ouachita 16' flat bottom need some ideas... FRIST BOAT

[ouachita1671]

So my dad and I just recently boat our first boat.The boat we bought is a 1971 ouachita 16' flat bottom. We purchased the boat knowing we wanted to modify it to our needs. Both my dad and I love to fish for anything that swims but we mostly target large catfish and bass. I've looked thru many post on here and I'm struggling coming up with a good design that will allow us to comfortably fish for bass by day and hungry cats by night. Here are some pictures of what we have to work with not included in the photos is a merc 18 hp thats in the shop for a tune up. any ideas you guys could come up with for a layout would be great thanks in advance for your help!

 

[sixgun86]

:WELCOME: to Tinboats.

Check out the Jon and V boat Conversions and Modifications Forum for ideas. Also tinboats has a Youtube vid that highlights of a lot of previous builds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R2...DvjVQa1PpcFMxcpwdOWq4Ky-xegYJ9PHHBz0HaDg9MJI=

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNy...DvjVQa1PpcFMxcpwdOWq4K2I6OBfThtkVNB7T5re9na0=

200k views, Wow!

 

[ChitownBasser]

Agreed. Took me two weeks of reading post after post to get an idea and plan for my project. But you have a nice boat to build up.

 

[bigwave]

Rip all that old stuff off, pressure wash and inspect for damage, get a cold beverage and start reading all the mods. You will be there a while, but you should be able to get a good idea or two. Everyone is willing to help on this site, great bunch of tinboat modders here.

good luck and :WELCOME:

 

[graybeard1]

I'm not sure how fancy you are planning on getting, but I can tell you a couple things I did on my old jon. It's a lot like yours only a Monark. I fish by myself most of the time for catfish on a smaller river. I put styrofoam sheets down between the ribs and then covered the floor with plywood to eliminate tripping over the ribs and deaden the sound. Also, I had the livewell/storage in the center seat, which I just used for storage. I cut out one half of the storage section to give me a path to the front without stepping over a seat. Makes it a lot easier for a fat old man to get to the front of the boat to tie off to a brush pile or check diddy poles when you have a flat surface to walk on, and no seat to step over. I'm in the middle of replacing the wood in the transom right now, and I'll be good to go this year. I love them old jon boats!

 

[user 7806]

:WELCOME: to Tinboats.

Check out the Jon and V boat Conversions and Modifications Forum for ideas. Also tinboats has a Youtube vid that highlights of a lot of previous builds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R2...DvjVQa1PpcFMxcpwdOWq4Ky-xegYJ9PHHBz0HaDg9MJI=

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNy...DvjVQa1PpcFMxcpwdOWq4K2I6OBfThtkVNB7T5re9na0=

200k views, Wow!

Did know those existed, thanks for the links

 

[ouachita1671]

Thanks for all the insight guys lots of good info and help. I was wondering if anyone knew if this boat would be stable enough to put a casting deck on the front?