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The Jon Boat Modification Project
OK, this page is going to monstrous when it is
done! Get ready to scroll though my first attempt at boat
customization.
My stages of madness and logic as I redesign an old boat.
Stage 1 - Determine the problems and formulate possible
solutions.
Two years ago I picked up an old Sea King jon boat, a nice big 14 footer with a decent 15HP motor or so it seemed. The motor never ran right and just had to many problems to fix. Given it was a 79 Sears brand motor it was almost impossible to get parts for so I just junked it an picked up 5 HP Briggs and Stratton for well under 600 bucks brand new, added a Minkota trolling motor and did some fishing, well a lot of fishing on Joe Pool and other area lakes and streams.
This is a quick video of the final boat with a
slide show at the end. Put it to
some good music and though this would be a nice
addition to the write up. I will put some
video out of it on the lake soon.
Then last year I picked up a used boat that you can see the details on
here, this boat had its' own issues and I end up selling it for a little profit so that was not bad. The biggest real issue is my garage is one of those with two small doors vs. one big on and the big boat would not fit so it had to stay in my driveway. I didn't like it there and my wife really didn't like it either (which we all know is a big problem) so I sold it and now am looking to tune up my jon boat.
I started to read online about a lot of jon boat conversions and customizing but most was complicated and really centered on creating a cheap bass boat. I am not really a bass fishermen. I fish mostly for catfish, white bass, crappie and well anything that bites yet I don't spend hours cruising the weed lines. The other issue with these custom jobs is they add a ton of weight and require quite honestly more technical and mechanical skill then I have or care to acquire.
So a few days ago I took a few steps back from the boat and decided to look at this a new way. Honestly I have never tried to "keep up with the Jones Family", who ever they are so what Jimmy Bob's or Joe Bob's boat looked like really did not matter to me. What I needed to do was basic trouble shooting. Sit down and list all the problems I had with the boat, accept its' limitations and correct the issues via the simplest and most effective means I could accomplish. When I did this a blue print to my new boat just kind of formed.
Before I go on to the issues I had and the way I am addressing them I would like to point one thing out. I really think I had a huge advantage in fixing up my boat because I spent so many hours fishing out of it. Over two years I probably have logged 300 or more hours in that little boat on all types of water from large lakes, to small lakes to rivers and streams. As such I was in touch with the problems very well and had no misconceptions about what was good enough and what was a real problem for me.
When I sat down to list my problems this is the list I came up with.
1. Boat rides to high in front with one occupant do to most of the weight being in the rear
2. Lots of water gets in the boat getting everything wet due to a combination of factors
3. No rod holders and they are difficult to attach due to the shape of the jon boat sides and lack of any decking
4. Not much room in the boat and little/no storage
5. Fish finder is old and useless, it was also in the way when mounted on the center bench
6. Wiring is cumbersome and inefficient and a real pain in the ass
7. Live well pump is burnt out
8. Seats are not well mounted and pieced together with wood blocks to elevate them
9. Moving around in the boat was awkward due to poor organization and no decking on the floor
Here is an overall shot of the boat just
to give you an idea of what I was dealing with.
Now once I had that list it became really easy to start thinking about what I needed to do to make fishing in my boat more enjoyable. I also understood what I was choosing to live with and what I had to live with as far as the boats limitations. So here was my initial plan to address the problems.
1. Boat rides to high in front with one occupant do to most of the weight being in the rear
The first problem is really about weight distribution and it is also contributing to some of the others such as the fact that the boat takes on water in chop over the transom. This one is simple if I have a fishing partner it gets better on its own, not perfect but better. The problem stems from the trolling motor, the battery, the outboard and me all being located in the rear. One solution would be to side mount the trolling motor and sit in the middle which is just not that comfortable. The other would be to build a deck and mount the trolling motor in the front. Yet I actually like having the ability to run everything from the rear.
The solution seems to be at least in part move some of the weight from the rear to the front and perhaps increase the weight in the front. So my plan is to build a deck in the front of the boat extending from the bow to the rear of the front bench. This will create storage under the deck along with a place to house the battery, additionally I will buy a second battery for "back up", this will give me longer battery running time and add more weight to the front.
Now thinking a bit like a physicist a marine battery weighs about 40 lbs, simply moving one from the rear to the front will have a similar effect to adding 80lbs to the front of the boat. So adding two effectively is like putting a 120 lb partner in the boat front. When fishing with a buddy if a back up battery is not needed I could just use one battery to save weight. Of course I would run new wiring to the rear and set up a terminal block to power the trolling motor which would be a start on the wiring problem.
2. Lots of water gets in the boat getting everything wet due to a combination of factors
This is one of those issues where you simply must accept some of the boats limitations a 14 foot flat bottom jon boat will take on some water in even modest chop. Now the weight redistribution for issue #1 will help some and really reduce the water coming over the stern but water will still be taken on. This one is really pretty easy to deal with the boat should have always had a bilge pump in the rear so I planed to add one so at least water could be pumped out. Second I would add low decking to the areas between the three seats, not for storage just to keep things dry.
3. No rod holders and they are difficult to attach due to the shape of the jon boat sides and lack of any decking
This one is something I really need to do all the decking first and then reevaluate but I have a few ideas right now. One really simple one came by accident I was looking at adding some ordinary pvc holders you can buy at Academy. They come with aluminum straps for attaching them, if you add a strap to the bench the strap itself makes a decent rod holder by itself allowing for a fairly low rod angle and they are quite secure and take up no space in the boat. So that will with four simple straps give both the front occupant and the rear occupant two holders for drifting and bait fishing not to mention a place to stick a rod while dealing with tying on lures or taking a fish of the hook.
In addition for storage during travel I will be attaching 4 rod holders to the left side of the center bench (the side that is not a live well). I will do this with two to each side which will keep the way clear for movement from the front to rear of the boat. Rod storage is one of the most valuable things you can add on a small boat, while a 14' boat looks fairly large on dry land once on the water it can become remarkably cramped and some what awkward to move around in. I also think once my decks are done I may find new ways to mount rod holders and plan to mount as many as are practical because their value can not be over stated.
4. Not much room in the boat and little/no storage
Again this is partly the boats limitation it is a small boat but some of the things already mentioned will help to make this better. The front deck that will house the batteries will also provide a lot of semi dry storage, the floor decks between the bench seats won't provide storage but it will keep things dry and let them sit flat. Also moving the batteries out of the space between the transom and the rear bench provides a lot of storage space. What I plan to do here is build a basic low platform under which will sit the new bilge pump.
I will then move the gas tank to one side and build a box that will sit to the other side. This will be true dry storage for anything I really want to keep from getting wet. It will also provide a nice flat surface directly to my rear left when closed which will be a nice "table" when rigging a rod or for holding important things like a cold beer and sandwich while reeling in a rod. Most importantly this modification will take totally unused space and make it effective.
As you can see in this image of the floors
there was no storage, nothing was flat and the water channels
allowed anything placed on the floor to get wet.
5. Fish finder is old and useless, it was also in the way when mounted on the center bench
OK useless is an understatement this was some old Leisure Lectronics device that told me pretty much how deep the water was (sort of) was very hard to read and was very big. The previous owner had fabricated a holder that allow it to mount on the middle bench. This was hard to reach from the seat to adjust. Worse there is no real good way to mount a transducer on a jon boat so he had rigged up a piece of wood that you c-clamped to the rear transom and you had to deal with the wiring for the transducer and for power each time you used the boat. Plain in simple it sucked in a modicum of ways!
This was one of the easiest ones to fix. Sports Authority had some Fishin Buddy 1200s on sale for under a hundred bucks. This is not a great unit and for a bit more you can do better from a performance stand point. So why did I choose it? One word answer, functionality. It is good enough and does a great job of showing the bottom, mounts easily and does do OK at locating fish. More importantly it does all I need in a sonar and mounts with a clamp and the entire unit hangs OUTSIDE the boat over the rail. Hence more space saved. The clamp stays in place and you simply pull the unit out when not on the water and for trailering. It is also self contained and runs of C batteries so no wiring, not transducer cable, etc.
Here is the old fish finder. Like dealing
with a 13 inch TV in your small boat that only gets one
channel! What a piece of crap. Anyone who wants it can
have it free.
Next is a shot of the transducer that was
mounted to the transom with a old C-clamp.
I can't knock the original owner to bad, it did work.
6. Wiring is cumbersome and inefficient and a real pain in the ass
Honestly changing the fish finder and wiring for the trolling motor mentioned above alone will improve this alone a great deal. The other thing I plan to do is wire the lights, bilge pump and live well pump to switches powered by the power block that runs the trolling motor. This is a pretty simple modification and I can just mount a surface box for the switches on the side of my new dry storage box in the rear of the boat. Again with space being a premium anything you can do to make things more organized is golden.
This picture gives you some idea of how bad the
wiring mess was. How do you turn on the lights?
Just attach the leads to the battery! Now what is wrong with
that?
7. Live well pump is burnt out
Easy enough, replace it, 5 bucks at Academy. If you need a new
bilge pump some of the Academy stores in DFW right now have a
800 GPH bilge pump on sale for $4.45! I bought 4 one for my
live well, one to pump water out of my boat and one spare. I
bought the fourth one for my buddy Howell
Dodd, Merry Christmas Howell.
8. Seats are not well mounted and pieced together with wood blocks to elevate them
If nothing else made my boat like a "red neck special" this one was it! The previous owner simply pieced together about 7 wood blocks and attached them to the benches with butterfly bolts, then bolted the seats to them. I had already replaced the hard faded plastic seats with some nice camo padded ones that folded down when not in use. Building the deck in the front would solve the issue up there, simply mount a short pedestal to the deck and then the seat to the pedestal.
In the rear I will simply mount the seat to the rear deck, keeping
the drivers center of gravity low.
Here you go another ingenious method employed
by the boats prior owner. Again I do have to admit
this did work, it elevated the seats but looked awful and was not
very stable feeling either.
9. Moving around in the boat was awkward due to poor organization and no decking on the floor
This is really just a summary issue of all the other problems
combined and should be taken care of by the deck additions. I
just put it down to remind myself of the overall goal while I was
building decks, etc.
Ok, so the rest of this monster page is going to be
mostly just pictures. You don't need to read my yammering about
how to cut plywood on the tail gate of a truck so lets just take a
look at the first stage of my decking work. I do have to say I
was concerned at the difficulty of building these decks and matching
the boats curves and dimensions. It was actually very easy with
a skill saw, a circular saw and a drill being the only tools I
needed. Like most things you adapt as you go.
Here is the first shot of the newly decked boat.
The seats are not mounted just placed to give you an idea of where
they will be. It was also important for me to make sure my
storage doors could open once the seats are in place. The front
deck is 3/4 Ply to add weight, everything else is 15/32nds.
This shot gives you a better view of the front deck,
it will be really nice for passengers to cast from. I am going
to low pedestal mount that front seat so it can be quickly removed
for full use of the deck. Can you say bow fishing?
As you can see the rear deck is a huge improvement
as well. Lots of room, lots a flat space and I will be able to
mount rod holders for drift fishing.
For the floors I just mounted low 15/32nds plywood. This will keep feet dry and give a flat steady
surface to stand/walk on. There is about 1.5 inches of space
under the deck, enough to keep most stuff dry. Also look where
those two PVC rod holders are, they won't be staying there.
What I plan to do is mount two pieces of long PVC pipe in that area
on both sides of the deck. Rods can then be slid up into them
with out snagging on anything and with out tangling with each other.
Here is a shot of the full deck with no seats in
place. As you can see the front deck is nice and large, you
could even take a decent snooze on it, while drifting shad or
something like that. Honestly it is already starting to look
like a different boat.
Here is the storage under the front deck, I will use
pieces of scrap plywood to cover the bottom to keep stuff "mostly
dry". This is where the batter will be stored and it will
make it real easy for me to charge it with out pulling it out every
time. There is really a ton of space under this deck now!
Here is a better look a the back deck all closed
up. This one won't be used for standing much but it will be
great to have some good rod holders and it will house my toggle
switches when I wire the boats new electronics. I will mount
the seat just about 2 inches higher then the deck is so it will be
nice leg room in front.
This is the back deck with the storage panels
removed. I will have some totally dry storage on the bench to
the left of the seat. Some "mostly dry" storage to the
left rear and the gas tank is housed in an area that will get wet
but still can be for some additional storage. The area to the
far back just above the tank is also removable and will be my toggle
switch panel.
On more shot, here you can see the bilge pump
mounted is low in the center water channel as I could get it.
I will run a hose out the rear of the boat and this should help keep
the water level in the boat very low. At 800 GPH I can move a
lot more water then I would ever take in on a safe day to be on the
water. Again these are on clearance at Academy for $4.45, grab
one even for a spare while you can.
So what is the next step? In stage three I
will start to carpet the decks and panels. Check back to see
if I can accomplish this without gluing myself to the decks or the
carpet to my hands! Wish me luck, I may need it! I
should probably also mention the wood has all been treated with
Olympic Water Seal.
This went a LOT easier then I thought it
would. I just used a good exterior carpet glue and spread it
with a tool you buy for a few bucks onto the decking, laid down the
carpet and then used staples to attach it to the decks.
Excuse the saw dust! It won't be there for long. Also
the decks are easy to remove for the next step which will be wiring
and painting the boat interior.
Here you can see the front deck storage compartment
closed up. I used a 12 inch continuous hinge on the front
which will provide a lot of protection against the hinge screws
stripping out with use. As you can see the carpet does a good
job of hiding my lack of skill with the saw.
One tip to be aware of if you are doing this
yourself. With compartments, first carpet the main deck, then
trim the door BEFORE you carpet it. You need to create some
gaps to accommodate the extra size to both the opening and the door
created by the carpet.
I have yet to figure out what type of handle to put
on this door to make opening it easier but not have something that
will stub a toe, get busted off or create something to snag on but I
have a few ideas. For now that screw sticking up is a temporary
solution to make my life easier while working on the boat.
You will also note I switched the hinge to the
forward side to make it more convenient to open when on the water.
This shot gives you a good view of the inside of the
panels. Here is a tip, cut the carpet a lot bigger then you
need it as it will make getting it lined up less important.
Then you can pull the carpet tight easily, staple it where you want
and AFTER the staples are in place trim the excess carpet nice and
strait and close to the edge.
Here is a good shot of the front deck and forward
mid deck. The seats are now mounted with flush pedestal mounts
purchased from Academy. These are expensive mounts, 5 for the
plate but 18 for the pedestal, however they are worth every
penny.
If I decide I want the ability to
raise the front seat a 10 inch extension poll is only 9 bucks.
Again I fish alone 9 times out of 10 but most passengers would face
rear unless standing on the deck leaving a low center of gravity and
nice leg room. The mid decks are simple and very nice on bare
feet.
The two mid decks and the rear deck
are all made out of 15/32nds ply to save weight, while the front
deck is made out of 3/4 to add weight to the front for my mostly
solo fishing trips.
Here is a shot that shows the rear deck and rear mid
deck. The rear mid deck will be a nice surface for me to stand
on. You can also see the storage panels on the port side of
the boat.
(Port side is left when
looking from rear to the front of a boat for you land lubbers.
To remember port and starboard, just remember both port and left
have four letters) The exposed wood will go away in the
very near future.
Here is the front deck with the seat removed.
Again the seat pedestals and surface mounts were worth every
penny. Also if you look you will see some scrap plywood on the
bench seat which will be replaced with a long strip when the decks
are actually attached.
The surface mounts
were simple to do, I just cut a hole large enough to accommodate
them, carpeted right over them, cut a small hole in the carpet and
pushed the mount through. These mounts give you a great stable
and safe finished product.
Here is the rear deck stripped of its' seat giving a
better look of the storage and gas tank compartment.
This shot is with the storage
open, note the arrows stating back and front and label of which
panel is which. This will make your life a lot easier if you
are building your own decks or even just recarpeting an existing
deck.
There is a lot to do yet, I need to rewire and paint
the trailer. I need to wire the boat, mount rod holders and
set up my switch panel as well. I also need to paint the boat
interior. Nice thing is even though the metal may appear bare
in the photos it is actually a light gray paint that has been on the
boat for years. The rails are worn bare but I can paint the
interior with out special aluminum treatment. Stage 4 will
start on one of these, I have not decided which yet. Check
back Soon,
Well there she is totally finished notice that I
figured out what to do for a latch on the front cover. That
little flush mount pull cost about a buck fifty at Bass Pro
Shops. It really is amazing how much better the boat looks with
the interior painted. As you can see I added rod holders and
mounted the seat caddys on the outer edges of the deck. More on
that in just a second. I honestly think if I pulled up to this
boats original owner on the lake now he would have no idea it was his
old boat.
Here is a better view of just the front deck showing
the pull for opening the hatch. Over all I am very please with
how clean the whole look is. As I usually fish alone I will
more often then not have the front seat removed just to keep it out
of the way.
Here is a good shot of the "command
center. As you can see I have added a pair of rod holders and
you can see where I mounted the switch panel for my lights, pump and
live well.
Here is a close up of my switch panel. If you
look close you can see the out line of the removable cover that it
is mounted to. Just in front you can see the raised storage
area I built so that I could get the rod holder as high as I wanted
them.
This shot is of the opposite side of the rear
deck. As you can see for the storage for the small tackle
boxes I just used some pieces of 2x4 with a plywood top and then put
some bungy straps in place hooked to some small eye hooks to keep
the boxes in place. I really like the seat caddies much better
screwed down to the deck like this then on the seats, they take up a
lot less space and are still very functional.
This shot just shows how the "Fishin
Buddy" fish finder mounts. Again it easily just lifts out
of its mounting bracket. What I like is how it is outside of
the boat and therefore takes up no space.
One of the issues I ran into is my rod holders did
not have enough pitch to keep the rod tips high enough. Yet
rod holder with more pitch were too high. Solution was about
75 cents worth of washers. I just put three washers on the
outside side of each rod holder base to shim up the angle a
bit. Worked great.
Last picture is of a 12 VDC outlet I installed.
These are about 2 bucks at Bass Pro, I just cut a small square of
plywood and mounted it to the support of the front deck. This will
let me run the spot light you see plugged into it or any of my other
accessories like my floating light for night fishing.
The boat now handles wornderfully even with just me
in it. I learned a lot doing this build and some day in the
future will pick up a boat with a wider beam for more stability and
do another project. I have some advice for anyone
considering jon boat modification project and it is as
follows.
1. Don't worry about any one else's boat build
your boat to do what you want just use other's projects for ideas.
2. Ignore people that warn that a few sheets
of plywood and some 2x4s will sink your boat. My boat handles
much better then before. I would now call it two man
boat rather then 3 but who cares 3 guys in a jon boat is damn
crowded anyway.
3. Don't worry just try it and you will figure
it out. I thought it was going to be a lot harder then it was.
I hope this documentation helps others with their
projects, email any questions to jack@providetechnology.com
and I will do what I can to answer them.
