Re: Jon Boat conversion
I did something similar to what ondarvr posted, but I low decked my jon boat with plywood and 1x1 pine ribs attached to the bottom of the removable decks, between the boat's ribs. I used 3/8 ply and foamed underneath the decks,,, and it feels rock solid while walking on it. (Yeah, yeah I know,,, foam below the deck is bad since it can suck up water and rot the wood... I live in the desert and haven't had a problem with the decks/foam getting water logged. I've even weighed them to make sure
If you live in a wet/humid area, this might not be the best idea.) My front deck has one heck of a bow to it and I bet you are wondering how I got the ply to match the boat's curve. Well I didn't do too much since Lowes had a sheet of 3/8" plywood that had 1/2 of it warped really bad, warped to almost the exact curve of the bow. I did soak the plywood in water, weighed it down and let it dry to match the boat's hull perfect though... One thing, if you hack apart your boat and removing foam like I did, make sure you replace it with the same volume. I have more foam in the boat than was in there to begin with. Here's a couple pics to give you some ideas. (I have more pics, these are just the ones I had web accessible)
In the last pic you can see how the seat top is split and accessible while sitting on the seat. I rolled a lip over on the aluminum seat bulkheads to give the openings strength, and hold the 2" foam in place,,, lots of patience and tapping with a ball peen hammer so the rounded corners didn't split while rolling them over.
