Lowe 1032 to 1050

[huntinfool]

Many years ago my father bought a Lowe 1032. We fished the heck out of that boat. I caught so many fish and have so many memories of us with that boat. But it was never stable and frankly it scared the heck out of both of us. So one day we decided to make it wider. We Cut it in half and braced it so we could add more aluminum.

Then we started adding aluminum and welding it in small sections to keep the heat down and to keep it from twisting...which it was doing real bad.

When we were done it looked like this

Then we added an aluminum floor and foamed it for flotation and for support. We added some bed liner to the bottom and skid no more to the floor and then we poured a solid fiber glass transom so we could mount a motor. We even built a custom trolling motor ( one we shortened just to fit this boat) for the front and a mount for it. All in all it is a great boat. we both can stand up in it and fish all day with out it wanting to tip. (we can even pee overboard with out it wanting to tip) I believe that is mostly possible because we made the bottom concave so it was almost like having two pontoons underneath.

Here are the finished pics.

Here is a pic of the front where it is welded and the mount for the trolling motor.

Here is a picture of the solid transom.

Hope you enjoyed this build.

 

[dyeguy1212]

American ingenuity at its best. =D>

 

[Waterwings]

Nice work! Did you have to modify the trailer much?

 

[huntinfool]

The boat did not originally come with a trailier so we just used a single PWC trailer that we had here. We took the fenders off so it would sit as low as possible and launch as shallow as possible...but that is about it.

 

[Zum]

The the second widened jon boat mod,I've seen on here.
Great work,bet it's nice and stable now.

 

[Waterwings]

The the second widened jon boat mod,I've seen on here.
Great work,bet it's nice and stable now.

As Zum mentioned above, there was a member (zoeconnor) who widened a boat as you're doing. The other member mentioned that he also had a 1032, but converted a different boat. He made 34 posts and we haven't heard from him since.

Here's the link so you can see what he did in his project: https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3034

Looking outside of the building in the pics, there seem to be a number of boats out there. Are you doing the mods at a marina/boat yard?

 

[huntinfool]

My father and I have a fiberglass repair shop. We do repairs for several of the local manufacturers and Bass Pro Shops. Plus we buy and sell a few boats on the side (used boat dealership and we sell maybe 3-4 boats a year).

We do Aluminum welding for Bass Pro Shops as well. Hence the reason for all the boats. Plus we own several each. But this was a project just for us. It really turned out better than we hoped for.

Thanks for the link too, I'm going to go view it now.

 

[RBuffordTJ]

I love seeing people do this type of stuff! How awesome!

Bufford in hot Orlando

 

[huntinfool]

This was such a fun project, and I can't wait to do it again.

 

[krisopp]

Nice Dude! I'll have to come check it out soon.

 

[huntinfool]

When you come over Sunday to weld your boat up remind me and we will go look at it.

 

[bassboy1]

What welding machine do you use for the thinner gauge stuff?

 

[huntinfool]

We have a Miller Syncrowave. It is a tig welder and it takes some experience and patience. Experience to not blow a hole through it and patience to fix the hole you blew through it.

 

[Jim]

Awesome job man and great skill you got there!

 

[huntinfool]

I wish I could take all the credit, but my father is the one who did most of the work. i helped where I could, but this was really his brainchild.

 

[zeedogg]

This is what I would love to do to a 1032 ! wowowow! How much is aluminum to buy to add the additional width?

I'm necro-posting, I know... Sorry!

 

[huntinfool]

This is what I would love to do to a 1032 ! wowowow! How much is aluminum to buy to add the additional width?

I'm necro-posting, I know... Sorry!

We had all the aluminum laying around, so it didn't cost us a dime. We haven't fished it much as we have been building other boats and fishing them. But we will have this one forever. I'm thinking it would be great to take up the north end of lake conroe here. Way up the creek and fish it there, just the right size....

 

[DrNip]

I would have loved to see the completed pics of this 1050.

 

[huntinfool]

They're on the first page. I'll try and take some more.

 

[DrNip]

I saw those pics but I couldn't tell if you completed it or not. They were small pics.