Floor deck ideas

[marrecis]

Recently purchased this 1959 14' Starcraft v-bottom for a great price. Boat is in great shap well taken care of. Would like to add a floor deck and upper front deck. I plan on removing the back and center benches and replacing them with normal fishing chairs for more room to maneuver. I've been looking at lots of people's build on here but don't know where to start. How thick plywood do I need, where do I screw to down too and many other questions I have. If anyone has a quick tip please reply, would love all the help I can get. Tight lines everyone

 

[Cdwa_78]

9/16" works good with a 2x2 subframe.


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[richg99]

Some of the cautions that you may find on this site will speak to NOT adding decks if they will cause you to have an unstable boat. Raising the height of a person standing in the boat will make it tip more.

Personally, before I did anything permanent..... I'd clamp a piece of plywood on top of two of the seats first. Then try standing on it, in the water, and see what that does to your center of gravity and to the stability of the boat. Bigger, wider boats handle those modifications better than smaller, skinnier boats.

The same can be true about removing seats. Will the boat have enough strength left to keep the sides from flexing???

Read a lot of the builds here, and you should find some great help.

richg99

 

[riverbud55]

I 100% agree with rich,,,, IMO cutting up a boat like that will turn it in to a dangerous piece junk!!!,, the seats are there for more then a place to sit, they are there to hold the boat together/ structure , their are no ribs and the gunnel is not got the strength to hold the sides and they are also your flotation ,,, imo if you want a boat set up that way buy one designed that way from the get go ,,, JMO

like rich said get a piece of plywood and lay it over the seats,, my buddy did it on his 12' lowe ,,,,used 1/2" plywood with 3 or 4- 2x2's cut the length of the distance between the seat for some strength,,, had a seat base bolted to it and 2 hatch door to access the space under the deck between the seats

 

[marrecis]

Got it! Thanks guys...glad I made this post cuz I don't now much about boats. Appreciate it


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[marrecis]

If anyone has any more pics of builds using the bench seats as support please post, Would like to gather as much ideas as I can.


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