New Boat Owner

[Inkd]

I was given a 1960 18' Jon Boat by Monarch Boat Co. with a 25hp Evenrude with electric start, which all sits on a 1973 tilt trailer made by the Long Manufacturing Co. The boat is in ok shape I've only owned it for about 3 months. I've been on the water about a dozen or more times with it. I had a hub go bad so I replaced both hubs on the trailer which was tough to find because the outside bearing was only 3/4" . I've had the engine serviced but today it was giving me problems at full throttle so I took it to the mechanic and he says that the pack is going out and that the water pump drain plug had gotten hot at some point and melted so no water was spitting out. (I'm not a mechanic so its all greek to me). The boat does have a 1/2" plywood floor and a deck on the bow, along with two bench seats there is also two pedestal seats (one just in front of the rear bench and the other right behind the deck. The transom will need to be replaced probably over the winter. Any suggestions to make this a better over all fishing boat would be great I don't do to much bass fishing but some.

 

[Keystone]

There is a ton of great examples on what you can do to your boat on this site. Take some time to go through them. I've spent the better part of 3 months lurking and reading here. Still do not know exactly what my boat will be like in a year from now, but have gotten allot of ideas.

 

[Eddie Spaghetti]

We'll need pictures! Welcome to the site. You'll find a lot of great info here.

 

[drum]

welcome Eddie Spaghetti, there is a lot if use full reading and advise here. so read and ask I found it helpful.
and I own a little 10' sears jon boat, and they helped me as a new to boating guy.

 

[Inkd]

Ok so here is an up date the motor that came with the boat has gone bad well at least to the point I cant afford to fix it so I surrendered it to the mechanic for what was owed, he lent me this 8.8 Mercury but I haven't decided if its quite big enough. I welcome any suggestions to make this a overall better fishing boat. The current floor is 1/2" plywood that had some type of really thin carpet but it was torn in several areas so I just took it all out, thinking of possibly .80 or .100 aluminum here are the pictures finally, again any suggestions would be greatly appreaciated

 

[Inkd]

Just a liitle update. I've removed the 3/4" plywood floor and inserted foam between each of the ribs, flush to the top of the rib, then for my flooring I used vinyl fencing (that's right you read correctly) 6" wide and I stuffed foam inside of each piece. I thought it may be slick when wet but so far after three outings..no problems. I'm on a extremely tight budget on what I can spend on the boat so this flooring was the cheapest I could think of cause a friend had it lying around and it does make my boat lighter. I installed two 40" SliderG5 from 2XT Solutions on my bench seats since I got rid of the ones mounted to the floor. I welcome any suggestions and comments to help me along.

 

[dsuden]

Clever! I'll bet it feels pretty solid, with the foam underneath it to support it. Never ceases to amaze me the things people come up with on this site.