Tom's Jonboat to Bass boat project with photos

I just found this web site and see several Jonboat to Bass-boat conversions. Several use carpeted plywood panels. My only concern is how the finished boat handles with the added weight? I think the steps outlined below will get good results but if anyone sees any major problems please chime in.

Am converting a 1998 Polar Kraft 16' modified V Jon boat to a bass boat. Used riveted angle aluminium to extend the front / rear decks and move the seats forward and lower them. Have storage below the front deck and under the seats. Will use 3 coats of spar varnish coated marine carpeted plywood panels for decks and floor. Moved the console forward, added a new no feedback steering cable and steering wheel.

Plan on painting next week. Have final sanded with 220 grit sandpaper and will prime and paint using Alumiprep 33 and Alodine 1201 and priming with Rustolium marine primer. Paint will be X-O Rust, True Value's brand of Rust-Oleum, and am using an HVLP paint gun with a 20 gal compressor. Gun is matched to the compressor for intermittent use. Then comes the rewiring, add a 12 VDC, 350 mA solar panel to charge the trolling motor battery, install the carpeted plywood panels, then launch the boat just in time to take it out of the water. My advice to anyone doing an extensive rehab job like this - START EARLY.

Well here are a few more photos, some from before modification began and some from just priming it today. Anyone know how to post project photos in chronological order?

One thing I learned about spray painting is it is easy, well sort of, well maybe just OK, well to tell the truth, the learning curve was very steep. Tried priming with Rustoleum right out of the can, NO LUCK. Then thinned with the 5% mineral spirits as directed by application notes on the can, still not luck. Had to thin with 25% mineral spirits before it would spray well. The other thing is to filter the paint, EVERY TIME you add paint. Cannot believe all the stuff the filter catches. The little filter in the gun between the gravity feed canister and the gun plugged up often. Had to disassemble the gun, clean that filter, reinstall, prime awhile and clean all over again. Will prime second coat primer tomorrow but am STATRING with 25% mineral spirits.

Next good day will paint but start with 25% Xylol instead of the 10% recommended to thin the X-O Rust paint (True Values brand of Rustoleum) , an oil based enamel.

Primed the boat today Aug 9. With the primer thinned enough to spray it took all of 15 minuets to put on a second coat of primer.

can't wait to see the progress!

Just primed the helm today as well. Had brushed the first coat of primer on but sanded that with 220 and sprayed the second coat. MUCH finer surface. Am spraying outdoors so have to wait until next good day to paint. Should be done painting next week. Will post photos after the color is sprayed on.

Looks great,everytime I see a white boat I think of Brines camo job.
It wouldn't be good for the type of stuff I do but looks great.

Thanks but that is just primer. Will paint with a semi-dark blue next good painting day. Primer came out a little rough. Material knob is out 5 turns. Will turn in to 2.5 turns and practice before painting next week. Plan to hand sand primer with 340 before painting.

Right now I am leaning towards adding hardener to the paint to produce a glossy finish that is durable and won't oxidize as fast. Problem is filtering out iscocyanamates in the hardener. NO filter I have seen, except for a positive air pressure full face mask in the $400 to $600 price range will filter out iscocyanamates. I am painting outdoors with the following PPE: Moldex 9000 full face mask with the 7600 multi gas and 7940 P100 filters and a disposable painting coverall with hood. Moldex states their equipment is not intended to filter out iscocyanamates but I believe this is more of a concern for liability than actual health hazard, especially when painting outdoors. I applied two coats of primer over two days, 15 min each coat. I assume it will only take me 15 min to apply each coat of color, 3 coats over 3 days, or as recommended, 3 coats, one after the other after the previous coat becomes tacky. Can't see how painting outdoors while being covered up head to toe with an air filtered full face mask is going to produce a significant health hazard.

The photo is the steering console and adjustable base painted today with Rust-Oleum Marine top cote. Had brush painted one coat of Rust-Oleum Marine primer last year. Thought by sanding out the brush marks with 220, spraying on a second coat of primer and two coats of color would have eliminated the brush marks but it didn't. The finish is OK but hope the boat comes out a little better.

Waiting for a good painting day so cut and carpeted the floor panel. Plan to roll and tip the Aquigard Primer #190 with a foam roller below the waterline and top cote that with Aquigard Alumi-Koat bottom paint, also roll and tip method. After that will mask off at the waterline and spray the X-O Rust color.

One question, is it best to use a foam brush or will a good bristle brush be better? The high density foam rollers say they are made to finish cabinets by "back-rolling" the finish that was brushed on. On a boat is it best to roll first and back brush or brush and back roll?

Jonboat2Bassboat said:

Waiting for a good painting day so cut and carpeted the floor panel. Plan to roll and tip the Aquigard Primer #190 with a foam roller below the waterline and top cote that with Aquigard Alumi-Koat bottom paint, also roll and tip method. After that will mask off at the waterline and spray the X-O Rust color.

One question, is it best to use a foam brush or will a good bristle brush be better? The high density foam rollers say they are made to finish cabinets by "back-rolling" the finish that was brushed on. On a boat is it best to roll first and back brush or brush and back roll?

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i will tell you from my personal experience i prefer a REALLY good brush of a foam brush. the foam brush seems to soak up paint rather than smooth the paint so it can settle evenly. plus i had a lot of problems with the tips of the foam brush wanting to tear off. I just prefer the brush as it seems to give a much more uniform look over foam.

Sweet rig =D> =D>

Where did you get those seats?

Thanks for the tip on foam brushes. Now that you said it I recall hearing it before. Have great bristle brush I will put to use this morning.

Got the seats online 6 years ago but don't remember where. Do remember they were about $100 locally but only $50 online, including shipping.

Just applied the first coat of Aquagard 190 Marine Primer for below waterline use. Used the roll and tip method and did not thin the primer. It did not come out as smooth as expected. Used a high density 6" foam roller and a 3" "China Bristle" brush, what ever that means, made in the USA by Wooster.

At any rate got a lot of air bubbles rolling the primer on. The brush removed the air bubbles but showed a lot of brush marks. One mistake was to use a dry brush. After the job was done remembered to use a wet brush with very little primer on it. Hopefully the second coat of primer and two coats on bottom paint will be a little smoother.

Looking good =D>

Looking great! I'm gonna start on mine before long. I have spent weeks reading through all of the great builds here. Lots of great ideas to be gained here!

OK, here is the second coat of marine primer. Came out MUCH better but switched to a cheap foam brush. In my opinion, the "China Bristle" brush from Wooster was a waste of money. After cleaning the brush in soap and water, the ends splayed out like a cowlick on a kids hair. After two strokes on the second coat of primer switched to the foam brush. As I said MUCH better. Still have a lot of air bubbles with the high density foam roller but the foam brush takes care of that.

Photos are of the second coat of primer. Photos may not show how much better the second coat was but believe me, it provided full coverage. There are a few "brush" marks from the foam brush but for a bottom primer they are just fine. Will use this method when applying the two coats of bottom paint but will spray on the final coats of topside paint.

Rock Crusher said:

Looking great! I'm gonna start on mine before long. I have spent weeks reading through all of the great builds here. Lots of great ideas to be gained here!

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Just want to add two comments for when you start your project, start early and be aware that most guys who convert Jon boats to Bass boats do not have their boats in the water 5-6 months in the year. I do so had to go with a bottom paint and primer system. Used Aquagard 190 Marine primer for below the waterline and Aquagard Alumi-Koat Anti-Fouling Bottom Paint, applied with a roller and a brush.

If your boat will only be in the water 4-6 hours, 4 times a month, say every Saturday, you SHOULD be OK with Rust-Oleum on the bottom. I am using X-O Rust Oil Enamel for a top cote. Most guys use this or Rust-Oleum and am told it works fine. Only time will tell.

Good luck with your project. There is a lot of good advice here.

Just wanted to add you can get a book on converting a Jonboat to a Bassboat at myjonboat.com. The book is $20 but can download an e-book for less. If you get the printed book the e-book comes with it. There are also several examples with lots of pictures of boats that have been converted using this system. This is where I started but still need the advice from this web site.

Just be aware that if your boat is in the water a lot you will need bottom paint. Also, use marine wire. Standard wire is not tinned and standard connectors are made of aluminium with plastic shields. Copper and aluminium are dis-similar metals and, when wet, will promote corrosion. Marine wire is tinned copper and marine connectors are also tinned copper with heat shrink shields. Once you crimp on the connector you can heat shrink the connection and make it waterproof. Marine wire and connectors are expensive but not prohibitive.

Here is the first coat of bottom paint. Tried to use the roll and roll method but it didn't work for me. The more I rolled the more air bubbles I got. Seemed to me the "sound" was sticky from the get go. Oh well, used the roll and tip method with foam roller and foam brush. Photos are of the first coat. As you can see from the close up it didn't cover to well. Thinned with 10% water but may go back to full strength. Anyone recommend more than 2 coats of bottom paint?

Who knows about ablative bottom paint? Did not think this was ablative paint as it not say so on the can. Then I read on the mfg web site it is. One thing I had read about ablative paint is it "wears out" and has to be applied, maybe yearly. Didn't want to use an ablative bottom paint for that reason but it's what's on there now.

Here is the second coat of bottom paint. The big mistake I made was not sanding the 2nd primer coat to create a very smooth finish before applying the bottom paint. As it turns out the prime coat was not smooth so when you run your hand over the finish bottom coat you break the underlining bumps on the prime coat, exposing the gray primer coat through the black bottom coat. VERY noticeable. In this case, 2 photo's (before rubbing the bottom coat and after) are worth 1000 words.

Will lightly sand the bottom coat in the morning, re-apply a final coat of bottom paint and shoot the color top coat on the above waterline part of the boat.

Well sometimes the mfg gets things wrong. They said to wait 24 hours before applying second coat, which maybe I should have done, but they also said to thin with not more than 10% mineral spirits. Had to thin to 25% to get it to spray well. So who knows.

Painted the boat today. First and second coat. Applied first coat and as soon as the boat was painted shot the secons coat as the first coat was "dry". Maybe I should have waited the 24 hours for the second coat but who knows?

Plan right now is to sand what is on the boat with 340 and put on a 3rd and 4th coat, one right after the other, tomorrow.

The bottom paint did the same thing again, even after sanding the "final" coat of bottom paint and re-applying the "final" coat. Rub your hands on the paint and the primed coat shows through. Don't know what is going on but it is what it is. Hopefully will get the boat in the water before the end on Sept and see what happens.

Photos of color paint attached.

Photos are of some of the plywood decks cut and fitted. The floor is carpeted just to see what it would look like but is not glued down yet. Plan to cut all plywood, fit it, spar urethane the sides, carpet and install. In the mean time will re-wire it.