Crooked Jon Boat?

Hey All,

Got a brand new Alumacraft 14 foot jon boat. It is welded. This is my first boat so excuse my ignorance.

I just noticed the bow is crooked. The right side is higher than the left. The trailer is on even ground, and the trailer seems as square as it could be.

Should I be concerned and/or is this an issue? Or is this typical with this kind of aluminum construction.

Thanks.

That’s not normal. I would send it back. That boat will have issues tracking straight.

The bow itself looks straight but it looks like its twisted from the middle to the stern. It looks like someone dropped it on its side.

It looks like it's not level on the trailer. I would double check the trailer to start with. With those short bunks, most of the weight up front is on the center roller and it could be twisting on that roller. I would grab some 8 foot long 2x4's and try them in place of your current bunks to see if it supports the boat better and if it straightens out.

Wallyc said:

That’s not normal. I would send it back. That boat will have issues tracking straight.

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Yes, I would send it back.

That ain't right

Sure looks to me like the hull has a twist in it. I wouldn’t want that.

just put it on the ground, and it looks like the twist is still there.

Hoping Alumacraft/dealer is not going to be a pain with getting this fixed.

Do you have a picture of the boat on the trailer from the back? You can see in your picture the axle is a little lower on the right side of the picture but there is more space between the boat and the fender so it's not sitting level on the trailer. You might have the front right side bunk bracket (the right side when looking at the front of the boat) too high and the rear left side bracket too high which would make it look twisted.

I cut the picture around the axle area and up to the boat and you can see the axle lower on the right side and the boat lower on the left side. So I would continue to make some adjustments to the trailer to start with.

I put the boat on the ground, and the bow still looks off. The brackets on the trailer were set as low as possible. I get what you are saying about the center roller, and it may accentuate the twist even more when it is on the trailer. Thanks.

Have you flipped the boat over on flat ground? That might show you better if it's twisted. Was it sitting on the ground at the dealer? If it wasn't level then maybe that could have allowed to twist. If you leave it on flat ground upside down, I wonder if it would settle out.

Take a couple pieces of string and run them diagonally across the boat. Right front corner to left rear corner and left front corner to right rear corner. If everything is as it should be where the strings cross they should just be touching if there is a gap the hull is not flat. Do this with the boat on the trailer and with the boat on the ground and see if it changes.

[float=left]The trailer isn't twisting the boat. There's no engine mounted and no weight in the boat. It shouldn't twist even if the bunks are off.

The twist is obvious if you visually compare the deckline on the left to the deckline on the right. Notice not only the fact that the left side is higher, but that the line of the far transom there is not parallel to the rear transom, while on the right they are parallel.

Somebody didn't sequence weld that boat right.[/float]

That looks like weld distortion. They didn't have it clamped to the fixture well enough during welding & the heat warped it.

I hope you get it exchanged. They will fight you for sure.

Having it cut apart & rewelded straight would not be durable so don't settle for that.

I imagine any good company would resolve that in good faith. If they don't respond properly, just politely link them to this thread.

I have a 1548 polarkraft modv it is twisted too…. It was weld crooked in the jig. I doesn’t seem to effect performance, it doesn’t seem to pull or track. The transom is almost 2” higher on one side. I didn’t notice it a first, now I see it all the time. Nobody else has noticed it ether.

Attwanl said:

I have a 1548 polarkraft modv it is twisted too…. It was weld crooked in the jig. I doesn’t seem to effect performance, it doesn’t seem to pull or track. The transom is almost 2” higher on one side. I didn’t notice it a first, now I see it all the time. Nobody else has noticed it ether.

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My welded hull, which is a mod-V, does not appear to be completely symmetrical on the bottom. I was very careful about making the bunk spacing uniform on both sides. When I lowered the boat back on I noted a 3/4" gap between the forward ends of one bunk and the hull. To me there seems to be a slight twist. I doubt it is a design feature!