avsportrider

correction, it is a 14 foot aluminum Mon Ark, not a Sea Ark... I still don't have any answers about the Center of gravity issue with placing the livewell just forward of the middle seat.. does anyone know if this is a bad idea or an alright idea?? thanks!

This is my first post on this site, so let me start by saying how much of a blessing it was for me to stumble across this site. What a wealth of information !! I recently purchased a 14 foot aluminum Sea Ark jon boat. The stern is straight across (not pointed), and the bottom of the boat is pretty flat, it does curve upward towards from the middle to the stern. I have an old evinrude 18 hp outboard, and a brand new 12 volt 50 # minnkota TM to power this beast around the waters with. I started putting a deck on the front half of the boat last night and I ran into a few questions that I would like your opinions on: 1.) I was planning on using the area behind the rear seat for the gas tank and starting battery storage, then decking over this area. I am also decking from the middle seat forward and would like to install a homeade livewell immediately in front of the middle seat under the new deck, with a couple of other smaller storage areas under the front deck also. I am wondering about the center of gravity issue with doing this.. will it be a stability/planeability issue if I put my livewell forward of center in the boat? What if I put the trolling motor battery up in the front also? 2.) has anyone been on a boat similar to mine that has been decked, and how stable did it feel? 3.) if I put my TM on the transom rather than the stern it looks like the back of the boat gets pretty crowded, will I have problems with interference between the outboard and the trolling motor? 4.) I am planning on leaving the existing seats intact, decking over them, and leaving the middle floor area of the boat open, would this be a better place for the livewell? I hate to do this because it will be more cluttered, the thought of it being under the front decking sounds nice and clean looking.. If you don't mind shedding a little light on these issues I would appreciate it.... Thanks and once again, thanks for the website.. Tim from Albuquerque