Thanks guys. So far it�s been pretty good.

I had to change the livewell in hose. It was collapsing and wouldn�t fill up.

I need a new gas line. It loses prime after awhile. I bought one but the tank end is the wrong one. I�ll probably just splice the new and old together.

I need to do some carb adjusting. It idles ok once it�s warmed up. Runs pretty good at top end. Just bogs down bad until it gets up there.

With just myself it gets up and planes decent. Had a buddy with me last weekend and she�s underpowered with two of us. Hopefully some carb adjustments will help that.

Anyone have a quick guide for carb adjusting?

You did a stand up job on the fabrication!

From the looks of the v-hull I would end up falling overboard from the narrow boat being unstable.

Replace the fuel line first, may solve your bogging issue.

Does the carb have 1 adjustment screw above the carb intake?

Love this! It�s always humbling when you have a budget rig like this pull up and out fish you in your $50k bass boat.

Sending you a PM Alumacraft.

Bringing this up from the dead.

Got a new trolling motor that will require another battery so I’m going to rebuild this and modify it from lessons learned.

First question: weight distribution.

When I built it originally I tried to keep weight distribution symmetrical side to side. However, through use, I know when I’m sitting on the one side it tracks bad, pulling to that side. Right now, I have both batteries square in the center. Since I’m adding another battery I am going to move all of them as far left as possible. My question now is where should I try to put them front to back? I have one in the back and one mid way right now. Should I add the second battery with the mid way or the back?

I should note that it is underpowered a bit as is. I’m looking to lose some weight if I can with new decking. It is 2x4s and 3/4 plywood right now. Any ideas?

ideas, sure do. 1/2 and 5/8th marine ply and square aluminum tubing. to me, 3/4 ply on a jon build is overkill and the 2x4s are just weight

What can I do with the thinner plywood to keep it from bowing? And how much flex would it have stepping on it?




I’d like to get some kind of plastic like a cutting board but that stuff is expensive and heavy too.

Composite board. I had a soft spot in my bass boat floor around the drain. I took it to a fiberglass repair shop and they replaced the floor with composite board. Said it was stronger and never will rot. Not sure where to buy but a few phone calls and I’m sure you could find it.

I’ll check into that.

So what about the batteries and weight distribution? Two in the middle and one in the back or vice versa? I know I’m going to put them as far port as I can opposite of where I sit.

tommar, the ply warp comes from moisture and heat. no way to get around the heat so address the moisture. i use resin to seal it and it also stiffens the ply with minimal added weight. and no, polyester resin is not waterproof, i use epoxy, reduced. epoxy shines when you get it to absorb into the wood

as a reference, all 1/2 inch, approximately
hdpe sheet (plastic).... 2.5 lbs per sq ft
marine ply................... 1.5 lbs per sq ft
coosa board (heavy)... 1.2 lbs per sq ft

last time i checked, coosa was 5 times the cost of marine ply. with your build, your just gonna have to experiment with the weight distribution. i like these jon conversions and you really did nice job on yours

and tommar.... thank you for your service

You can fiberglass the wood in two part epoxy so it's sealed and more rigid.

As far as battery placement, the advantage of having the batteries at the rear of the vessel would be getting up on plane faster and potentially be able to handle chop better by keeping the nose up easier.

However, I think anywhere other than the front would be fine. I'd place them where they are easy to wire and easy to get to for charging and servicing.

Coolarrow can’t seem to find composite board in sheets.

spanky, I like that Coosa board but damn it’s expensive! Thanks for the compliment!

I did paint the plywood with oil based paint. Fiberglassing and resin and all that seems like a lot of work making Coosa look better though.

CCTX, That’s what I thought for the weight distribution. I guess short of going way stupid overboard weight should be in the back as much as possible huh? The front will still come down and level off on plane anyway.

I’m going to have to totally redo the midsection. Make a battery box to the left of the one that is there which means the rods will have to now go on the right side and tackle to the left. That means the shallow box has to go in the center where the battery is currently. Live well and deep storage will stay where they are.

The back section will be easier, just adding another compartment for the second battery.

Of course wiring will have to change. One thing I learned building it was to run all the wires before putting the decking down so this time it’ll be easier! The two trolling motor batteries will be in the back and the cranking battery will be in the midsection.

Which battery should I run my graphs? Cranking or trolling motor?

As long as you don’t get interference from the trolling motor, I’d run the graphs off the trolling motor battery

The cranking battery is the most important battery in the boat—the fewer things running off the cranking battery, the better imo. I think my bilge runs off my cranking battery, but that’s it.

In my boat I have a separate battery for the graphs, lights, and live well. It’s way overkill—that battery never gets close to discharged.