Newbie...Bowfishing/Jon Boat?

Hey guys im new here so I may require a little bit of slack, but i have a 12 ft. jon boat and i love bowfishing especially at night, I was wondering if you guys had any setups that had been done or any ideas if even possible for some mods that i can do? Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks

:WELCOME: What's the width of the floor...30-32"?

ST

my boat is a 1236 (36" is the width of the floor on the inside). I have the front deck start where the bow seat hits the floor, then ran it parallel back to the middle bench. It's not to the top of the seat because the stability when I first tried it sucked. When I moved it down towards the middle of the mid bench seat it was real stable.

I took it out this weekend and walked around in the front. It's pretty stable, but I don't know what all is entailed in bow fishing so I'm not sure how that would be.

If it's just a 32 in floor, I'm sure you could do the same thing as I have, but I don't know how stable it would be. If you want to see what I did, you can look at the Alumacraft 1236 Makeover link in the Boat Modifications forum.

welcome

I'd do a low deck on a boat that small. Maybe come to the tops of the two front benches so you don't have anything to trip on. Don't carpet it. Blood and Fish slime will suck to clean out. On my boat I used Rustoleum with the Marine anti-slip additive. It is super grippy and will wash off easy.

A generator for lights is pretty much out as well, it will weigh way to much. Look into some 12V Halogens that the 4x4 trucks use with a battery, or simply a 12v spotlight.

Welcome Aboard! 8)

Yeah the bottom is 32 in..Also, how well do the 12v halogens work at night as far as visibility in the water goes?

ShadowWalker said:

I'd do a low deck on a boat that small. Maybe come to the tops of the two front benches so you don't have anything to trip on. Don't carpet it. Blood and Fish slime will suck to clean out. On my boat I used Rustoleum with the Marine anti-slip additive. It is super grippy and will wash off easy.

A generator for lights is pretty much out as well, it will weigh way to much. Look into some 12V Halogens that the 4x4 trucks use with a battery, or simply a 12v spotlight.

Click to expand...

I have seen a weedeater engine connected directly to a GM 1 wire alternator used for a generator.It was hooked to a deep cycle battery then everything was ran off of the battery.The battery had top posts and screw in side post.The wires from the alternator was bolted to the side posts.

Wow, how much do you think that could power...sry for all the questions, im just curious to see what all my options are

CarolinaBayou said:

Wow, how much do you think that could power...sry for all the questions, im just curious to see what all my options are

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Depends on the alternator used.That one looks to be a 40 to 60 amp.The 1 wire GM alternator goes up to 140 amps maybe higher.

You didn't give alot of info, if you'll be using it alone, shooting with a bud, using it for fishing too........

Here's something to think about if it's gonna be an "all-around" boat (meaning fishing from it, and taking along a second person at times)....

Low-deck the front, like a casting deck, add a pin-base seat. High-deck the back, add a pin-base seat. Transom mount trolling motor on rear, which could be moved to bow, when shooting, stand on rear deck & run the boat backwards. Make a tall light bar that you don't have to fool with directing or aiming, meaning flood your maximum shooting field. Add battery bank in the center of the boat to help stability, run lights & trolling motor off battery bank. 4 batteries should do whatever you need, quieter then a genny, and cheaper.

ST

ben2go said:

ShadowWalker said:

I'd do a low deck on a boat that small. Maybe come to the tops of the two front benches so you don't have anything to trip on. Don't carpet it. Blood and Fish slime will suck to clean out. On my boat I used Rustoleum with the Marine anti-slip additive. It is super grippy and will wash off easy.

A generator for lights is pretty much out as well, it will weigh way to much. Look into some 12V Halogens that the 4x4 trucks use with a battery, or simply a 12v spotlight.

Click to expand...

I have seen a weedeater engine connected directly to a GM 1 wire alternator used for a generator.It was hooked to a deep cycle battery then everything was ran off of the battery.The battery had top posts and screw in side post.The wires from the alternator was bolted to the side posts.

Click to expand...

I could not imagine sitting next to that all night.

The 12v's are what the president of the Bowfishing Association of Illinois uses, and after getting his opinions on it, I am going to put them on my 15 footer. You'll notice a lot of people on the bowfishing forums have to out do each other (my lights are brighter than yours, my generator is bigger than his). Its one of those things that if the 12v are what you're use to shooting in you'll be ok. Now I could see if you were running some 400w HPS lights how 12v's "wouldn't be good enough".

:WELCOME:

Thanks for joining! :beer:

ShadowWalker said:

Don't carpet it. Blood and Fish slime will suck to clean out. On my boat I used Rustoleum with the Marine anti-slip additive. It is super grippy and will wash off easy.

Click to expand...

That is what I have always concerned about, I know how messy my boat gets and I just don't see me cleaning a carperted boat everytime. I love to get home and just spray the the whole thing down...

LOwes sell a pint of Rustoleum, so to that you add some other additive that makes for the anti-skip surface ?

Or is there a Rustoleum paint that already comes ready with the anti skip stuff ?

Where do you buy that stuff, lowes ?

I want to put some floor board on my boat and I want to paint it to protect the wood and make it pretty...

Also with regard Decking, I completely agree, with these small boats, one has to be a little conservative with it comes with elevated platform, they make the boats very unstable...

Regards.

I used regular Rustoleum paint, and there is an additive you mix in. One can of additive per quart of paint. It took me 3 quarts to do my 15 foot john including the deck I put on. This was one coat on everything without additive, one coat on everything with the additive, and then touch ups. It is better to roll it one after the cut the corners and everything with a brush.

https://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=10 That is the additive. You DO NOT need to add it to their Marine paints. You can add it to any rustoleum paint. I had a color mixed, so mine isn't a marine paint and it turned out fine. I got it at Menards, but I am sure you can get it at Home Depot or Lowes as well. Probably anywhere that carries Rustoleum aside from the smaller hardware stores.