Tiny waters John boat setup?

Friends:

A couple years ago I saw a gent on a local pond (shallow, weedy and full of fish) with no ramp, that had wrestled a short but wide johnboat (probably about a 1040) and had it all set up. As I recall he had bow mounted a manual trolling motor, and had set up a raised swivel seat in the center... nice and balanced.

I like the idea of a super portable john boat that one person can drag into remote or somewhat inaccessible lakes, but that is set up for fishing, but that can handle the body mass and balancing skills of an....err... older person (no skinny kayaks!)

If anyone has pics on how they rig up their boats for this type of application I would be grateful for pics!

For sure there is a tradeoff between portability and loading the boat with all sorts of bells and whistles, but good ideas abound on this site! So please post your ideas!

Thanks in advance!

12 ft mirrocraft. seat and floor are separate to keep it easy to drag around.

sounds like you would be better off in an inflatable pontoon if it's accessability issues.sure you can't carry as much cargo,but do you really want to pack down all that junk anyway?you can still hook up an electric trolling motor to one.

https://www.castlecraft.com/trailex_beach_launching_dolly.htm

Did it for years. Never had a real boat so I had an old 1230 that I manually loaded into the back of my el camino, threw the battery in the back of the boat after loading it, and threw a couple tie downs on it so it wouldn't slide out of the bed. Did this for, gosh, 15 to 20 years? Ran that boat everywhere that didn't require an outboard. Then a few years before I sold it, I picked up a 9.8 Mercury and a 3 gallon tank. I'd take the boat out of the truck (or was it a cruck? Or caruck? Or cark?), throw the battery in the middle, mount the trolling motor on the side, then mount the outboard on the transom, hook up gas, and fished the river many many times. Took about 10 minutes to set it all up.

In my opinion, the simpler the better. A battery, bare boat, and a trolling motor is about all you'll need; aside from tackle that is. If you're going to fish small ponds, might not even want a trolling motor-just a paddle or push pole. That'd be simpler and easier to load/unload.

The Mirrocraft is pretty but did you remove all the flotation?

The human race flourished for several hundred thousand years without flotation...

Flotation is a good idea in an expensive boat, but totally unnecessary in a $200 small water boat that's never more than 100 yards from a shoreline.

In most of the water I fish, if the boat sinks I'll get out and walk to shore....

Your results may vary....but assuming that all boats must have flotation is a myth imo....

A possible escape for an adult but not so good for grandkids.

And who is always close to shore with a nice firm lake bottom to walk on?

I read a quote the other day:

"I don't want to kill all the stupid people. I just want to remove the warning labels and let nature take its course."

I'll let your response speak for itself.

Come on now. Positive floatation is a good thing. Not a replacement for a PFD but still a good thing. And it is a requirement for our small boats. I might even be concerned that removal could invoke the ship worthiness clause of my water craft insurance policy should I make a claim -- particularly a high dollar bodily injury claim. Kind of like seat belts or air bags. I grew up without them and survived but that doesn't mean they should be removed.

I guess I lean towards the loss prevention/safety side of things.

i lean towards never,ever letting my grandkids into my boat or even onto the dock without a pfd on.period.