Re: 1982 Sylvan Bassboat project
Ok, a little progress this week in anticipation of the weekend coming up.
I have created a cross member to be installed under the floor to mount a pedestal seat to. I trimmed it down to stop at the center stringer so the floor will be able to follow the bow I created.
I put the old metal bench seat base back in just to get an idea about seat height. Of course I sat an made the obligatory motor boat noises, lol. Jr is still not sure about that, lol
and tonight I routered down the edges of all the stringers and cross bracing to prep them for a resin soak and a layer of csm prior to install.
Now on to the question of the day. Livewell placement. I have a ton of room up front and considered a 3.5' x 16 x 18 deep live well with a segmented off bait well up there. But, in all my research on livewells, it seams a rear livewell is more preferred. I did some measuring of the gas tank and space available behind the bench seat and I can just squeez a 3' x 16 x 18 deep (top to bottom) livewell in. The only problem will be having to cut th existing back deck in the cap and I will be unable to have my seat backs go very high so that I can access the livewell easily. The crappy black lines show where the cut out would be.
I would still put a bait well up front. I would also have to figure out how to mount the back pedestal seat with the livewell there.
Anyone have any thoughts on pro's and con's between putting it front or back? I can't decide if weight distribution would be better with it front or back. (I figure given it's size and likely water levels we're talking about 260lbs) If we go for the back location I'd dado the center stringer to allow the livewell to sit about an inch lower.
