I recently got a 1636 flat bottom jon boat from my dad and have a question about weight distribution. I'm wondering where I should my fuel tank and battery. My ad used to put the battery in front of the middle bench and the fuel tank in front the back bench but I would like to free up some floor space. I was thinking about putting them in the back behind the back bench but I'm worried that they will cause too much weight in the back along with an outboard and me, about 210 lbs., when steering. The battery is a deep cycle battery, the fuel tank is 6 gallons,the out board is a '68 20Hp Johnson. If yall think it will be too much weight then where would yall put them?

Without a picture I can only gues. But it would seem it would be back heavy.  Is the TM in the front or back of the boat?  Can you post a picture?

Here's a shot when I brought it home before I did any cleaning to it:

Here's a link to the album I created of the work that I've done so far: http://photobucket.com/GTC1636JonBoatMod

I dunno, but maybe Dad had already worked it out for you maybe.

IS your dad still alive? maybe you could ask him about it and what had he tried? if anything.

I'm lazy and don't like to re-invent the wheel.......

Yea no1 he's alive and well and just recently quit smoking, which is a plus. I was kind of wondering the same thing about him been right and was thinking of asking him this weekend when we bring the boys to see him, that's if he'll give me a chance to ask him while he's playing with his grandsons.

You might want to fix the link to your album on photobucket, I got it to work after editing it. which brings me to my next point.

Have you thought about the added weight of the water in the livewell and it's affect on performance/stability/trim ?

Also Is there or are you planing on adding some flotation posibbly under the seats? I'd hate to see you put all this work into the boat and for some unforeseen reason have it capsize or somesuch  and  go down...

Thanks no1 for letting me know about the link. I fixed it and also noticed that I had put 1648 instead of 1636, which is the true size. But as far as the livewell goes, it was in the boat when my dad got it in the early to mid 90's. The livewell had been put in by the previous owner and isn't really the best size. I won't use it for bass, since I catch and release and it isn't big enough to hold anything worth keeping, but will probably use it for bream when cattin, maybe some minnows, a few crappie I might want to keep, but mostly as a built in cooler with it's own drain. Both seats are full of foam, except for where the livewell is, but I was thinking of putting some closed cell foam under the floor for some insurance. But I understand where you're coming from and appreciate you looking out for me.