i'm looking to have a new boat built for my 35GDSD short transom and would like to know if anyone has ran this motor or any GDSD with a hunt deck. or should i go with a straight transom and maybe float pods? i really like the concept and look of using this style transom but just not sure if it will help on performance. i've only seen this setup with MB, PD

All a hunt deck does is move the flotation out of the interior space of the hull.

Biggest advantage is moving flotation out back and freeing up more interior space. Also helps with following waves if you are running a low transom boat. Provides a nice step and gets more of the motor bulk away from you.

I have owned two hunt deck boats and liked them both wth the belt driven shorty motors. I just got rid of my last one because running Prodrive with hydraulic trim and FPR is more of a pain.

I am going back to a standard tall transom boat and will have to deal with interior space lost to flotation chambers in the rear of the boat. Where I hunt, running without flotation is not something I want to do.

IM HOLLARING!!!! lol, j/k. i type at work with caps on.

needless to say if i could do it all over again i would go with a hunt deck, for dog access in the boat mainly. i already dont have flotation in the boat so i dont have any wasted space.

I see folks say it floats the boat better, gets foam out of boat ect.. Makes for a nice step and helps with backwash or relocate foam floatation. Performance gains, not. If I had a belt drive I would get a huntdeck for those reasons though.

jmo i like the hunt deck cause you can run wfo and shut it down and don't have to worry about back wash .. and it looks like it helps the back of the boat to float a little higher in the ars end....... my next hull is goin to be a hunt deck rig

Whats the real difference, besides the dog step and maybe a following sea, to just putting a flotation box all the way across the transom inside on a stock hull. The huntdeck moves you 12-20 inches from the front of the motor, so would a 12-20" flotation box. If you want to make it easier to step over, make it the same height as a hunt deck, a step in the inside instead of outside.

I am looking at new hulls now and this keeps coming up when I think about the hunt decks.

They do look cool just like brackets on a regular outboard fishing boat.

I know Boston Whaler did this a long time ago to get more bottom surface area without increasing weight. If you look at a hunt deck boat, I don't know if you get the same deal. Looks to me like the weight per bottom area might not be much different then open hull.

THEY DO LOOK COOL, so I still might get one.

There is NO difference. If the tiller handle puts you 3' in front the motor I don't care if you have a modded huntdeck triple crown bassackwards transom you still 3' in front the motor. So yes, enclosing a box of foam inside the boat at a standard transom would be the same thing. A huntdeck may make things more convienent and help keeping the wake from coming into you boat. Otherwise its just the same as a boat of comparable length with standard transom. Only the bottom of the hull will be in the water when running so whats up above water has no affect. Now adding pods to an existing boat may be a good idea to compensate for added weight. Usually makeing a small boat have a bigger footprint. But why someone would build pods into a new rig makes no sense at all IMO. I see some advantage with a HD for the belt drives. I'd keep my dog back there, have a custom dog ladder, get in boat a little easier and the biggest benefit would be keep water out on a short transom rig. PD FPR would have to be a buggar to work on a HD and the tiller is not as long either. They have extensions, but long tiller means longer arm swings when turning which equates into more work and fatigue in the long run.

There's a lot of aluminum in those hunt decks...plus the weight of the foam. They add significantly more weight to the back of the boat than a comparable length of open floor.

In my opinion, scrap the huntdeck, get a 18" longer boat, put a dog step on the back, and get a tall transom. It accomplishes all of the same things, but keeps the weight down in the area of the boat where there's already too much.

still seems no one has ran a 35 GDSD 16" transom on a hunt deck

is their something wrong with a GDSD or on one wants to get custom

Coco would'a done it if he liked it !!!!

GDSD has no reverse - but can power 180 in its own length - if you don't have anything to keep you from an extreme left turn, tiller turn - the push pole platform limits this action a bit and if you had a huntdeck and a more rearward motor position it would too - if you had both it would likely take this feature away from you....

Thats the only negative - I can see - if you like the positives already mentioned - it might be worth it....

But I don't see any weight savings or hull performance claims - that I would believe without seeing it first hand - you still stand the same distance from the motor but can't get as close when you want to...

No weight savings in a hunt deck but also no weight added. You really have to think about a huntdeck as a cut down last 20" of the boat. The added weight (not much) of the actual horizontal deck surface would be offset by the chopped down side height and absence of gunwales. Non-issue.

Performance-wise, it is no different than a non-hunt deck boat of the same length, since the hull shape below the waterline is exactly the same.

As for 180 degree turns with a GDSD or Hyperdrive (Hypers will do that, too) you can still push the tiller just as far over to grab that turn.

I will put the inner space "savings" issue in perspective. I had a 1650 Hunt Deck Gatortrax. The overall length of the boat was 17'8". This makes it 4" shorter than an 1850 non-huntdeck Gatortrax. Both boats with flotation. I ran a tape measure from the back edge of the front deck to the inner transom of the huntdeck boat to determine usable, unencumbered, clear open space. I then went to the non-huntdeck boat and pulled a tape from the back edge of the front deck to the beginning of the flotation boxes to determine clear, open space. It had more than a foot less. It is true that the inside of the boat was bigger, but much of it was taken up by the float boxes and is therefore of marginal use to me...cant put a shooter there when hunting out of the boat, can't really store stuff, etc. In putting the required flotation all the way across the back of the boat in a 20" section of the hull, you gain more net space.

Gatortrax flotation boxes start about 12" forward of the transom if memory serves me and they extend another 30" or 36" past that. This takes a lot of space out of your boat. This is why if I ever went back to Gatortrax or ran one of the 3 belt drive shorties again I would go huntdeck in a heartbeat.

I loved my GT huntdeck boat but when I switched to Prodrive it became a PITA to mount the motor and to reach the release for the Full Power Reverse. I had to put a 12" tiller extension on the PD, which means that more reach is necessary to turn the motor. And I do not like hunching over to be able to stand and drive the low transom model PD. I am not willing to do without full power reverse, so the Gatortrax is sold and the Phowler with high transom is about to be ordered. When I put the PD on the Phowler hull I will modify it to a tall transom motor and take off the tiller extension.

From a performance, handling and draft stand point at 16" boat with a hunt deck will run, draft and be balanced the same as a 17' 8" boat. An 18' will draft even less and be better balanced. The points made previous are correct, you will be sitting the same distance forward from the real transom (motor mounting point) regardless of hunt deck/no hunt deck. The rear draft of the boat will not change. I will agree with the conviences of the huntdeck, moving floatation outside, step up, backwash on low transom etc. These are all good points. Look at the cost, it costs more for a huntdeck vs. just getting a longer boat.

You can get fold down steps that work better for working the dog and still be less $$.

I have two folks I know who do run the GDSD with legand craft boats with huntdecks, they really like them and they run very well.

It is all what you want and are most comfortable with. Just don't get caught up in all the hype about better performance, that is just not so.

We have considered offering it as an option, but can't see enough real advantage to justify the added cost to our boats at this point.

PW

I do remember the first HuntDeck rig I seen and I thot ..... different ... but mabe thay is an advantage there that I don't see !! I thank what throwed me is the name ... HuntDeck .... I was thankin' that thay somethin' 'bout huntin' that I don't know and I was too embarressed to ask !!! Still can't figure out why the name HuntDeck !!! Ifin that extended boathull will help out on mines DuckBirds ..... I'm In !!!! Thay has to be some other name fo that type of applications ... IM'sO !!!

I really thank on the GTR ... alltho I ain't ran one set up like that .. It could be very bennifitual while doin' the reverse and help short laiged folks back in the boat !!!

Good info guys....

If you could train your dog to stay on that sucker while wet and muddy - it would be worth every penny of extra cost in hunter safety just keepin the boat clean....

IF - there was a mechanical or performance boost - it would have to be based upon a short verse long design thing in the motors themselves - which - I could see being a fact too....

I wonder what the true percentage is of flotation versus non-flotation (commercial) hulls when you look at all the true mud boats sold out there.

Take away the issue of flotation and the usable space it requires inside a boat and you take away half your argument in favor of hunt deck boats.

just get a longer boat.

I don't know the percentage out there, but lately there ain't a single boat with flotation for sale. At least none that I want.