# 12ft Jon Boat mod finally finished!!!



## JW2

After about 2 months of grueling stripping, sanding, sealing, cutting, nailing and carpeting, I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED!! I did ok about taking pictures in the begining but slacked off in the middle. I do have some pictures of the finished product so you can get the basic idea. Thanks for looking!

This is basically how I got the boat and trailer. At this point I had already started to remove the brown paint from tthe trailer.







Stripping the paint off the fenders and frame of the trailer.










Trailer is near completion. I stripped, sanded and painted everthing as well as a new winch, new running boards, carpet, lights, wheeles and tires.


















Boat before mod. The owner did a great job on the casting decks but the color just wasn't for me. Plust there was a few things i wanted to change. Replaced all 2x4s with 2x2s to lighten the load. Also decks were built using OSB and I wanted to replace with plywood.


















Tearing out the decks.






















I didn't take any pictures of the actual build. It was freezing and raining most of the time and took everything I had just to convince myself to go out and work on it. Here is the finished product though. I tore out EVERYTHING. Patched every rivet with West Marine's aluminum epoxy. (expensive at $20 a tube but definately worth it!) Stripped and sanded and painted every square inch of the boat, rebuilt transom, all framing, decks and new carpet. Used piano hinges on the two deck compartments and built a carpeted lid/battery compartment. Lastly I added new posts and seats. I still have a few things I want to do such as wire for lights and add depth finder, but over all I AM DONE!! I love the finished product and had a blast during the whole process. Hope ya like it! Thanks for everyone's input. Thanks REDTAIL for helping with the decks and ideas for a better build!


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## GarAngler71

Awesome job!!!!


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## Wahoo Creek

Nice work.


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## Confederate_Jay

Man that thing looks Great- 
I got one question though, have you fished out of it yet with those pedestals?  Reason I ask is, I did a 12 footer for my Bro inlaw and tried the pedestals but the boat was not wide  enough to be stable.  His did not have the added weight of the decks/floor like yours does- so the extra weight may change the center of gravity enough to work.    Sitting up that high in his made it want to capsize without much effort. 

Boat and trailer look awsome. Beautiful job


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## tillman86

Talk about bringing one back from the dead.  Looks like new great job.


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## Hoss

Nice job.  Turned into a good looking boat.

Hoss


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## JW2

Confederate_Jay said:


> Man that thing looks Great-
> I got one question though, have you fished out of it yet with those pedestals?  Reason I ask is, I did a 12 footer for my Bro inlaw and tried the pedestals but the boat was not wide  enough to be stable.  His did not have the added weight of the decks/floor like yours does- so the extra weight may change the center of gravity enough to work.    Sitting up that high in his made it want to capsize without much effort.
> 
> Boat and trailer look awsome. Beautiful job



I haven't gotten to take it out yet but you are right, it's definately gonna be interesting to see how it rides. Maybe there'll be enough weight in the bottom. Thanks for all the comments guys.


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## golffreak

Great work.


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## red tail

Looks awsome!! you guys should see it in person!!!  Very Good job man! I know there was a lot of swear and Beer involved. Mater a fact I bet you got  more money in the beer and Cigeretts then in the boat.


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## JW2

red tail said:


> Looks awsome!! you guys should see it in person!!!  Very Good job man! I know there was a lot of swear and Beer involved. Mater a fact I bet you got  more money in the beer and Cigeretts then in the boat.



Haha probably so!


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## Champtony20

Looks Great!! Is it 36" in the floor??


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## JW2

Champtony20 said:


> Looks Great!! Is it 36" in the floor??



Thanks! Yep, 36 in the floor, about 46ish at the top.


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## Champtony20

Should be stable enough then, decking looks great, hope you boat a limit every trip!!


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## JW2

Champtony20 said:


> Should be stable enough then, decking looks great, hope you boat a limit every trip!!



Thank you! I am so ready to get out there I can hardly sit still!!


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## bouymarker

nice


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## Hut2

Looks good man,Congrats !


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## jester

very nice


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## JasonWMcCorkle

awsome


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## JW2

Thank you everyone! Maybe we'll see some of ya out there!


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## hoytslanger87

Nice looking boat


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## Ol' Bread Basket

Looks great man. Let us know how the pedestals do and if its stable enough.


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## huntaholic

*yEP !*

DANG GOOD LOOKIN BOAT !


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## JW2

Ol' Bread Basket said:


> Looks great man. Let us know how the pedestals do and if its stable enough.



Thanks! Will do, I'm gonna take it out to Black Shoals this weekend. (and try not to freeze!)


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## Sunshine1

That looks great. You made that thing look brand new!!!!!

We bought a  brand new boat back in 04 and the dealer swore to us that the decking was not made of wood. Well, one year later the carpeted decks started getting soggy and giving way in spots. We ripped off the carpet and underneath was WOOD. So instead of replacing it with wood my husband replaced it with heavy gauge aluminum. And then put Rhino-Liner on it instead of carpet. And boy did he chew out the boat dealer!!!

Congrats on your boat........I know what kind of work and time went into that!!!


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## JW2

FloridaHunter said:


> That looks great. You made that thing look brand new!!!!!
> 
> We bought a  brand new boat back in 04 and the dealer swore to us that the decking was not made of wood. Well, one year later the carpeted decks started getting soggy and giving way in spots. We ripped off the carpet and underneath was WOOD. So instead of replacing it with wood my husband replaced it with heavy gauge aluminum. And then put Rhino-Liner on it instead of carpet. And boy did he chew out the boat dealer!!!
> 
> Congrats on your boat........I know what kind of work and time went into that!!!



Thank you! Sorry to hear about your boat! Bet it turned out good thought!


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## cmk07c

nice job, I got an jon boat in my backyard that is looking a little rough that I need to put some work like this into. Congrats and enjoy it.


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## georgiaboy027

Man that boat looks great.I have done a few myself but that bad boy looks brand new.Awsome job


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## soala70

what kind of paint you paint boat with? Rattle can or automotive pt? if rattle can how many cans looking to same size boat.


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## Brad C.

I'm impressed to say the least.


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## JW2

soala70 said:


> what kind of paint you paint boat with? Rattle can or automotive pt? if rattle can how many cans looking to same size boat.



Think I just used spray primer from Home Depot. Used about 5 cans for inside and out. Didn't wanna drop alot of money into the paint, jon boats are made to ding up anyways.


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## JW2

The pedistals work ok for just me, but me and REDTAIL went out in it yesterday and it was a pretty wobbly with both of us. I'm pretty dissappointed about that. After all, who wants to fish alone all the time. I may put it up on swap and sell and try to trade it for a bare 14-16 fiberglass tri-hull. If ya know of one, let me know.


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## Queen

Nice decks I need a job like that in mine


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## Confederate_Jay

JW2 said:


> The pedistals work ok for just me, but me and REDTAIL went out in it yesterday and it was a pretty wobbly with both of us. I'm pretty dissappointed about that. After all, who wants to fish alone all the time. I may put it up on swap and sell and try to trade it for a bare 14-16 fiberglass tri-hull. If ya know of one, let me know.



I was kind of afraid that would be the case- a Regular 14 ft will work good with the pedestals and  16 ft  jon will give even a little more room. Fiberglass is pretty heavy especially if you fish much small water without good ramp access. You can look at some of my old posts and see how I did my 14 ft- fixin to do one for my step son later this week. I'll take some pics as we go along


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## GONE HUNTIN!

*looks great!*

That thing turned out awsome!  I know that you have a lot of time invested in that boat! Holler at me sometime maybe we'll go fishin!


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## JW2

GONE HUNTIN! said:


> That thing turned out awsome!  I know that you have a lot of time invested in that boat! Holler at me sometime maybe we'll go fishin!



Thanks Tim! Yeah we definately need to fish! I'm about to tear down the decks and rebuild everything a little more stable. Oh by the way, think I saw you driving down Fence Rd. in Dacula last week. Think you came through our work zone pullin your trailer and equip! Nice mower!


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## littleman102475

good looking boat


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## GONE HUNTIN!

*That was me!*

Yea I'm in Dacula a lot.  I hope that mower gets more use this year than last year. So far it's lookin good.  Call me and we'll go hook up on some yotes.  You know that we are ate up with them!


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## Rays123

JW2 said:


> I haven't gotten to take it out yet but you are right, it's definately gonna be interesting to see how it rides. Maybe there'll be enough weight in the bottom. Thanks for all the comments guys.



I had the same concerns when i built my Jon w/ decks, one thing that helped mine alot was evenly distributing the weight of things like the batteries, gas tank, cooler, etc. also remember its a jon boat so you should be trying to jump around in it so take it easy.


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## JW2

Started tearing out the decks yesterday. Gonna rebuild the whole thing. I'm making the benches storage compartments and just mount my seats on the benches.


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## Full Pull

Looken good .
Good luck


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## JW2

Thanks everyone on the kind words. I finished mod #2 yesterday, will have new pics up in a few days.


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## SWAMPFOX

*Outboad Motor*

What hp motor you gonna clamp on it?


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## JW2

SWAMPFOX said:


> What hp motor you gonna clamp on it?



No outboart, I just use a 50lb thrust trolling motor. I'm not brave enough to take it out on the big waters. Just use it for Tribble Mill, Varner, Black Shoals and maybe Yargo.


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