Light weight casting deck

[fishinwahbee]

Hi all

Just wondering about building a casting deck for my tinny. We perviously built one which was great, but is now quiet rotten and a little heavy. My boat is a 3.7m stacer and the mortor is a 6hp 07 Mercurywhich just gets on the plain with the deck, gear and myself. As i am not able to get my boart licence i thought that having a super light floor would still allow the boat to plane. any help would be highly appreciated

Thanks fishinwahbee

Never to young to be a pro 13yo!

[darylive]

half inch / 5ml ply with regular reinforcing ribs will give you a light weight sturdy deck.

Once you have you deck paint it. What ever you can get but paint both sides two coats and leave it dry. this will seal the timber from moisture.

Be mindful if you drop a sinker and it goes under the deck FIND IT! It will eat a hole in the aluminium if left sit.

[fishinwahbee]

Thanks mate, with the supports ect sould i use ply wood abot 2 inch high screwed upright or? Thanks again mate for the useful post.

fishinwahbee

[fishinwahbee]

Maybe going to paint the hull as well???
Probs 3 coats of etch primer 3 coats of enamel any ideas. Im on a budget.

Thanks fishinwahbee

[Scott nthQld]

I wouldn't worry about painting the hull. Might look god when new, but a few trips and a few knocks from sinkers, lures, snags and it'll look worse than unpainted, nothing worse then a nice paint job all scratched up.

But yeah 5-6mm ply, sealed with a couple of coats of paint (thin the first coat out with thinners so it really soaks in). For bracing, a few lengths of aluminium angle should do the job, doesn't need to be heavy stuff, about 25X25 angle 1.2mm thick should be plenty. This will give you a good bit of meat the screw into on one side, and the vertical edge will give you the strength. Will also be lighter than using off cuts of ply for bracing. Check out any building materieal recyclers to get a better price on the angle, you might find some old window frames or something checp you can dismantle and cut up to suit

[fishinwahbee]

awesome info thanks mate