86 18' Starcraft SFM

[Watermann]

Nice, you'll be out there filling that well with fish before you know it :thumb:

 

[Monmouth00]

Wow! I'm really jealous of your skill. She's going to be awesome when she's done. It's all going to look so clean!

 

[Decker83]

The splashwell and deck structure look great. I like how you did the live well. Your doing a great job..

 

[MD28]

Ive been cutting some ply up for both back and front decks. Also cut out the hatches and the backers for the hatches. It takes some head scratching and deep contemplation to decide the best way to proceed with this it seems, so not much for progress. Something is very askew with the front deck too. Im not sure if it is the livewell or the primary deck under it, but I have a 3/4 gap on the bottom of one side. Im going to remedy with 3/4 ply blocking underneath to make it less bent.

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[nrf414]

Matt,

Decks are looking good!! I especially like the aft deck and splashwell. I had the same problem and same solution. Starboard side of fire casting deck off about 3/4". I did the same thing. I didn't have a template for that front deck piece that you will never see under a casting deck anyway.

I also like your idea of hatch supports! Good thinking

 

[66Holiday924]

Looking good! I wish I had the imagination that you and some of the other people on this site have. Maybe I need to spend more time dinking beer and staring at my boat... :joyous:

 

[Watermann]

Nice work, great fit on the casting geck sections :thumb:

 

[Renderwurx]

Looking good! I wish I had the imagination that you and some of the other people on this site have. Maybe I need to spend more time dinking beer and staring at my boat... :joyous:

It's all in the wrist...

 

[MNhunter1]

Great progress and phenomenal work! I'm trying to decide how best to tackle the hatches for my casting deck...diy or pay for the drop ins.

 

[MD28]

Thanks fellas! Nick, I got the idea from Candutch for the backers to the hatches. Id love to get all tempress hatches but those are way out of my budget. I only splurged on the livewell cover because there will be water sloshing around in it. Those things are about $90 so one is a lot already. I find Labatt really helps with the design process 66Holiday924.

 

[knezzer]

Excellent job ! Going to be a great fishing rig.

 

[mbroughton02]

Are you vinyling the deck where the hatches are? If so you are going to have an interesting challenge with the 90 degree inside corners. Looking forward to what you figure out. I couldn't figure it out so I had to round all my corners.

 

[66Holiday924]

Are you vinyling the deck where the hatches are? If so you are going to have an interesting challenge with the 90 degree inside corners. Looking forward to what you figure out. I couldn't figure it out so I had to round all my corners.

If I were doing it (which I never have but I've done similar stuff), I would vinyl over the opening and then cut the vinyl corner to corner, diagonally (creating an x), trim some of the excess but leave enough to fold around to the underside, fold it down and install the collar for the deck fitting. The collar should secure it. I heard the vinyl shrinks, and that would concern me a little bit. I don't know how much it shrinks or if that's true...

 

[MD28]

Been awful busy lately guys so sorry I havent been around. I install landscape mulch for my main occupation here in Michigan so April and May are real busy. Plus my wifes dad has been in the hospital for 2 months as well, so I couldnt join in on the fun here, but hopefully that is all behind us now. Here is a little update on what has happened in the last two months. I have the front deck almost all wrapped up. I have some fine tuning to do with the hatches with vinyl, they are too tight so I'll trim them down. I also just today installed the side panels permanently. The back deck is in the works too. I painted the bottoms of the plywood hatches and wrapped in vinyl as well as I could. I am pleased with how they turned out but the extra vinyl makes them hard to open and shut. Thus I will trim them back when I have some time. Like next winter or something:lol::facepalm:

 

[MD28]

The side panels

 

[MD28]

The back deck and splash well are coming together as well. The splashwell and all its parts are all basically fastened down now, but they need to be sealed with 5200 and painted. I think that should happen after the back deck is on so that it too is sealed with 5200 and then I can paint. The deck itself is on the sawhorses getting primer and paint for the hatches and backers.

 

[Watermann]

Hey forward progress, looking real good. :thumb:

 

[BWR1953]

Very nice looking work! That front casting deck looks great! :joyous:

 

[RStewart]

Nice work. The boat really looks good. Whenever I find a project boat I would like to do a back deck like yours plus build an 18" extension for the back deck that is removable. That way if it's just me and one other person fishing the person in back has a bigger area to move around. But when I've got more people in the boat the extension can be removed so the back row of seat bases can be used.

 

[MNhunter1]

Looks great! Having just completed my front casting deck, I understand the struggles Looking forward to your aft deck. I've often thought about doing one as well, but I think I might save it as a winter project one year.