Deckover......Pro's and Con's

[blackpowderscout]

What are the pro's and con's to deckovers??? What do you like and what do you not....

I like the way they look but I've never owned one so that's about as far as my opinion goes.

Adam

 

[airboatman631]

It is my goal to one day own a deckover. I especially like the one that Floral City builds. With the upswept exhaust and the hidden wiring and plumbing. It is one cool boat. So I guess it's a matter of preference.

 

[stan]

BPS ,as you well know there are as many differant types of deck boats as there are open hulls . As to what I prefer , my present boat is an old bear hull that has the deck droped down about four inches inside the hull this keeps my stuff from sliding off the boat.the big draw back from having the deck this way is that what ever lands on the deck that is small enough to go through the wire of the cage usualy goes through the prop ( nuts ,bolts ,sticks ,sodi pops and ect.The biggest advantage is that I never have to worry about takeing on much water from turns or deep water shut downs..However all the extra weight does present it's own problems as for as engine power ,the places you can go and when I,m stuck it takes a lot of help . Also decking in an airboat adds about $2000.00 to the price of a hull. Me I'll always go with a deck boat.

 

[Waterthunder]

If you hunt or camp lightly I feel deck overs are the safest and most rugged hulls made. However if you bring generators, arm chairs and enough gear for a small village you will hate them. I like the saftey issues and how the deck directs all the air into the prop and none of the prop is blocked by the transom. There are a host of other reasons. You can do allot of things that you can not do with an open boat unless the sides are very tall. P.S. don't get a deck over unless the hull design was intended to be a deck over, some boat manufactures just deck over their full size hulls when this is done you only gain 1/2 of the advantages to a deck over these also make terrible boats because the motor is too high.

 

[grant]

Thunder is right on track....air definitely flows better to prop....have full decked some formally 3/4 and 1/2 decks...very noticable differnce in speed and especially rpm to maintain plane. Full decks are extremely resistant to flexing. I like the ease of keeping them clean of debri and especially the ease of loading large alligators by myself. Probably some other reasons can't think of them now.

Grant