Jon Boat Mod question...

[BloodStone]

Those really light weight 12' aluminum Jon boats (you know the ones you can load into the back of a pickup or onto a car topper & NOT give yourself a major hernia doing it); can any real modifications be done to them considering how thin & cheaply made they are? The reason for asking is because a guy gave me a couple of swivel pedestal boat seats & I was wondering if it'd be worth the effort to try to put them in or if it even would work? :-k
Thanks

 

[russ010]

are you talking about the pin pedestals or the 3" round black ones like you can get at walmart? I've got a heavy gauge 1232 at my parents, and I have a 7" pedestal on the back bench with a swivel and it works like a charm... I have a 12" pedestal (3") in the front floor as well since it's not decked..

 

[BloodStone]

are you talking about the pin pedestals or the 3" round black ones like you can get at walmart? I've got a heavy gauge 1232 at my parents, and I have a 7" pedestal on the back bench with a swivel and it works like a charm... I have a 12" pedestal (3") in the front floor as well since it's not decked..

The three inch round black ones. They have about an 11" height & those fold-down clam shell style padded seats. I was thinking about putting them in my 14' Sea King when I start up again with that mod, but I like the ones that you can take out or sink down into the decking so they're not in the way. And Russ, the boat I'm talking about is paper thin material, are you sure yours is the same?

 

[russ010]

no - my 1232 is thick gauge.. but I do have a 1432 that is paper thin... and I mean looking at it makes it bend. I've got 7" ones in that one too... I'm not sure about 11" seats though.. I would think you would be fine though.

Put a 3/4" sheet of plywood on the top of the bench and mount it to that... I've seen people do crazy things in boats like that before (like decking it to the top) and they seem to have no problems. If you don't like them you could always take them off and then have plywood still on there (carpet it first though)

 

[ben2go]

Use aluminum plate or 1/2 inch plywood to re-enforce the underside of the mounting area.This wasn't done on my boat and the benches split.

 

[BloodStone]

no - my 1232 is thick gauge.. but I do have a 1432 that is paper thin... and I mean looking at it makes it bend. I've got 7" ones in that one too... I'm not sure about 11" seats though.. I would think you would be fine though.

Put a 3/4" sheet of plywood on the top of the bench and mount it to that... I've seen people do crazy things in boats like that before (like decking it to the top) and they seem to have no problems. If you don't like them you could always take them off and then have plywood still on there (carpet it first though)

Thanks for input. I made a miscalculation. The seat pedestals are 13" & there is NO way I'd even think about mounting them to the top of the bench seats in that thing-plywood or no plywood #-o #-o #-o Tipsy city for sure (it'd be about as stable as standing up in a canoe)! I'll probably go with maybe 1 or 2 strips of 3/4 plywood 1 foot wide (have a ton of this stuff just given to me so..) mounted on the floor across the ribs & then bolt the seats to them-nothing real fancy just beats sitting on hard metal seats for hours on end :fishing:
My main concern is comfort & most importantly keeping the boat light enough to load & unload single handily into the truck bed without killing yourself doing it.