updated abandoned jon boat build look what i got

[Tucson]

Thanks for the update pics, keep us informed.  It's like doing a project myself except for the actual doing part!

[J Francho]

You want it to reflect sunlight. If it absorbs sunlight, its going to get hot. If it reflects sunlight, it will stay cooler.

Try this, put on a black t-shirt and stand in the sun for 10 minutes. Now do the same thing with a white t-shirt. Tell me which is more comfortable, and why you think its any different with your boat.

Because he's not wearing the the black bedliner. It will be hot to the touch in the sun but so would white. Sand at the beach gets hot, doesn't it? It won't make much of a difference sitting on the seats in it. I have two SUV's. One with black leather and one with light tan leather. There's no difference in inside temperature when they sit in the summer sun. Give the guy a break. He got a great deal on a nice boat.

I've fished in enough black carpeted bass boats to know that there is a big difference.  Not ripping the guy, just pointing out a mistake that could be easily corrected.

[nightmid]

if it gets to be a problem with it being black i will change the color but for now it is done

[J Francho]

And you've done a fine job with an amazingly tiny budget.  I hope it provides you with many successful trips.  I was just saying that you're going to want to change that black to something lighter.  Looking forward to some fishing reports...

[nightmid]

fishing report wont be till next spring i still have alot of work to do this weekend i am starting on the rewire job full rewire the whole boat so i wont have any electrical probs down the road and the motor is ready it was stuck in gear but would start up first turn of key the shifter linkage needed adjusted and now all is good with the motor will post more pics as progress go along

[nightmid]

well i got the boat all most all wired last night and today will keep you guy infomed as it goes

[The Rooster]

Coming from someone who has done this before (twice!), take it from me, that's a big job, but when you're finished it'll be one of the most rewarding things you have ever done.  I fished from mine today and recalled how nasty it was for the first 2 summers I owned it until early in 2008 I said to my wife that we have to gut this out and redo the whole thing.  Now my boat is like new and it's a pure pleasure to fish from.  We had the best time today.

Good luck on that project, what a deal that was for what you paid.  I didn't get mine that cheap, but it was a lot newer than yours so I didn't expect it to be anyway.  By the way, since you are doing wiring, here's a tip.....run at least 6 gauge wire for your trolling motor.  That should be good for a variety of sizes in thrust, at least 55 for sure, that's what mine is and it was recommended to use 6 gauge, which I did, and I've had no problems at all with blown fuses or tripped circuit breakers since (I use a 50 amp circuit breaker on mine).  Before I redid my boat, I had 10 gauge wire and a 36 pound thrust motor and I blew 30 amp fuses all the time cause the wire would get too hot.  

[cart7t]

You want it to reflect sunlight. If it absorbs sunlight, its going to get hot. If it reflects sunlight, it will stay cooler.

Try this, put on a black t-shirt and stand in the sun for 10 minutes. Now do the same thing with a white t-shirt. Tell me which is more comfortable, and why you think its any different with your boat.

Because he's not wearing the the black bedliner. It will be hot to the touch in the sun but so would white. Sand at the beach gets hot, doesn't it? It won't make much of a difference sitting on the seats in it. I have two SUV's. One with black leather and one with light tan leather. There's no difference in inside temperature when they sit in the summer sun. Give the guy a break. He got a great deal on a nice boat.

I've fished in enough black carpeted bass boats to know that there is a big difference. Not ripping the guy, just pointing out a mistake that could be easily corrected.

It doesn't even have to be black.  I switched my carpet from charcoal grey to silver (light grey).

Man!  What a difference.  That boat is going to be like fishing on a griddle top in the summer.

[smokepole]

Well at this point I think we all know that the black will draw heat. The inside of my boat is sprayed with bed liner and the boat is OD green and I cant tell that much different if any from my buddy's red and white stratos.  With that being said I think the boat is going to serve his purpose. Keep us posted.

[fishfordollars]

Go with what ever floats your boat. You are the one that will be using it, so go with your gut feeling, congratulations, and enjoy.

Jack

[ntizda]

nice boat! this makes me want to get a clunker and fix it up

[The Rooster]

I had the same thought and I already own a nice boat.  Thought it would be a nice fun project to get one and renovate it out and try to resell it again.  I enjoyed redoing mine so much when I did it.

[skunked_again]

I had the same thought and I already own a nice boat. Thought it would be a nice fun project to get one and renovate it out and try to resell it again. I enjoyed redoing mine so much when I did it.

if you could recoup your expenses i think refurbishing old boats for a pass time would i great hobby.

[cart7t]

I had the same thought and I already own a nice boat. Thought it would be a nice fun project to get one and renovate it out and try to resell it again. I enjoyed redoing mine so much when I did it.

if you could recoup your expenses i think refurbishing old boats for a pass time would i great hobby.

A hobby would be about the best you could describe it.

You'd never recoup your expenses if you redid the boat right, at least right enough so somebody would pay $1500 for one like this Starcraft which is about the best price you would ever see.

Even 80's V-hulls cheap enough (under a $1000) will probably need more materials and man hours than they'd be worth.

If you had the skills and shop, you could turn a late model boat boat that had been damaged in an accident to the point the insurance company totaled it. You'd have to be able to get the materials wholesale though to make it work.

[The Rooster]

On something like this the profit would have to be purely based on what you spent vs. what you made over and above that cash wise. If you counted your time invested as well then you'd go in the hole. The experience and enjoyment would have to be your payment for that, that's how I'd see it anyway.

As an example, I have a friend who just recently bought an old boat (not sure of the year), it's basically a jon boat, modified V-hull with flat bottom, about 16 feet long. Someone had built up decks in the thing even with the side rails and it was extremely unstable to stand in. The wood was all rotten, carpet was nasty and the whole boat was just basically a floating garbage dump, except for the pretty nice looking motor hanging off the back of it. He took everything out of it down to the aluminum hull only, and stripped off 4 layers of paint at least, then buffed the shiny unpainted aluminum hull till it gleamed like new chrome and then left it that way as the finish (aiming at making it look similar to the Tracker boats). Afterwards he proceeded to replace all the wooded decks and flooring again, but this time he built them lower down across the tops of the seats. It's a lot more stable now, though based on it's hull design, it's still only moderately stable to stand in. He put all new carpet in it, new wiring, new seats, and then just reused the old trolling motor, which wasn't all that old, it was a Minn Kota All Terrain 40 lb. thrust. It also has a fairly new (mid 90's) 25 HP Mercury outboard that is ignition started and has a steering console, not a tiller control. And he put a stainless prop on the motor as well (not necessary but he wanted it).

He did a lot of other minute inexpensive things to it as well, and a few that weren't that cheap either such as a new livewell with plumbing and all that was never there before, but the long and the short of it is he ended up with a brand new looking boat, professional quality looks and build, and only has $1800 in it counting purchase price. I'm not sure what he could sell it for but I'd think it would bring at least $2500 to even $3000 based on how nice it seems to be. He has a lot of time in it to get it looking like it does. He'd probably break even on time invested plus parts and purchase if he sold it for $3000, but he'd still be $1200 ahead cash wise no matter how you sliced it. He got a lot of stuff for it off ebay which helped cost wise I'm sure.

Now he doesn't want to sell it but the way it looks he could easily sell it in a minute. We talked about getting into doing this just for fun cause that's the kind of thing we enjoy doing, and whatever money we made over the cost of purchase and remodeling would just be profit we didn't have before we started.

Man this turned into a long post!!! ;D

[clipper]

Did you make sure the transom was sound?  You should be able to stand on the foot of the motor without the transom moving.

[looking4structure]

What a great deal you got.Keep the pictures posted.I enjoy seeing works in progress.

[nightmid]

well i got the new floors and carpet in and the seats are mounted will post pics this weekend