Building a front casting deck….

Hey guys,

I bought myself 16′ flat-bottom duck hunting boat a couple weeks ago that I want to turn into some sort of fishing rig……so I thought I better put in a front casting deck.

I’m looking for any tips, tricks, or advice on materials and the process in general that would help me out before I get started.

I’m assuming ply wood covered in some sort of marine grade carpeting would work…..but what thickness of plywood do I need? Will I need some kind of support system underneath or will just bolting it to the front bench seat be enough?

I can probably get you hooked up with some aluminum. It’s a heck of a lot lighter than ply wood and lasts a lot longer. I few well placed rivets and you should be good to go. PM me if you are interested.

On my old boat when I replaced the casting deck, before I put on the carpet, I put several coats of marine varnish on the plywood. This helps keep the water of the wood, so you get a longer life out of your casting deck

Besides marine varnish, you can also use fiberglass resin. This will put a “super seal” coat on, preventing water from seeping through.

I would stay away from marine grade plywood. It is heavy and warps really easy, because of the liquid chemical that is impregnated into the wood to make it “weather resistant”.

If you go wood, you can get away with 1/2″ plywood. I recommend doing the fiberglass resin coating. IF YOU DRILL ANY HOLES, YOU WILL HAVE TO SEAL THOSE HOLE SIDES WITH THE RESIN, OR WATER WILL LEAK INTO THERE AND SEEP INTO THE SEAMS OF THE PLYWOOD, THUS CAUSING WARPAGE AND ROT……So, pilot your holes for your chair and whatever else you want to install and seal the hole sides prior to laying carpet…..

If you are laying a sheet of plywood over two benches (middle bench and bow bench), I also recommend installing a door/hatch to give access below, between the two benches.

If you cannot lay the plywood over the benches, then go to Menards, Fleet Farm, or Home Depot and get 1.5″ aluminum angle iron. You can drill and bolt into the side bench the angle iron and lay the deck on top, flush with the bench. It makes it easily removable at that method.

If you cannot bolt the angle iron into the bench, because of no access inside the bench for the nuts, then get very large self tapping sheet metal screws and place them 4″ apart.

There ya go!!!

Not sure if its obvious or not but I find myself forgetting a lot. Make sure your hardware is stainless. But rivets I think would be better. Much easier to deal with. Go Aluminum if your checkbook can take it.

I have been intending to do this to my boat as well. Thanks for the input everyone. One more question though. What is the easiest way to template the contour of the bow? I was thinking cardboard or measuring every 6 inches.

Cardboard works for tracing the lines on your boat. Marine grade plywood will work but depending on how big your deck is going to be, it is extremely heavy. Any outdoor grade of carpet will work. I built a removeable platform for the back of my Northwood Kingfish a few years ago and it fit nicely. It wasn’t until I had to fill up my gas tank that I realized that I needed to cut a hole through the deck

Thanks for the offer Blue, but I think I’m going to stick with Plywood as I don’t have the tools, know-how, or cash to work with aluminum .

Gary, will 1/2″ really be thick enough? I’ve got some large friends that will be jumping up and down on it when they catch a big one .

Also, will the weight of the plywood greatly decrease my overall speed? It’s a 3 bench seat boat and I want to go from the front bench to the bow, so it won’t be that big.

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Cardboard works for tracing the lines on your boat. Marine grade plywood will work but depending on how big your deck is going to be, it is extremely heavy. Any outdoor grade of carpet will work. I built a removeable platform for the back of my Northwood Kingfish a few years ago and it fit nicely. It wasn’t until I had to fill up my gas tank that I realized that I needed to cut a hole through the deck

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Now thats what I call a sharp looking boat. Great work!

Thanks, Bill

Jake;
1/2″ will work fine, unless you are talking a 4′ x 4′ square.

I guess the question is how big of a piece are we talking here???

If you are talking 24″ to 30″ by 48″, 1/2 will be just fine. If it is much bigger, then you can go to 3/4……Plywood is cheap, try both out.

The wood will affect your speed. I lost a few mph whenever I was using the rear casting platform. 1/2″ will be plenty stiff unless you have a real wide span. I had some metal stiffeners in my rafters from an old garage door that I used to stiffen the wood.

Thanks for the compliment Bill. I always thought that is was pretty ugly myself with the green carpet. It was more for function than for looks. Made a great fly casting, or musky casting platform. I took the rear platform off last year when I sold that boat. The front compartment that you see in the photo got some new matching carpet before it went.

Jake “the man”

I would check into the aluminum. It may not cost as much as you think. It would also last you for a long period of time!

Plywood can work and has for me in the past.

Either way I am sue it will be nice.

just remember to stay light weight whatever u do because i tried putting diamond plated steel in the front of my boat and just 50 or 100 lbs misplaced can make your boat run different. i had to switch it all back this year so save yourself the work