Decking my 16ft aluminum boat, any hints, tips, links?...

[fishin loon]

An Excellent post. Glad to see a new comer jumping in with valuable info.
Welcome a board.

Fishin loon

PS submit 1 push I got caught 3 times

[OBD]

Cool Nodie

The front seat looks like it needs to be centered a bit more Boat must sit funny in the water no??

Hey tip up! The front seat is perfect as it is because as you can notice, the "backseat" driver is on the right hand side of the boat. So, the front seat has to be at the left hand side of the boat to balance out the weight! And I also have the 30-40lbs battery to place somewhere to balance out everything

[OBD]

And welcome to the site Tim!

[Fishnsledder]

Thanks for the post Tim! I think I've already taken your tips into consideration. I'm using 100% aluminum for construction, even the top, all aluminum rivets, and I'm going to go with Marine carpet. I just bought my bow mount trolling motor a couple days ago, so I really want to get at it now, I pick up all my aluminum on Monday. I'll post pics as it progresses. Oh.... I want my 2 seats to have nice HIGH pedestals, I'd like to be able to lower them right to the floor while trailering or going down to lake, and then have them adjuctable to fish with.... like a gas shock. Those livewell kits from Cabelas look pretty neat, I think I'll have enough aluminum left over that I'll have a rectangle welded up to fit into the middle seat.

The wires on my new trolling motor look too short for where I want to have my battery. Think if I extended the wires to go all the way to the back of the boat that I would lose too much voltage... affecting the trolling motor performace?...

[spinner]

The wires on my new trolling motor look too short for where I want to have my battery. Think if I extended the wires to go all the way to the back of the boat that I would lose too much voltage... affecting the trolling motor performace?...

Use 6 gauge wire and you'll be fine.

[beaster]

Don't be affraid to put your battery in your ideal spot. If you extend the wires you aren't going to lose any voltage or current (unles you use coat-hangers for wires ). Any low resistance wiring will get the job done. However, you might want to use a tinned wire instead of standard copper as they are more resistant to corrosion.

[spinner]

Don't know what type of seats you're planning for but I would suggest that you consider a bicycle style seat for the front casting deck as it would give you more room to move around up front, a better view when driving, it's lighter and in my opinion a better choice for fishing from a front deck.
All depends whether you stand most of the time while fishing or whether you want a full seat to sit on.

[TimJ]

Spinner-you are right on with the increase in gauge of cable (and the bike seat). Copper is fine as I have not seen much in the way of cable corrosion over the years. Any corrosion was always easily cleaned off of the battery terminals and ring connectors. The tinned cable probably has an extra expense that isn't warranted, unless someone else has an experience which helps out here.
I feel that the bicycle seat is the way to go. Unless you have a physical reason as to why you must sit, the bike seat keeps you "less lazy", that is, you are already on your feet ready to fight a fish. You don't want to get too comfortable on a seat.
As for battery placement, ideally most batteries are somewhere near the back of the boat. You must take boat balance (front to back) into account. If you have a gas tank, 2-batteries, motor and 1-2 anglers all in the back of the boat with no counterweight in the front, your nose will run high. In my 14S, I ran a 12V (1-battery) electric on the bow with the battery under the front deck. Never had a problem.
Glad I could help. Enjoy.
Tim.

[matcole]

Just curious if you could do the same with a fibreglass boat?

[Abraxus]

My question is regarding the weight. I was out at BPS on Friday looking at one of their 14ft tracker boats. The guy told me I could not install a casting deck in the nose of the boat because of a weight issue. He continued to say that the boat would not plane well and there is a possibility that in chop, the nose of the boat may dive. I thought he was full of crap and to be honest, the guy was a real knob! As a result the next day I went to a different dealership and bought a brand new Princecraft Fisherman. His loss really! Thats what you get for being and dink! lol With this being said, I would like to floor and deck my new boat, but I am now worried about the weight. Should I be?

Abraxus

[Fishnsledder]

Almost done!!!! Pics soon to come.... it's turning out quite nice!!

[Fishnsledder]

Well I just got back from a short maiden voyage before I work the night shift tonight, and I must say, I'm VERY pleased with the outcome! haven't made the middle seat into the livewell yet, and I still have to wire some lights and get a flush mount hatch lock for my storage compartment, but other than that, she's all done! Here's some pics..... scroll to the top of the post to see the before pics. Oh, I will be getting one of those shallow gas tanks so it'll slide right under the back deck and won't be in the way.

[Snakebite]

Looks great!!

building a casting deck for the bow of my 16' tinnie is my winter project. Glad to see there are so many around who already have experience.

[OBD]

Thats really nice!! Good job!

[devy]

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I purchased a 1986 14 ' Springbok 15 yr ago and installed a 5/8 inch pressure treated floor between the various sections on the bottom of my boat. When I replaced the carpeting last year, the wood looked fine. As for the carpeting, I used a outside grade carpeting from Home Depot and glued it down to the wood and up along the sides of the boat. [/img][/url]