I've seen a lot of cool Jon boat conversions lately. I'm toying with the idea of getting one, but I don't have the skills to build it myself.

Is there anyone local who does professional conversions? I'm really only interested in help with a casting deck and extra storage. I'd wire the trolling motors and electronics myself.

Lee: I personally think the aluminum boat/jon boat builders are missing a big market that would be easy for them to fill. The Technical Poling Skiff fishermen pay 10 to 30 Grand for a light, easily poled or powered hull, with a forward fishing deck, an aft deck, with or without a poling tower, and narrow side decks. The Ankona Shadowcraft 16 & 18, the Gladesmen boats, Beavertail Skiffs, and the New Water Willett(250 pounds, in carbon fiber construction), and some East Cape boats are great for skinny water fishing, and could be duplicated in aluminum very easily. All those are great designs, but they're many thousands more than an aluminum copy would cost.

I bought an old 1958 14-foot aluminum runabout and cut it down to make a flats skiff. In this forum, there's a post that says New Boat/Old Boat that shows what I did with my boat. It's a great flats fishing boat. I cut 40 pounds of aluminum off that boat!

I searched a long time for a candidate boat to modify. I didn't want a typical jon boat with a square bow. Too much pounding! Pointy bows cost a bit more to build, but give a much better ride.

A 16-foot vee-bow aluminum hull, no wider than 5 feet, with a simple deck, would be a great fishing platform for lakes, rivers and coastal marshes. Other than custom fabricators, I don't see anyone filling that market.

Good luck! IslandJim

Mine isn’t any way near the engineering feat Island Jim did but check mine out for some ideas.

https://texasfishingforum.com/forum...on-to-bass-boat-conversion#Post13010803.

Feel free to PM me if you’d like some tips and pointers.

Both builds look great! Way nicer than I'd be able to create.

You'd be surprised! Necessity is the mother of all inventions. Start simple, draw it out on paper, then use cardboard to make a template. From there build the deck. I started with zero experience long ago and fell in love with it. Nothing better then out fishing 75k rigs in your home made jon boat. That and no huge payment at the beginning of every month! Go for it, it's an addictive blast that pays off big time!

Lee: Follow Alumacraft's instructions. Make some sketches of what you want. Get some aluminum angle, some pop-rivets and build a support for whatever deck you want. Attach the deck and go catching! I got a little more daring in my conversion, but Tommar's build is neat, functional and is probably as good, or better, than what you'd buy at BassPro for many thousands more than he spent. I've got about $500 total invested in my skiff, not counting the outboard! IslandJim

I appreciate the encouragement guys, but I'm not looking to do it myself. I don't have the tools or skills, and I don't want to gain either.
I'd rather find a professional that can turn the sketch into reality.

Too bad I’m so far away. I’d give it a shot. I pretty much threw mine together going super cheap. I can do a whole lot better than this and wouldn’t charge an arm and a leg over expenses.

lee, i've been thinking about this prospect for a while now. i have a car to work on in big irv and will be down there sometime this week. if you wanted, i wouldn't mind taking a look to see what you have in mind

I appreciate the offer. It's just an idea right now. I haven't bought a boat yet. I'm still using a kayak.