Greetings. I have been lurking for a few weeks now, and want to share some pictures of my JohnBoat. For the most part, it's nothing new, but I have incorporated a few things I have learned from others, as well as a few I dreamed up on my own.

This is what the boat looked like when my father-in-law gave it to me.  Judging by the approximate age of my son, the picture may have been taken around 1993.

This is what the JohnBoat has looked like for the past 14 years. Interestingly, I had never seen the Hydrilla Gorilla webpage, or anyone elses for that matter.

On March 10, 2007 I gave the boat an overdue facelift. Here it is.

Here I cut out the center box and now use this space as my tacklebox.

The center compartment holds lots of lures. The small box holds hooks, weigths, beads, some spinners and the like. A small box on the floor means more room for my big feet. The carpenters chalk box is spooled with heavy line and is used with my lure retriever.

I took apart an old tackle box and screwed it to the bench next to my seat. Small holes were drilled in the back of each compartment to allow water to escape. Very Handy!

PVC pipe make great rod holders.

I childs baseball bat, cut off, makes a great bow-mount trolling motor extension handle.

I drilled fat holes on the plywood of the foreward compartment to accomodate these rod holders. The rods are stashed here for long hauls. From my house to the local lake, the rods ride in the PVC tubes shown above.

You may have noticed that I took some of those drink holder contraptions that go over the transmission hump in cars, and screwed them to the benches as well, also with small holes for water drainage.

My friend Jay Walker at Walker's Upholstery made this cover for me.

How do you like it?

Mike

Looks good man. I like the baseball bat idea. Cutting the bench to make tackle storage is clever too.

great pics

thanks for posting

Looks great!  Any other mods planned?

great pictures. love it

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great job on your jon.

Nice job on your jon,some of your ideas are awsome.You did right by her ,I'm sure she'll take care of you for many years.Well done

Looks very nice.  Where in MD do you fish?

Nice conversion!   Lets see some fish now!

Thanks for your replies. Presently, I have no mods in the planning stage at this time. Replacing the 2X4 runners on the trailer is a pretty high priority, but that's about it. I spend most of my time fishing St. Mary's Lake in Callaway MD about 6 miles from home. I have gone to Lake Anna in VA and have had a blast there too. I have another JohnBoat, a 10 footer with no creature comforts. That boat fits in the bed of my truck, and I can lift it by myself and place it in small private ponds in my area where I have been granted permission to fish....ponds with no easy way to but this boat in. Now I need to go find some bass that would like to have their picture taken with me for "Alphawolf"!