Will my boat handle people up front?
 

Hi there, I just recently bought a boat that I wanted to use for fishing/bowfishing. I bought a 93 GRUMMAN v hull (was a bench seat but previous owner cut middle out and put a floor with storage compartments on the sides) and it is 66 inches wide, The exact model of the boat is GV1666WT. I was wondering if it could handle a plywood deck (lower then sides of boat) with 6 lights and 2 max 3 guys up front without dipping the nose of the boat under and making the night miserable with that weight.

Being an aluminum boat gives plenty of room for modification. So any work you want done to it can be done for the most part. If you are going to put plywood down make sure you use the marine grade stuff with marine grade hardware.

As for people on the bow a boat that narrow (66") is only meant to have one person on the bow at a time. Its not a wide flat deck like you get with bass boats or other bow fishing boats. Putting too many up front gets risky and i dont recommend risking life and crew on the water.

I agree wit Salty, additionally, If I understand you correctly you want to put in a wooden deck so it will raise you up so the sides (gunwales) will be lower in the boat. I would not do that because it will affect the center of gravity and could be a safety problem as well.

^^^^^Did someone lose their bot?^^^^