Boat size for a conversion?

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jkbirocz

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When I was 12 or 13, my dad bought a used Tracker pro team 175 for us to fish from. We bought it from his buddy that rarely fished, so we got a good deal and traded a honda big red 3-wheeler for a part trade. My dad has always worked nights so in the summers we/I would fish almost everyday from it. He would get home from work and we would head to the lake. He would use the gas motor to go to an area of the lake, then he would fish a little while then break out the bag fold up chair and sleep most of the day, while I motored around with the tm and fished, only to wake him for a fish picture. We had a blast for two or three summers, till my folks got a divorce, after that my dad had little time to fish, and we moved.

Since I was about 16 the boat saw maybe 2 or 3 trips a year, and I mostly just fished from the bank. When I started college my dad asked what I wanted to do with the boat, I told him just to sell it and let someone else enjoy it. There was no sense in just letting it sit. He sold it for a grand. I forget the year, but it was fairly clean; needed some new wood, but had a running 40 horse evinrude and 7.5 mercury kicker....that person got a deal...Oh well.

Well I am finished college and obviously I miss the boat. Every time my dad sees a boat for sale he tells me, and he obviously misses it too. Lately I have been talking to him about converting a boat, and he seems pretty interested. I have plenty of experience with wood and metal working, and a degree in industrial technology....but I know jack **** about boats.

My question is what size boat do I need, mainly in width? I would want to be able to run it in lakes and rivers, and would want to comfortably fish two people for bass, and three for cats. I want to have a nice sized front and back deck to fish standing up. Is a V or a mod-V better for stability for stand up fishing or river running? I don't know about motor size at this point, but I am thinking 20, only because the closest lake is limited to 20hp. My budget is up in the air at this point too, I just want to get a grip on what size of boat we need, and then work on the budget end.

Thanks in advance for any input.
 
A vee will handle rough water nicely, and a jon will be stablest at rest. But, a mod V takes the best of both worlds, and throws them together. Most 1442, and 1542 jons, and mod Vs are going to be rated between 20 and 30, depending on brand. A 20 should be good for either, and allow you to fish your lakes.
Given those circumstances, my choice would be a 1442, 1448, or 1542 mod v. You'll get some other opinions here, I am sure.
 
I would recommend that you start by working on the 16' MirroCraft in my driveway! Do whatever you want, I really do not care and you can use it whenever as well. Heck, drag it to your yard if you want, you woudl make my wife most happy.


If not then do with something that is light weight in the 14' range - jon boat with a flat bottom will give you the most bang out of an electric motor, since you will probably use it in Towhee and Galena the most anyway.
 
Jkbirocz, I would hit marinas in your area and pick up some brochures and even check out some of jons, you definately want a boat with the widest beam you can get(stability)the mod V for all the reasons Bassboy1 stated and if your going to fish 3 people I would bump the length up, good luck, keep us informed on your quest.
 
Jkbirocz, oddly enough, I had a somewhat similar situation happen to me as well. We used to have a tracker pro v 17 that we kept at Dredge harbor, off the lower del. We got rid of it because it wasn't seeing any usage for a few reasons. I ended up getting a crawdad for local ponds and such. Anyway, if I were starting from a clean slate, I would probably get one of the bare bones mod Vs (not sure of the model number), with an smallish outboard (or preferrably a jet for the type of water I would want to fish with it, although I'm sure the price would sky rocket) and a steering wheel set up in the center or off to the side. If you are going to use the boat in rocky rivers, i.e. the Del, sitting farther towards the front of the boat while steering will give you better visibity of obstacles, plus it looks cooler. I would add a front deck and TM...it sounds like you probably have the ability to build one. Depending on the size, I might leave the back open, with just a level floor. I don't require a big casting deck, I think I'm used to fishing at the water level. The open back would give you more fishability when set up for cats, since you will be fishing out of the back of the boat mainly. It will also give you more stability when running in rough water, i.e. the lower del.

I would basically want it to look something like this: https://www.trackerboats.com/boat/index.cfm?boat=2875. This boat would be a sweet river boat for cats and bass and a nice lake boat too. Plus, its pretty rough around the edges so you could still do a lot of customizing with it. Good luck in your hunt.
NIC
 
Thanks for the replies. I agree with you flounderhead that it would bring back a ton of great memories, but I have been inspired by all of the modded jon boats on the site. I also feel that building our own boat would give us a lot of new memories.

Dave I may just take you up on your offer to mod your boat. When I move back home after my lease is up on my apartment at school we will talk about it. It looks like a perfect candidate for a project, and I also have a bunch of ideas brewing. I would really like to fish the delaware from a boat, just think of all the water we could cover, and not get soaking wet up to our chests :lol: even though that is a ton of fun.
 

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