I have been reading on this and can't find a clear answer. It seems the general opinion is that they don't mix that well, but why? I am toying with the idea of getting a new boat and really like the looks and function of a huntdeck. It seems the main complaint with them is it is hard to drive a LT with it being back on the huntdeck, but I have a rear bench on my jon boat that puts me as far forward as deck would.

Any other issues with this set up or is it just a drive ability issue?

i think youll be perfectly fine

Thank you sir!

only problem I can think of is the motor not being able to come all the way up because of the tiller hitting the false transom.

Ahhh, thanks woodie, I knew I had seen something else, just couldn't remember. That could be a huge problem, sometimes the rear bench makes things a little hairy when I need the prop out of the water. That seems like a big obstacle, the false transom would need to be at least 4-5 inches shorter than the transom, which would kind of negate the point of having a huntdeck.

Probably not a viable option, but you could fashion/fabricate a tiller handle with a bend that would go up and over the transom when the motor is fully raised, but still be the same height as a regular tiller.

No, that is a real option, and one I hadn't considered.

But I don't like my LT enough to go to all that trouble, if i came to that I would just buy a SD

Gd Sd handles are almost the exact same as the lt handles, and are run on hunt decks all the time

Hehe. I know what you mean-just because something is doable, doesn't necessarily mean it's worth the trouble

Looks like the next time I'm out I need to get some measurements and see what exactly I need to clear the water.

The more I run this setup the more I am realizing that the cons of the LT are exceeding the pros for my uses. I am going to upgrade my whole rig over time, I figured since I already have a mm I should start with a new boat.

Well. That being the case, it may make more sense to get the boat you want, for the motor you'll get later, and modify the one you have now and just deal with it temporarily, rather than getting a boat to match what you have now and dealing with that for much longer...but you already knew that
My other thought was that if you ever need the motor fully raised and fully to one side, the bend/hump in the tiller would need to be even longer in order to clear, but from my limited experience, there doesn't really seem to be an occasion for that maneuver

You'd be surprised how often you need to get the prop out of the water and all the way to one side or another. A 6 ft shaft can really get in the way sometimes...

I had to load my boat in a nasty wind storm a few weeks ago, 20-25 mph sustained with gusts to 40, and big ass waves coming in perpendicular to the trailer. If i didn't have the ability to turn my prop all the way to one side or the other while out of the water I would have ran my prop down the side of my truck when I got pushed passed the trailer...barely missed it as it was.

Hadn't thought about it like that-we had a small GD LT years ago, but all we hunted were flooded bean fields.

Here's my setup. I knew what I wanted to do and here's what worked for me. Since many of us find that longtails work better given the conditions we run in you might want to try running a longtail with a hunt deck like I have.

This is my "prototype" wood boat. I can lay the motor at a 90 degree, rest the shaft on the hunt deck and the boat will spin 360 degrees. If I moved the motor all the way back (like surface drives) I'd never be able to reach the handle unless I was standing out of the boat on the hunt deck.

BTW, I get almost zero squat on hole shot. Notice my deck at the stern in the second picture, of course I have 175 to 200 lbs of fish in the front of the boat where my partner is standing here but look at how shallow I am drafting. Here are a couple of pics:

Last summer after build



Yesterday while running lines and then hitting the SC Sparkleberry Poker Run

That's a nice looking rig there cajunwb!

I have gotten used to driving my lt from a couple of feet in front of the transom, that was why I was thinking a boat with a huntdeck would be an option. I like having the motor out of my "useable" space, I store stuff behind the bench to free up foot room.

I may explore docott's suggestion and see if the handle can be reshaped to work with a huntdeck. Or I may just slap a 23-27 hp surface drive on my old jon boat....

Interesting setup cwb.
P...fabbing a new tiller-or several-to test would be pretty cheap, it seems-no welding involved, just a shop with pipe and a bender I guess. The second part of my idea would be more of a pita-find someone or a dealer to let you borrow their boat with a hunt deck to test the tillers. A dealer might even be more inclined that a friend-"Hey dealer, I want to spend some $ with you-a boat now and a motor later, but I need to figure out if I can use the motor I've got. "
Who knows.

That would be a real pita here, only one custom boat builder remotely near me. As for a dealer that wold pretty much be MB corporate down in SLC...

Hmmm...well, after seeing cwb's wooden "prototype" , and hearing what you just said, gives me an idea...

You wouldn't really need an entire boat to check the range of motion-all you need is the back end! I mean, you know a hunt deck doesn't affect the way a boat will run, verses one without. You could build a very crude mock up, with the correct dimensions, angles, etc. that someone on here could send you for whatever boat you're interested in, then you could see if it fit. Yea, not the same, but would give you a sense of whether it was feasible at all. Motor support on the mock-up would be a problem, but I'd overcome that issue by incorporating a saw horse into my "transom" and another at the other end of my "boat". Wouldnt be too difficult or costly since it would require no structural integrity or waterproof-ness. Hell, don't really even need sides! Could even do a rough initial test with little more than some saw horses and a couple of 2x4's.

Yes, it's a novel
I'm bored

No plans but I've built some pirogues and a small marsh boat before so I just scratched this on a piece of scrap paper.

It's basically a 16' 1" jon boat with a 20" tapered hunt deck. Honestly I screwed up the bow cut and took 3 inches off length of it during construction, cause I'm a "Wood Butcher". Boat is registered as 17'9" x 48" and it has 16 inch sides tapered at 22 1/2 degrees which give it 60 inches at beam. The reason I built it 16' 1" is if the hunt deck idea didn't work I could saw it off and still be over the newer 16 foot boating laws that Louisiana now has in place.

My lab hunts off the deck, you can easily swim and climb in on the deck, take leak off the deck. If you're looking for more usable space the only recommendation I'd make is to build a longer boat or make a smaller front deck area. I made my front deck this big for running trotlines and shooting pigs.

I lengthened a 15 foot skiff to 17 feet while only moving the motor back a foot. I think I've posted these pics before. Cajunwannabe's boat was behind the idea for this one. Works well, no backsplash coming over the transom. The addition is 10 inches high, 42 wide at the bottom, 2 feet long, with drain tubes running through that we plug in and out.

I have seen that before, that is pretty slick!

I'd go with Indawoods' design or just raise your hunt deck's transom a hair so that you're tiller arm can be pulled all the way down.
I think a hunt deck with a longtail is a great idea really.

My b-i-l has a 1542 Weldbilt witha 35 BT lt on it. Motor was too heavy for it, so he had a local fab shop add a solid float box all the way across the back, similar to a hunt deck, but with motor still mounted on the transom. Works great. Floats the ass end of the boat & also serves as a step for him or the dog to get in/out.

I gotta question about a 27hp Kohler Mudbuddy LT on a Tracker 1440 14ft all welded mod v would it work?