Help On Choosing A Jon Boat

[Fisher_C]

Ok so right now im really just inquiring on what kind of jon boat i need as well as who makes a good one for a decent price. Most of the waters im fishing are small lakes. It would most of the time be just me in the boat but i would like to be able to have the option of taking someone along with me. I would also like to be able to customize it to have some rod holders and maybe a platform to fish off of as well. Thanks for the help in advance.

[Hi Salenity]

My advise is buy the largest USED one you can afford

[00 mod]

Minimum of 48'' BOTTOM.  Mine is a Weldbuilt.

 

Jeff

[slonezp]

What's a decent price? Rivited jons are usually lighter and less expensive than welded jons. There are a ton of different mfgs and a ton of different layouts. Jons are normally sold new without a trailer.They all have different HP ratings and weight ratings. The minimum boat that is 48" wide is 14' long, welded, and might be a bear to load in a truck bed. G3, Lowes, Lund, Tracker, Sea Ark, Alumacraft, Xpress, just to name a few.

[tnriverluver]

For two people a 14 ft or longer and at least a 42 in bottom as a minumum.  Find the boat with the floorplan and price you like and buy it.  Unless you are going to be jumping stumps or banging constantly into rocks just about any brand will work fine.  When it comes to plain ole jon boats I don't think there really is a bad brand.  Many are made in the same factory with just different brand decals.  Lowe-Crestliner-Triton and a few others as an example.

[BKeith]

If you even consider a deck, the minimum would be a 1448, anything smaller or narrower would be very unstable if you tried to fish from an elevated deck and will still be very useable with two, though a little crowded.  While probably too large for just you and small waters, for two people, a 1648 or even a 1652 would even be much better.  A 1652 will look like one big jon when you first look at it sitting on the ground or on a trailer for the first time but when you get it in the water and start fishing out of it, it will seem like the water made it shrink to half size. 

 

For just me and an occassional other person with no decks, on small waters, I like prefer the 1436,  for two people and no decks I like the 1442. 

[Dyerbassman]

Buy used, definitely. Craigslist ALWAYS has some with trailers. Especially if it's your first one. Then you can play around and customize how you like. I found my boat at an estate sale for $100 and put floors, carpet, and compartments in it the way that I wanted to. I would love a new boat (who wouldn't), but I love the way mine came out and now I know what I would really want in a new one after having a few years to mess around with mine. Just an idea...

[jhoffman]

My first boat was a 14' jon i decked. I paid $800 for it on a trailer with the trolling motor and a 5hp gas motor. It needed a new transom which wasnt fun but I did it with a drill and a saw. It was a 1979 terry you can find it in the show your ride thread. All said and done I had $2500 plus my time.

 

My current boat is a 17' tracker tx17. I didnt have a pile of cash but I knew from my first experience I wouldnt even consider a boat without console steering. It has a 25hp 2 stroke evinrude, both the boat and motor are a 92, on the trailer with tax I paid $3500. When I bought it I had to buy stuff for it and that easily took me into $4500(onboard charger, new batteries...). Ill add new rims/tires and another fish finder with gps here soon taking my grand total to $5100. The boat needs scrubbed and polished and the outer edge of the fenders is just starting to rust a little but ill fix that too, then give the trailer a carbon fiber finish. Next summer it will get all new carpet($300) and Ill be done with it till I sell it to buy the next one.

 

Ive seen ready to fish really nice boats for $4000 that dont need ANYTHING. I guess we need to know what you want to spend.

[jhoffman]

It would also help to add your location to your profile, i would take a look for you as I am pretty efficient with searches but I have no clue where you reside.

[james 14]

I've done a TON of fishing out of both a 12' flat bottom and a 14' mod-v. Both of these boats have 36" bottoms. Take all suggestions that tell you what your minimum should be with a grain of salt. I also fished out of a 10' flat bottom with the standard 32" bottom and made it work for me. No matter what you get unless you end up with something in the 21' range you're going to wish it was bigger at times. However, you may wish it was smaller everytime you go to get it out of the truck. With all that said I would go ahead and plan on getting a trailer. This way you can get the widest boat you can find/afford. I used to load a 3x8 piece of plywood under my boat in the back of my truck that made sliding it in and out MUCH easier. I actually used to back my Ranger straight down the ramp and slide the boat out in the water. This way I didn't have to unload the motors and all my gear.

Bottom line is you can make anything work for you. Do a LOT of looking on Craigslist before you buy just to give you an idea of what's out there. This way when you finally pull the trigger on a boat you will have a decent amount of contentment with your decision.

[Fisher_C]

Thanks everyone for the help I really appreciate it. Ive been pretty caught up with work and have been trying to get my hand of quite a few guns. I really like everyones ideas and will take them all into consideration. My wife of course says i dont need it since im spending money on new rods, guns, and everything else (just got back from deployment..buying to much stuff...hah). My budget really is more like a 12". But I will look on craigslist for a while and ask you guys before pulling the trigger on anything. Thanks again and i will update my profile.

[BKeith]

If you're on a small budget, get a small boat.  Find you a 1232, forget about trying to do a bunch of mods to make it something it's not and enjoy fishing out of it.   You can put a small platform on the front to mount a tiller handle trolling motor, a short 6" pedistal near the inner edge that turns with a small seat on it, sit kinda sideways with one or both feet in the bottom of the boat and have fun.   You don't have to be standing on an elevated deck to cast or catch bass.  Because of my back, I sit 80% of the time and I can cast, flip and pitch sitting just as good as standing.   When fishing out of a jon, I'm almost always sitting because the only time I like getting wet is when I have hot water, a rag, soap and towel to dry off with.

 

As far as I'm concerned, to use anything smaller than a 1232 in a jon,  I would just save my money and use a wash tub, it would probably be about as stable and easy to control.

[jhoffman]

Im going to go against the grain here and tell you that if you spend your money on a small boat its just taking you further from what you really want. Lets say you buy a boat for a $1000, pay taxes, registration fees, your trailer will likely be shot cause some idiot didnt take care of the bearings. Youll end up at $1500 before you ever hit the water if it stops at that with needing life vests and what not to be legal. Youll go to a remote area to fish some day and as you pull out it will be dark, about an hour from home youll look back to see one of your rims looking like its being held on by a hoola hoop. Youll spend the evening in some back woods town trying to find a trailer bearing only to have to leave the boat and come back later to put bearings in along the road. Youll then decide, this isnt any fun I wanna go fish and when I pull out at night I never wanna see this happen again. Youll get home, weigh the options and decide to sell. Youll sell the boat for $800 or maybe less and be back at square one.

 

Some people out there think that certain items must be worth their weight in diamonds and then theres another guy who is going to miss his mortgage and truck payment if he doesnt sell his boat. Save a little longer and find the guy who is at rock bottom, you get your boat, he keeps his house.