Going to start a boat mod

[dkeith621]

Ok, so I have had my boat for about 3 years now, and I can no longer handle it being bare bones. It is a 1648 Lowe Flat bottom Jon Boat. It is 16 foot long, 48" at the bottom, and 70" at the top of the boat. This project will take me a little awhile, but I am starting my researching and planning now. I looked through several build forums, and I am very impressed with the amount of knowledge on this forum. I also was impressed nobody seemed to really be jerks unlike a lot of other forum. Let me begin with what I use the boat for and then I will get to ideas I have going for now.I have my boat on the water 50-75 times a year. I am a duck hunter, but also use the boat for fishing (walleyes, crappies, smallmouths, maybe a little catfish here and there, and possibly some stripers). I need room to fish, but also open room for decoys, dog, and other misc gear. One of my biggest questions now is if I can safely remove the middle bench of the boat. I would like to extend the front deck, and also build a back deck. I want the storage room under, but also room to fish. Down both sides of the boat I would like to build gun boxes that would cover the interior sides of the boat. I want to install 3 pedestal seats (one on the back deck, one on the front deck, and one in the low area of the boat where the middle bench is as of now). All 3 pedestals need to be removable. Headlights will be on the front of the boats, as well as running navigation lights ( I have been using junk clip on battery lights). I also want to run interior lights, and have cigarette lighter plugs in the front and back of the boat. Also, on the front of the deck I want to install speakers and a CD player for slow days on the water. I am thinking I will need 3 deep cycle batteries. I also will be running a trolling motor and a small fish finder. Do i need an on board charger for all the electronics I want to run? Also, I would like to build a livewell, but I am completely lost at how I would do this. I will be building my flooring and decking out of marine grade plywood, and covering it with marine grade carpeting. Some additional things I would to add would be cupholders built into the flooring as well as a dry box where we could put wallets, car keys, phones, etc. Any help would be appreciated. It will be a little while before the modifications begin. Indiana is a little too chilly, but Id like to have the boat completely done by April. On a side note, my boat is powered by a Mercury 9.9 tiller motor. Speed is not my priorty.

Thanks,

David Keith

 

[fool4fish1226]

First off :WELCOME: Sounds like you got a good plan; many people remove the middle seat from their boats without issue. The gun box running down the side will also help re-support the middle of the boat. You may want to run another storage box along the other side for the same reason and you can never have enough storage.

Good luck and post some pictures of your boat. We love pictures and it helps with answering questions

 

[dkeith621]

I appreciate it. I will post some pics here soon. I may be biting off more than I can chew I have my eye on a ski boat project to try to do at the same time. lol

 

[dkeith621]

Ok, so the more I think about it I am wondering about building a console, and buying a different motor. As of now, I have Mercury 9.9 tiller motor. I found a 35 horse Force that is in my price range. The motor runs good, and it comes with all controls. I havent quite decided yet.

 

[JMichael]

If your current motor is not too old, you can probably buy a conversion kit to convert it to remote. I've decided to go the opposite route and convert mine back to tiller. #-o

 

[JasonLester]

I like the tiller versions of boats. gives you more room to fish. On bigger boats its nice to have a console but smaller boats tiller isn't to bad....all in what you are after though... I am setting my boat up for small lakes, 10hp limit kind of lakes. The closest lake to me has a 10 hp limit and in all the years I have been here (10-15 minutes away) I have rarely fished it. I have some in the Kayak lately but I want to take the kids along now. So tiller makes sense for me.

 

[dkeith621]

Finally Ill put up an interior pic. The boat is still pretty messy from duck season, and the blind is also still on the boat. You guys get the idea.