Jon Boat

[RickB]

If you experienced boat guys were going to do all electric with a Jon boat would you do flat bottom or Mod V, will be fishing electric only lakes 100-200 acres. Would like to do casting decks fore and maybe aft. Fishing two people what would your minimum size be? What would you do for trolling motors how many lbs of thrust, 12v or 24v. I know there are a lot of variables but just beginning my search.

 

Thanks

[Scott F]

If it were me, I’d go a flat or modified bottom, 16x52 with a 24v trolling motor.  Very stable either hull choice as both are mostly flat on the bottom. The wider you go, the more stable.

[haggard]

I ran a 1448 mod V with a 12V 55# with digital power management. 55# pushed it around fine and I liked the reduced weight of a single battery vs 2, especially in a small boat.

 

[Catt]

Modified Vee bottom offers no advantages with electric only.

 

The smallest I would go for 2 people with casting decks would be 14' in length & 40-42" bottom width.

[padon]

Catt is correct a modv offers no advantage even though that's what I have. Our electric lakes around here are very large and guys run all sorts of special motors ray torqueedo etc.for lakes the size your fishing a 55pound motor will push you fine.also if your using a bow mount it will push you in an emergency 

[Goldstar225]

I've owned two 14X36 jon boats.  If I have another it will either be a 14X48 or 16X48 for stability.  I will recommend a flatbottom.  As for trolling motors in your situation I would set up a front casting deck with a foot controlled 12V 45#  and possibly a 55# 12V on the stern.  A jon boat IME doesn't require a lot of thrust but I typically like to creep along when fishing. 

[Fishes in trees]

How deep are your pockets?  Go over to tin boats.com and ask this same question.  Get ready to spend some money.   You can spend some money and have a serviceable electric lake only boat.  You can spend a lot of money and have the coolest electric only boat on the lake.

How do you like to fish?   Are you one of those guys who will pick apart a small area prior to moving on?   Do you like to move and fish different spots?  Once you find a pattern do you fish it til it stops or do you move around the lake, trying to replicate it elsewhere?   Answering these questions about how you prefer to fish will help some to determine how you need to rig your boat.  For instance, if you like to run & gun, and you only got 12 volt power, you're going to get bugged sooner or later about how long it takes to get from place to place.

 

 

[padon]

Yeah I mean I fish with guys on our lakes who have 25 k wrapped up in electric only boats.but then those lakes are a couple thousand acres. I run 4,volt batteries and an 80#motor. I can fish wherever I want but it takes a while to get there.thats ok because I usually have several spots to fish in one creek arm etc,and I like to fish slow

[RickB]

Thanks Guys, I'm looking for a used boat I can mod, so I'll take V or flat bottom, prefer flat. From what I hear flat would be the most stable. I'm thinking no less than 14' would rather have 16'. The largest lake and closest to home is 175 acre drinking water reservoir. Most folks say the upper end is where the fish are and the ramp is at the dam. Getting there and back is my biggest concern. I'm not one to run and gun, I like to try and pick apart a location when I get there. Bank fishing causes me to do that now so I'm hoping I'll do that in a boat.

Cost is always a concern but I would rather spend once then have to go back and spend again because I was trying to go to cheap. 12v motors would help save money and I'm thinking from suggestions above 55 on the transom and 45 up front, how does that sound.

 

Thanks

[padon]

I think for the size lakes your talking about that would work fine. Also surprisingly the bigger wider boats are usually faster from the tests we've done. Has something to do with the way they displace water. Also the more weight you get up front the faster you'll go.

[Hi-Powered Red Neck]

Rick 

  If you haven't bought a boat yet and you primarily fish alone. I recommend a Pelican Bass Raider 10E. I'm a pretty big guy at 6'3" 280lbs. I love my Bass Raider. I've had several Jon boats with casting decks built on. But for solo fishing it's hard to beat. I fish it on electric only lakes around my house. My Favorite being 185 acres. I'm currently running a 36lb minn kota on the front of it with a 5 year old group 29 battery that I got at Walmart (Obviously not the best name brand) . For giggles one day when the fishing was slow I decided to make a run around the lake. Just to see how well my battery would hold up. Two laps around the lake later, the battery was still holding strong. With no noticeable power loss. I gained a lot of confidence in it that day. I decided I could fish on a 500 acre lake and not have any worries about how far I could venture and still have enough power to get back to the truck. Now honestly  it's almost time for a new battery and I'm planning on upgrading to a 55 lb trust trolling motor, the extra poundage is really to get me back into the "salad". My 32 struggles in heavy grass. I love fishing frogs in the worst places. Give me a cove choked with weeds and pads and I'll be right in the middle fishing a frog and snatching lunkers out. LOL  

  As far as the boat it's self. I've only made a few mods. Like a floor with padding under the carpet, a garmin GPS, Fish finder, and a Big Foot switch to start and stop the trolling motor. The boat is plastic "pontoon" style and weights in at around 185 with the floor in it. It wide enough to be pretty stable, I can stand and fish all day. Ive got room for all my tackle bags and boxes, and I normally carry 4 rods. I also carry a small cooler. I did add a 7" seat riser so I can stay seated most of the time, I'm getting old and lazy. All in all it is a great boat for electric only lakes. I found mine on Craigs List for $300. It is 10 years old and has lived it's life in the Florida sun. However, It Still looks new that in it's self speaks volumes on how well it's constructed . Just some food for thought. Only time I don't use it is when I'm fishing with someone else then I use my Bass Boat. Yes, I have a 18 1/2' Skeeter that stays at home cause I'm fishing out of my Bass Raider. Throw it in the back of my truck and I'm gone fishin'. At least 3 or 4 times a month. That would be more but work takes me out of state 14 days at a time. Whatever you decide to get enjoy yourself.                                                                                          Later. 

[N Florida Mike]

I have a 12 foot JB and a 8 foot 2 seater bass hunter. I have a 40 lb thrust minnkota tm. with a 12 volt battery . It powers both boats well enough. Both boats have their pros and cons. I tend to prefer the JB, especially if I’m fishing with someone. A 14 footer has plenty of room . A 12 is big enough. The bass hunter type boat is fine for 1 but small for 2 imo. It can be done though. The bass hunter type boat will spin around If you mount the TM in back . It does better if you mount it in front. It also handles weeds better if it’s in front.

I can also load the JB in the bed of my truck a lot easier than trying to load the hunter. The JB is longer, but the hunter seems heavier- being shorter it seems that you have less leverage to pick it up and into the bed. 

The hunter is more open air and is cooler in summer. You also sit higher than the bench seats on a stock JB.

To me, the JB is more versatile because you could always add a small outboard later .

[DanielG]

I've got a homemade pontoon boat made from an old Solcat sailing catamaran. It was a fun build. It has two 35 lb thrust minnkotas. Top speed is 2.5 mph (according to my garmin) with two 100 amp batteries used in solar power systems. 1.5-2 mph is great for trolling. My lake is 4 1/2 miles long. I can do about 3 1/2 miles up and return on a charge with some to spare. I do a lot of trolling as you can imagine, and a lot of stop and casting too. It's a fishing platform much different from the bass boat world many live in. But, it's calm, slow, and so nice on a warm summer day. One of my favorite things to do. So, electrics do work, even on a sizable lake.

(BTW, I use lawn chairs)

[heavyduty]

1648 minimum for stability, casting room with two people, gear, cooler. I started with a 1236 as a teenager, 1442 till 40yrs old, now at 57 I want something stable and roomy. Also want the stability now to take the grandkids out.

[RickB]

Thanks guys, I have had 12' flat Jon, traded up for a 16' bass boat and got tired of fishing the big waters around me. Just to much traffic. I then down graded to a 8' bass hunter pontoon. Really liked that boat and kept it for years. Now I am without a boat and really want to get back on the water. New wife really doesn't like the idea of a bass hunter types. She thinks we need a 20' barge so she'll feel safe on it but she's not spending the money. Talked used with her and that gets eye rolls so now I'm looking at something along the lines of a 1648, Bass Pro Grizzly looks nice so does Almaweld and Alweld. Now to come up with the funds to do something like that. Would a 55# transom mound push something that big around sufficiently and maybe a 45# foot control on the bow. Really want to stay with 12v.

[the reel ess]

22 hours ago, RickB said:

Thanks guys, I have had 12' flat Jon, traded up for a 16' bass boat and got tired of fishing the big waters around me. Just to much traffic. I then down graded to a 8' bass hunter pontoon. Really liked that boat and kept it for years. Now I am without a boat and really want to get back on the water. New wife really doesn't like the idea of a bass hunter types. She thinks we need a 20' barge so she'll feel safe on it but she's not spending the money. Talked used with her and that gets eye rolls so now I'm looking at something along the lines of a 1648, Bass Pro Grizzly looks nice so does Almaweld and Alweld. Now to come up with the funds to do something like that. Would a 55# transom mound push something that big around sufficiently and maybe a 45# foot control on the bow. Really want to stay with 12v.

This is something I want to do as I get older. I fish a couple of kayaks right now, but it would be nice to have a boat on the trailer ready to go without loading up. Roland Martin has a YouTube channel and one of his best videos is him showing the things he's done to his custom pond jon boat. It will give you some good ideas.

[Chris at Tech]

I've owned 2 customized jonboats -- a 1548 and a 1652.  If it's me, I'm not going smaller than a 1548.

 

The lakes I fish range from 100 to 800 acres, so my current rig has a 24v foot control TM up front and two 24v transom mount motors in the back.  I know you're trying to keep cost down, but I'd recommend you upgrade at least one of your motors to 24v.  You never know when that extra juice will come in handy, especially if the wind kicks up.

[gnappi]

Minimum size depends on a lot of variables... How much gear you plan on carrying, how you want to transport it and how much runtime you want. Bigger / heavier boat / people / gear mean less run time on more / larger batteries. 

 

I started out with a 1032 Topper and it was Waayyy too tipsy for one fisherman to stand let alone two. My Lowe 1040 handles two fishermen standing, but a platform would be a waste of space and likely would be dangerous. I use my trailer only for storage off the ground and transport it in my truck bed so I can hand launch.

 

That said, if I could hand launch a 14 or 16 foot Grizzly tracker from my truck bed my 10 foot Lowe would be gone in a heartbeat... I'd L-O-V-E a platform and pedestal seats, but not as much as being able to go where only yaks can launch. I also like the runtime I get out of my two 35Ah deep cycle batteries :-)

 

Everything in a Jon is a compromise. IMO "V" boats waste internal space for length, ride better in chop, are better in the wind and likely are faster than plow shaped flat bottom bows...

 

Flat bottom boats are noisy in chop, may have better stability for a given length compared to a "V",  have more usable inside space, are not good in windy conditions in (most) all electric boats. 

 

I'm running all electric with a 50 lb. TM for 3 years or so and despite my boat being tiny it's a chore to keep running a course or stopped fishing in gusty conditions, something to seriously consider with larger heavier all electric boats, unless you can manage a Torqeedo or Elco motor, then the wind and speed are less of an issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GreenPig]

I've fished Georgia, Alabama, South and North Carolina, and Florida in my 1448 Lowe flat bottom. It's powered with a 25 hp 2 stroke and 80 lb Terrova. With a large front aluminum deck and floor and 3 group 31 batteries the Terrova will pull it along at 4.3 mph. I did weld pods on to help float the 189 lbs of batteries in the back seat. I've fished full days when small craft advisories were in affect. I think it's a great little boat but if I were going to take a partner I'd get a 16'.

 

 

 

Deck

[Elkins45]

One thing I don’t think you mentioned is how you plan to transport it. If you’re loading it into the back of a supercab truck with a 5ft bed your options are limited. If you are pulling a trailer or have a full 8ft bed then you have more options. I would go with a 1648 if you can find one. It won’t be much harder to push but it will be quite a bit more stable.

 

If I had the cash to spare I would put a 24v on the transom and a 12 at the bow. With one person at the bow the extra weight of two batteries in the stern keeps it a bit more level. I used to sit on the bow of a 14ft Jon and use a sculling paddle and I’m pretty sure the end of the stern was out of the water

[RickB]

Thanks guys, haven't thought about 24v on transom and 12v on bow. Trailer for sure to old to tug, pull and push.