Hey guys,
Took advantage of the big boat being in the shop and worked a little on the small boat. I purchased this boat last summer as a future project boat. It's a 15' Whaler. I wanted a smaller boat and looked around and decided I wanted either a 16' Wahoo, a 16' Hobie Power Skiff or a 15' Whaler. All of these boats has the attributes I wanted. I found a 15' Whaler for the right price on Craigslist first so I purchased it.
I will use it as a creek and river boat- split between river fishing for bass and white perch, and a crabbing boat. I will also be able to tow it with a small vehicle (like my Ford Exploder) (which is why I wanted a sboat this small instead of like a 17' Whaler) and can wheel it easily by myself. I would probably never have more then two people on the boat. I can also run a a 40 or 50 4-stroke on it effectivly. (Another reason why I didn't want a 17' Whaler- I didn't want to have to run a 90 on it.)
Anyway, I bought some cheap particle board today and messed around with a few deck configurations. I came up with three, possibly four. Of course, these are SUPER rough lay outs. Obviously, when I really lay the deck out, it will be closer to perfect. . .
1. Deck the whole thing. This will allow for a very clean lay out and will allow the boat to self bail. I can also have some storage spaces under the deck and put the gas tank and batteries under the deck. The down side is that to make it comftorable, I would have to make the console high, and it looks kind of dopey. That's besides the fact that I would only have three inches of freeboard which could get sketchy running a trot line.
The end result would look something like this but without a cooler seat and a little more freeboard
2. Deck only the back. I would most likey have a seat pad made that snaps on to the back deck. I could still have the gas tank and batteries under the back deck. The down side is that I could not make the boat self bail this way.
3. Deck the front and back but leave the center open. This would look like most bass boats. I would have a big deck on the front, a big deck on the back and a little area in the middle. I could go with or without side decks leaving a larger area in the middle, like a conventional bass boat set up. Again, I could not make it self bail this way which is the biggest down side.
The end result would look something like this, but on a much smaller, less sleek looking cale.
What do you guys say?