jdmoody

Hey I bought a boat that has a 50hp johnson outboard, electric or pull start, and was wondering what kind of battery would be recommended for it. As of now I won't be running anything else except the motor but I want something good so I don't get stuck out on the water. Thanks in advance!

I attached a few pictures of the boat. The boats 16' with a 50 hp evinrude motor on it. The bar thing sticking up in the middle is just to make the cover sit better for when it rains and stuff. It's not attached to anything and I'll just take it out when I use the boat.

I think so...it was just too good to pass up. Plus it has 6 seats in it with storage under each one. I'll never have more than 3 people in it but at least everybody can choose where to sit. I'm extremely happy with it!

Ok so I finally got something I'm happy with! As some of you know I have another topic on here about my 12' Jon Boat project but that ones done for. I'm getting rid of that boat so maybe it will make the new owner a good project. As for my new boat it is a 16' Starcraft Runabout. It's got a 50 hp Evinrude that is steering whell controlled. The boat is in excellent condition! I paid $450 for the whole package(trailer included) and couldn't be happier! It was dark by the time we got it back to the house so when I get up in the morning I'll take some pictures and post them.

Yeah I've pretty much decided to go ahead with my project and see what happens. Not only is this the cheaper route right now but in the long run I can save up and get a good quality boat next season maybe. The tax check should be here next week and thats when I'm going to get the stuff needed. With the stuff I have planned for it it shouldn't take very long from start to finish. I'll definitely post pics along the way though. On another note though where can I get the foam to put under the floor? Also about how much will that cost?

Well I'm never going to have more than two people in the boat at a time. My plan right now is to just keep the boat and put some work into it. I can use it this year and then get something better next year by saving up. If I save up I'll have a better budget which means better boat. As for this boat I've pretty much decided whats happening. I'm going to put a floor in it made of 1/2" plywood thats raised just a little off the boat bottom. This is mostly for putting a raised seat up front. I'm going to brace the boat some too since I took the middle seat out. Then I'm going to mount another shorter seat to the rear bench. Other than that the only other weight in the boat will be a transom mounted trolling motor, battery, and our gear. I'm not putting an outboard on it. So thats the plan that I'm sticking too for this year of fishing...unless of course something better comes along at some point.

Yeah she makes some good points on the whole money issue but this is something I've been wanting for quite a while. If nothing else I'll just get mine fixed up and use it for a while and save some money for something bigger. Thats probably my only option with such a small budget. With $700 I can turn my boat into a nice fishing boat.

Thanks and it's definitely nice to see somebody else from Lexington on here! I'm really debating the whole boat situation. From the sound of it I shouldn't even bother with the 12 footer. I would love to get a 14' or better yet a 16' but I haven't been able to find one with a low enough price tag. My wife isn't too big on me spending a lot of money in the boat department lol. With her giving me such a low budget it's not that easy. Right now she's saying no more than $700. If I keep my 12' and fix it up I could do a lot with it. I'm really torn on the whole situation.

Well I was going to stop my project due to finding a bigger boat to work on but it didn't work out. I found a 15' tri hull for fairly cheap but the guy couldn't produce a title nor did he know who the titled owner was. So needless to say I'm sticking with my 12' project. I'll finally get to start soon because our taxes will be coming in. I can't wait! We did take it out on the water Sunday and it did great. We kept it close to the bank and tied up because we didn't have any oars or anything. Like I said we just wanted to test it for weight purposes. It's rated for 350lbs total for people and 500lbs for people with motor and gear. We had 760lbs in it and it sat about 8 inches out of the water! Due to this I'm pretty confident that everything will work out with this project.

Well a snow storm moved through last night so I don't know if I'll be able to do anything with the boat right now. We were going to put it in the water tomorrow long enough to test out the weight limit on it but it really depends on the snow. On another note we did get our taxes done so I'm going to be able to take enough money out of them to fix the boat up completely and get it on the water for some fishing. Of course fixing it up is totally based on the weight it can hold. I want it to be able to hold me and my friend along with all of our gear. If it can't then I'll just get rid of the boat for something bigger but we'll see.

Well before I've enlisted the help of a good friend of mine for this project. Before we start anything we are going to take the boat to a local pond to test the weight capacity. We're both going to sit in it and then add one of our wives at a time. We're going to use this test to determine how much weight the boat will hold and still stay out of the water enough. Since me and him will be the main ones using it we're going to determine how much weight on top of our combined weight the boat will hold. This will help us decide just how much we can do. Weather permitting this test will be done on Tuesday so hopefully all goes well and you guys will see the results then.

Thanks guys! When I first brought it home and cleaned it out it started raining. The boat almost filled with water but the rain stopped. I used that as an opportunity to check for leaks and thankfully it didn't leak at all! I know that by taking the seat out I'll have to reinforce it but that was the plan. I saw on another post here somewhere how a guy did the same thing and it turned out great. My biggest concern is the weight. My dad had this boat with a plywood deck on the front, wood on the back seat, an out board motor, trolling motor, depth finder, to swivel seats, a 12 volt deep cycle marine battery, fishing gear, and 4 people in it. The four of us probably weighed about 500 lbs giver or take a few. The boat did fine with all of that which is what makes me think I will be fine. I'm just not completely sold on it if that makes any sense.

This is the only picture I have right now. This was taken when I brought the boat to my house this past September. You can see what was leftover from my dad's modifications. Since this picture I have cleaned it out and taken out the middle bench seat. Not much I know.

Hey guys my project is an old 12' flat bottom jon boat. I'm not sure of the year or anything. This was my dad's old boat but he moved out of state and left it for me. It sat for about 8 years before I finally went to get it. I'm trying to get it fixed up and out on the water by spring. I've already cut out the middle bench but I'm going to put a deck along the floor and a swivel seat in it's place. The deck will be obviously be low so the seat height should turn out good. As of now I have no motor at all just the boat and trailer. Here's the thing...weight capacity. When my dad had this boat he put a front deck made from plywood on it that ran from the middle seat to the front end of the boat. It sat on top of the middle seat so it was fairly high. He also had a swivel seat on it. There was a trolling motor on the front, another swivel seat in the rear, and a motor on the back. I think he said the one on the back was 10 hp. At one point he took me, my sister, and my step mom out on the creek. With all of that plus our weight and the weight of the cooler, battery for the trolling motor, and other gear I know we were over the weight capacity. I plan on finishing the boat up and taking it on the water this spring with a friend. We will have a cooler, trolling motor, our fishing gear, and ourselves. I don't know about an outboard yet. My friend and I weigh about 450 combined. So judging by the weigh my dad had it do you guys think it will be safe. I don't plan on any major lakes or anything just medium sized ones, creeks, and maybe a river. Just knowing how my dad did it makes me think it will be fine but I wanted to get some other opinions. I'll post conversion pics too as soon as I can!