A Jon boat journey - Life and times, and mods, of a G3 river Jon.

[devingreer]

What a rig!

[Texas Grown]

Thank you sirs.


Looking like the Wild Thing is gonna be dry docked for a little bit. My old truck needs a new motor. She just about died on me while I was towing the boat Friday, Christmas Day. So I'm looking for a second one to fill it's place till I get a new engine in the old truck. I just can't live without a truck!

[TXHUNT3R]

Wow, just caught this one. Awesome build and good lord, you can weld!

[Texas Grown]

Thank you sir. Been welding since I was 18 yoa. Aluminum was my first metal to learn to weld. Been fabbing and welding most of my adult life. Everything from heavy steel, stainless, and aluminum, to 6/4Al titanium and lower grades down to .020", to various inconels down to .020", to stainless of all grades down to .016", to aluminum all grades down to .020", and tig welding fluxless Stoody borium (nasty stuff!). I've been in a lot of various industries too. That in it's self taught me a lot with all the equipment, both fab and welding, I've learned to operate. Been mostly in aircraft the last 20 or so.


And there's always room for learning.

[Texas Grown]

Almost time to fish now that this snowstorm weather is over! Got a Lithium deep cycle 100Ah battery for the Terrova up front. Should be here Monday. Gonna try to get some more work done to the removable front fishing deck also. Got the SpoolArk ready to run on the Miller 252. Should make sort work of welding up the aluminum deck frame.

[Beardedbuck]

Heck of a job on that boat. Keep up the good work!

[Chew]

Great progress!

[Texas Grown]

Thank you sirs!

[Texas Grown]

After almost 6 years, my trolling motor battery finally bit the dust. It was a good cheap ride. Not many ever last more than a year or two. I just upgraded.

The fish are biting, and there's hogs to be kill-t. Gotta go!

[TeamAmerica]

Nice! I saw David at shut up and fish has the 100 hour one for $599. Assuming you had to buy a new smart charger too? Does it have a Bluetooth or app to monitor it?

Someday I'll upgrade!

[Texas Grown]

As to the features, it all depends on who the mfg is. If you have a smart charger such as the MK PC line, then you can charge some up to 90-95% on the AGM setting. Lithium chargers take you the full 100%. Also, some batteries can be run in series, some not. Again, it all depends on the mfg. Do lots of homework before buying. There are some cheap ones out there. And there are some cheap ones out there again. Some cheapies are fair on quality. Some won't even work from the start. Know who your Mfg is. What kind of warranty they have. And what the battery requirements are. I got an internal blanket in mine for charging in sub 32 degree weather. If a lithium doesn't have a freeze temp cut-off switch, or an overheat switch-off, I wouldn't buy it. Just my personal preference. You also need to know what it takes if one of those switches is tripped to get the battery going again. My battery doesn't have the bluetooth built in. Didn't want it. Don't need it. But do have one for my charger so I can control the charge settings. This leaves one bank open on my MK 220PC now, that I plan to fill just for running electronics (since I have three Helix 10s onboard now).


There are to many advantages to lithium batteries over led acid, including weight savings and long term $$$ savings. And lithium batteries are only going to get cheaper with more mfgs entering the market all the time. Even Tracker Marine offers three now: a 60Ah, a 80Ah, and a 100Ah. They are made by Relion and branded Tracker. But they may not hold the quality that Relion brands for themselves.


There are already lithium starting batteries out there too. Not just deep cycle. Again, do your home work on those too. Make sure they are compatible with your OB's output.

[ultralite09]

Well dang, looks like I've been away from TBH for tooong. Boat is looking good brother, hope to touch base with you soon and we can go tear up some crappie

[Texas Grown]

Been wondering where you been. [emoji16]
Hope all is well. [emoji846]

The fish are biting, and there's hogs to be kill-t. Gotta go!

[Smart]

Dadgum Mike. I missed this the first time around! What a bad*** revamp of a nice boat! Got yourself a helluva nice rig there! When you pulled out the new outboard I was like there will be no half-***ing on this rebuild lol. Well done!

[Texas Grown]

Thank you Jason . It's an on-going project. Working on building a second Ethernet switch box cover at the moment. Both Ethernet switches will be daisy-chained. And trying to do some work on the removable front deck between hunting/fishing trips, family, and OT at work . I got to use it last Sunday afternoon for about 5 hours total. Caught a little of everything except green trashfish. But mostly crappie and samll sandies. I did catch one really nice sunfish that thought it was a bass. I thought I had a monster crappie on at first.