7 replies to this topic

[Riverjunkie]

I have been dreaming about building my first boat for a long long time. Being a practical person though, I couldn't see spending more on materials to build one than I could buy a proven design made out of aluminium. I found these old plans from the forties or fifties online free and studied them for over a month. I looked up materials pricing and made the plunge. I bought all the lumber at the local big box store and spent less than 40$. Yep, forty bucks. I used osb for the sides and bought 8 foot studs for the frame. I ran the studs through my table saw and cut 1/4 inch off each side to use later for trim and then ripped the rest down the middle to get square boards of 1 1/2 inches. After buying the glue and screws to put it together my total is around 55$. I figure at the water and done for right around 75$ total with paint. Can anybody beat that budget for a 12 foot flatbottom jon?? I have some pictures of the build if anyone is interested.

Attached Files

•  jon-boat-plans.pdf   334.51K   64 downloads

[Frank Hagan]

If you have digital pics, upload them here into a post! I think we'd all love to see them.

My neighbor just spent $85,000 on a truck and 5th wheel trailer and went camping. I told him so far, his camping trip cost him $85,000. It will take him a lot of camping trips to amortize that truck and 5th wheel to less than staying in a four star hotel for those trips.

If your Jonboat only lasts 10 fishing trips, you've spent less than $10 per trip. Pretty hard to beat that! You could have spent 20 times the amount you did, but I'm not sure you would get the same per-trip cost out of the boat.

[Riverjunkie]

Ok here are some pictures from the build. I am stalled out upside down and waiting to attach and glue up the bottom. A record heat wave has hit the midwest. Kind of figures though. I waited forever to take the pickup to pick up the materials and the day I start building it it downpoured rain. Before that it hadn't rained in a month. It's been a blast though so far. All my neighbors come out every time I work on it. Even the mailman has to stop and check it out. So far, it has far exceeded any expectations. I know it is my baby but the pictures don't do it justice. I think when I am done it will be much better than any aluminium jon. Besides that who ever heard of a 12 footer with a beam of 4 foot??

[Riverjunkie]

 Photo07131936.jpg   461.32K   7 downloads  Photo07131927.jpg   339.16K   3 downloadsPics....

[Riverjunkie]

More pics...  Photo07131932.jpg   384.26K   6 downloads  Photo07261840_1.jpg   425.75K   6 downloads

[Riverjunkie]

Last one for now...  Photo07261840_2.jpg   353.12K   7 downloads

[Frank Hagan]

I have family in Missouri, and they are melting too. Some of them farm and they are looking for more rain (that's what farmers do ... complain about the weather!)

It's looking good for an under-$100 boat! On the Weekender, we used 3M 5200 sealant along the inside of the seams that are under water. It works really well to keep water out but is messy to work with. Are you using something like that, or PL construction glue, etc. for the bottom?

[jonboatguy]

Any updates on the jonboat? Any other pics you could show us please?