Jon Boat Availability

[aarogb]

Hi everyone, 

 

Anyone noticed all 1448 or 1648 Jon boats are out of stock around you?  A lot of them are saying they won’t get any in till Fall… 

[Catt]

Nope! 

 

Around here there's plenty Alwelds, Edge, Excel, & Xpress boats.

 

[Johnbt]

I just checked the Richmond/Ashland VA BassPro inventory a minute ago and there is nothing. They list some package deals available in WV, PA, MD, etc.

 

The best deal appears to be, for only $14,915 with a Merc 20 (20ELPT 4S W/PROP,3G)

 

2022 Tracker Grizzly 1648 SC

 

Harrisburg PA

 

[the reel ess]

I work in an industry that uses a lot of metal. It's all in short supply as is just about any other commodity you can think of. But you can probably snag one off Craigslist other Offer Up if you scour the listings.

[NoShoes]

1 hour ago, Johnbt said:

I just checked the Richmond/Ashland VA BassPro inventory a minute ago and there is nothing. They list some package deals available in WV, PA, MD, etc.

 

The best deal appears to be, for only $14,915 with a Merc 20 (20ELPT 4S W/PROP,3G)

 

2022 Tracker Grizzly 1648 SC

 

Harrisburg PA

 

i bought a 1448 with a 25 hp Yamaha all like new for 3800 a few years ago off Facebook marketplace. 
 

really mind boggles me a lot of people only do new from the lot

 

 

[Johnbt]

Used jon boats used to be fairly inexpensive because the new ones cost a whole lot less. Deals are still out there once in a while from I see. Some for $2k to $3k or so and have only been used a few times.

 

I don't know if I'd ever sell mine for half of what I paid, but it wouldn't be too much of a beating for all the fun I've had with it.

In 2014 I went to Bass Pro and bought a plain old bare hull Grizzly 1648, a Merc 9.9 4-stroke long shaft, and a very nice heavy trailer with 5.30-12 tires. The axle even has brake flanges. Appears to be from Tie Down Engineering (sold to Dexter in 2017 iirc.) The hubs are too.

 

I paid list for the hull =  $2699

I paid list for the trailer = $1250

The Merc was on sale for $500 off =  $1649

 

Call it $5600.

________ 

 

Funny shopping episode:  The guy who taught me to catch big largemouth guided me through the shopping. He was strongly pushing Yamaha or maybe Honda for the 9.9. The Mercs were a lot less even paying full list.

I showed up at our decades-long Friday group lunch with the Bass Pro spring sale flyer.

 

I walked in and said, "The Merc 9.9 is on sale at BP"

He said, "How much off?"

I said, "$500"

He said, "Mercury makes a fine motor."

 

And it has been.

 

[MN Fisher]

7 minutes ago, Johnbt said:

He said, "Mercury makes a fine motor."

 

And it has been.

Except 30hp and under Mercs are made by Tohatsu of Japan

https://www.tohatsumarine.co.jp/english/story/

[Johnbt]

They have been for years, since the two companies signed an agreement in '87 iirc. In Japan too. Tohatsu built its first 4-stroke in the very late '90s.

[T-Billy]

Ah... So that's how merc quit building junk. ?

 Same story in my area from several dealers. There's maybe two weeks a year when you can actually order a new jon these days. Then you will wait till the following fall/winter before you see it. I wanted a Lowe 1852. I drove 4hrs in January to buy a 1648 Polar Kraft instead, because those were the only jons in stock in OH that I could find. It ended up working out ok. I'm really happy with the boat and it was 2K less than the 18.

[Catt]

2 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Except 30hp and under Mercs are made by Tohatsu 

 

 

Actually both are made by Honda.

 

https://www.boatingmag.com/boats/honda-to-private-label-large-outboards-tohatsu/#page-2

[MN Fisher]

14 minutes ago, Catt said:

Actually both are made by Honda.

 

From the article you linked dated Jan 2013

"The private-label outboards from Honda will include 60, 75, 90, 115, 150, 200, 225 and 250 hp models,"

 

So it's just the larger outboards that are re-branded Hondas.

 

From another article dated Dec 2017.

"many of the smaller Mercury Outboards are just rebranded Tohatsu Engines. In addition, the entire line of Nissan outboards are rebranded Tohatsus. More recently Evinrude/Bombardier released a press release saying that they would be rebranding small Tohatsu engines for their line, and Tohatsu has begun using larger Honda outboards(60, 75, 90, 115, 150, 200, 225 and 250 hp models) to fill out their line-up."

https://crateinc.com/history-tohatsu-outboards/

So they acknowledge the Honda link for the larger motors, but the smaller ones are Tohatsu manufactured.

[aarogb]

Thanks everyone!  Regarding the Craigslist route: I have been watching my local listings every day and I'm not finding much that doesn't cost the same as a brand new one or has a title.  Just curious if anyone else had been having issues with inventory...

 

Thanks again!

[MN Fisher]

3 minutes ago, aarogb said:

Thanks everyone!  Regarding the Craigslist route: I have been watching my local listings every day and I'm not finding much that doesn't cost the same as a brand new one or has a title.  Just curious if anyone else had been having issues with inventory...

 

Thanks again!

Also check Facebook Marketplace (sold my old transom mount TM there) and Next Door.

[Catt]

@MN Fisher The 30-40 hp Tahotsu is a Honda I just gotta find the link. If you notice the articles mentioned 2.5-20 hp,  then 60 hp & up.

 

I went through all this research when I bought my first 40 hp Tahotsu in 2014 & my second one in 2020 or 21.

 

Used boats down here sale fairly reasonable. My son bought this one for $3,600.

 

[MN Fisher]

3 minutes ago, Catt said:

Used boats down here sale fairly reasonable. My son bought this one for $3,600.

 

 

You can find deals up here too.

This customized 15' semi-V, with an 18HP Evinrude, bow TM and lots of storage is going for $2900

 

Far as the makers - really, Honda, Tohatsu...it's all Japanese engineering.

[Dogface]

On 4/22/2022 at 9:05 PM, aarogb said:

Thanks everyone!  Regarding the Craigslist route: I have been watching my local listings every day and I'm not finding much that doesn't cost the same as a brand new one or has a title. 

 

Be careful using Craig's list. Last year I was looking for a another boat on Craig's list. Most of the boats I looked at were scams.  

[WRB]

On 4/22/2022 at 6:05 PM, aarogb said:

Thanks everyone!  Regarding the Craigslist route: I have been watching my local listings every day and I'm not finding much that doesn't cost the same as a brand new one or has a title.  Just curious if anyone else had been having issues with inventory...

 

Thanks again!

Jon boats are not popular for California reservoirs, too windy.

BPS Trackers on the other hand are very popular, go figure.

It maybe worth your effort to drive out of state to buy a used Jon boat.

Tom

[Catt]

On 4/22/2022 at 9:37 PM, MN Fisher said:

Far as the makers - really, Honda, Tohatsu...it's all Japanese engineering.

 

Don't forget Suzuki & Yamaha!

 

What puzzles me is the cost, Suzuki & Yamaha are the highest.

 

If you ain't got a jon boat in your yard, your neighbors will look at you strange.

 

A lot of availability has to do with the market. Jon boats are everywhere around here both new & used. 

[Big Hands]

FB marketplace and CL have lots of scam ads for boats. Every so often, I go through FB Marketplace and report as many of them as I can find. They are pretty easy to spot most of the time.

• Any of them that say they won't or can't respond to messages in Messenger so you need to text to a phone, that is a big red flag.
• If the price is too good to be true, like between $800 and $2,200 for a boat that will cost way more than that, red flag.
• If the registration numbers are missing, another red flag.
• If it is allegedly being sold in California, and the pic looks like it couldn't be within 1,500 miles of California, red flag.
• If the pic(s) are distorted, backwards, have blocks of solid color on any border, they do that so you can't do a reverse image search on Google because they usually rip-off the pics from legit ads and then alter them, red flag.
• Selling it for a ______________ (friend, relative, soldier, anyone but for themselves). . . . red flag.
• If you open the ad, then scroll down and click on the sellers name and you see they have posted the same or similar ads in several different cities, run away and take your red flag with you.
• I will say that FB will sometimes clean them up, especially if you report them. They may come back and post them again, only more numerous than before, but at least they have to waste some of their time doing so. 

Craigslist OTOH, they apparently could not care less and make it very difficult to report the scam ads and they are numerous for boats, cars, pickup trucks and RV's.