greetings and advice

[jparker92]

Hello. My name's Joe and I'm new to the site. Let me start by saying, I'm very intrigued by some of the ideas I've seen on this site. I'm currently couped up with a shattered ankle and leg. Unfortunately, it's keeping me off the ice all season, but I'm passing the time by thinking of mods for my boat. I can't tell you exactly what year, but I've got a 1970s sea nymph 16.5' v-hull that was modified by the previous owner. However, I'd like to redo the casting deck. Right now, it's got a huge cutout with a 100qt cooler used as a live well. I'd like to put in a New deck with 2 smaller hatches that I can use for storage and a smaller cooler. I'm not sure exactly how the current deck was set up, but I know it's sturdy. I may go with the same structural system when I put in the New deck, but I may change it. I know for a fact I'm going to use wood for structure, not aluminum, and I'm planning on using 3/4" plywood for the deck. I'm just wondering, for those of you who have used wood to create the structure, how did you do it? I'd like to stay away from anything that forces me to put holes in the boat if possible.

 

[Keystone]

Welcome to Tim Boats Joe!

 

[Insanity]

Welcome. Check out my post. ( pics of my V boat ). You can see my front frame work. It just sits in there and screws to the seats.
Il take a pic of the inside of my dry wells tomorrow. I used flooring underlayment ( to save weight) and just caulked it together with adhesive caulking to make boxes. There strong enough.

 

[jparker92]

I already feel so wwlcomed. Thank you

 

[BassFishVA]

Welcome to tin boats. Spend some time looking around at all of the mods. There are so many to see it can be overwhelming. Just take tour time and soak it all up especially while you recover.

 

[jparker92]

Okay, so I'm seeing a lot of guys who build their support using the bench seats and have 2×4 or 2×2 for vertical stability. My question is, how are you guys attaching the vertical support to the boat? Does gravity and weight hold it in place? Or are you bracing it to the ribs of the boat?

 

[fishingeezer]

I am new to the site also and don't even own a boat yet, but will be buying a 1436 topper hopefully soon. Check the forum and you will see how the deck supports are attached using Simpson strong ties available at Lowes, and probably Home Depot as well.

 

[fishingeezer]

Welcome Joe. Sent you a msg and had to jump out to find pictures. Check out the 1436 tracker topper build from toddster88 and you will see exactly how to construct that deck. Thanks

 

[overboard]

Have to agree with the others, do some homework on here and you will find various ways to do what you want to.
Before I did any mods. to mine, I think I looked at every thread on here to get ideas, and then came up with some of my own.
I did mine out of aluminum and didn't have to drill one hole in the boat, also fairly easy to remove.

 

[jparker92]

Awesome. Thanks, guys!