Need some boat advice

Jreyes has aquired my 12′ fishing boat , it has a 57″ beam and bench seats. With a smokin 7.5 hp MERC

Well we are in the process of a facelift, it has bench seats that where foamed inside the seats, well this foam is deteriated and was coming out all over, so we cut a access hole and removed the foam.

So anyway he would like to remove the benches and add some swivel seats and a floor. Under the floor we plan on adding floatation foam.

He also wants to add a front deck with a bow mont trolling motor, if we add a platform slightly raised, would this craft be fairly stable? My guess as long as hes was sitting it would be ok, we also plan on adding some batteries and locating them low and in the center.

Also getting a simple 12v bow mount cable drive for simplicity sake.

He has a Humminbird locater

I would think a 3 g gas tank should be adequete?

Any thoughts? Ideas?

I just wonder if the seats might be part of the reinforcement structure of the boat.

A few things I would consider when doing this.

#1 taking the bench seats out takes away a lot of the support for the sides of the boat. If you do so make sure you replace them with something similar and in similar spots to make sure you have support.

#2 the added weight of the floor and raised deck will end up being more than you think it will and most likely will make the boat be much much slower and you wont be able to go through as much shallow water as you could before.

Just a few things to consider that i have found out the hard way.

Cut some scrap plywood and make a temporary platform and see if its stable being higher up. This way you won’t have much invested into it, nor will you monkey up the boat if it doesn’t work. I’d agree with the bench seat removal, it may cause some problems.

Hey,
Check out this website,
http://www.getboatrepair.com/
They specialize in what you are talking about doing. I have never seen there work, but they have been doing it for quite a long time so they must be doing something right.

Good luck with your project.

Thanks

I’m thinking a front deck in that scenario might start to make it a little tippy with someone sitting on that front deck…

Put the bench seats back and cut lids into the top or sides for battery and gear storage, and put a seat post on it. That way you don’t lose the strength of the hull, you add storage, and you have pedistal seats.

If you plan on flooring it, use a thin gauge aluminum and foam underneath. Aluminum is light, and wood is alot heavier than you think.(Especially treated). You also gain flotation incase you were to swamp it. And yes it is easy to do in a small boat especially when it is over-weighted.(makes for good stories though)

As far as a trolling motor goes. You may want to stick with a transom mount, as a bow mount can eat up valuable floor space. That and the money you save you can spend on aluminum for the floor.

As far as stability with a deck??? I would personally skip that part and stick with all the controls in the back. But it’s your boat dude. Just remember to keep it simple.