Big Indiana Bass

1648 Alumacraft MV Custom Jon Boat

Here's another really nice custom jon boat project that was recently undertaken by one of our readers. I really like the under deck front storage opening idea, and the carpeting job on this one looks great. The details are below (thanks, Mike). You can click on the pics for larger versions.

"My wife and I relocated from Northern Indiana to Georgia 3-1/2 years ago and discovered that our Polar Kraft 168SC was only "legal" on the large reservoirs that were quite a drive and have a lot of recreational traffic, so we suddenly found ourselves only fishing a couple of times a year rather than every weekend that weather permitted. There are, however, a number of smaller reservoirs close to us that are either total electric or 10 hp restricted. I started thinking about putting together a boat to fish those waters 2 years ago.

We fish mainly bluegill and crappie so that's how we set up the boat. Last winter we purchased a 1648 Alumacraft MV and went to work. We are running 2 deep cycle batteries in the center seat and starter battery in the stern, with a Minn Kota 3 bank charger. If we keep fish we either use a fish basket or cooler, so there is no livewell. We either run a Honda 9.9 electric start 4-stroke or a 55-lb Minn Kota transom mount trolling motor. We have really enjoyed the boat and fishing every weekend again."

 

 
 

Jon Boat to Bass Boat - Video

A quick video tour of the 'jon boat to bass boat' conversion I did on my Lowe 1648M. 

Joe Vanfossen's Custom Boat Rebuild

I get a lot of traffic to the site looking for information on customizing jon boats. Friend Joe Vonfossen recently sent me some pics and descriptions of his aluminum rebuild to share with readers. Lots of nice work and good features to share. Be sure to click on the pics for larger versions.

"It's a 1940's era Duracraft hull and doesn't take on a drop of water, along with being stored indoors, it rarely needs more than some water sponged out. Feaures I've built in include storage hatch, 'hillbilly' Anchormate, spinnerbait rack, storage for 4 3700 sized boxes, pedastal seat and aluminum mounting plates under the TM and seat to prevent bolts from pulling out, even if the deck begins to rot."

"It's nothing too special, but it keeps everything I need for a day of fishing handy, and leaves plenty of space for somebody in the back of the boat.  Since I took the pictures, I added straps across the tackle storage area, so they won't slide back while running down the lake.  The only things that I don't have that would be nice are a live well and bilge pump.  I don't tourney fish and rarely keep fish, but have often kicked around the idea of making a live well out of a cooler or tote.  I didn't put in a bilge because the boat doesn't drain well from front to back, so I think I will need to set up with multiple pumps and just haven't bothered with it yet." 

"The deck is held in with with only 6 bolts, 4 for the raised portion (2 in each side rail), and two at the back of the main deck.  The weight of the deck support structure under the main deck keeps it in place nicely."

"The storage in the nose is great.  Before it was just a cubby hole several inches deep that just collected used lures.  Building in the storage also made me think about what I actually used, and cut the amount of stuff I carry in half, and I still don't use half of the stuff in the boat."

 

More Jon Boat Livewell Stuff

Searches on jon boat livewells continue to be one of the most popular topics that gets people to this site. I've posted a bit of information before about my exact setup and how you can convert most any cooler into a livewell. You can click on the 'Custom Jonboat' category heading on the top left sidebar to see previous posts that relate to that subject.

I have some further information to pass along that falls in line with this topic. As you know I heavily search all other fishing websites of various species, always on the lookout for cool things and new learnings. To get you an idea of just how creative you can get with these jon boat livewells, I thought I'd share a link to one of my favorite sites, Tim 'Doc' Lange's Hooked on Catfish.

In particular, check out how these serious catfish hunters are converting truck bed tool boxes in giant tournament livewells capable of holding over 150 pounds of catfish alive for hours. It's a pretty cool deal!

Some Custom Crappie Rigging

A new addition to the customized jon boat. Since I've been playing around with crappie a bit more, I've started to check out some other techniques for the heck of it. One I find kind of interesting is spider rigging. It's not extremely popular around here due to the IDNR restriction of no more than 3 poles per angler. When you see pics from other states you'll frequently see as many as 12 or 14 long poles rigged and ready, all on some pretty fancy custom brackets. So this past week I rigged up a little similar setup for the jon boat.

Since I fish by myself a majority of the time, I figured I could get away with something simple. This also comes into play in that there is no guarantee I'll even fish this way that much. As such, I didn't want to spend a lot of money and install something that might spend most of it's life in the garage, or be in the way somehow while pursuing bass. So I took some of the rod holders I picked up last winter from a walleye fishing buddy, along with a few in-deck holders and flush mounted them on the front right corner of the upper front deck. They're basically out of the way and inobtrusive.

I can keep the actual rod holders folded up and in a storage compartment out of the way but in the boat, so I'll have them with all the time. Or, I could just move the holders on the side of the boat up to the front if needed. I picked up a second 10' crappie pole on Clearance from Bass Pro for $20, so I've got 2 outfits now set up to fish this way. Since I'm allowed 3, the third would stay in my hand most of the time, most likely. Not sure exactly when I'll actually get to try them out. I have too much fun fishing with the open water jig sticks usually, but sooner or later I'll give it a go. 
 

Jon Boat Transducer Installation

Just because you have an inexpensive piece of aluminum that you choose to fish from doesn't mean you have to skimp when it comes to electronics. One of the biggest mistakes most anglers make is not utilizing their depthfinders as much as they should or to their full capacity. That especially applies here in Indiana. Part of that utilization for an aluminum boat owner is proper installation of the transducer for the best possible readings.

Unlike our fiberglass brethren that can install inside the hull for protection while shooting through the glass, aluminum boat anglers pretty much have little choice but to mount externally. Here then the key becomes proper placement and location. The ideal situation for most of these setups is using a fiberglass or composite transducer mounting plate like in the picture. These can be obtained at many of the larger marine center outlets. The advantage is one of less drilling but increased flexibility.

Installation of the board first to the hull using just 2 screws and a very generous amount of silicone between the board and the hull is the first step. Once in place, you are then free to move the transducer around as needed, higher or lower, left or right until you find the optimal location for reading at speed. This is usually the spot with the least amount of water disturbance coming from beneath the hull. Since the shorter transducer screws only penetrate into the composite board and not the hull, drilling and redrilling without need to refill and plug holes becomes the norm.

The other option, and the one I chose by default because the mounting boards were out of stock once I was ready to install my transducer - and I have little patience :) is to directly mount to the aluminum hull. Here the issue becomes one of "getting it right" the first time, lest you end up putting multiple holes into your boat that will all have to be sealed to avoid taking on water. The photo above right is my installed transducer from the side. It's hard to make out in the picture and is shown much better in the installation diagrams in your manual, but the transducer puck rides just about halfway below the bottom of the hull. This will allow for possible collisions with stumps or such, but is necessary to ensure a smooth supply of water to the transducer face for proper readings. I actually bumped mine a smidge lower than recommended because readings are more important to me than collision risk.

Here is another shot of my installed transducer from the rear. You'll also see a good section of the hull underneath. Here what you want to pay attention to is placing that transducer where the least amount of disturbance coming from the hull occurs. Things like dents, rivets and "lips", anything that create or allow air pockets to form are all bad from an install point of view. Again, the smoothest possible flow of water over the transducers face is what you are after. Avoid the running guides and other such areas as much as possible, and pay attention to how close to the motor you are also. Anything that creates turbulent water that could reach the trasnducer is a no-no.

Beyond that, a little tinkering with proper height and angle to obtain maximum reading clarity is all that is usually needed. When installed correctly you shold be able to get really nice readings at all speeds, from idle up to wide open. Anything less suggests some type of possible error in the setup.

Jon Boat Livewells

I get lots of traffic to the site looking for information on jon boats and jon boat customizing. One of the sub-topics that seems to be popular is what to do about livewell space. Whether you're fishing a tourney of some sort or just wanting to keep your fish fresh until you get home, a good livewell is a nice addition to your boat.

I'm fortunate in that the jon boat I customized, a Lowe 1648M, came with a built-in 20 gallon livewell. It wasn't overly functional though, having a mere drain plug in the bottom to both fill or empty as needed. So I had to do some retrofitting to get the set-up I wanted.

I started by drilling a hole through the right side of my hull, just below the waterline and installing an inlet for the livewell fill pump. This is actually placed just in front of the livewell location within the boat to assure the shortest route to the livewell along with the bonus of keeping all the plumbing "hidden" by being under the front deck. Be sure and use a lot of silicone sealant along with a rubber gasket to avoid any future leaking.

Next, I installed the pump and ran the wiring while the floor decks were still off the boat. The inlet went into the top corner of the well and again, a healthy dose of silicone and rubber gaskets were used to seal the inlet. Also be sure and tighten the hose clamps well when you run the tubing from the pump to the inlet, but don't overtighten either. The plastic fittings can be cracked if you apply too much pressure to them.

Since I do fish an occasional tournament or two from time to time, as well as keeping crappie in the well on my fall trips, I wanted to add a recirc pump for additional aeration. This was accomplished by mounting a second pump with separate wiring inside the livewell opposite of the primary fill pump. You can actually put it anywhere the piping fits. I also raised my pump a couple inches off the floor of the livewell when installing to avoid collecting a lot of the regurgitated pieces of "stuff" fish seem to expel at times when confined to a well.

After using this recirc pump last fall, I think I'm going to modify it from the little cap sprayer that it currently has to a spray bar mounted at the top inside of the well. It seems like the little cap is always getting either blown off or knocked off on most trips. You could seal it shut onto the top of the tube, but then you can't easily clean out the pump. I think the spray bar will be the way to go on this.

Finally, I ran all the wiring back to my control panel and hooked the two pumps up separately to their own fused rocker switches. This allows me the maximum freedom to run and operate the setup as needed, and it can all be done from where I sit and run the main engine.

You can find all the supplies you need to convert your well at most any boating or marine center. Many times they come supplied as an entire kit such as THIS ONE from Cabela's. You also don't have to have a built in well to do this. You can easily convert most any portable, insulated cooler into a great jon boat livewell using the same basic procedures and supplies. For instructions and examples of how to do that, check out the following links to web pages detailing this process:

• Portable Livewell instructions
• Building a Live Bait Tank

Wind From the East, Fish Bite Least

But at least they still bite! Finished up the majority of the project boat stuff today so thought I'd head out for a few hours before dark to run everything and get in some fishing if I could find areas out of the 13 mph east winds. On the fishing part, I had murky water with about 6-8" of visibility and water temps of 44-46 degrees. Managed to get 8 bites in 3 hours, including one piggie. Unfortunately, I got the piggie up to the top of the water near the boat to see him, but he ended up pulling off. Think it was a screwed up hookset on my part. Looked to be every bit of 4+ and certainly my largest this year.

I knew it wasn't going to be my night when the first fish got off. Pitched up next to a dock and a fish grabbed my jig and headed off toward open water...until I set the hook. He then immediately did a 180 and ran me straight under the dock. I had him on for a bit while we see-sawed my line around the dock pole. Eventually thought I had him wedged up against the pole while I tried to change boat position and rod angle on him, but he had actually pulled off. Was exciting though. Hey, you guys still get a bass picture to look at though :)

Also got word from the Early Bird tourney out on Geist that it took 16.5 pounds to win. That's a pretty decent sack of fish given the conditions, which I was told included muddy water and 40-45 degree water. Jerkbaits and Rat-L-Traps were the supposed winning baits. My friends finished 7th, 1 spot out of the money with 4 fish at 9.2 pounds, mostly on cranks. It took just under 9.5 pounds to cash today.

On the project boat, I have a few more pics from out on the water today. I replaced the MK40 Endura with the MK50 Endura which had the 42" shaft. I definitely needed the extra 6" and the additonal 10# of thrust is always welcome. Worked like a charm today. I decided to hardwire straight to the battery, so I removed the plug setup I had, which I didn't really like, and used a good butt connector on each wire topped with a water-proof, heat-shrink cover.

Ended up moving both Lowrance/Eagle units over to the jon boat from off the Triton, so I now have the Eagle 320 up front with the X-15 w/GPS on back. Did the wiring on the X-15 today and only need to add the transducer to the back of the boat, which I plan to do tomorrow. Both units are direct wired to the main battery to avoid any interference from accessories. I also added a recirc pump setup to the livewell today. It sits back in one of the corners. I ran the wire out the top corner near the lid and siliconed the hole well. I then hooked it up to the last lighted rocker switch on my Cabela's dash panel. 

I drilled 1/4" holes and mounted the 3-bank onboard charger to the back wall using stainless steel bolts. The unit now sits on a 4x4 block to relieve all the weight off the bolts, so they just really keep the unit attached tight to the boat. The original mounting by the first owner was using thin screws to hold it on and the weight, combined with some jarring, snapped one of the screws and the unit fell off. Shouldn't have that problem any more. Also added the 3rd battery to the boat for some additional front weight and balance. It will also serve as a great backup to either the TM battery or the main starting battery that also powers all the electronics should either ever die.

As mentioned a few posts back, I replaced the '96 10hp Yamaha rope start with an '07 Merc 10hp electric start. You can see it in the following picture. It really is sweet and makes running the boat fun again. I had to play with trim settings to get the right engine angle. I was getting a lot of spray that was just catching and slightly coming over the back deck when running wide open on the original setting. Now I just get a smooth stream of water out the back when running, which should also make position of the X-15's transducer much less critical. Top speed with GPS today was right around 16.5 mph. Easily ran 15+ all day whether into or against the wind, so I can live with that. Now I just need to see what it does with a partner and extra gear onboard.

Lastly, I ended up moving the winch stand on the trailer. Had to both lower the stand and then move the whole unit forward several inches. It now snugs up nice and tight like a bass baot does, and loads onto the trailer much better. I'm still going to purchase a set of guide rails at some point though to help keep the boat lined up right when loading. A good cross-wind does a number on this thing when trying to load. Also need to add a spare tire carrier.

Jon Boat Customizing

I'm getting a lot of search hits by people looking for information on customizing their boats, so I wanted to take a minute and list the sites that I frequented and studied before tackling my own boat project. Lots of good ideas and information can be found from the following sites:

• Jon Boat Conversion Project
• Jon Boat Mods
• Triton Mike's Boat Project
• Keith Davis' Crappie Boat Mod Home Page

There was one other really good site that is not functional at the moment. The Bassing Fools Jon Boat Mods site was a big help also. Not sure if this link is permanently down or just temporarily unavailable, but I'll keep the web link in place for a while just in case.

Manual Labor Ain't My Thing

With the Triton gone, I now face the realization that the project boat will be my main source of a fishing platform for quite a while. With that in mind, I quickly realized this weekend after heading over to a lake to try and get the boat started and running after a long winter that engines with manual rope start just aren't my cup of tea. The thought of having to yank that rope every trip, after every stop, warm weather or cold, isn't my idea of fun. After all, part of why we fish is to have some fun and relaxation, yes? The sore muscles the day after from all that pull starting did a lot to convince me I wasn't going to be happy either. So I looked at the budget, then made a few phone calls. Somewhat surprisingly, it appears that many dealerships are eliminating their line of small accessory motors. I'm guessing this is all market driven, but it's looking like it will be getting more difficult in the future to just purchase a portable engine if you ever need one (<25 hp). Happily, I think I found the solution to my problem though.

A call over to "The Boat Place" and a few minutes of conversation with their sales lady (Jackie) and things were looking really good. A brand new Mercury 9.9 hp 4-stroke, short shaft with electronic start and tiller handle was confirmed "in stock" and we were on our way. A straight-forward cost and acceptance of my '96 Yamaha on trade at a fair price just sealed the deal. Willing to complete the deal on very short notice was a bonus also. So I head down the road Thursday afternoon to get my motors swapped out and the new engine rigged, and then out the door and over to the lake to test my new electronic ignition power plant...and maybe catch a few fish in the process. I'll post further Thursday afternoon once everything is complete, but if all goes as smooth in person as it has over the phone, I'll be singing the praises of this dealership; Great people to work with on your next boat purchase or service call.

Christening the new Ship

Trips: 79  Hours: 208.5   Bass: 849  No. > 5#: 1

Finally got enough of everything completed to be able to take the jon boat out for its trial run. First a quick update on the more recently finished mods. Here is the upgraded trolling motor mount. The aluminum bracing was added and seems to be doing the job well. No sign of rocking or sway in the trolling motor now. The motor is the Endura 40 mentioned in the previous post.

The front deck is now installed and complete. It has a 4x4 post centrally located underneath for added support with aluminum L-angle on the sides. The deck was then screwed into the aluminum brackets using the 1/4 x 20 2.5" stainless screws. On the left you can also see the Tackle Rac added to the deck riser. This has 3 slots for pliers. scissors, etc. and another 12 holes for hanging lures and hooks. Just below and also on the left is the Rod Buckle system to secure rods and reels on the deck while moving. I also added the front storage lid. Inside I installed a flat floor with carpeting. For this trip I threw in 2 life jackets, a throwable cushion, a fire extinguisher, and a portable GPS and still had extra room. I'll also be adding a drift sock and an anchor inside the storage area. I've never carried either before, but both could come in handy with the way these light jon boats get blown around on breezy days.

One of my favorite additions to the boat is this command center. Lots of things added here. First, I added aluminum L-angle to form covered tackle storage racks. This setup holds 4-3600 and 2-3700 Plano storage boxes. On the top left you have a 4-lighted rocker panel switch plate from Cabela's which controls all navigation lights, the bilge pump and the livewell pump. Immediately to its right is a 12v tap outlet which I used today for the handheld GPS. The black, round covered plate on top is a built-in plug for the onboard 3-bank charging system. Just pull out an extension cord and plug right in after a day of fishing and forget about it. To the far left you'll see the Johnny Ray swivel mount which is installed and will hold the Lowrance X-15MT with GPS. That setup is currently on the Triton but will be transferred over before I go ahead and sell it. Finally, it's all topped off by a carpeted deck extension that is flush with the back deck and screwed into the 2x2 framing with 2.5" wood screws in half a dozen places. There is also an aluminum L-angle support that you can't see attached to the boat's side that supports the far edge of the panel so you can easily step on and fish off that part just like the back deck. Finally, a foldable drink holder that sits at the base of the rear bench and easily reached while running the boat from the plush offset Triton swivel seat.

The rest of the mid-section holds the 3-bank MinnKota charger and 2 Interstate Megatron batteries. They (the batteries) are currently wired in parallel for doubling the 12v trolling motor systems run capacity. At present, I could run wide open at 40# of thrust for over 4 hours solid before worrying about running low! As I believe I also mentioned previously, I chose to remove the original green carpeting in thos portion and replace with matching gray marine grade carpeting like used on the rest of the boat.

Finally, the back lid had light holders added for storage when not in use. The bilge pump and an Everstart Group 27 Deep Cycle battery sits back there. The deep cycle runs everything electrical in the boat except the trolling motor. Additionally, all wires running for electrical run through the left side channel of the boat and the trolling motor wires all run through the right side channel to avoid any electrical interference with depthfinders or GPS units.

As for todays trip, things got off to a bad start when it took nearly 1 hour to get the Yamaha motor running. It is a rope start and I believe after sitting unhooked for nearly 4 weeks, it got so drained and dried for fuel that it took forever to get fully flooded. I'm not so sure I don't have a bit of an air leak in the hose somewhere that wasn't allowing the fuel line to keep good pressure. That will probably be a replacement item over the winter if not sooner. I've added some tape to seal a couple of the line connections so hopefully eveything will work fine now. Once we did get it started and running, she fired on the first pull for the rest of the evening. I'm still completely worn out from all that effort to get her going in the first place though. I'll probably be sore tomorrow (LOL).

Once up and running though, with a partner and his gear along (estimated 200# extra) the boat still ran 13.5 mph (GPS) wide open. I'm guessing by myself I'll top 15 or better, which was my target. Might get the chance to test solo tomorrow. One thing I really noticed is that 190 extra pounds really makes a difference with boat angle in the water, everything from running to trolling motor height in the water. Broke the ice nicely though with this first bass for the new boat. We ended up catching about a dozen in the 2 hours we actually got to move around and fish. Also picked up half a dozen decent sized white bass. Water was lightly stained and green, and had cooled down to 64-67 degrees depending on where we were. 

Gotta' Love Those German Engineers

So the project boat took a little twist on me this week. It seems I have a few issues using the 70# thrust Vector motor. One is it's weight relative to the little bow mount transom adapter it is being mounted to. A motor that big and powerful really needs to either be mounted to a true solid transom or have a typical bow mount support in place. It had the adapter mount waving like a flag in the breeze despite the 4" bolts in the base plate and the 2.5" stainless screws. Another was that giant handle extension that you just couldn't do anything with. It will even extend out further, but I really needed it to push in further to lay correctly up front.

So I did some extra supporting of the transom adapter bracket by making L-angle aluminum bracing to help restrict any exta movement in the upper part of the plate. I'll diagram that later in another post. I also did some soul searching and decided to downsize the troll motor both in weight and in thrust. Taking into account the typical speed settings I currently run with my 65 MK Maxx, the weight of the boat I'll be moving (easily <1/2 the weight), what type water I'll mostly be fishing (lakes), and the realism that this setup in general is not going to be a high powered bass boat type approach.

After a bunch of researching and store shopping (in person and online), I had decided on a MK Endura. But I ran into a little problem, and that was trying to figure out some of the technical aspects of the motor. It is 5 speeds forward instead of 'infinite' speed settings, so what type amp draw, how much thrust per speed setting, etc. was what I wanted to know. MK's site wasn't much help, nor any other site that I came across. That is until I went global and found the Verkauf von Schlauchbooten page out of Berlin.

A click to any of the trolling motors on this page will take you to a descriptive along with the needed technical information I was looking for. Here is the page for the MK Endura. If you scroll down you'll find all the Endura models listed along with their technical data. Other links on that page take you to descriptions of specific features like "Maximizer" and "Cool Power". I particularly found the Maximizer graphic interesting as a closer look reveals that the slower you actually run your motor, the more benefit you'll receive from this feature, exactly opposite of what I expected. If you run 90% plus open all day you actually don't gain any benefit from this feature, much like the hybrid cars being produced.

Back to the Endura technical page though. Deciphering this data required this handy little tool: English-German Dictionary. It actually works both ways so I was able to enter the German words to get English translations. Many of the metric conversions were a piece of cake since I work in a science-based R&D facility and am used to using this system. The only one that threw me was the 'kp'  units for "Schubkraft" or 'thrust'. This turned out to be 'kiloponds', which is an equivalent conversion for pound-force.

So I ended up purchasing a brand new Endura 40. This required changing over the existing wiring to a 12v system and some wire rerouting. But I now know exact amp draw, power and thrust for every speed setting on the motor, along with things like overall weight and maximum recommended boat weight for this motor. I shouldn't have to worry about this motor over-powering my little conversion bracket now. And, I can always swap this out in the future if this choice proves to be a poor one under actual lake testing.