Boat Floorplan help (w.pics)

[KWAKHED]

I can tell you from experience , that you dont want to take away any more floor space than you have to. And I always keep dekes in the floor of the boat in transport. I agree with facing the blind in the other direction and sitting on the drivers side of the boat for shooting.

[chevy01234]

Avery floating gun cases. They are padded and your gun won't be damaged, they line up easy on the edge of the boats tucked under the blind. You will not use the gun boxes, I would be willing to bet.

[H20fowlkiller]

Other than guns and maybe personal possesions (dry storage) what else are you trying to store? If your gonna loose the blind and fish out of the boat in summer dont get rid of the livewell.

[mottlet]

Run out of space quick in them little 16' bastardos, dontcha?

If'n it was mine, I'd say the hell with a gunbox. Mine's only a 1648, but I don't lose any space to a console and I have absolutely no idea how I'd manage space if I had a gunbox in there. And I don't even hunt out of mine. Just ride to the damn blind.

[farmerc83]

Y'all must haul a lot of gear to the blind. We hunt 3 in a 16'x52" with a Avery blind and have plenty of room with each of our gun cases, blind bag, a dry box for the spotlight and decoys. This boat has a live well in front of the console and a full length gun box on the passenger side. Normally two of us sit in pedestals at front/back and one person gets the elevated seat on the gun box.

[DeltaCotton12]

i agree on the open floor space. hell i'm almost wishing i had a tiller steer just for the floor space.

here is what i'm thinking (only a thought though)-

-Every hunter buy a floating gun case(i have one)
-create dry storage out of the already live well (opinions on how??? probably gonna start a new thread for this one.)
-cut into the rear deck and use this space for extra storage(life jackets, rope, and any other storage). this would make 3 different compartments. 1 holds the gas tank and 2 batteries.

this design would keep the floor open. my only concern now is seating for the guys hunting on the floor. I have a seat mount on the front deck and rear deck, those will both be used. i need seating for 2 others. do you think bringing buckets or small chairs is worth more than me building a fold out bench?

Thanks for the input guys. I have this thread on 3 different sites and the other 2 haven't sniffed it.

[DeltaCotton12]

here is an idea from another site for the dry storage livewell

[MudHog]

Might want to consider not having the gas tank and two batteries in a closed compartment. Could lead to an explosion of fumes built up and an arc across the battery. Loose connection and turn something on and a spark could show it's face across the battery lug and ring terminal.

[H20fowlkiller]

i agree on the open floor space. hell i'm almost wishing i had a tiller steer just for the floor space.

here is what i'm thinking (only a thought though)-

-Every hunter buy a floating gun case(i have one)
-create dry storage out of the already live well (opinions on how??? probably gonna start a new thread for this one.)
-cut into the rear deck and use this space for extra storage(life jackets, rope, and any other storage). this would make 3 different compartments. 1 holds the gas tank and 2 batteries.

this design would keep the floor open. my only concern now is seating for the guys hunting on the floor. I have a seat mount on the front deck and rear deck, those will both be used. i need seating for 2 others. do you think bringing buckets or small chairs is worth more than me building a fold out bench?

Thanks for the input guys. I have this thread on 3 different sites and the other 2 haven't sniffed it.

get ya one of these for the guy in the floor sine he will be the only one on the floor and its moveable:
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... hasJS=true
if your hunting more than three and room is getting tight it might be time to get out the boat, get a bigger one, or leave someone home. As far as gun cases go tell the guys your not adding anything in the boat so either get gun cases or it will get beat up on the floor, theres been several times ive litterally just held my gun with out a case just because the case is another thing to put in the boat and slip on or get tore up. Plus you have to think about all the extra weight a box like your talking about could add. Bring what you need and what you dont leave at the house.

[DeltaCotton12]

Might want to consider not having the gas tank and two batteries in a closed compartment. Could lead to an explosion of fumes built up and an arc across the battery. Loose connection and turn something on and a spark could show it's face across the battery lug and ring terminal.

i have the 2 vent holes on the lid faced opposite directions for air flow but your right. another reason to open up the rear deck...

[driveby]

Avery floating gun cases. They are padded and your gun won't be damaged, they line up easy on the edge of the boats tucked under the blind. You will not use the gun boxes, I would be willing to bet.

+1
The only thing the gun box on my SDB gets used for is storing life jackets and running lights. If you don't like the idea of guns laying in the bottom in padded cases, consider the gun racks below. A friend of mine has this on the side of his console and it works great. The guns ride standing up and it saves a ton of space. He got or rigged an adaptor to make it a side mount instead of a floor mount.

[MudHog]

Might want to consider not having the gas tank and two batteries in a closed compartment. Could lead to an explosion of fumes built up and an arc across the battery. Loose connection and turn something on and a spark could show it's face across the battery lug and ring terminal.

i have the 2 vent holes on the lid faced opposite directions for air flow but your right. another reason to open up the rear deck...

Not sure on boating requirements for MS, but by doing this could also require you to carry a fire extinguisher, if you don't already carry one.

[KWAKHED]

first off, four people and their gear is too much in 16 foot boat,imo. what I was talking about before is getting a gun rack and floating cases, that way they are out of the way and won't get banged up. you can just put a plug in your livewell when using as a dry storage and take it out when you want to fish.

[DeltaCotton12]

I dont fish to much. when i do fish i take a cooler and place it infront of the console and use it as my livewell. But 9/10 times i just catch and release..

The gun cases are for sure now. the gux box idea isnt working out like i imagined. I have a floating gun case for my gun. i do like it. I looked into the side mounted gun sleeve as mentioned but i believe the gun cases will be just fine.

Not sure on boating requirements for MS, but by doing this could also require you to carry a fire extinguisher, if you don't already carry one.

Thanks for bringing that up. I never thought about that. Just picked up a Type B fire extinguisher.

i've found some hatches on Cabelas for 50 bucks a piece.. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/common/search/search-results1.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&hasJS=true&_D%3AhasJS=+&sort=all&QueryText=hatches&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23

Seems a little pricey...

[duckkiller]

Check Boaters world, West Marine and places like that as they might be cheaper