Question about decking and flooring

[Rescuetech]

Hello I am new to the forum. Yesterday I purchased a 15ft 1983 Sylvan Bass Catcher with a 50 Horse Johnson (not sure of the year) does seem to run well when hooked up to the ears and hose. I only gave 200 for this boat to a guy who needed cash fast. the question I have is I want to restore this boat as close to it's original condition as I can. Is there a company that makes pre made decking and floors that I can get to save me a hassle of cutting the wood and getting the angle right ? Also I am thinking about taking the steering console out of it and go with stick steering so I can have more room. What are the pros and cons about stick steering ? Any help would be appreciated thanks in advance.

 

[tysonnathan]

Re: Question about decking and flooring

i have never heard of a precut deck panel... its not real hard though. do a search for deck replacement and you will fing tons of info. i prefer a steering wheel to stick steering... i guess for you the pro would be more room and con might be a little less convenient/intuitive to use??? stick steering is just as functional... its just a matter of preferance. good luck w/ it!


and welcome to iboats!

 

[Joe_the_boatman]

Re: Question about decking and flooring

Being a Sylvan, is the boat fiberglass or aluminum? If aluminum, remove interior, drill out rivets, and use old floor as a template - easy.

If fiberglass, still not too hard. The (small) gaps on the sides from your imperfect cuts will be glassed over, so not a big deal.

Both myself and my dad dislike stick steering - simpler, yes, so less stuff to repair. But you can't ever take your hand off the tiller when underway, and you're seated sideways. Your arm also picks up lots of engine vibration. Pretty annoying (to us) when compared to wheel steering. He sold his last boat for that reason alone.

 

[109jb]

Re: Question about decking and flooring

Stick steering gives more room, but that's about all in my opinion. My father has a 1991 Smokercraft that was stick steer and I converted it to single console. The worst thing in my opinion is that you are almost blind up over the bow when coming up on plane until the front end settles down. So you have to go either fast enough to plane out or you have to go pretty darn slow, or lean out over the side to see what is in front. On top of that, coming into a dock or driving on the trailer is more of a pain because you are reaching back to shift, trying to look forward, trying to see over the bow to line up, etc. If it were me I'd stick with the console. Not sure about your boat, but if it has 2 consoles, you could remove the port console and open up a whole bunch of room.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Question about decking and flooring

i have had 3 boats with stick steering, and loved it.
http://www.shootnhunt.com/catalog/JM/boat_controls_and_steering/ezy_glide/index.html

 

[Rescuetech]

Re: Question about decking and flooring

Thanks everyone I have decided to for go the stick steering right now and see how much room I have after making a few other changes.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Question about decking and flooring

From what I could tell in this thread he is asking about stick streering not tiller stearing, they are two very different things. Stick stearing can be mounted where ever you want, if you look at TD's pics you can see what it is. Tiller steering is where you're sitting in the back of the boat actually holding on to the motor.