Jon boat to flats skiff

[Houston4x4]

WEEEE NEEEDDD MOREEE PROGRESSS LOL I wanna see the finished product soooo bad lol You need an extra helper haha

[Killer Miller]

Looking awesome!!

[VinnysquidTX]

in

[rbsears]

I love these threads. Keep it coming. Great work

[T-Bolt]

That looks awesome! Great job!

[bobc]

Cool project. Nice looking do you got there too!

[Hawkpuppy 1]

and...........

[lovemylegacy]

A little bit.
The bottom is done. Polishing complete and finished with a Marine metal wax called Collinite. It feels slippery.
We’ll see if its faster.
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Question: What disappoints as much as boats?

Answer: Trailers.
New bunks, carpet, jack, greased the hubs and polished the diamond plate fenders. Still need to replace the lights, I cracked one. Wiring is good.

I bribed some friends and a neighbor with beer and venison jerky, we flipped the boat and loaded her back on the trailer.
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Welder is swamped and needs a couple weeks before he can help, awesome.
I’d hoped to drop the boat off last Saturday.

The grab bar arrived so I started playing around with the setup.
My cooler fits nice between the existing rear corner floats.
Plywood is where the aluminum front deck will be.
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But what if I decked behind the cooler, over the fuel and battery, I could move the cooler on top of the deck for a seat/platform when fishing and poling.
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Wouldn’t be quite as high for poling leverage or sight, but still feels pretty high when standing up there, at least for my little boat.
I think I'd be above the motor enough to pole?
It’d be cheaper than a platform.
Thoughts from the Green Screen?

Poling platform...you will regret it if ya don't put it on. Putting your batteries up front will help with weight forward. Float boxes would help too, I know its extra, just something to consider.

[Clark]

Making a little progress.





Front casting deck is on.
It’s got a 3” support running crosswise between the front floats.
The uppermost opening is too small, I’ll open it up a bit to store pfd’s, etc..
My fire extinguisher trapped inside there now, hole is too small to get it out.
Deck is solid, I like it.



New battery.

Gen-u-ine Yamaha outboard fuel line replaced.
My local marine store had it priced at a mere $74, but because I’m special they knocked it all the way down to $71.
Not much surprises me anymore, but that's ridiculous.

I had to run it.







The 100 quart Brute box fit perfect between the rear floats and I thought that’s where I wanted it. ^
But I couldn’t get comfortable driving the boat while sitting on it.
At least while sitting, over to one side was best. Off the cooler on one of the rear floats was fine.

Boat ran great.

Need to get some GPS speeds for real numbers, I’ll do that.
But with shedding a bunch of weight and a grown man off the bow (stick steering), the hole shot is awesome. Both of us sitting on the empty cooler, it almost flipped us over backwards.
Honestly, runs like a different boat.
For a little aluminum boat and a 2 stroke 40, it runs pretty good.
And with just one guy in it, she rips.

Without a tiller extension I’ll need to stand where I thought the cooler was going to be.
Moving the grab bar back towards the transom so I could stand, tiller and hold the grab bar…allows room for the 100q cooler in front of the grab bar. Like so. v







I think this is how I’ll set it up.

Welding the grab bar in place is the next step..I welcome any thoughts.

[DOUBLE.A]

That sure is looking nice.

[cowboytex]

Lookin good, nice job!

[Kurdawg]

Man that's pretty sweet looking

[jakeb03]

Looks great!!!

[agtex42]

Build looks like it's coming along nicely! I like the new cooler /grab bar layout, should distribute weight a little better and offer up some additional seating for passengers as well.

[Russ81]

I'd weld it where you got it and look for a poling platform. That setup is almost identical to a technical skiff