LKennedy12
Member
My husband and I have begun the modification process of a 1976 Polar Kraft jon boat. This boat has been sitting out in the elements of West Texas for several years. We are in the middle of a historic drought, so the ol' tank (or pond as we call it back where I'm from in Arkansas) is dry as a bone.
We have tossed around the idea for a while now of purchasing kayaks to fish lakes and rivers in the Texas Hill Country or Lake Allen Henry, which is not far from Lubbock. I came across this site, and it inspired us to fix up the jon boat to be a fishing machine.
We brought the jon boat back to our house from its "resting place" at our ranch.
![jonboat_ranch.jpg jonboat_ranch.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/tinboats/data/attachments/41/41547-4328e3c8f3f9b646304d2fe053606ca5.jpg)
It's currently residing in our back yard as we clean and sand it down. We decided to do a reverse water test by filling the boat with water to check for leaks and weak spots in the structure.
![jonboat_watertest_yard.jpg jonboat_watertest_yard.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/tinboats/data/attachments/41/41548-526116f16b452187f06270fd015631e1.jpg)
Luckily, we didn't find any leaks.
Ultimately, we would like to add a casting deck, a trolling motor, and an outboard. I've seen a lot of great ideas on this site, and I look forward to any feedback and/or suggestions any of you may have. We are sanding it down now, and will probably do a quick power wash to do a final cleaning before we move on to working on the deck.
Check my blog at https://www.essaysfromtexas.com for more photos.
We have tossed around the idea for a while now of purchasing kayaks to fish lakes and rivers in the Texas Hill Country or Lake Allen Henry, which is not far from Lubbock. I came across this site, and it inspired us to fix up the jon boat to be a fishing machine.
We brought the jon boat back to our house from its "resting place" at our ranch.
![jonboat_ranch.jpg jonboat_ranch.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/tinboats/data/attachments/41/41547-4328e3c8f3f9b646304d2fe053606ca5.jpg)
It's currently residing in our back yard as we clean and sand it down. We decided to do a reverse water test by filling the boat with water to check for leaks and weak spots in the structure.
![jonboat_watertest_yard.jpg jonboat_watertest_yard.jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/tinboats/data/attachments/41/41548-526116f16b452187f06270fd015631e1.jpg)
Luckily, we didn't find any leaks.
Ultimately, we would like to add a casting deck, a trolling motor, and an outboard. I've seen a lot of great ideas on this site, and I look forward to any feedback and/or suggestions any of you may have. We are sanding it down now, and will probably do a quick power wash to do a final cleaning before we move on to working on the deck.
Check my blog at https://www.essaysfromtexas.com for more photos.