Decking out a 14ft Sea Nymph?

[paul40269]

I acquired a 14 ft Sea Nymph Deep V that is pretty bare bones. Actually, it's totally bare bones except for two clamp on seats. If I decided to deck this boat out, would I have to remove the aluminum bench seats? Or can I deck right over top of them? (see top view in pic). If somebody can point me to a similar project or offer advice, it will be greatly appreciated.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Decking out a 14ft Sea Nymph?

In my opinion you really can't do either. The benches are structural so I would not remove them, and a deck built on top of them would surely make that little boat ridiculously top heavy and tippy. There ARE some small fishing boat projects here in the restoration section where part of the center bench was removed and then remaining parts attached to the deck. I just can't think of one off the top of my head.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: Decking out a 14ft Sea Nymph?

I have a restoration project going for my 12' Aerocraft...but I didn't remove the bench seats, that's asking for strutural integrity issues.

I did cut out a hatch in the middle seat for battery storage to keep my deep cycle amidships for balance reasons.

I built removable decking rather than a permanent deck, so I can run a lighter setup if I need to by leaving the deck at home

There is a link in my signature for the resto

 

[cheesegrits]

Re: Decking out a 14ft Sea Nymph?

I had one until recently that I decked and it worked really well! I built a removeable center section in case I wanted to carry more people. I stored my batteries under this center section and cut a flip open hatch for access.
It didn't make a lot of difference about ride and it was definitly not tippy. You could drift over the flats at Tarpon Springs with no problem and I could still go real skinny with the trolling motor.