Is it safe/smart to build a deck on 10.5ft flat bottom jon?

[Chad Lumpkins]

New to the boat building game. Fished on friends/family's bass boats and pontoons but never had my own. Saw what i thought was a good deal on a jon boat and trolling motor online and went and bought it. Its a ten foot flat bottom but it doesnt seem very deep, not sure if i would feel safe stAnding in it as is. Dont know if the deck will help it or hurt it.   Any help is appreciated, thanks.

[S Hovanec]

I think an added deck would raise the center if gravity making it more tippy than it is already.  Not to mention, the added weight will likely make you overloaded once you add yourself and gear.

[Big Rick]

The length doesn't have much affect on the stability as far as fishing goes. It's the WIDTH that matters. It your boat isn't at least 36" wide at the BOTTOM I'd keep my feet in the bottom and not build a raised platform of any kind. Otherwise your getting wet on every hook set..... 

[813basstard]

If you like working on stuff, get it.

If you like fishing, get something already set up. 

 

Its always, always more work than you think it is.

[Russ E]

if you are not sure if it is safe standing without the deck, it will definitely be unstable with a raised deck. 

I  added a raised deck to  a 16 foot jon boat with a 48 inch width at the bottom. it had a 68 inch beam at the top.

It was fairly stable, but you did not want 2 people on the decks moving around much.

a 10 foot boat is usually a car topper and not very wide.

[Ratherbfishing]

Unless it's about as wide as it is long, no.

[Dirtyeggroll]

Just make a cheap removable version to try out (take a piece of plywood and just set it over the seats). If you think its too tippy, then don't waste your time.

 

As stated previously, if you don't feel comfortable standing on it w/out the deck, the deck will only make it worse.

[Smalls]

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