Bow Casting Deck for 17-foot Hull

Repair or modification of Boston Whaler boats, their engines, trailers, and gear
RFreed
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2021 5:39 pm

Bow Casting Deck for 17-foot Hull

Postby RFreed » Sat Mar 20, 2021 9:53 am

I built a casting deck for my 1985 Montauk 17. The casting deck is made from a composite board product from COOSA COMPOSITES, fiberglass, a deck surface product from SEADEK on top , and 3/8-inch-thick neoprene rubber on bottom to prevent any sliding around. No holes were drilled in the boat and [the casting deck] can be removed and reinstalled by one person in minutes. The casting deck doesn’t move, doesn't bounce, and doesn't slip in rough water

fig1a.jpg
Fig. 1. I used T-nuts to secure a trolling motor bracket and to secure the deck to the boat. This allows everything to be flush.
fig1a.jpg (15.95 KiB) Viewed 3005 times


fig2a.jpg
Fig. 2. A turnbuckle secures the deck to the bow lifting eye. I used an eyebolt to secure the deck with big zip ties to the Norman pin.
fig2a.jpg (8.64 KiB) Viewed 3005 times


fig3a.jpg
Fig. 3. A casting deck
fig3a.jpg (17.78 KiB) Viewed 3005 times


--RFreed

jimh
Posts: 11674
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
Contact:

Re: Bow Casting Deck for 17-foot Hull

Postby jimh » Sat Mar 20, 2021 10:26 am

Please explain what part of the bow casting deck was made with fiberglass.

Please elaborate on how the T-nuts are used to secure the bow casting deck to the hull.

What COOSA COMPOSITE board did you use?

What SEADEK product did you use?

Where did you obtain the neoprene rubber underside material?

jimh
Posts: 11674
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
Contact:

Re: Bow Casting Deck for 17-foot Hull

Postby jimh » Sat Mar 20, 2021 10:36 am

Your workmanship looks very very nice.

Is the bow casting deck secure enough for the trolling motor thrust in all directions?

I infer that when going forward the turnbuckle link to the bow lift eye is providing the resistance to the thrust causing any motion to the bow casting deck.

What holds the bow casting deck in place if the trolling motor is making reverse thrust?

In Figure 3 the top surface of the bow casting deck appears to have some grooves in the SEADEK material. How did you create the unusual shapes and grooves in the SEADEK material?

RFreed
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2021 5:39 pm

Re: Bow Casting Deck for 17-foot Hull

Postby RFreed » Sat Mar 20, 2021 1:19 pm

My father and I have been developing and improving this for over 40 years. We mostly are angling for bass on a river system, however we do go 15-miles offshore on the Boston Whaler boat.


Jimh--to answer your questions:

T-Nuts are used for a through hole application to allow threaded screws to be used and no wrench to hold a nut while installing. For the trolling motor application the T-Nuts were installed underneath. It allows for the screws to pull down the bracket.

For the deck the T-nuts were installed on the topside. All holes were drilled in the Coosa board, fit checked, then T-nuts installed. The turnbuckle top bolt was cut to length to be all thread, so not to protrude above the deck. Same for the eyebolt.

The SEADEK was expensive but not required. Just a simple non skid would work. You would never see t-nuts with just the proper glass sand and paint.

RFreed
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2021 5:39 pm

Re: Bow Casting Deck for 17-foot Hull

Postby RFreed » Sat Mar 20, 2021 1:31 pm

jimh wrote:I infer that when going forward the turnbuckle link to the bow lift eye is providing the resistance to the thrust causing any motion to the bow casting deck.

What holds the bow casting deck in place if the trolling motor is making reverse thrust?


Figure 4 (below )shows an eyebolt strapped to the Norman Pin with large nylon cable ties. Nylon cable ties were just used for proof of concept, and I will see how long they last. If they deteriorate or fail I will use stainless steel [worm-gear] hose clamps

zipTie_.jpg
Fig. 4. Nylon wire ties strap the bow casting deck to the Norman Pin.
zipTie_.jpg (12.63 KiB) Viewed 2969 times

MarkCz
Posts: 131
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 3:44 pm

Re: Bow Casting Deck for 17-foot Hull

Postby MarkCz » Sat Mar 20, 2021 11:28 pm

That's a nice no-drill method to add a trolling motor. Thanks for posting.

jimh
Posts: 11674
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
Contact:

Re: Bow Casting Deck for 17-foot Hull

Postby jimh » Sun Mar 21, 2021 7:39 am

RFreed wrote:T-Nuts are used for a through hole application to allow threaded screws to be used and no wrench to hold a nut while installing...


Thanks for clarification of how you used T-Nuts to fasten the bow casting deck to the hull. In your initial description the method of using T-Nuts was not clear, and I couldn't imagine how they were embedded into the hull to fasten the deck to the hull.

I am still curious about which of the many COOSA COMPOSITE products you used. Also the SEADEK products could use further details, particularly how those nice channels were created in the SEADEK material. And don't forget to give the source of the thick neoprene rubber you employed to increase friction between the boat deck and the new bow casting deck.

RFreed
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2021 5:39 pm

Re: Bow Casting Deck for 17-foot Hull

Postby RFreed » Sun Mar 21, 2021 10:47 am

jimh wrote:I am still curious about which of the many COOSA COMPOSITE products you used. Also the SEADEK products could use further details, particularly how those nice channels were created in the SEADEK material. And don't forget to give the source of the thick neoprene rubber you employed to increase friction between the boat deck and the new bow casting deck.


The COOSA board I used was a 10-lbs density.

The SEADEK was installed by a local company, Jet Boat Pilot. They scanned the deck and used a CNC machine to mill the SEADEK. They used two colors for a total thickness of 6-mils.

The neoprene was also bought locally at Rubber Specialties of Panama City, Florida.

A high-temperature glue used in headliner applications and purchased from Amazon was used [to adhere the neoprene rubber to the bow casting deck lower surface].

glue.jpg
Fig. 5. Glue from Amazon
glue.jpg (4.3 KiB) Viewed 2913 times

jimh
Posts: 11674
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
Contact:

Re: Bow Casting Deck for 17-foot Hull

Postby jimh » Sun Mar 21, 2021 1:32 pm

Thanks for the replies to my three questions. I was particularly interested in the SEADEK product, so your explanation of the scanning of the deck and the precision milling of the groove and the use of multiple layers of different color material was most helpful in understanding how the final appearance was obtained. It certainly looks very nice, and I expect it reflects the cost involved to create it.

[ASIDE: I have combined your several replies into one reply, and I removed the broken text in the replies that was perhaps intended to be a quoted reply. I cropped the picture of the spray can to just show the can rather than a large white background that really contained no information of use. To become more familiar with the forum software, you can use the INTRODUCTION section to make some test posts and then delete them.]