"Chasin50" said:
Neat post Will. Look forward to your updates. You are gonna be a busy boy, but what a fun project. I am curious about how you will treat the wood before putting the carpet on?

Surprisingly I have very little time into the project at this point. Well… I guess if you count research time on the internet for design, materials and "how to" it is a lot of time but actual work time to this point is only 10-12 hours.

The wood is going to be covered with a penetrating epoxy on the top and sides. The bottom of the wood doesn't get anything which will prevent moisture from getting trapped. The wood will outlast the carpet as it did the first time.

"Steve S" said:
Is it better using regular plywood with this epoxy than marine plywood?

You'll be sorry you asked this…
90% of my research time has been spent learning about plywood for this project and I've learned more than I ever wanted to learn about this stuff.
First off you can't use pressure treated plywood for a couple reasons:
– PT doesn't mean it is waterproof it only means the treatment has been "pressed" into the wood.
– (most important) the PT that is made now isn't made using arsenic and the chemicals used on PT will cause corrosion in aluminum – that's bad! I was able to find some arsenic PT but it was 3/4" which was too thick.

Marine plywood is graded "marine plywood" for a few reasons:
– It is made with a waterproof glue when laminated
– There aren't voids in the lamination (voids trap water and promote rot)
– The type of wood is also better quality than pine and flexes better
Cons/misconceptions:
– Marine plywood is NOT waterproof but is resistant, it is only waterproof when glassed.
– Marine plywood is expensive ($80-150/sheet) and very hard to find since most/all is imported.
Marine plywood is best/intended for building wood boats.

Exterior grade plywood is built like marine plywood without voids in the laminations (or very few) and uses waterproof glue. This comes in many grades with the most common being CDX (this is what you'll find at places like Home Depot – it is inexpensive). CDX isn't a good option because there will be voids in the laminations and the faces of the wood may have knots that aren't filled. BC grade is somewhat common but is usually pine and fir is what you want for a boat deck. AB or AC exterior fir plywood is the best for building boat decks and some people use AB to build wood boats. While it is not waterproof it is very resistant to the elements and when properly sealed it will last a long time. AB and AC isn't carried at many places because they don't sell much of it.

"Jim tenHaaf" said:
Lookin' great, Will. Don't forget to drill your holes for the seats!

LOL, I'll try not to forget that. I forgot to bring my hole saw…

"Pete" said:
You using West System?

I'm leaning that way but I've also heard that a urethane could be used.

"gmochty" said:
Hey Will
Did you find any cracked welds around the hull or transom?

I have yet to find a defect in my Tundras transom or hull and I've hit some BIG waves! 😀

I found one cracked weld on the whole thing where the aluminum sheet is welded to the rear deck over the livewell. It isn't structural and the aluminum isn't even needed there. Every other weld is perfect.

"mskyprey" said:
Looking good Will, are you going to center mount you console or keep it side mounted? Just out of curiosity, where is your fuel tank located?

Any thoughts on LED lighting for night fishing?

No, the console is staying on the side. The boat when done will look basically like the Lund LE models of the past w/ long front deck and setback console.

The 30 gal fuel tank is under the floor:
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Do you mean LED's for the nav. lights or to light the floor? One thing about night fishing is that the more you have/use lights the less your eyes get used to seeing in the dark. I turn the backlight way down on my graph and gps and use a headlamp as little as possible to maintain good night vision.

This round of work completed the installation of the “tenHaaf project”. Jim and Matt did an awesome job building the aluminum frame for the deck extension. Everything fit perfectly and it installed in minutes.

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With the frame installed I was able to cut the new hatch doors to access all the storage that the deck extension created. There’s almost too much storage in the boat now. I put 12 plano 3730 boxes into the new storage and barely filled half of the box. Yikes…

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After a few more cuts everything was ready for a final dry-fit. This is the last chance to make adjustments to areas that are too close to fit once carpet is installed. I’ve got a couple of those that will need to be adjusted but other than that the next steps are wood prep and carpet installation.

Here’s a view of the new front deck. Plenty of room for two people now.

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View from the back deck.

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Overhead of the seating area and front deck.

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Another angle of the seating area.

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View from the side of the new seating area. Though the area behind the seats looks minimal a large box like a Lakewood monster or Flambeau maximizer will fit behind the seats with plenty of room to spare.

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I need to thank Trevor for helping out on Saturday afternoon. Things would have been slower without his help.