Yet another jon boat modification

Well I just went out recently and got me a 12' aluminum v-hull Montgomery Ward Sea King (not sure of the year but I would guess 70's) and I couldn't be happier. I have a small transom mount 34lb thrust trolling motor on the back that will last me about 2 days on a full battery. I could row faster but it came with the package. I have attached some pictures.

Here are a few ideas/questions I have for the boat. They are ranked in order of which will be done first to last.

1. New paint job. Lots of scratches and chips at the moment. Anyone know how/techniques to apply a good DIY camo pattern?

2. Decking. The widest part of the boat near the middle is 4ft (48") and the transom is 3'7" (43"). Does this boat qualify for decking without making the boat too unsturdy? Partial decking would be fine, perhaps just a casting deck in the front. I will have to play around with some ideas but first I wanted to get your opinions on if this boat can handle a 200lb man standing up without having to worry about tipping if I have to do some powerful hook setting. If I did partial decking, like a casting deck in the front half, I would probably make the deck flat with the top of the boat. If I decked the whole thing, I would probably deck it about 8"-12" deep or where the seats sit right now. It is also a v-hull and I dont usually see a lot of info on v-hull decking. Anyways let me hear some input on this.

3. Live well. Would love to get a live well in this baby so I can bag me some keepers. This will take some research on my part, so if you know any good places to read up on custom live wells links would be most appreciated.

4. Bow mount trolling motor or preferrably a way to mount my transom mount motor to the bow. Any adaptors for this? I would also like a pedal up front to control the motor because fishing by yourself or having to steer/drive and fish at the same time can get frustrating. Does the motor have to be made to accept a pedal or is there a way to rig a pedal in between the motor and the battery and achieve the same effect?

5. Possibly a 9.9 outboard if money allows it. This could be out a ways (possibly 6 months or so).

Thats all I got for now. I'm hoping to get started on this asap. Looking forward to any advice you have to offer. As this is my very first boat, I am new to the boating scene so if I ask some dumb questions please bear with me. :lol:

wilber85 said:

Well I just went out recently and got me a 12' aluminum v-hull Montgomery Ward Sea King (not sure of the year but I would guess 70's) and I couldn't be happier. I have a small transom mount 34lb thrust trolling motor on the back that will last me about 2 days on a full battery. I could row faster but it came with the package. I have attached some pictures.

Here are a few ideas/questions I have for the boat. They are ranked in order of which will be done first to last.

1. New paint job. Lots of scratches and chips at the moment. Anyone know how/techniques to apply a good DIY camo pattern?

If you look around via the search function, there have a been a bunch of people to do this, though I am sure others will chip in soon with specifics.

2. Decking. The widest part of the boat near the middle is 4ft (48") and the transom is 3'7" (43"). Does this boat qualify for decking without making the boat too unsturdy?

What is the width of the floor near the transom? If smaller than 42" i would suggest no decks and just floors. If you do go that route, I would first suggest standing on the seat and walking side to side (of course with a life jacket on). There is a pinned thread that talks about decking, read that as well.

Partial decking would be fine, perhaps just a casting deck in the front. I will have to play around with some ideas but first I wanted to get your opinions on if this boat can handle a 200lb man standing up without having to worry about tipping if I have to do some powerful hook setting.

Everyone is different, but for me, no, I would not do that. I have a deck by my boat is 16' by 46+ at the transom floor, and I wouldn't go smaller.

If I did partial decking, like a casting deck in the front half, I would probably make the deck flat with the top of the boat. If I decked the whole thing, I would probably deck it about 8"-12" deep or where the seats sit right now. It is also a v-hull and I dont usually see a lot of info on v-hull decking. Anyways let me hear some input on this.

There are plenty of decks on v hulls here, gotta search around, but I would suggest not decking the whole thing but rather the bow, creating just storage. 12 foot boats just dont have the stability, generally, that 14'/+ boats do IMO.

3. Live well. Would love to get a live well in this baby so I can bag me some keepers. This will take some research on my part, so if you know any good places to read up on custom live wells links would be most appreciated.

There is a livewell column created by Russ on the home page of the site, not the forum home page, that will show you what to do. However, on a 12' boat with a weight capacity no creater than likely 400lbs, I would avoid a livewell, since the weight of a proper sized livewell is HEAVY and would likely push you near that quickly, not to mention drain your battery faster.

4. Bow mount trolling motor or preferrably a way to mount my transom mount motor to the bow. Any adaptors for this? I would also like a pedal up front to control the motor because fishing by yourself or having to steer/drive and fish at the same time can get frustrating. Does the motor have to be made to accept a pedal or is there a way to rig a pedal in between the motor and the battery and achieve the same effect?

Others will be able to answer, so I will avoid doing so now.

5. Possibly a 9.9 outboard if money allows it. This could be out a ways (possibly 6 months or so).

9.9 would make that thing fly, but be careful on the HP limit, there are always laws and insurance liability to consider.

Thats all I got for now. I'm hoping to get started on this asap. Looking forward to any advice you have to offer. As this is my very first boat, I am new to the boating scene so if I ask some dumb questions please bear with me. :lol:View attachment 1

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Have fun, this is going to be a good experience, and youll have a second boat in no time lol.

glad to finially see somebody with the same rig as me

my old 7.5 wasnt enough to get me on plane with 2 people, i think the 9.9 would suit you perfect

look forward to seeing your progress

Nice little boat.
I would not deck it, dont think it will be steady enough. My advice is to put in a simple floor.
For camo, most guys go overboard, stick with a simple coat of olive drab or battleship grey and that is plenty. If you want to add some camo, simple black, brown & green stripes to imitate vegetation works fine.

As far as the 9.9, what is it rated for? I looked online, and most 12' semi-v's with a 53-58" beam are rated for 10 hp with a 500 pound total weight limit. But your boat could be different.
In any case, a 9.9 should make it move pretty good.

Live wells take up a lot of space, requires power for the aerator and weigh alot. A 10 gallon livewell weighs 60-80 pounds depending on how much water you put in. Sticking with a 48 quart ice chest is probably a better option.

With the front on that boat, a front foot control TM should be easy to mount. But once again, think about your weight limit. A 9.9, fuel, fishing gear, ice chest, you plus a TM & deep cycle battery is ~400 pounds. Add a partner and you are over the weight limit.

Thanks for the tips guys. I might scratch the live well idea. It was a little more heavy duty than I planned on it being. I hardly keep anything I catch anyways and dont plan on fishing tournaments.

I am still debating the decking. If you look closely you can see a ridge running down the inside of the boat about 1.5 feet deep. That is probably where I would start the floor. Next time I take it out I will try standing on the seats to see how steady it is with some weight up high.

You can still do the portable livewell - the boat I was using before was a 1236, and I had no issues, but it takes up room.

If you go that route, I would really suggest using a 50-70qt cooler (the bigger the better). The rubbermaid will work during the winter and colder temps, but it's harsh on water temps in the middle of the summer.

What kind of fish are you going for? Bass need more water, and well - bream or crappie - if they're in the livewell, their going to the dinner table so just keep them aerated and they'll be fine.

Hmm that might work russ010. There is a good amount of space in the boat at the moment. We will see after I decide on decking. I have some plans I drew last night I will post when I get home from work.

By the way, I bought my boat right off Hickory Flat in Canton. I grew up about 10 miles away between Canton and Alpharetta. I love that area.

Ok another question specific to v hull boats.

When considering stability and width, I realize that the width of the floor of the boat determines a lot. I have also heard the level at which the boat is submerged in the water can affect stability.

So, on flat bottoms, where the walls are usually closer to a 90 degree angle than a v-hull, would there be a difference in determining stability? Basically I am asking if I should really be measuring the width of the boat at the level at which it is submerged in the water when determining stability? The floor of my v-hull or semi v will be a bit thinner than the actual width of the hull towards the top, more-so perhaps than a flat bottom. Does any of this matter or am I thinking too much into this?

I have built and installed many livewells and storage customizing in boats. That boat will take a livewell just fine around 20-30 gallons would only be 166-250 lbs and if you put it center and low in the boat it will help stabilize as well and you can easilly utilize space. Installing a deck will give you some unbalancing only if you put it too high up to the rim of your boat. be sure to center your heavy items in the boat, like battery, livewell, bait well. If you put a floor in it be sure to put foam under for support, sound resistance and floatation in case of capsizing. Also if you put a floor in consider installing a fuel tank under the floor in the area of the rear seat you have there now, again this will give you a lower center of gravity and stabitity and utilize space.

I have done 100's of boat makeovers, custom build livewells and fuel tanks go to my website https://www.customlivewells.com and contact me if you have questions.

Well I will offer my 2 cents on the paint. My buddy bought a 22' '06 Xpress from a salvage company, it needed major structural and sheetmetal work. After the repairs were made I was able to do a really nice match of the factory camo job- Have pics, but I have to figure out how to post them so hold on tight.

I primed the bare metal areas with green zinc chromate (typically used in aircraft for corrosion protection) then shot color-matched flat olive drab acrylic urethane over the whole area. The next step was making brown "giraffe spots" if you will, over the olive. The brown was acrylic urethane, that I flattened by adding Krylon (I know it sounds wrong, mixing the two and all, but as long as it dont turn to cottage cheese it will spray)
After the brown spots were dry, I cut out a stencil from a 8 1/2 x 11 bit of card-stock (yes this was painstaking) and sprayed flat black acrylic urethane.

Had I to do again, I would make a larger stencil for the black, but it worked alright by rotating the pattern 180 degrees every couple passes- you really cant see too much repeat unless you look for it. All said and done the camo job is really perfect- a tadd bit too glossy, but after a month on the Snake river you cant tell.