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

[Texas Grown]

Fuel? I gotta have fuel? What fuel?


Tanks been empty for a very long time. Used it up in the mower last year.
Like you, I hope the rain stops for a bit.

[Texas Grown]

Here's a few pics of some fish from 2 years ago. Not giants. But...it was a grand year. Can hardly wait to get back there. From my Helix 10 SI/GPS Gen1.

[jnd1959]

Hope all works well. My transducer cable got pinched and now I have side imaging but no down image, just noise. I guess it's worth it to try to cut the kink out. If it doesn't work I'm only out time. Let us know how the float goes.

[cva34]

Been a great ride TG ...Great Job ..The Clarity on that Helix 10 is just unbelievable...THX for sharing

[skulleton]

Hope to see some pics of that rascal floating shortly

[kmitchl]

Very nice and well planned. I need to start running some practice beads on aluminum. TIG skills could use improvement.

[BDann]

Awesome rig!

[Rustled Again]

I'm new to this build but what a spectacular job!! Wish I had your welding skills. Love the ladder on the front of the trailer. You should patent that!

[Texas Grown]

Thank you fellers and Lass. Stay tuned. Cause I've got one more project to build for it. Probably this summer. Then I think I'll be done with it for a while.

I'm new to this build but what a spectacular job!! Wish I had your welding skills. Love the ladder on the front of the trailer. You should patent that!

At the time I built that, no one else had them except some pontoon trailers had bolt-on units. The are standard equipment on some bass boat packages now, with two or three steps and a hand grab. You can get bolt-on aftermarket ladders for almost any trailer now too.

[Razorback01]

Did you put it in the water, or procrastinate as in the past few years?

[Texas Grown]

I was a Pro cast-n ater today. Maybe I'll put it in the water next Dec?

[NannySlayer]

I was a Pro cast-n ater today. Maybe I'll put it in the water next Dec?

You sucker!! I was looking forward to reading this thread tonight! Went up to Cleburne State Park today.


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[Texas Grown]

You sucker!! I was looking forward to reading this thread tonight! Went up to Cleburne State Park today.


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Please don't take that quote seriously. I was just giving him the same harassment he gives me. He's gonna get old one day too. And everything is gonna fall apart on him at once, health wise.


I was hoping to get out today. But my plans hardly ever go as planned per usual . That's why I don't make them any more for my self. But they do seem to always work when they are for somebody else .
And, since I worked on that boat all day yesterday, I managed to get some house chores done at home today. Like washing 3.5 loads of clothes so my co-workers don't have to smell them this week. Washing dishes cause my dish washer is attached to the end of my arms (I don't have an automatic one). And vacuum so my dog doesn't have to lay in the hair she sheds . Fixed a pot of chili beans for the next few days, and added ground turkey to it cause that is one of the few groceiry store meats I can have, besides me not supposed to have lentils of any kind any more. And you know how the rest of the house stuff goes?
I haven't been able to do an yard work for two weeks now because my backyard has been flooded the whole time. My mower is in the shed in the back. And my grass is almost a foot tall in the front. I'll prob do it with the weed whacker in the next day or two, after work, if it don't rain again. And if/when I get/take a Saturday off work, which leaves me one day to do house chores...
And I do have two aging 80+ yoa parents that have needs, besides the rest of my family...





Sorry, I need some dry weather! And get-a-way time! I ain't been able to do pleasurable outside stuff since last May when I took my grandboys out fishing! And now, with what we're all facing as a state and a nation, which I hope that the upper management of the state don't come to that...cause that will kill my free time, when I do get some.


Yall have a great week. I got to get to bed. I've got my usual 4AM alarm set to go to work.

[WesTex1]

Do you have any pictures of your electrical setup? I am about to completely rewire my Duracraft aluminum center console boat and am wanting to do it right. Also, do you run a separate house battery for all your electronics or run them off your cranking battery?


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[Texas Grown]

I don't have pics of the electrical or a diagram. But I ran one hot wire from the battery to a multi fused switch panel. Then branched that out to each fused switch. From a switch, I ran a wire for each utility. Some have multiple lights. Some just an outlet. And tied it all back into a heavier gauge ground that goes back to the battery. That minimized the number of wires going forward and/or aft. For the power up front, I also ran a single hot 10ga to a bussbar. And a separate bussbar with a 10ga ground going back to the battery. The 10ga+ gave me power for a fused wire for my ethernet switch, my bluetooth puck, and the forward graph. I tied the grounds on those into the ground bussbar going back to the battery. I will add a 50amp breaker to that pos+ 10ga later. I have two 12v outlets on the bow that my spot and flood each plug into (or accessories). They each have a separate pos+ wire going back to the switch panel at the helm. That way, I could control either from the helm while underway. Both are grounded to the neg- buss-bar at the bow also. And my bow navigation light is on the fused switch panel as well, with it's ground going to the neg- bussbar on the bow. It's removable pull/push type light. And I have my live-well light, a 12v mid-ship outlet, and cargo/gun box(s) lights tied into it. It will only be on when under way or when fishing at night. I have the stern light on a separate switch on the helm switch panel also. That way I can turn it off or on as needed. Or just pull the light out of it's socket and store it. All lights except the flood and spot, are LEDs for minimum amperage usage.
Confused yet?


Being this is a very light weight boat, I'm trying to minimize the weight in the boat, somewhat. So I opted for a two battery system for now. One is for the troller. The other is a DP cranking/trolling AGM. That little 25hp don't take much to crank it over. And it also has a pull start . It's also has T&T with tiller steer, and trolling RPM control on the grip. And puts out over 50 amps service with 15 dedicated back to the starting battery. If I opt for a separate battery for the accessories, Evenrude has a plug-n-play Y-cable for such a set up so both battereis are being charged when the motor is running.



As for the the Ethernet set up:
I ran one Ethernet cable from the helm to the bow. And tied it into an Ethernet switch at the bow. I have the Terrova Ethernet cable plugged into the Ethernet switch. And the forward Helix 10 plugged into the switch. However, the US2 transducer on the Terrova is plugged into the forward Helix 10. At the helm, I have the other G1 Helix 10. And have a transducer y-cable plugged into it. On one Y sits the SI transducer. On the other Y is a high speed 2D sonar transducer for when I'm underway. I can switch to either one. Or run both from forward or aft sonar units via selection from Helix menu. I have another Helix 10 SI that I plan to put at the helm also. So, there will be two of them. I'll install another Ethernet switch at the helm and plug both units into it. That way I can have more screen area to view/navigate/whatever, pending the view I want/need. It will also increase my saved waypoint and routes capacity.


What's really nice about all this is: it's all removable for duck hunting, Including the "drop-in removable fishing deck" I would like to build for it (hopfully this summer) . I've had the aluminum for the frame since last summer .