What Is The Minimum Size Jon Boat That You Would Buy?

[John G]

I keep telling myself that a 1448 is as small as I would want to buy for safety reasons. Am I misguided in my thinking?

[Bluebasser86]

Depends, where are you wanting to use it? 

 

I use to fish out of a 10' johnboat that the landowner kept at a pond that was maybe an acre. Worked just fine for that little puddle. 

[clh121787]

Whatever I could afford.

[John G]

A lake that has large gators. Does that matter to y'all? We had another story in the news yesterday about an 11 footer that killed a criminal that was running from the police and he (at night) decided to hide out in a little pond and Mr. Gator grabbed him. I was thinking about a Gheenoe but would feel safer in a Jon.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3350360/He-hid-wrong-place-Florida-man-killed-eaten-ALLIGATOR-hiding-police-caught-robbing-homes.html

[00 mod]

1448 is what I told myself as I opened this thread....

 

Jeff

[S Hovanec]

1654 would be the minimum for me, but I'm larger than the average bear.

[BKeith]

I don't see no magic number for that.  First, how and where do you fish?  How/what do you haul the boat with?  Do you mostly fish alone or almost always have a partner, a couple of people or even the whole family?  How much do you actually go fishing?  These and a number of other things are all things that must me considered when buying a boat. 

For instants, you most fish small water and plan to just haul the boat in the bed of a pickup.  No way would you want to be dealing with something as big and heavy as a 1448.  Something more in the line of a 1232 would be much better suited for that.

At the same time, if you are fishing larger lakes and mostly have another person or two, then the 1448 would get real small real quick. 

Outboard motors like to be use on a somewhat regular basis, if you don't fish very often. bigger motors get very expensive keeping them maintained and the fuel problem usually associated with letting one sit, so you would want to look at something that does not need more than a two or three cylinder motor. 

Then you have to consider what you are going to be hauling the boat with.  Most cars don't take to towing much weight without having transmission problems before long, so the bigger the boat, the bigger the vehicle it takes to haul it.

If you fish by yourself a lot, the bigger the boat, the more of a PITA it is to load and unload. 

Yes, our ego side tell us we want to show up at the lake with our 22' Ranger all decked out and 4WD 3/4 ton pickup towing it , but our wallet and common since side my tell us we just want a small 1232 jon or canoe on top of the car, or something similar to that.  Those are all things you have to evaluate and figure out for yourself. 

[jbw252]

I don't see no magic number for that.  First, how and where do you fish?  How/what do you haul the boat with?  Do you mostly fish alone or almost always have a partner, a couple of people or even the whole family?  How much do you actually go fishing?  These and a number of other things are all things that must me considered when buying a boat. 

For instants, you most fish small water and plan to just haul the boat in the bed of a pickup.  No way would you want to be dealing with something as big and heavy as a 1448.  Something more in the line of a 1232 would be much better suited for that.

At the same time, if you are fishing larger lakes and mostly have another person or two, then the 1448 would get real small real quick. 

Outboard motors like to be use on a somewhat regular basis, if you don't fish very often. bigger motors get very expensive keeping them maintained and the fuel problem usually associated with letting one sit, so you would want to look at something that does not need more than a two or three cylinder motor. 

Then you have to consider what you are going to be hauling the boat with.  Most cars don't take to towing much weight without having transmission problems before long, so the bigger the boat, the bigger the vehicle it takes to haul it.

If you fish by yourself a lot, the bigger the boat, the more of a PITA it is to load and unload. 

Yes, our ego side tell us we want to show up at the lake with our 22' Ranger all decked out and 4WD 3/4 ton pickup towing it , but our wallet and common since side my tell us we just want a small 1232 jon or canoe on top of the car, or something similar to that.  Those are all things you have to evaluate and figure out for yourself. 

Ditto on this.  Lots of variables to consider.

[tander]

If you are fishing with a buddy, 14 ft is min., longer is better if you going to use a trailer. If you fish by yourself 10-12 ft  will work.

[Cmiller]

I have a tracker 1542 and it fishes nice with two people. I went to the dealer to buy a 1436 but came home with this instead.

[A-Jay]

 

Right here ~

 

And this could be the Bass Resource Moderating Crew, though not exactly sure which one is which . . . .

 

 

A-Jay

[slonezp]

How close will you be fishing to theses gators? I was fishing Santee Cooper around some gators sunning themselves a few years back. A large gator got spooked and jumped in the water rocking my 17 foot boat pretty good. So my vote says the wider the bottom the better

[boostr]

An 1648 or wider. Roomier, more people, etc.

[Catt]

100% Cajun

Lived my entire life (64 yrs) in the marshes & swamps of Louisiana/Texas.

Gators ain't no problem, I've wade fished & hunted within 20 yds of em many times; gators are only aggressive during mating season.

As for your Jon boat a 14' x 40" would be the smallest I would run because of stability; fished Toledo for yrs out of a 15' x 44".

I'm currently running a Alweld 1652VJT

Hull: Mod-V 2 1/2" Proformance Tunnel

Length: 16'

Bottom: 52"

Beam: 72"

2014 Tohatsu MF40AEFL

3-cylinder, Fuel Injected, 4-Stroke

[PourMyOwn]

100% Cajun

Lived my entire life (64 yrs) in the marshes & swamps of Louisiana/Texas.

Gators ain't no problem, I've wade fished & hunted within 20 yds of em many times; gators are only aggressive during mating season.

As for your Jon boat a 14' x 40" would be the smallest I would run because of stability; fished Toledo for yrs out of a 15' x 44".

I'm currently running a Alweld 1652VJT

Hull: Mod-V 2 1/2" Proformance Tunnel

Length: 16'

Bottom: 52"

Beam: 72"

2014 Tohatsu MF40AEFL

3-cylinder, Fuel Injected, 4-Stroke

Catt, I'm guessing that thing is pretty quick and amazing on gas.

[moguy1973]

14' is the minimum I would go just for the fact I would be fishing with a buddy most of the time.  I've fished out of a 12' boat once with someone and we both were using 7'+ rods.  Do the math.  Someone got snagged on a back cast.

[Catt]

Catt, I'm guessing that thing is pretty quick and amazing on gas.

It's been clocked with a Jugs Gun @ 50 mph

[PourMyOwn]

14' is the minimum I would go just for the fact I would be fishing with a buddy most of the time.  I've fished out of a 12' boat once with someone and we both were using 7'+ rods.  Do the math.  Someone got snagged on a back cast.

I once took a Carolina rig sinker to the skull in my 10'. Funny now, not fun then.

[John G]

I fish alone 99.9% of the time and smaller bodies of water and would hang around the shore all the time. Pulling a boat is no problem as I have a GMC 2500HD. I have a friend that just bought a 12 footer from Bass Pro. I think it's a 36". I could be wrong about the width but I know the two of us together weigh more than its listed capacity. I got in it and even though we did not go far, I felt as though it was extremely unsafe for two people. One person on a very small body of water and it would be fine. I think that I will look at anything that is at least a 1442.

[John G]

100% Cajun

Lived my entire life (64 yrs) in the marshes & swamps of Louisiana/Texas.

Gators ain't no problem, I've wade fished & hunted within 20 yds of em many times; gators are only aggressive during mating season.

As for your Jon boat a 14' x 40" would be the smallest I would run because of stability; fished Toledo for yrs out of a 15' x 44".

I'm currently running a Alweld 1652VJT

Hull: Mod-V 2 1/2" Proformance Tunnel

Length: 16'

Bottom: 52"

Beam: 72"

2014 Tohatsu MF40AEFL

3-cylinder, Fuel Injected, 4-Stroke

.

Not to long ago a did a search on here for Alumacraft and I saw a pic of your new Alweld. I'd love to have that but finances don't permit it at the moment. I'm not going to disagree with you about gators being aggressive during mating season but we have had two deaths by gator I think in the last two months or so and they were both after mating season.

[Catt]

.

Not to long ago a did a search on here for Alumacraft and I saw a pic of your new Alweld. I'd love to have that but finances don't permit it at the moment. I'm not going to disagree with you about gators being aggressive during mating season but we have had two deaths by gator I think in the last two months or so and they were both after mating season.

And the two killed were in no way antagonizing the gators?

You will be perfectly fine in a 14 x 48.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Out of curiosity what is a used price on a 14 in your area? Up here NIL a 14' jon or v bottom 5hp motor and trailer can be had for 500-700.

 

I had a 14' jon back in my 20's at times had 4 in it but most just 2. I put a floor in it and wasnt bad fishing wise while standing

[John G]

Out of curiosity what is a used price on a 14 in your area? Up here NIL a 14' jon or v bottom 5hp motor and trailer can be had for 500-700.

 

I had a 14' jon back in my 20's at times had 4 in it but most just 2. I put a floor in it and wasnt bad fishing wise while standing

I was looking on Craigslist this morning and there are some boats that can be bought for around what you quoted or a little more. I called a couple of dealers this morning and a G3 1448 with a trailer would run around $2400.00 and an Alweld 1448 V Hull with a single seat would be around $3000.00 with a trailer.

[Nick B]

A lake that has large gators. Does that matter to y'all? We had another story in the news yesterday about an 11 footer that killed a criminal that was running from the police and he (at night) decided to hide out in a little pond and Mr. Gator grabbed him. I was thinking about a Gheenoe but would feel safer in a Jon.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3350360/He-hid-wrong-place-Florida-man-killed-eaten-ALLIGATOR-hiding-police-caught-robbing-homes.html

When I lived in South Ga, I would fish multiple gator filled lakes with an 8ft pelican basshunter . I didn't have any issues with gators. You have to do a lot of things wrong to get eaten by an alligator

[zachb34]

As stated above, I've never had a gator get close to my 8 footer. I regularly fish my 1542 with 2 guys, in gator infested water, during mating season. Still have had no issues. With two people, I would say 14' would be my minimum and I dint find my 42" wide boat to have stability issues so I'll go with that number for width. I've seen decked 1032s, so I guess it depends on your size and balance.