NEW MEMBER

Hey guys,

After lurking the boards here for several months I figured it was time to join up and share my questions, thoughts and experiences with everyone. I was born and raised in Miami, FL now living in Dunnellon, FL. I sold my Hewes before coming up to Dunnellon and picked up a 14'8" Duracraft jon with Aluminum Deck and 25 hp 2 stroke merc. Ive owned several jons in my day (IM 25) and have some of my best memories fishing from them....


I look forward to chatting it up with everyone, and if your local in my area, shoot me a PM and we can get out on the water.

Tight Lines and Smooth Drags,

CaptDan

pic of boat when i bought it....(last friday)

Welcome Dan.That's a nice little rig you have there.There is plenty of info here and the same amount of helpful folks,also.

:WELCOME: Dan!

Thanks for joining!

Nice looking boat.

Welcome aboard captdan, looking forward to hearing bout some of your experiences =D>

Can we winter at your place if we bring our own tin to fish out of :wink:

Just Kidding! Welcome!

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.... =D>

Hey Capt. D.

Welcome aboard. You're gonna love it here. Remember...you get back what you put forth. Hope to see you around a lot. It just get's better every day!

Nice boat....it sure floats high off the water! Now that's really running SKINNY! :roll:

Nice boat man - you going to go out on Lake Weir or Lake George?

Nice looking boat, welcome.

Welcome. This is the best group of people on the net.

SO today was the first chance Ive had to get her out on the water since I bought her.... When I bought her, she had no trailer but I was able to pick one up in Miami for 200.... only problem I found out a bit later was that the boat hangs off the boat by 29"... more on that in a minute. So after getting back and with work, I managed to get her on the trailer with a little help from the break away/tilt, a pvc pipe and the winch on the trailer. Upon trying to start the motor, my pull rope broke.... ](*,) Figuring that I needed to gt the lower unit oil and impellar swapped out, I dropped her off at my local boat shop in hopes shed be ready the same day... ended up with her the next day which was quick enough... Took her for a spin this morning on the river and she ran great..... After cruising around for a while, I decided to head home and start up on wiring her up the way I want.... Getting her on the trailer was a pain in the :!: Because I had slid the winch bracket so far up/high on the tongue, and the SHALLOW nature of the ramp, I had to back the trailer up quite a bit further than I wanted to.... glad it was freshwater and not salt!

Anywhos, with almost 3 ft of the boat sticking off, I am now looking for a solution to my problem. I need to extend the tongue, but with zero welding skills and a very thin wallet, my options are somewhat limited. The tongue looks to be held in place by a single bolt that the trailer swivels on when using the tilt feature.... If I were to slide the tongue forward and re-drill the hole about a foot further, would I have any negative effects on the trailer? Also plan to extend the bunks by 6-8" to help accommodate...... Any input would be appreciated.

CaptDan out

Welcome Dan, I just joined up myself after lurking for some time. I just bought my first boat of any sort and it's a Lowe 1430 that I'm planning on making a slight overhaul to and hoping to move up to something a bit bigger in the springtime.

Hi Capt,

Welcome aboard. If you can, take some pics of the trailer and post them up. Sometimes adding a bunch of tongue length pushes the weight of the boat on the trailer too far forward where there is no structural support below for the center to bow of the boat. This may cause the tongue to bend.

Sounds like you need to add 3ft of tongue to the trailer. I wouldn't worry about a DIY fix that only helps out by a foot or so. The desired finished product should be that your transom is supported by your bunks as to not cause damage to the hull. Find a local metal suplier, and price out the tube. It may be that you can find a 3' piece in their scrap bin. Call a few welders and get a quote. It shouldn't cost much to have someone weld it on.

If you end up going this route, make sure you're making the toungue the exact length you want for it to be "best". I would plan for the transom to overhang the back of the trailer by only a couple inches, but again....pics may give some better insight as not all trailers are created equal.

Good luck!

I was able to move the tongue forward about 16 inches and going to do the bunks tomorrow.... It is going to work out perfect =D>

I appreciate yall's input.... I tried calling a few welders but they werent available for two weeks... I thought work was slow!

Anywhos, I will try and get a pic or two up once shes complete....