New Duck/Bowfishing Jon Boat...[updated pics 3-28]

New guy here...extremely excited I found this site!

Got a great deal on a 1987 Lowe flat bottom 16' Side Console. As you can see the trailer is junk and might be scrapped as such. The boat is too big for it and it has no tongue weight. The Mercury 40 HP motor has some serious issues and may need to be sold for parts. But what I paid for the whole setup it was worth it, even if I have to buy another motor and trailer I will be under budget!

I apologize for the lousy pics I took them with a phone. I am currently about to graduate college and just barely had enough time to pick up the boat and drop it off and my house and then jet back to school.

I plan on setting it up for duck hunting/bowfishing/catfishing in that order. I hope to be on the water in September to get back into some public land (deer) archery spots with no road access. Bowfishing obviously won't happen this year and probably not catfishing either.

When I can get back home and tear into to her I plan on pulling the motor and diagnosing that situation, then the first order of business is the trailer. I am bringing the motor back with me to work on during the week (In my apartment :shock: !) And my brother is gonna strip and sand the boat for me in his spare time

Gonna be a long, LEARNING process, I'm gonna go SLOW with my already busy schedule and inexperience...luckily my fiances dad is handy with a welder and willing to teach me (he hunts with me and is just as excited about this as I am!). I am not experienced with boat building although I've been in and around boats all my life. My fiance is pissed to say the least! She knows what kind of money pit I just got myself into

I will give you a quick rundown of what I am planning on by September in order of priority

Trailer (if not scrapped) - New bunks, tongue ext., new winch, new LED lights/wiring, guideposts, tires, sanding/grinding and paint

Motor (if not sold) - replace/rebuild as much as possible!, and lots of Seafoam, new electric tilt/trim (if budget allows)

Boat - Sanding/grinding, steelflex bottom, camo paint everywhere else, new transom, remove front bench and reinforce, new ext. front deck for decoy/dry storage, dry storage compartment for batteries gas tank, etc., LED deck lights, Bow mounted lights, removable/folding/trailerable style blind.

Future (next year) - aluminum flooring, removable aluminum bowfishing deck with lights, trolling motor, flotation pods, and who knows what else I will conjure up!

Looking forward to you guys opinions and input...from what I searched around and have seen...there is plenty of ingenuity on this site!

Nice ride! I look forward to seeing your progress


edit: just noticed you're a college student as well... me too... and both of us are representing with 16 footers with 40 HP's 8)

Nice rig you got there, You must hunt falls and jordan. You got a good plan for a nice duck hunting rig

good lookin boat!

Very nice boat.. you've got a lot of potential there. Welcome Aboard.

Finally was able to get in and do some work on the boat.

Pulled the motor and the controls
Removed center bench
Removed the old wiring
Removed side console



She is ready for some sanding and grinding now!

the only thing I didn't get done that I had planned was the getting transom removed...it is nice and rotten like I thought. The motor bolts had rotten chunks of wood coming out with them.

We are going to keep the trailer. $60 bucks worth of metal and me and my fiances dad will have her looking right for the boat. I really lucked out! He had a trailer kit and was planning to build a new trailer a while back for his welder but never did. So he gave me the tires/wheels, leaf springs and the new axle for free! And they just so happen to fit my trailer! I just have to get some new fenders.

Hopefully in the next two weeks the trailer will be extended and ready to get prepped for paint and the transom removed and started to be replaced as well as the rest of the boat being ready for paint

Johnny5 said:

Nice rig you got there, You must hunt falls and jordan. You got a good plan for a nice duck hunting rig

Click to expand...

I hunt a little bit of everywhere I'm blessed to have made some good friends at college and we hunt all over state when we can...Jordan, Harris, Falls, Badin, Tillery, High Rock, the coast, etc.

good lookin boat, i know you must be an alright guy if you in sharpsburg, im from wayne county, just in wilmington for school.. where you plannin to bowfish at bud?

All great places to hunt, just a little "rough" with having to hunt around so many people sometimes(i like the swamps for the privacy). I had the pleasure of hunting at roanoke rapids lake a few times this past year and all i can say is what an experience #-o but we had fun none the less. looking forward to the build. Im torn on cutting out the middle bench my boat but i think i might take the plunge after your build

looks like its going to be a great project

Got the transom pulled out this weekend. What I found was a bit unsettling. The previous owner had the boat in saltwater so I knew I would deal with some corrosion. The old wood looks treated and was never panted or sealed #-o. The transom metal has a lot of pitting and corrosion.

I have 2 ideas about what I should or could do...but I thought I would get some additional opinions on stopping/correcting the corrosion.

Is this amount of pitting normal? I think it is more than usual especially around the bolt holes.

Thanks ahead of time

transom out and prepped for new one


corrosion and pitting


old transom

yeah your boat looks a little long for that trailer, but you could probably sell it no problem, I had a trailer for a 16' or shorter boat that looked like crap, peeling paint and rust, rotted out tires, etc. that I bought during the winter time, about a month ago I put it up on craigslist and less than three hours later it was long gone and I was $300 richer.

We actually kept the trailer. We extended the tongue 14 inches and the the back by 2ft. Also put some new tires and springs on the trailer. Also made some new, longer bunks out of leftover redwood from a deck.

The trailer is up for paint this weekend hopefully.

I have the boat off the trailer and flipped to prep and paint the bottom. I have the steelflex ordered and hopefully it will be here soon. But this weekend I am going to use some Alumiprep and Alodine on the bottom then hit it with some zinc chromate primer. I have run into some corrosion. Nothing super serious but I figured spend the extra money now and hopefully curtail a future bigger problem.

I will get pics up soon!!!...I meant to snap some pics last week but forgot.

I think you'll be ok.... I was going to give you a link to one of the best transom rebuild's I've seen to date, from a guy here on tinboats. He fiberglassed his ply's and also epoxied any holes where bolts would go thuough, meaning water will never get to that wood!!! I just can't seem to find it now.

IF SOMEONE KNOWS WHO'S THIS WAS PLEASE POST IT UP HERE

perchin said:

I think you'll be ok.... I was going to give you a link to one of the best transom rebuild's I've seen to date, from a guy here on tinboats. He fiberglassed his ply's and also epoxied any holes where bolts would go thuough, meaning water will never get to that wood!!! I just can't seem to find it now.

IF SOMEONE KNOWS WHO'S THIS WAS PLEASE POST IT UP HERE

Click to expand...

I am doing the same thing. I have half of my ply's glassed already. I just underestimated and ran out of resin.

looks great, im workin on my 1652 now just forgot the camera cant wait to see what you do on the front and back!

The build with glass is Rat's PolarKraft. Its a pretty detailed build, and the guy is very helpful and willing to explain everything he does. Your build looks like its gonna be great. Wish my boat was as wide as that.

Looks like a good start...

Here is the boat mentioned above.

Did you have any problem with hull integrity after removing the bench?
It is an open discussion on the net if doing it make your boat fold in half first time you go on the water or not.
I have a Lowe 18 feet with 3 benches (plus a mini deck atthe front) and I am trying to decide if I can remove at least 2 brnch to create more room.