Which 10' jon? Advice needed.

I have a Tracker 1032, and I love the boat. It has two issues I think I can remedy with another 10' brand / model. Those issues are first the rocking / listing stability on the water, and the 320 lb max capacity. If I upgrade my boat the things I want to achieve are:

More beam, and more weight capacity while keeping the boat easy to handle from a full size pickup truck alone... I'm 65 in good shape but don't want to kill myself either. I will NOT consider a boat longer than 10' at all.

I was digging around the web, and the specs became blurred so I wrote a spreadsheet to organize my thoughts to be able to compare them fairly. The red fields pretty much threw them out of the running for my purposes, yellow is an improvement and green is even more of an improvement. White is a don't care, like horsepower (I run all electric) and price is meh, again I don't care.

If not for the nearly double weight of the Alweld over my current boat it would likely have been my choice. So it "looks" like the Tracker 1036 increases my beam (more interior space), in water width (better stability) and loaded weight capacity, as do the Alumacraft 1036 (looks the best on paper of the three) and G3 1036 with minimal increase in weight.

So, considering my issues what makers of the three (Tracker, Alumacraft, and G3) in terms of reliability and quality of build would give the best service? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Oh, and ANY other brands / models in 10' I should consider are welcome too.

Check out the Lowe 1040. 56" beam, 87lb., 419 weight capacity, $642 ( according to the Lowe website). Should be stablest of the bunch with that 40 inch bottom.

crappie777 said:

Check out the Lowe 1040. 56" beam, 87lb., 419 weight capacity, $642 ( according to the Lowe website). Should be stablest of the bunch with that 40 inch bottom.

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Thanks, that looks like the best of breed so far in the specs. I just measured my truck bed and it looks like it will fit also. Right now the two Lowe dealers nearby (~110 miles away each) don't have them in stock so till they do any more recommendations are greatly appreciated.

As far as the dealers "not having them in stock".... at this time...I wouldn't think that they would EVER stock a 1040.

I imagine, even though it is the very best choice so far for you, it isn't a boat that would be all that popular with many other buyers.

I think that you would have to actually ORDER one and wait it out. I don't know that this is the case, but if you want it, you may have to pay and order it. If you can wait, they can throw your order on the next regular shipment so you don't have to pay an exorbitant shipping charge.

Conversations about small, light and stable boats come up very often here. The end result that I've noted has always been the wider boat wins over any other consideration. A heavier boat is usually more stable, too.

I hope you find what you are looking for.

regards, richg99

In doing some searching for you, I noticed that Cabelas offers Lowe tinnys. MIght give any local Cabelas a call.

With the Bass Pro merger, who knows what they might have on close-out!!!! richg99

The dealer in Fort Pierce keeps stock on them had one in stock until last week, and has another on order because contrary to what many may think, 10 footers that can be stuffed into a truck bed and hand launched are popular in Florida. I've seen many stuffed in pickups going down the road. They also can negate the need for a trailer, registration fees, maintenance and storage of a trailer. Sliding a smaller boat alongside a house in a narrow alley is pretty easily done.

Also not having requirement to register and or title some boats for some purposes the 10' is actually a good pick for many, especially those that keep or use them them on private lakes without an engine.

Due to the slope of the sides I want to see if it actually fits my truck bed so in person is the only way I will buy. Heavier than 100 lbs or so, or longer than 10' isn't an option nor is ordering one. If I had a storage area to keep a larger boat, it would already be here.

Anyway, the dealer in Ft. Pierce is going to call me when it arrives. I'll make a day trip to see it.

I see that you've got it all thought out. Good for you.

It is interesting that certain boats don't have to be registered in FL. I know that you guys don't have to register your motors or even smaller trailers, I think. Texas gets its pound of flesh for all three; boats, motors and trailers.

regards, richg99

Register motors? Wow! On one hand I can see it as a potential benefit for engine theft deterrence, but down here they strip off the lower units, shafts, props and heads and sell them on Craig's list or Ebay, but in the long run it looks like a quest to separate us from money.

PS. EVERY chance I get to deny the state of dipping into my pocket, I take

I suspect that we do have somewhat less theft of motors here due to the registration requirements. Makes sense. Why steal something if you are going to have a very tough time selling it?

I don't like taxes any more than the next guy, but money going to fishing/boating etc. bothers me less than other places.

richg99

I'm kind of interested in what you find out on that 1040. Be sure and keep us posted.

Hmmm. Good choice. A couple thoughts:

Looking at the specs, I see that the Lowe has .043 aluminum, while the Tracker 1036 has .050. That is a significant plus for the Tracker IF you are dealing with rocks (shoreline or otherwise). That said the tracker is substantially heavier - almost to 2 person-required weight (unless trailered, of course, in which case one person could handle either easily).

Another plus for the Lowe is the installed oarlocks - I like to row so that would fall into the very desirable category of feature. (Oarlocks that fit just right are hard to find)

Good luck with your acquisition!

I got to see the Lowe 1040 in person when we went to buy our Lowe 1240...Cool little boat with a 56" beam and 40" bottom
My 1240 is with 40"bottom is very sturdy in the water..My wife and I can stand up n o problems. If your gonna get a 10 footer...go with the 1040 youl love it! Cabela's may even deliver

Thanks all.

I won't be running over any rocks down here, so on the thickness versus the weight issue, I'll take lighter.

The Cabellas folks won't order and ship unless I lived near one of their retail locations, I don't :-( Though if I wanted to go to Texas, Indiana, or Connecticut among others I could get a killer deal on one in stock.

If I have to, I'll order one locally and it it doesn't slide into my truck bed I'll just figure out a way to shoehorn it into / onto my truck.

I updated the spec sheet and I added / appended the person weight / max cargo weight fields and flat Jon boats to 14'. Alumacraft and G3 do not have both specs I think their published weights may be deceiving as compared to the others if their weights listed are for passenger not total weight with passengers and cargo.

PS, for some reason .jpg files come out blurry on the image viewer here so I had to save as .256 color .gifs to make them readable.

The best 10 foot jon would be a 14 footer.

Seriously. I would only ever use a 10 foot jon if I weighed 140 pounds and was fishing a farm pond.

But that's just me.

ericman said:

The best 10 foot jon would be a 14 footer.

Seriously. I would only ever use a 10 foot jon if I weighed 140 pounds and was fishing a farm pond.

But that's just me.

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I'm 145 and fish anywhere I can hand launch my boat from my truck bed, and stow it on the narrow side of my house. Show me a 14 footer that I can do that with and I'm a buyer, last month

Otherwise your comment is sophomoric, and it illustrates you did not read my original post. Why add heat without light to a discussion?

I'm 6'1", 185 lb. and 75 years old and I still think I'd sooner fish out of a small jon boat than a kayak.

I saw one of those 1040 Lowes in person at Cabelas earlier in the week. It was VERY nice. I got rid of an old Montgomery Ward 10' that was too tippy, but this 1040 was twice the boat.... Kinda Sets a person to thinking...

Thinking is good!

I have access to an 8-acre pond that I could use such a boat on. Right now, I have a paddle boat on it. I used to have a heavy, hard to get into, kayak but I gave that away.

A stable 1040 tinny might be fine. Unfortunately, there are NO motors of any kind allowed on the pond, so rowing would be my only option. Not too bad. This old guy needs all of the exercise that I can get. Not having a trolling motor to maintain position in the wind might be an issue.

richg99

There are two small rivers feeding a local lake I have been thinking about. That little Lowe out of the back of my pickup might be interesting. Course I'd have to pick up a little 5 or 6 horse outboard.

I'll take my Native Ultimate 14 Kayak any day over a 10' tin.