Looking into first Jon Boat

Hello All,

New member here and seeking advice/opinions on an aluminum Jon boat.

I live in NE FL and am looking to upgrade from my kayak to a Jon Boat. I am looking hard at Alumacraft, as the local Academy has both a 14 and 15 footer that has my eye. I want to run a 9.9 for the creeks and also another local spot that only allows up to 9.9. The kicker is I’d like to fish 2,3 people no issues and be stable/comfortable.

Any opinions or suggestion are welcome.

One of this site's sponsors is A K McCallum. https://www.akmccallumco.com/

They seem to carry about five or six different brands of aluminum boats. They also get truckloads of hulls from different manufacturers and offer them at pretty good prices.

Alumacraft is one of their brands.

There are Alumacraft owners on this site. One or more will probably post up soon. Good luck.

richg99

Get the biggest one you an afford. If buying used, adjust price for leaks, but you can fix those yourself.

A good trailer makes moving it easy.

I think jon boats (& fishing boats in general) hold their resell value better than generic fiberglass runabouts.

Bigcountry said:

Hello All,

New member here and seeking advice/opinions on an aluminum Jon boat.

I live in NE FL and am looking to upgrade from my kayak to a Jon Boat. I am looking hard at Alumacraft, as the local Academy has both a 14 and 15 footer that has my eye. I want to run a 9.9 for the creeks and also another local spot that only allows up to 9.9. The kicker is I’d like to fish 2,3 people no issues and be stable/comfortable.

Any opinions or suggestion are welcome.

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Still using my Bonafide 127 but wanted something to get me quicker to farther spots so I got a grizzly 1448 with 20hp Tohatsu. Love it. Its 99% just me fishing so its like a really fast wide kayak. 25mph wot. If you go mostly with someone I would go at least 16'. There are a bunch of aluminum craft out there and a lot of great advise from this site. Good luck.

Biggest/highest capacity boat and skinniest/lightest friends

With three average American fellers I would want no smaller than a 15 footer. 16 with 60"+ beam would be ideal.

I fished with two friends in a 1448 last spring, it was a little tight.

Look to the longest, widest boat that checks all or most of the boxes on your wants / needs list. From there it's all about finances

1642 would be minimum in my mind. Keep it a tiller and bare bones for finish out. You will not be getting anywhere fast with a 9.9 and two buddies.

See my 1648 Alumacraft in the link in my sig. A true 9.9hp will get up to 17mph solo and a 9.9 upgraded to a 15hp can get up to 21 mph for me. Only goes down from there with people and gear but isn't terrible.

As long as you're using the boat where there ain't any rocks, stumps, logs, or anything else, alumacraft is fine. If not, you may want to look at something that uses a little thicker material. Those things are paper thin. But lightweight. Just looked at them at Academy here, about an hour ago.

Size? 1548 minimum, and power it with it's max rating. I don't know of much that can ruin a trip than getting your friends/family together in the boat and having to run a mile or two to "the hole", and it won't even plane off. Just plows water. Makes for a very long mile or two, and then again coming back-hopefully even slower coming back with a load of fish.

I had a Grumman 1542 for a little while and even a 1542 gets small-quick-with just two in the boat (myself and friend). When I sold it, I wanted a 1448, picked up a tracker and couldn't get it gone fast enough, found a 1448 Lowe which I liked, but it was riveted and again paper thin. Dumped it too and ended up later on with this old war eagle which I love and only powering it with 25hp. Rated for 40hp. 1548.

Three is a crowd on just about any size within reason. Two is very doable even on a 1232, which is what I do. Depends on the type of fishing. Just dropping lines, three will work in about any sizewith suitable capacity. But constant casting(bass fishing) can be messy with three.

Well, I have a 1448 jon, flat bottom. When I got it it had a 9.9 on it and it was okay with me and my wife and would get on plane okay. But, with 3 people in it it would not really get on plane. Don't really know the top speed though. Now I have a 20 hp Yamaha 4s and it will handle 3 people just fine and with just me in it and nothing else will top out at around 27 mph. If I have a load of fishing gear and my fishing buddy with me it will top out at around 18 mph, maybe, and uses a lot more gas. I am thinking of getting a second prop with a lower pitch just for those days when I fish with someone else. Most of the time I'm by myself. 3 is a lot for a 14' boat but, if you are fishing with bait and not constantly casting like you do with artificial lures it is doable.

My 2 cents: A 1648 riveted boat pushes nearly as easy as a 1448, doesn’t cost much more, and is a much better choice for 3. I have a 1648 Alumacraft and it will plane 3 200# guys with a 15hp. It will do it with the stock prop but does a lot better if I drop one pitch size. Top speed with a big load is 17mph.


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Yes, a bigger wider boat will displace more water so in reality, up to a point, going bigger will give better results with the same motor. The key is weight and a 1648 probably doesn't weigh a whole lot more than a 1448. The 16'er will float a bit higher too probably.

Get the biggest you can afford. Check on craigslist. Good deals do come around. I have had several from 12 to 16 footers until I found a 22 ft that I had to drive about 350 miles to purchase. Still an ongoing project but couldn't be happier.
good luck