Hey fellas! Got tired of fishing from shore and bought my first boat, its an older 12' V hull with trailer and 6 hp. johnson o/b. I love looking at all the mods done on the site, and was looking for some advice on how to mod my boat. Mount seats on benches with small pedestals? Mount seats on floor with pedestals? Take out benches? I would love to see some pics of 12' V hull mods and any advice to get me started. Thanks!

My advice to you is to look at as many jon boat mod posts as you can.  Your questions are covered very frequently in posts in this section.  I did a 12 footer a while back and something I learned, keep it simple.  Don't go overboard and add a bunch of unnecessary weight.  Especially if you don't have a trailer, like me:).

And welcome to the forum.

    I'm almost done doing a complete deck/seats/carpet/lighting mod on my 12 foot V. I will be posting a full series of pics as soon as i'm done.

    One thing I can't stress enough is DO NOT REMOVE YOUR FLOTATION FOAM!!!!! I'm sure someone somewhere will say how great it is to have all that extra storage, or that you really don't need all the foam, or that the coast guard makes the manufacturer put more in than is really needed, or, or, or.

    Bottom line for me: My six year old nephew fishes with me and my boat needs to float no matter what.

    Give some serious thought to keeping your foam.

Thanks for the info! Man I can't wait to see your 12' pics so I can get some ideas for mine. This is my first boat ever, and I don't know where to start, weight limitations? ect..  When you say don't remove the "foam" is that considered benches? Cause alot of websites suggest removing the benches to put a carpeted floor in with pedestal seats and storage.

Each boat is different. The floatation foam in a small boat is usually hidden inside of the bench seats. In my opinion, removing the bench seats on such a small craft would compromise the structural integrity of the hull and could lead to cracking from flexing, plus you wouldn't have a place for your foam. You could still put a floor in between the seats, and possibly deck across the front two benches. Try walking around on the bench seats with the boat in the water. If it feels stable enough for your liking, then add a deck at the bench height. If not you might want to just add some flooring between the benches just a few inches off the bottom of the boat.

The reality is that a small boat can very easily become inundated. If that were to happen and there's no floatation foam, your boat and all your gear will go straight to the bottom of the lake. That would be a real bummer. Then there's that whole drowning thing...

Thanks for the info guy! Yea I've researched everywhere, and pretty much will go ahead and follow a computer graphic layout someone did for another member on this site with a 12' v hull. I like this boat because its sort of a flat bottom v. I guess you would call it a semi-v hull? Its very wide and flat, and thats why it caught my eye, plus the price was awesome. An older retired cop had it in his front yard, boat in excellent shape (can't find one ding on it) 6 hp. Johnson outboard which he had papers of servicing every year, and a trailer with a little surface rust for $500. All I really was looking for was a boat and trailer, I have two trolling motors already, so the gas motor was a nice plus!  I bought 2 swivel seats and 2 small 7" pedestals yesterday, I'm going to Pick up wood, glue, and carpet tommorow, Tonight my younger brother and I SAND! Hopefully by the end of this Memorial Day weekend, the trailer and boat will both be sanded, primed and painted! I guess I got the "boat mod fever", (driving the fiance nuts!) Anyway can't wait to hit the local lakes here in Northeastern Ohio!  Thanks for the help,   D.  

Yo!  Slice , from Napa Valley, Cally - You need to post those pics of you're modified 12' v! Dyin to see um (and probably copy some ideas bro)

My pics are all over the place right now. I'll try to get organized tonight and post a few.

Can't wait to see um!

I got a bunch of pics of mine posted.

here's the link to it:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1211742982