New Member 10 ft Gruman Duck Boat Project

[Catfish_Hunter]

Hi guys, This will be my first post here. I've been lurking the site for the past few weeks and liked what I saw so I decided to join. Some of you guys on here have some awesome boats and what brought me here is watching some of the videos on youtube for ideas for my new project.

I'm out of central FL and spend most of my time hunting and fishing. I love killing ducks and thats mostly what my boat will be used for.

I just purchased a 1985 Gruman 10 ft jon boat for $100. I already had a 8HP suzuki that has about 60 hours on it.

My plans are to turn this little boat into a duck killin rig for one or two people. Last year I spooked alot of birds away with a 14' and 15' boat so I decided to get as low a profile as possible without sacrificing safety too much. I had a bad incident last season where i flipped a layout boat in 15 degree weather, so I'm done with anything smaller then a jon boat.

So my plans are to first sand prime and paint everything. I've made some stencils before, and they turned out pretty well. I'm probably gonnna go that route when it's time.

I'm also thinking of bed linering the bottom, building a small bow(spelling?) for the front, adding a trolling motor, lights, and last but not least a folding duck blind. I'll also be building or buying a small trailer because the boat didn't come with one. I have an axle and leaf springs and tounge already just need to buy the steal or a cheap trailer whatever is cheaper. I also plan on putting pods of some sort on the back and adding storage underneth to two existing seats...

I'll probably be slow to start but I have plenty of time before early teal season in september. Just started a new job so I'll have some extra cash to spend after a couple weeks.

So here's the boat now I'll get some more pics of her once she's on land and I have time to work on it. Let me know what you guys think or feel free to toss any ideas out there. I'm open to all suggestions...

(mods please move this thread if it's in the wrong section)

 

[Brine]

Welcome aboard CH.

Hope to see some duck pics this sept 8)

If you're not covering the floor, that bedliner (in black) is probably going to get super hot in the FL sun.

 

[Catfish_Hunter]

Thanks for the warm welcome.

I've thought about heat being an issue for sure but everyone who has done the bedliner to their boat says they love it. Thea reason I was going to use it is because it will also help seal it up if the rivits start to leak. They don't leak yet but the boat is quite old and has never had a motor on it untill now.

I've also thought about the textured paint but I have no experiance with that stuff. Any suggestions on an alternative that is about the same price as the bed liner? I don't want to add much more weight then I have to because I'm already pushing it with that huge motor and all my duck hunting gear.

Here's a pic of a pair of woodies I got last season in the worst duck boat ever. Actually it was from the day before I flipped that POS. I plan on doing some stencils like this but adding a few more layers and patterns and using some paint that doesn't shine as bad.

 

[Brine]

I used Tuff Coat from Bass Pro Shops. It was $80 for a gallon. They have it in several different colors. I used white, which I know wouldn't be good for duck hunting (unless you were in snow :LOL2: ) I wouldn't consider it a sealer though. Simply a coating. Gluv-It would be a good choice of sealer, but if the boat has no leaks, I wouldn't bother with it either.

I used Herculiner on my trailer, and it get's hot in the sun.

 

[Catfish_Hunter]

Well I got the boat legal and I've been fishing out of it quite a bit lately, and she does great. I built a bow on it using some stuff I had already. The total cost was $0. The bow adds some weight to the front so it doesn't come up so high while taking off when I'm solo. It actualy doesn't raise up much at all anymore.

The main reason for the bow is that I managed to talk my buddy out of a small trolling motor. I'll be mounting it tommarow afternoon and testing it out on the lake.

So Here's a few more pics to show more of what I'm working with.

 

[Catfish_Hunter]

Thats on my 18 foot magic tilt trailer it's not the one I'm using, it's just a work station right now lol.

Also a few of the Suzuki 8hp . I'm gonna clean the carbs while it's out of the water, because sometimes it doesn't want to start on the first pull or two...

I'm still waiting on the paint . I havn't decided on weather or not I'm going to use the bedliner or not...? I'm not sure I wanna spend the money on something else...