Deck addition to 14' Jon *Pics*

[Brian4618]

After seeing all the boat restorations on here I finally got all the wood and hardware to start working on adding a deck to the front on my jon. Ive put in a "makeshift" deck to the front before, but that finally gave in so I decided to do it right this time. When I got this boat, it was almost bare aluminum, so I put a coat of black paint on the outside and a gray paint on the inside (thought maybe this would keep down the heat).

Here is a pic before any deck work was done, I removed the middle seat cover because im using that space for a storage compartment:

After thinking, drawing on a pad, measuring, and a little bit of cutting as I go ;D , these are the first 2 support boards. Throughout this, I use 1x2 strips for most everything. I stumbled across these brackets in the garage that worked perfect for connecting the horizontal support boards to the front seat. They made the boards much more sturdy. When I felt the screws werent enough, I used 90^o brackets to connect the vertical supports to the horizontal ones.

At this point, I had ran a couple bolts through the middle seat into the vertical supports to constrain them to the floor. I also put the outside supports on, this was tricky because of the curved walls and required angled cuts on the vertical supports to get it to fit just right. I have been using 2 1/2" trim screws on the supports, the reason I chose trim screws, was because I could bury the heads flush into the boards so the deck sat evenly on all the boards instead of screw heads, just something I thought would work better.

Here, I just added some more horizontal support boards for extra stability.

This is where I finished tonight, I decided to line a section of the supports with plywood for a compartment I wanted. I didn't have the daylight to put a piece on the bottom of the compartment but I will do that tomorrow for a better look.

Ill post more pics tommorow afternoon after I do some more work on it. The deck will extend from the very front of the boat to the back side of the middle seat. I want to put another compartment inside the middle seat also. I haven't decided if I need any wooden supports inside the middle seat or if the aluminum supports made into the boat will be enough to support the deck. Let me know what you guys think or if you have any suggestions or concerns with my build so far.

[Wayne P.]

Where is the hull flotatation going to be installed?

[Brian4618]

I have never dealt with the foam, so im not to sure about where to put it. Do you have any suggestions?

[Wayne P.]

Floatation: put it everywhere you can. The most floatation should be next to the heaviest weight that will be in/on the boat. Use a closed cell foam so it won't absord water.

Did you remove floatation material from the center tank seat or was the boat made before they were made safer?

[Brian4618]

The only foam that was in the boat when I got it was under the very front seat, and that was so torn up and broke up I threw it out. Im trying to find some foam that isnt to expensive, I saw some in the West marine catalog but it was a lot more than I would want to spend. Any suggestions on some that is fairly cheap?

[fishfordollars]

Closed cell foam is not cheap, but you won't be happy with the other. Once it gets wet (And it will) it will weigh a ton.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

Call me crazy, but the darker wood in those pics, is that PT wood?  If so, PT wood is generally a bad thing to use in aluminum boats.  Over time the chemicals from the average pressure treating can react with the aluminum causing it to rust and or weaken.  As far as the foam goes, closed cell is definitely worth the money.  It is kind of costly though.  My Jon was made before they really started to stick flotation foam in them.  I didn't add any, but it's on my list of things to do.

[Andy Taylor]

It does look like PT wood. The other concern I have is the use of 1X2's throughout. I don't think they're strong enough.

[Brian4618]

Those darker colored strips are not PT'd, they have turned that color while sitting in a wood pile at my house, they still had the print and sticker on it and I made sure it wasn't PT'd before I put it in because I was aware of the effect it had. The lighter ones are new boards. And to me, the 1x2's are holding up quiet well, im able to walk across and stand on the supports with little to no flex or give, I think they will work fine, ill let you know if they dont.

[Brine]

Seal it up with spar urethane. You can by sheets of closed cell foam at Lowes and Home Depot. You need to know how much foam you need to float the boat, otherwise you're just adding more weight to the boat. Seeing how I fish electric only reservoirs, it would take a catastrophic event to swamp my boat, so I'll take my chances and use the available space for storage.