My 12ft Jon Boat Make Over

so this is my first time both using a forum and bulding a boat and honestly, putting this post together was 10x harder than what ive done to the boat! she not done, wasnt gonna post her till i was finished but i got bored, so give me your critique and any last minute advice as i feel i am on the home stretch just about (as soon as paint and steelflex are done). i tried my best to do things the right way. may have over done it for this little boat but we will have to see. i think its gonna be dope. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!



i cant seem to figure this forum thing out so sorry that the pics are in backwards order....

since all these pictures have been taken i have done a bunch of little things i didnt take pictures of yet so i will do my best here to updat you on those things

my buddy came over and really did a outstanding job of wiring up my bow, stern, anchor, and ever "cabin" LED lights to a switch board which will be located in the bow. all the wires are crimped, soldered, and shrink wrapped and fed thru a mere 1/2" piece of pvc conduit down the starboard side of the boat

i have replaced the 2x2s i used for the back side of each seat cover and replaced with 2x3s that way i could get rid of the vertical studs i had holding the seat up so i can now just wrap carpet around the whole seat top and use herculiner on the rest going down to the floor

i have added another small hatch in the very front of the bow simply because i had the space and figured i could use it without really hurting anything

i have JBwelded all the holes i have previously located (dont know if this was the best idea or not but oh well)

i have ordered steelflex for the bottom of the boat, transom, and transom/bilge area

herculiner goes everywhere carpet and paint wont on the inside of the boat

let me know what you think and any and all suggestion or questions are welcomed

Looking good so far!

How big is the boat?

the boat is a little 12fter. i tried my best to be weight conscious

Looks good so far! Looking forward for more updates!

i am painting my grey herculiner to the inside of the boat today. any last minute advice from people who have used herculiner??

Curious to know how that turned out with the Herculiner. My buddy and I were considering the same thing for our boats.

I too am curious about herculiner, as I'm planning on putting white herculiner on the bottom of my boat...keep us posted... [-o<

the herculiner turned out great actually, was very pleased with it. the only thing i didnt foresee but am slightly bummed about now is that it is really difficult if you want to keep it clean. i sanded some of the wood on my bench seats after the herculiner was in...big mistake, cuz now it wont come out haha. it sucks up water as opposed to letting it drain. oh well

i will put up pictures as soon as all the painting i am doing is completed. i just last night steelflexed the whole outside hull and will be posting about that. i think i have alot of really good advice about steelflex application so i might be making a post on that subject alone. will update as soon as possible. hoping to get this boat in the water soon, starting to feel like i may have over done it for such a little boat but i know how awesome its going to be when its done

here are some herculiner and steelflex pics. i love the stelflex so far and am kind of going crazy with it and want to finish all the hatches with it and everything. its definitely time consuming and taking forever but its hopefully going to be a clean finish. once im done putting spar urethane on all of my wood i will be putting on marine carpet. i also am painting the rail and the notch out rail that runs down the side of the hull in a navy blue, still need to do that. coming up on the end tho, blue crabs here i come!

Lookin good =D> - keep us updated with all your progess.

i got my carpet in the mail today, it looks to be pretty nice. got a navy color 20 oz marine grade carpet. now i have a pretty good idea of how i am going to go about this, but does anyone have any last minute pointers/

the things i am wondering most specifically are;
-how much room do i need to make so the hatch doors can be covered with carpet and still fit in place/
-are there any special techniques for wrapping around the hatch cover corners/
-if i sand my wood down well, will the carpet and adhesive still stick fine after i have put spar urethane on all my wood/

other than that i pretty much know what i am doing. i am a hardwood and ceramic tile installer by trade so i have seen alot of useful stuff the carpet guys have shown me on jobs before with regards to matching seams and making clean cuts. i also got hooked up with some industrial strength outdoor carpet adhesive, got a 150 dollar bucket for free from a carpet store we install for. probably going to get a lil contact cement for the edges and i have all sorts of staples and staplers on my box truck so im thinking im set to go1

let me know of any adive

Carpeting door hatches was tricky for me. Depending on your carpet thickness, 1/4" inch should give you the right clearance for a snug fit. But you should always dry fit (without any glue) to test the clearance. Personally, I glued the carpet to the deck first and then trimmed/re-cut doors to make room for the carpet clearance on the hatch doors. Just my way of doing it. There are probably easier ways of doing it.

So i know its been a while but i finally have som serious updates on my 12ft jon. I now have her all painted and carpeted, shes on a trailer and has a big ol 8 hp Mariner on the back, and the lights are all hooked up to their switches and my prop stick is all hooked up with a quick disconnect. im really happy with the way it turned out. a few minor ins and outs are still to be done but she is certainly fishing and crabbing ready!

yesterday we were getting into small stripers like these it was awesome

we were in some pretty deep water with such a little boat.. ive had it on the severn on the weekend when its super busy and even tho it is a little sketchy she held her own out there. and that was with my big ol brother in law who is pictured above. he is 270 and i am 170 and the 8 mariner still rolls out with us and all our fishing and crabbing gear

and here is a picture of my little niece out on it crabbing before we had put the deck on. haha thats why it took so long for an update because the crabs started running so good we just had to take it out before i got to finish everything!

Very nice man! Where abouts on the Bay are you?

thank you! i live on stoney creek which is off of the patapsco. i hunt fish and crab alot on the severn river though. the pictures of the lil striper was on marley creek off of curtis creek of of the patapsco.

boat is looking pretty good! i like the storage compartments you built!

Wow!
I am getting ready to start a refurb on a 14' Jon I got ahold of a couple months ago.
Had no intentions of going all out, but I'm LOVING what you've done! The extra tackle storage over the seats is awesome!

I noticed you were missing a transom handle. Any luck finding a replacement? I've searched and searched and I can't find one.
Mine are like 7 1/2 between the rivets if I remember correctly

What is the load capacity on yours? Mine is 315# occupants (pffft) and 460 total. The weight of the lumber could be an issue for me

Keep up the great work!!!

Thanks guys for the kind words! Manson, what is the width of the beam of your boat? That's what really is important. Mine is a 1232 so it is certainly tiny and definitely tippy. With me, the 8hp mariner plus gas tank plus my 270 lbs brother in law and all our fishing and crabbing gear which includes a 1200ft baited trotline and cinder block anchors we definitely roll down the river riding maybe 4 inches above the water line in the back when she's fully underway. Luckily we both are experienced on the water and in tight situations and as long as your sea legs are good we can stand up and fish out of it one person on front deck and another on the back seat. When it's 170lb me and my equally heavy younger brother out there fishing it feels a lot safer. With our gear plus the mod we run pretty high out of the water.

The thing for me is that with such a small boat the being able to organize everything into compartments is key for making it a comfortable time on the water