16ft V-bottom Boat Modifacation to a Bass Boat

[mattdawgg]

Im new to this site, but love all the ideas I am finding. I am purchasing this boat for $200 boat and trailer, The guys before who I am purchasing it from used it as a duck boat so they cut out all the seats so they could move around in their blind. I am kinda of worried about this taking some of the strength out of the boat but i figure if i rivet aluminum braces where the seat where i should be good? right? I am open to any ideas you guys have so please be open minded. I plan on putting a front deck and a rear deck, i am worried about stability so if you have any suggestion on making it more stable please let me know, i want this boat to be able to fish two people comfortably and safely with out tipping over haha, any help will be appreciated, Thanks

 

[Ictalurus]

They left most of the structure of the bench in tact, you'll be fine. Bufford did something similar to his benches, may be a good resource for ideas.

 

[mattdawgg]

awesome thank you, thats the only thing i was worried about, i am going to get this boat next thursday. Do you think $200 is a good deal for boat and trailer?

 

[hsiftac]

sounds like you cant really go wrong with that for 200 dollars

 

[LonLB]

awesome thank you, thats the only thing i was worried about, i am going to get this boat next thursday. Do you think $200 is a good deal for boat and trailer?

Really depends on the location. Around me, yes you could.
I bought mine for $400.

 

[mattdawgg]

Iam from Iowa, its the best deal I found on craigslist, its in ruff shape but should do the job

 

[mattdawgg]

All i have been thinking about lately is getting started on this boat, i really wanna have it fishable once the water starts to warm up, I am not sure where to start thought, I think sanding and painting the boat should come first before doing anything else, correct me if i am wrong. Then start adding supports and do some of the wiring even though we don't have and outboard or trolling motor yet. Me and my buddy are going to buy things as we go for this boat, since money is hard to come by these days. What are some of the essentials we should look to purchasing right away, so we can get this baby up and running?
Any help is appreciated

 

[Hanr3]

I completely removed my bench seats.
Reinforced the gunwalls using other methods.

 

[mattdawgg]

I completely removed my bench seats.
Reinforced the gunwalls using other methods.

I checked out your boat and its awesome gave me lots of ideas like running some wires early just so they are there. Do you think with my boat being 16ft i can put a deck up front and and a read deck?, and still be stable. I haven't seen any v-bottoms on here with two decks, just flatbottoms

 

[Hanr3]

Do you think with my boat being 16ft i can put a deck up front and and a read deck?, and still be stable.

That will depend on how wide your boat is. The wider the better. My boat is a little over 4' wide, no way it would be stable enough for my comfort level with a raised deck. To find out if your going to be comfortable with a raised deck in the boat, put it in the water and stand on the benches.

I did a lot of pratice runs in my garage. My wife caught me many a time sitting on a bucket in the boat fishing in the garage. :mrgreen:

 

[LonLB]

Keep in mind that you don't have to have the decks all the way to the top of the boat. IMO that is done for looks more times than not.

You only need to be high enough to work the lures you fish. Are you going to bang the side of the boat working a jerkbait for instance.

 

[devilmutt]

I put a front and rear deck on my boat. While I did not intend for the rear deck to be a casting deck it has been used as such. I need to add some down supports on the rear deck this spring. I had planned on fishing alone or with my two girls most of the time and did not want the girls up on the elevated decks so no real support to the floor was added in the rear.

 

[mattdawgg]

I am thinking i wont put the rear or front deck any higher than what the seats are that should be high enough i think. The only place i want the deck raised to near top is at the bow of the boat so i can mount my trolling motor and maybe some headlights for cat fishing at night. I came up with a new layout for the boat though not to many changes just a couple. I cant figure out how to make my rear deck so i can run the motor and have room to fish. Any Ideas? You guys think this will work? Thanks for all the help

 

[mattdawgg]

So i get this boat Thursday and plan on to start sanding right away so i can get it painted, i still don't know what kind of paint i need and primer, does it have to be marine? also whats steelflex? ive seen alot of people put it on the bottom of their boat do i need some of this? thanks everyone :mrgreen: