whackem, I don't want to jack this thread into the age old flotation argument, and I see that you have a smiley on your comment, but...

Come up here and run 2' waves in 30 mph winds when it is 15 degrees outside and then tell me flotation wouldn't save you from crapping your waders just a little bit...

If you want floatation and want more room in a boat, buy a bigger boat.

If you want an area to Pee Off Of, a place to handle your retreiver from, or got and older fella that could use a step to get in,,,,,, Maybe Get the Hunt Deck or something similar. But it'll cost you $550

JMO

mudd, some of us don't want a longer boat. An 18 footer is about all that will fit in my garage, and that's with a swing-away trailer tongue.

And as for the $550, the hunt deck allows you to use a short transom motor, which will save you some $$$.

Let me give you an example. I owned an 18 foot GT boat with full flotation. that means you have two big old boxes containing flotation in the rear of the boat eating up usable space. My next GT boat was a 16 footer with hunt deck. Overall length 17'8". But all of the flotation was in the hunt deck.

On the 18 footer, I ran a tape from the back edge of the front deck to the beginning of the float boxes to determine the length of open, gunwale-to-gunwale usable space, then compared that with a tape run on my huntdeck boat. Again, back edge of front deck but this time all the way to the transom (since no float boxes in the way). More usable space on the huntdeck boat, which was 4" shorter overall.

Again, if you are talking about a commercial hull without flotation, this logic / argument does not apply.

I totally understand Idabilly's huntdeck arguement for flotation boats only...... other than dat da rest of Gay-tor Trax is nuthin but hype.

yea, dey prolly better/stronger than any production hull out der... I'll give them dat, but der's way stronger custom rigs being built. I'd put them near da bottom of da list in da strength category of custom hulls based on what I've seen from being allegedly "run hard", but in reality hardly being abused at all. Most folks don't have a clue what runnin a boat hard is.

yea, you can customize da hell out of one...... but ur gonna pay thru da eyes for it. I think dey WAY over-priced from da get go..... start addin' accessories and it get's stupid over-priced.

Round chines = training wheels for folks who ain't yet mastered da art of drivin a boat .... or round chines = a crutch for a motor that don't turn worth a shit (i.e. airboats & longtails.) In da surface driven world.... da reason u see most round chined hulls paired with hypers is cuz when it comes to drivability hypers ain't much better than drivin a longtail at high speeds...... so it takes a boat that turns to make up for it. Not to mention round chines don't track worth a crap in da woods...... you'll hit every freakin tree in da forest.

Put dat in y'all little red wagon and pull it. lol

Capt.Jon:
Your question is not a stupid one and has to me a sense of validity I haven't found till now.
The huntdeck hull is made of one sheet of aluminum from bow to stern.
The longitudinal braces go throuhgout the inner false transom up to the wall of the real transom where it connects and weld with the sheet and reinforcements.
As this happens all those longitudinal braces are welded only at the sides and top, making this huntdeck not sealed as the lower part is the "U" beam where some of the electricals etc. go thru.
The huntdeck has a plug where the flotation foam is injected @ the factory and sealed and has another plug at the rear to drain excess of water from the foam.(Rasin etc.).
That is why instead of air, the flotation component in this case is foam.
Remember, the huntdeck is not a pod welded to the outside transom face.
I hope this gives you and idea and an answer to your question, once more, very valid to me.
Dizzimator65

TBS,

The boats I mentioned in my post were side by side when I did the measurement. They both had the same exact length of front deck.

My idea of usable space is clear with no float boxes. Maybe if I put it in this way you will understand it. A Gatortrax boat without hunt deck has a gap of 6" to a foot between the transom and the flotation box. The box is 30" long as I remember. At the very minimum, this carves 36" out of the usable clear space inside the boat. I don't consider the space between two float boxes to be very usable. Sure, you can stand there to drive. You can put your feet there when you sit on the box to drive. But you can't store much else in there. Hence, the space is marginally useful.

Take a hunt deck boat. From the very back of the hunt deck, the flotation occupies a space 20" forward. Then the thickness of the transom...call it 2". That's 22". From there forward, it's clear open space.

I have had an 18' non-HD boat side by side with a 16 HD boat and I have directly observed these measurements.

You can like or not like a hunt deck boat for it's looks or for the validity of the other claimed "benefits"...I don't give a damn. But you can't refute the fact that if you want to run flotation you get more net space inside a boat of the same length if it has a hunt deck.

I don't run a hunt deck anymore but I did enjoy it's benefits (just my opinion) when it was paired with a motor suitable for it.

TBS,

I remember you had a Gator Trax in the old days...1854, right? That's the original hull I had as well. A buddy I sold it to still has it today.

When I said I didn't give a damn I didn't mean to be inflammatory but I can see how it came of fthat way.

You are correct about me not having half boxes in the back of my hunt deck boat. I used to position one of my high-back seats (on "spider" leg stand) to sit while driving. I kind of wished I'd omitted one of the gun boxes (I had two) and had put a half box back there. The cool thing about the half box is that it is good for storage, unlike a flotation box in the same spot.

And you are right that my 18' non-HD boat had four more inches of hull length on the water than my 16'+HD boat.

Oh well, to each his own.

Dizzimator65[/quote]

So what you are saying is you really don't know either?[/quote]
Too much talk about something some people will never give reasoning a small thought.
I know a lot for many reasons:
1.- Higher Education
2.- Lots ofexperience in the marine field in general
3.- Age.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4.- AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST; " COMMON SENSE TO HEAR THE ONES WHO REALLY CAN TEACH SOMETHING VALUABLE"
My respects to the ones who know more than me.
My respects to the ones that know what I know.
My respects to the ones that want to know what I know and go for it.

To the rest of well intended members, MY RESPECT.
FUN IS WHAT'S ALL ABOUT, OH.......!!!!!!!! AND LEARNING TOO.
To me, this post is stalling and going down flat spinning to crash and burn.
So, have fun and I'll be back after VACATIONS.

I still think round chine boats go slow and drag ass.