tompatt said:
how high should the deck be? like about 2-3 inches from the top of the front bench? im planning to have about a 13 inch pedestal.
Keep in mind, a 13 inch pedestal is not all that tall. I don't know how tall you are, but even for just sitting back and watching a catfish rod, that wouldn't work for me, as I am 6'3" and growing. As for your deck, you really are going to need to take the boat out, and start standing on the benches to determine stability. If you feel stable on these, you can safely build a deck that is seat height.
I see that you have revoked your "screw it" post. Good call. It definitely isn't easy. I don't know if you have seen my Yazoo post in the past day or so, since I have started work on it. Anyway, I am not saying that you should go with aluminum, but I am going to say this about it. This was really my first big project working with aluminum. That being said, it was INCREDIBLY hard to plan this. Being real nitpicky never helped the cause, as I wasn't allowing myself to take any shortcuts. Every time I thought I had a good design, I would remember something that would ruin the plans again. It took many days of me standing outside with a tape measure. Just because it is hard, and something keeps throwing a kink in your plans, don't give up. When you are fishing from it, you will be glad you spent the extra time to plan and execute it.