Sidedecks..get rid of them??? LOL wow... Stand by for straight opinion here , but with a little but of mileage on the boat in question to back me up. While flush-decks my be more practical in some situations...there are few things as ugly, in my eyes, as a flush-decked boat, where the deck level outboard is raised up to the cabin level inboard....rather than the cabin level inboard dropped to the deck level outboard (of course I have to be partial to that or Sneakers will disown me! LOL). Looks great in big boats with the latter setup.....looks absolutely horrible in small boats with the former. I've owned Daunltess for mmmmmm ....somewhere around 8 or 9 years now. She and I have gotten around a little. I've walked those side-decks 20 miles offshore, at night, feeling pretty ill, in not the prettiest of conditions....and no...I am not going to tell you that they are ideal....far from it. Yes, her side decks are very narrow and demand extra caution. The Narrow side decks are the price we pay for a 23 with the room of most 24's and some 25's inside. Right, wrong, or indifferent, I will tell you that cosmetics are very important to me in the boat I sail/own. D's side-decks allow her sheer line to be defined and carry a graceful curve. Regardless of what you think about her cabin house (some like it, some hate it) without those side decks and the swooping shear line they provide and define she would be an ugly beast. IMHO of course! LOL She could carry a bit more beam, as nowadays the road rules are eased a bit from when Lyle drew her, but I believe you can only go another 6" or so before you are looking at wide load permits... No thanks! we stiffened her up a bit by switching to all lead ballast and adding substantially more that she was designed with while we were in there. The Monty 17 definitely does benefit from a wider beam in relation to length and sails a little better for it...I'm all for more beam.... but don't take my side-decks man!!! LOL :-) The amount of room lost inside is negligible....because ....well exactly the thing you are complaining about...they are "narrow" side decks ...allowing the coach roof to go dang near to the edge of the boat. Whenever we put anyone aboard D they are always blown away that she is "only" a 23 when they look inside. But hey Here's the good news....(and you probably are only going to figure this out from experiencing it) Unless you put up a big dodger like I have....if you want to crawl up over the deck, you can. The skinny side decks mean that you dang near HAVE a flushdeck..minus the 8 inches on each side for the side-decks. So unless you were planning on walking on the very outboard 8 inches...the skinny side-decks provide you with great aesthetics, and a huge open platform on top of the cabin to where you can walk and work. And my final piece of evidence is ....watch this slide show and imagine this boat with slab sides _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J9pGMNhPRA_ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J9pGMNhPRA) .... seriously?? Could you do that to her? Ugh! Yuck! Pooey!!! I couldn't !!! She's look like an oversize Bolger Micro...which while it may be a great boat....is as ugly as sin! There is even a picture or two of me working the side-decks offshore. Ideal?? nope..... get rid of them??? NO WAY! And you can return that opinion and receive a 100% refund for what you paid for it!! LOL :-)