FS17....maybe???

[cracked_ribs]

Can't get better advice than that coming from the designer, but I am also someone who likes boats very open inside and a friend of mine built an fs17 with pretty minimal structure and I really liked it.

He kept the motorwell, the forward bulkhead, did about 4" decks, and had a couple of vertical stiffeners. I haven't been in it running; I moved away from the city we lived in before. But I liked the layout.

We have a good friend who works for the biggest Mercury dealer in the region so he put an older Merc on it since we get essentially unlimited cheap parts and free diagnostic service - they have a Merc outboard mechanic who's been a factory Merc tech for 40 years.

I think he used a 40 though. Anyway, a great boat for an open fishing platform.

[TomW1]

Hi Catfishtoon, if you look at the first drawing under the color picture in the Study Plans you will see the open plan that Jaucques is talking about and the 2x2 supports on the sides that need to be there. I also do not think that you may need to move the motor well wall a little further out more than 1' in order to tip your motor up enough. But I will let you decide on that. You don't want to be trailering it down the road dragging the prop.

What I have done is run a bare FS17 like your building added in enough weight to take into account 3 people the gas, water, some gear and a 30HP motor and came up with a total weight of about 1250-1300lbs. At that speed you will have a top speed of about 30mph.

One last thing, you mentioned wear and tear on the deck. Cover it with 12oz biax fiberglass cloth and it will last a life time.

Tom

[Catfishtoon]

Not sure if this link will work but i found a pic of remedy32's build that shows a perfect example of what I want. Granted....he was not finished but, this is the kind of room I would like.

http://gallery.bateau2.com/displayimage.php?pid=32361

http://gallery.bateau2.com/displayimage.php?pid=32362

[cracked_ribs]

I think that conforms to JMG's recommendations well enough. That's about how much internal structure is going in my boat which is a different design, but not so radically different that I'd be worried about it. It's a lot like my friend's fs17, which I was sufficiently jealous of that I decided to build something similar.

[jacquesmm]

That kind of framing is fine.