Trying to mitigate drift of jon boat aft (14' Alumacraft)

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kmfw160

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I'm starting modifications for bass fishing on a jon boat I bought for my 14yr old son. I decked out a 14 footer years ago and remember the issues with the rear end drifting in higher winds. I have been trying to engineer something like catamarans have that drop down to steer. I don't think a super large vertical plate is needed but something is definitely required to quell the maddening aft end swinging around.
Thanks in advance for any ideas and advice.
Kevin
 
Ive fished small boats that do this as well, while fishing using the trolling motor. Keeping the outboard down in the water helps a little. Other than that maybe just try putting a bucket over the side on a short rope from the stern? worth a shot
 
Most of the correct answers have already been posted.

Drift chute/anchor

Keep motor deep in the water, and turn the motor so it counteracts the wind direction.
(you'd be surprised how much your motor acts as a rudder when it is the water)

You could jury rig some sort of a rudder on the stern or even one side, but sure as shooting, it will catch a line and lose the biggest fish some day.

If the fisherman is up front, and the motor is in the stern, it may be that the wind will react more on the larger fisherman than on the motor.

richg99
 
I probably should have mentioned I don't have an outboard out back lol
I figured a drift sock would be ineffective due to slow speed of 45 lb trolling motor.
Does hanging an anchor off the back work that well?
My buddy said I should fabricate and use some kind of skeg...an idea I never thought of lol.
 
If you were able to install some sort of rudder that is easy to lift in or out of the water I would imagine it should help and not increase the boats weight very much.
 
A bucket on a rope as mentioned above is a pretty quick and inexpensive way to test it, I bet you already have those items on hand. :)

Of course current is not the same as wind....
 
Didn't know that you didn't have an engine back there. A home-made rudder is an easy thing to fabricate. I've done a number of them for kayaks.

I've attached a few pictures of the one that resides on my current yak (9 foot Malibu Mini-X). I used it yesterday to catch a couple of speckled trout!

Making the hinge was probably the most interesting aspect of it. I bought a Stainless-Steel-Bottle-Opener at Academy and modified it to accept a threaded sprinkler fitting. I inserted a very large galvanized nail as the pivot. A couple of stainless-steel-Eye-Hooks were driven into a block of hard-wood. The large nail was slipped into them. I did have to cut a piece of PVC tubing to tighten up the fit between the galvanized nail and the plumbing fitting.

The eye-hooks provided the connection between the rudder mount and the boat.

The rudder was a piece of aluminum that I bought at a scrap metal place.

The cross-bar which allows turning was an old golf shaft.

I ran small lines up front and just pull on them to change direction. Your son could add a cleat or other form of rope stopper to set the angle of the rudder. Nothing fancy would be required.

Let me know if I can help in any way.

richg99

Atwood...bottle-opener
10066713.jpg
 

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To all of ya'll, thanks for all the words of advice. I hope I can be helpful in the future. I'm so glad I found this forum!

P.S. a little about me...43 yr old retired Soldier (done tours to Iraq and the Stan) who finally has time to really relax, take a breather and focus on kids having their dad around lol.

Thanks again ya'll!
 
I actually have an old skeg off an inflatable kayak that is now deceased that you can have. Where are you located? Looks like this
311QSh1f9aL.jpg
Total length is about 20 inches. Weighs 1lb1oz
 
Seen reference to drift anchors and drift socks.

Be careful with them. Some rivers have more current than others, and most lakes have none. In those swift current areas, I have seen guys drifting with either the anchor out or the sock out, and either/or catch something on the bottom, or in the river, like a log jam or rock pile or whatever. When this happens the boat stops and stops quick. I've seen guys fall out of the boat. Seen a guy have his drift sock in the back and it hung up on a rock pile, and of course most Jons aren't designed to fight 10mph current with the stern, and it took on water and went down before he could get the line cut. In that river, you don't have long before yout get too cold to swim even in the middle of the summer.

Thus, if you're going to use one of these devices, keep a SHARP knife handy, and use a rope (not a cable or chain) so that if you get into the situation, you can cut the line quickly and easily.

This past summer I seen a guy in North Arkansas using a piece of chain to drift on the White River, and the chain got hung up. Boat stopped and was turned sideways to the current. Luckily the ol boy got it unstuck before it took on much water.
 
Stinkfoot,

I'm in eastern Oklahoma. The wife said we were retiring in her hometown since I drug her all over the country lol, not to mention 3 tours to South Korea and multiples to the desert lol.
 
Well I am in Canada just north of Seattle. I can mail it to you if you want to PM me your address. Looks like it would cost about 20 bucks to post but you can buy it on Amazon for $20. :LOL2:
 
Yeah, my wife always complains when I inadvertantly order stuff fro Canada because of the shipping cost lol. I really appreciate the offer brother.
I have some pretty thick plexiglass I can probably use now that I have a good idea of what to do.
 
If you find that the plexiglass is a bit brittle, a Walmart cutting board is also a good material to use.

You will have to add some weight to the bottom to be sure that the rudder sinks properly. I used some wheel balancing weights that I got from the local gas station for free.

Here is a picture of another rudder on the older yak that I keep in my local pond. The Walmart cutting board has been on this one for years, exposed to the sun for 6 months at a time. This one started out as an ugly green to match the ugly green yak. it has faded over time. regards rich
 

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Good point brother. The plexiglass is tough to get a clean break line. I have some whit plastic-like material I was going to attempt a router plate with...I'll have to tinker with it as I find time.

A little off topic but, as far as plywood goes what do most of ya'll use? I believe treated is a tad heavy so I was leaning towards a good plywood and with a little lacquer and carpet.
 
Never, Never, Never use treated lumber with an aluminum boat, IMHO. That c#$@ has turned many aluminum boats into aluminum screening.

The old stuff had copper and arsenic in it. It was bad. The newer treated lumber has different additives, but the manufacturers still recommend to NOT use with aluminum screws, etc.

Never have figured out why anyone would want to take a chance with it when regular lumber is readily available and works well enough. For plywood, just use any EXterior sheet... i.e ACX BCX anything with the X in it is made with EXTerior glue.

rich
 

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