to operate the motor from there, although you will be sitting a tad bit higher than what you would normally be used to.
Hope you enjoy the deck...I know that I liked my boat as well, and miss some of the aspects of it as well.
Steve |
