Lowe 1236 Casting Deck

[adyszel]

Hi Everyone! This is my first post to this site, as many of you may already be, I'm addicted to fishing and when not fishing, I'm working on my boat. Last year I bought a Smoker Craft Fish Master 1432 jon boat. It had a very good Evinrude 6 hp (both were 1996) that would run the boat between 17-20 GPS mph with me and gear on board. I liked the boat, but wanted something with a little more functionality and stability for fishing. Btw, I fish in the Delaware river in the lower regions around the tidal area and north of it. Great smallies and striper action-- the smb action rivals the susquehanna that i grew up on.

A few months ago, I bought a 2005 Lowe 1236 Jon boat, pretty heavy duty Venture trailer, and 15 hp 4 stroke Mercury (all 2005). The guy I bought it from gave me just about every accessory he had from two new depth finders, random fishing apparatus, batteries, charger, oars, net, etc. A good deal I thought because it only cost $1700. I have to say that I'm not a big fan of four strokes on jon boats because of their weight. When I would ride in it by myself with all the weight in the back, it pretty much wouldn't get on plane, as the light bow couldn't be tamed. With another person in the second bench seat, it would run great-- prob 25-30+ (but never checked GPS). So I decided that I wanted a casting deck and would like to put a bow mount motor and move the deep cycle battery up front (those things weigh a ton don't they!). I figured moving that weight would be darn near equivalent to having a guy on board, plus the burdened stern would sit up a little more.

Thanks to this site and Bassresource I got some good ideas! Well I ended up cutting up some aluminum angle to frame a storage well/structural support. (I think drilling that first hole in your boat's rib, seat, etc. is the hardest part Got 3/4 " plywood for the lower and upper deck and used Herculiner for the decking. I really like it a lot, the only thing I would recommend is to apply it when its warmer out, seems to get better smoother results that way. Then I paid way too much for a pedestal set and hatch latch at West Marine. (Didn't know there was a Boater's World right next door that had stuff cheaper.) The pedestal is a 11" extension with a couple extra inches added on by the mount and seat. The deck in the front is set atop the middle bench and extends to the bow of the boat, resting on the aluminum angle. Looks great so far, I'm at the point now where I'm ready to fasten the decks to the boat. I'm planning on snapping a few pics tonight if anyone would like to see.

I have a few questions though, if any one has insight:
1. Are stainless fasteners absolutely necessary for the construction? I used some zinc plated, not realizing that galvanized is probably better, (though still not as good as stainless.)
2. More importantly: Is my boat going to be reasonably stable with a casting deck where the plywood is at the level of the bench seat (w/the 11" pedestal)? I tried to mount the seat close to where the bench seat was, as opposed to where the boat's hull starts to rise. I've seen a lot of 1436s with these setups, and thought that its the width not the length... I hope it is because I just saw a guy selling a Lowe 1440 MV (w/o motor) in my neighborhood... one week too late! [Curse words]

Regards,
Anthony

 

[Jim]

Welcome aboard Anthony!

Thanks for joining! :beer:

Lots of members from your area here.

 

[bassboy1]

Hi Everyone! This is my first post to this site, as many of you may already be, I'm addicted to fishing and when not fishing, I'm working on my boat. Last year I bought a Smoker Craft Fish Master 1432 jon boat. It had a very good Evinrude 6 hp (both were 1996) that would run the boat between 17-20 GPS mph with me and gear on board. I liked the boat, but wanted something with a little more functionality and stability for fishing. Btw, I fish in the Delaware river in the lower regions around the tidal area and north of it. Great smallies and striper action-- the smb action rivals the susquehanna that i grew up on.

A few months ago, I bought a 2005 Lowe 1236 Jon boat, pretty heavy duty Venture trailer, and 15 hp 4 stroke Mercury (all 2005). The guy I bought it from gave me just about every accessory he had from two new depth finders, random fishing apparatus, batteries, charger, oars, net, etc. A good deal I thought because it only cost $1700. I have to say that I'm not a big fan of four strokes on jon boats because of their weight. When I would ride in it by myself with all the weight in the back, it pretty much wouldn't get on plane, as the light bow couldn't be tamed. With another person in the second bench seat, it would run great-- prob 25-30+ (but never checked GPS). So I decided that I wanted a casting deck and would like to put a bow mount motor and move the deep cycle battery up front (those things weigh a ton don't they!). I figured moving that weight would be darn near equivalent to having a guy on board, plus the burdened stern would sit up a little more.

Thanks to this site and Bassresource I got some good ideas! Well I ended up cutting up some aluminum angle to frame a storage well/structural support. (I think drilling that first hole in your boat's rib, seat, etc. is the hardest part Got 3/4 " plywood for the lower and upper deck and used Herculiner for the decking. I really like it a lot, the only thing I would recommend is to apply it when its warmer out, seems to get better smoother results that way. Then I paid way too much for a pedestal set and hatch latch at West Marine. (Didn't know there was a Boater's World right next door that had stuff cheaper.) The pedestal is a 11" extension with a couple extra inches added on by the mount and seat. The deck in the front is set atop the middle bench set and extends to the bow of the boat, resting on the aluminum angle. Looks great so far, I'm at the point now where I'm ready to fasten the decks to the boat. I'm planning on snapping a few pics tonight if anyone would like to see.

I have a few questions though, if any one has insight:
1. Are stainless fasteners absolutely necessary for the construction? I used some zinc plated, not realizing that galvanized is probably better, (though still not as good as stainless.)
2. More importantly: Is my boat going to be reasonably stable with a casting deck where the plywood is at the level of the bench seat (w/the 11" pedestal)? I tried to mount the seat close to where the bench seat was, as opposed to where the boat's hull starts to rise. I've seen a lot of 1436s with these setups, and thought that its the width not the length... I hope it is because I just saw a guy selling a Lowe 1440 MV (w/o motor) in my neighborhood... one week too late! [Curse words]

Regards,
Anthony

You will probably be okay with the zinc plating on a freshwater build, however, being anal retentive, it wouldn't work in my rigs. The biggest thing is that aluminum and zinc are dissimilar metals, and will corrode each other, especially when in the presence of salt water, or an electric field (shore power at a marina will do this, expediting galvanic corrosion). Galvanization is a form of zinc carbonate. Thereby, especially when hot dipped, and not electro plated, it will hold up better than the regular zinc coating, but is also a bit more likely to react with aluminum.

Now, just because everybody says stainless this, stainless that, it doesn't mean it is the best. It is still somewhat dissimilar to aluminum, but the difference is nominal enough that stainless is perfectly acceptable, and preferred in many cases.

Shoot some pictures. For whatever reason, we are addicted to them.

Russ010 also did a project on a 1236. He didn't deck his to the seats, but I know he stands up on the lower level quite a bit. May wanna talk to him about stability.

 

[ACarbone624]

Welcome! Another member from NJ =D>

 

[adyszel]

Here are some pictures. I apologize for the quality, it was tough taking pics at night.

What do you think? Any tips for the trolling motor install? Does it need to be centered on a flat bottom?

Thanks,
Anthony

 

[russ010]

I sent an email about my opinions, but for the sake of anyone else reading this, I'll relay that message again.

I think you will be ok with the deck raised as long as you don't go higher than your middle bench. I messed up by not moving my seat further back towards the middle bench, but I also have storage in that bench and the lids wouldn't open had I moved it much more.

I still stand in the front of my boat, but I don't have as much room to be comfortable, so I usually extend my seat as high as it will go and it's pretty comfortable. I've had to teach myself to sit and fish, but I still love standing.

I am probably going to re-do my decking in the front as well, but I think I'm going to add a 2nd tier to put a pedestal seat on which will still allow me to open up my storage areas.

OK.. you just posted pics.... You will definitely be fine.

You don't have to install your trolling motor on the center... I can for sure answer that. I have mine over to the side because I wanted to keep the middle clear for putting lures, pliers, drinks, etc.

AWESOME JOB! You are definitely going to enjoy that.

 

[Cheeseball]

I bought a 2005 Lowe 1236 Jon boat, pretty heavy duty Venture trailer, and 15 hp 4 stroke Mercury

The top h.p. rating on my 1236 is 7.5 h.p. What does the plate on yours say?

 

[adyszel]

My plate says 10 hp. My old 1432 was rated at 7 hp also. The one thing of note is that there is extra floatation compartments in the back that not all boats seem to have, I wonder if yours has these?

 

[russ010]

My Alumacraft 1236 is rated for a 15hp

 

[adyszel]

Anybody know where you get the MotorGuide trolling motor power receptacles? I just got my motor out of the box last night and noticed they had the plug coming from the foot control, but no plug harness. Didn't see them at BPS or Cabelas...

 

[russ010]

https://trollingmotorparts.com/inde...19&MenuItemID=198&MenuSubID=43&MenuGroup=Home

This might be one of the few places to get it from.

 

[adyszel]

Thanks Russ, but they didn't seem to have the right receptacle there. Those seemed to be generic ones that I *think* I would have to cut the plug I already have off. (They did have a 50 A manual breaker which isn't easy to come by either.) The MotorGuide plug must be designed for multiple applications, because it has four female connections on the plug, only two of which are used (1 complete circuit). For those who may buy these motors, the only place I was able to find them was at https://www.tacklewarehouse.com. (Specifically, a list of MotorGuide acessories: https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/searchresults.html?search=products&searchtext=motor+guide) eBay/Amazon didn't even have merchants selling them, as far as I could find.

 

[russ010]

glad you found what you were looking for. I just saw the receptacles on motorguides website, but they didn't list any vendors. Then I did a search for the part number, part name, and every other combination I could come up with and I got nothing.

I never thought about checking tackle warehouse... they get all of my money for baits!

 

[adyszel]

Happy Thanksgiving!

Check it these pictures, after I installed the trolling motor mount for the boat. Almost finished! Just a little clean up and repair of some damage I did along the way!

Thanks to Tackle Warehouse.com for being the only store I could find that sold those Motor Guide receptacles! The frame the mount sits on is bolted to the front step of the boat and the deck in the back.

The battery was so tight I had to shave the front post down to get the latch to close

 

[Waterwings]

Welcome Aboard! 8)

Last two items at the bottom of the linked page.

Here's the link: https://sites.mercurymarine.com/portal/page?_pageid=125,60971&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

 

[adyszel]

Update:

After work today, I ran my boat down to the local creek (Pennsauken for those who know the Philadelphia area). Took the boat out, and (after floating into a tree-- dang incoming tide!) I fired up the outboard. Once I hit the throttle, the difference was incredible! With the deck, trolling motor, and battery in the front, the bow only raised slightly before popping up on plane almost effortlessly and could be maintained at around quarter throttle. I was satisfied with the stability of the front deck, though I wouldn't want to fish standing on it in choppy water. Sitting was slightly more stable, though again I wouldn't want to take it on big water, such as the lower delaware.

Now for the bad-- I turned off the outboard and dipped in the trolling motor. The wind and the tide were intense, and I was quickly drifting into weedy backwater. Not wanting to clean off weeds the first time I ran the motor, I quickly dialed up what I thought was the first increment of power. NOT SO! Apparently if you roll the MotorGuide foot control speed selector backwards you can get the highest speed setting. (I was used to the variable speed selector which only can go one way). Reverting back to Russ' comment, this is a bad idea anytime, let alone the first time you wet test the motor. I was nervous about the strength of those rubber "T" mounts/machine screws they give you for the motor. I had it lodged in solid wood and it did not seem to have good bite. Sure enough, the two T-mounts on the port side blew off under the 46 lbs of thrust with the motor being hard turned to the port side. I grabbed the shaft of the motor before it "flew away." Fortunately, the starboard side mounts held, despite being torqued. I "reinstalled" the front mounts and tightened as hard as I could. Seemed to work ok, but I'll need to do more testing.

It was getting dark, and having good excitement for the short time out I headed back in...

I didn't take pictures, but next time I'll snap a few of the boat running.

 

[who pooted?]

Adyszel what size was the angle you used for your support? Did you build your deck first then set it in your boat to attach?

 

[baptistpreach]

You've done an awesome job man, however, the foot control TM problem is the reason I decided to stick with the hand control... I just don't like the idea of having to shift weight much in my jon, but tons of guys do it with good success... Different strokes I guess. Very impressive work. Mine will look very similar when I finish.
One Question for you... Did you just drill the pedestal mounts straight thru the carpet? I've been wondering how that was going to turn out for me, any help would be much appreciated!

 

[adyszel]

Who Pooted? (nice):
I used 1 1/4" angle. I recommend that width, as it gives you a little fudge room when anchoring the deck. The actual gauge of the angle is 1/8". That is about as heavy duty as you can get at the standard home improvement stores, though if you have another place to buy you'd probably get a better price. 1/8" is very strong and you don't need much of it to support 3/4" plywood. I framed my box in and let the top, deck supporting pieces "overhang" the edges to about six inches from both sides of the boat. That way I could use 1 1/4" metal screws to fasten the deck past where my box was.

BaptistPreach:
Thanks for the praise, I was satisfied given that it was my first project of this kind.

The reason I like the foot control is I fish in the delaware and tributaries. The tributaries have strong tidal currents and in sections of the delaware I fish near rifts/rapids. In either case, I found with my old stern mount that I would miss fish, because I had one hand on the motor (to avoid running into something) and one on the rod. Now I've never had a front mount tiller, and I hear people like to kick those things around, but after being used to fishing with the old man with his foot control motor, I'm pretty well trained on 'em. But they do have their nuisances.

To get to your question, first I wanted to clear the confusion with the deck-- it isn't carpeted, its actually herculiner, which is similar looking to the "professionally applied" rhinoliner bed truck lining. I highly recommend it over carpet, though it might set you back a few more bucks and an extra hour or two to paint on two coats. It is rubberized and grips, reduces noise almost as much as carpet, seems durable based on me trying to get it off my hands and clothes, can be touched up (after you screw the deck down, for instance). My kit to do the whole boat cost $90, but I saw a competitive brand at Harbor Freight (can't remember the brand but it was a well known name) for $45. But I digress, what I did to mount the pedestal was to apply my herculiner (also Thompsons watersealed both sides a couple times several days prior), and then after it thoroughly dried, I cut the plywood hole for the pedestal and drilled in 1" galvanized (stainless preferred) flathead wood screws, just enough to have the tips of the screws stick out the other end of the plywood. Its a solid mount and I don't regret not sinking the screws into the angle or the covered up boat bench seat for potential extra stability. I put the mount where I thought it would work the best. If you already have a carpeted deck, I would cut a circle in the carpet the size that the pedestal mount needs with a utility knife, and then cut your circular hole through the plywood. Then just put the mount over top with screws.

 

[adyszel]

In case anyone's interested, here's what I spent on the project:

$1700 - 2005 Lowe 1236 with 2005 Mercury 15 hp 4 Stroke and 2005 Venture galvanized trailer, 2 Fish Finders, Nav Lights, Bilge pump, 28 lbs trolling motor + battery, etc.
$245 - New MotorGuide 12 V 46 lbs trolling motor
$120 - Assorted aluminum angle
$95 - Herculiner (1 gal)
$70 - Two Cabela's camo boat seats
$50 - Pedestal Kit (mount, pole, seat mount)
$50 3/4" 5 ply 4x8' Plywood and 4x4' Plywood (1 each)
$40 30" Aluminum release-a-seat and seat swivel
$20 Hatch Latch
$25 Assorted Fasteners / Zinc Continuous Hinge 3 ft
$18 Trolling Motor Receptacle
$10 50 amp auto reset breaker for TM
$10 Herculiner-related stuff (brushes, clean up chemicals)

Free
8 gauge wire from neighbor
Scrap wood for trolling motor deck piece
Left over Thompson's water seal

Total $2453.

Could have done better on some prices, but not bad overall. Thought this might be helpful to someone who's trying to figure out roughly what it costs to do a boat of this size.