So I have stripped my pontoon of everything and going to turn it into a catfishing/spoonbill boat. I have spent the last two nights reading so many reviews and getting ideas on what to use for the deck but have not made a decision yet. I want your opinions. The boat is 22' long and 8' wide. I have seen people say use marine in 3/4", 5/8" and 1/2". I have seen people use 1/8" and 1/4" aluminum sheeting, some use marine plywood, some use regular and coat with epoxy, or polyurethane or fiberglass, some use 1/4" and then put a layer of epoxy and then another sheet of 1/4" and change the direction of the grain from the last one. some say the boat is a lot lighter with aluminum, some say its not, some say aluminum gets extremely hot and some say not if you cover it with carpet or a coating like Tuff Coat. I am lost on what to do. right now I am thinking the 1/2" AB marine Plywood would be fine, but there may be things that I am missing.

I am not going to put carpet back down, I am going with a product called Tuff Coat, that has to be sprayed or rolled on and I will put atleast 3 coats down. Also, I am debating on taking console and making it a center console so i can fish on all sides of pontoon, I have measured all wires and cables and I have plenty of room. If I do this, should I center the gas tank also, or leave it on a side and put batteries on other side?

I posted in Main forum but also wanted to post here.