Off topic, sorta…Has anyone ever built a plywood Jon boat?

Here’s the deal… I have my 17” mod V for fishing. What my buddy and I like to do is get in the about Friday after work, and slowly travel the river until it starts to gets dark, then we pull over set up a tent, build a fire break out the beer and stay the night, then get up Saturday and continue on at a leisurely pace. When it starts to get dark, we camp again. Sunday we pack up and head back to the truck.

Last time we did this, we took a third friend… we were very crowded and felt cramped on the boat. So I was thinking... maybe a small Jon to tow behind the boat to hold our tent and food and such. Wouldn’t have to be big, 8 or 10 foot would do great.

What do you think?

Oh and the reason I was thinking plywood is because I can get a few sheets of it for free from Army packing when they are done with shipping... all I would have to buy would be the fibberglass and epoxy

I built a fiberglass jon boat out of paneling,then ripped out the paneling.It was three layers thick,ended up being 13'8,had a 9.9hp on it with a 30lbs trolling up front;cost me about 250bucks.I gave it to the kid next door,on he's maiden voyage he flipped it...he put a 15hp on it was out in a strong wind,luckily he had he's floater suit on and he's father was in another boat close by and he picked him up.The boat floated due to floatation.Fiberglass is pretty expensive now,15 years ago it wasn't so bad.Kinda gets messy to,although that was my first big project with it.Probably be just as cheap to get a second hand small jon.

Go to https://www.glen-l.com/, then click on boat plans catalog on the left. Good reading.