Salt Water Jon Boat - The Ultimate 1232 Redfish Stalking Machine 

You’re welcome son, you’ve really worked hard on this project and with a outcome that makes me proud of you. It looks great and well thought out. Can’t wait to see it in action. Now Go out there with that fishing machine and catch a bunch of fish . Ps. Be safe and have a great time.😍

Man that’s cool! Working on an old Sears 12’ myself. Love the ideas!

One of the most practical projects seen for a Jon boats.

Bill swamp is a good idea but I've always known jon boats and just a suggestion if you're a Jon boat owner if your bilge pump goes down and you got a significant amount of water in your boat take your boat and get it up onto a plane reach down and pull the drain plug water goes right out the back when water's out put the train bug back in but make sure it's still on a plane when you pull it out and put it back in don't make the mistake of pulling it out while you're on a plane and when all the water is out cut your motor don't do that make sure it stays on a plane so you can put your plug back in and not get any water back into your boat

Perfectly done! Thanks for creating a better flooring design with better/more appropriate materials! This is the best I have seen and I cannot get started on mine quickly enough!

Two years later this motor is going strong ru-vid.comUgkxBZWgzfpS2Jj7JqIHyaSZjyVHNUgCKCBf Just uploaded a video of it after 2 years. We use it probably a dozen days each year on our small raft.-original review- We got this motor the other day and tested it out. I don't have anything to compare it to, but it seems good to me. It has all the features advertised - the motor housing is metal. We will see how it performs longer term and I will revise this review if needed. Some initial observations:- Good thrust, moves our boat around really well- It comes with a circuit breaker but no switch - so there's no way to kill the motor other than yanking the connection off the battery. I installed an inline switch.- The mount bracket is plastic and I worry it might break- There are a number of plastic parts that I worry about, but the most important ones are metal or some kind of composite

That is a cool little boat. Can’t wait to see how she works in the back creeks, and the videos to follow! Keeping it simple, and cheap was a very smart move especially with gas these days! I believe Everyman needs three boats to really cover all the water in our area👍😬😀

I have a 1232 and these skiff like builds are perfect for the river I fish. The grab handle is a great idea as I usually stand so i can navigate the rocks. Thanks!

Glad to see you going back shallow.

That’s a sweet little rig! Super easy to do, and it looks awesome too

Nice job ! Doing something right and cheap is a skill .

Amazing amazing video. Great additions to a stock jon boat to make it a fishing machine. Can't wait for the videos with this in it! I have a little 15 ft jon boat and a larger bay boat as well. Great combo!

Cool Boat!!!

Great content! I have my decking material ordered now after seeing this! Nice job! Thanks!

Awesome little build

Well done Dan! Details matter.

Hello from NC, love your content and enjoy learning from your vids. Tight lines brother!

I live in RH (love the lowcountry) and I’ve been looking to do something like this. Great video and walk thru of how everything was done!

Turned out awesome 👏

Great work!

Cool build nice and simple I like it

I have a John boat redfish and flats stalking machine as well I built for bays the flats and even the Gulf of Mexico side when water is calm and I have the autoboat gps controller as well that way I can use anchor lock and it will hold its self away from boat ramp while I park trailer and truck or while fishing it will keep you in that exact same spot using gps if you get on a hole or huge group of fish like mangrove snapper or speckled trout that isn't moving from that hole or area and keeps you in one spot so you don't drift and scare them away. You can use one finger and tap the arrows to change directions of travel it's so nice to have the gps controller on a John boat with electric trolling motor. I sold my flats boat cause I use a John boat setup like yours more then I did the actual boat cause it's cheaper easier less maintenance and I can still fit my fiance and kid on the boat with plenty of room to fish still with a live well for bait and a huge built in cooler that has a pump to pump water into from lake or what ever to keep fish alive for bass tournaments and fishing tournament that is catch and release or must weigh in while alive still. I finally won first in a fishing tournament last year for first time ever winning one with this kind of setup it was a tournament where you had to catch all 4 species of inshore game saltwater fish speckled trout flounder redfish and sheepshead and the one who hat the most weight combined won and I won with 51.5 lbs total weight the redfish was only 31 lbs, flounder was 10.2 lbs she was a huge floor mat, 6 lbs trout and a nice 4 lb monster of a sheepshead. I won 10k dollars and fishing rods and reels a new trolling motor, 1,000 dollar academy gift card, 2k dollar bass pro gift card that I could use for anything including towards purchase of boats utv ATV dirt bikes whatever I want, the monster offshore boat 82 gallon 330 qt yeti cooler which is now mounted on my offshore fishing boat, two electric reels on nice rods with the outlets and wiring harness to hook up on my boat which is installed now, and a bunch of fishing shirts and sunglasses and clothing and apparel from sponsors of the event. It was a great day with my budget salt water John boat. Everyone with their 50k dollar plus fishing boats and flats boats with the redfish spotting tours gps fish finders and all that was mad that someone with a 6k dollar setup won. It was a pretty tough day for fishing to water was kinda rough wind was blowing 10-20 mph winds so it was hard to find a spot that you could fish out of the wind or where the wind benefited you, heavy clouds overcast and even rained for a good 1.5 hours or so right at beginning of the tournament when they blew the horn for everyone to take off. All I have for electronics is a cheapo fish finder that I paid 50 bucks for off Amazon and it's basic it just shows simple pictures like if there is fish it shows fish moving across screen and you have small medium and large fish logos cause it can tell the difference in sizes kinda and shows grass as a bunch of little lines on bottom of screen and structure pops up as black circles and it gives you the depth of the water as well. Also the fish finder has a attachment with a float that you can throw out away from the boat and allow it to float around and it will tell you if there is fish where your casting to and if you troll with it behind the boat you can find groups of fish and structure and stuff like that as well. The main piece just screws onto side of boat or bottom of boat very simple but effective. Just Google lucky kayak portable fish depth finder. I bought it 7 years ago now they are 25-45 dollars now. And you can take it off the boat and use it on piers docks and from banks as well. Great for finding deep catfish holes in rivers I made a extension cable for it for rivers and it has now 150 feet of cable and let it float down the river to find the catfish

Fantastic video! I'm looking for ideas on saltwater prepping an aluminum boat.That thing looks sweet.

Awsome build man, I love the floor idea, I used wood, and of course it's WAY heavier. I may have to swap that out, lol.👍👍👍👍

The best video I’ve watched for this topic!

Dan, sometimes big isn't always better.... Love the new project boat. Waiting on some fishing footage from it. I had the same boat and motor. I was only able to get 7 mph on mine, but I'm a big boy also. Lol

I love all the information and I plan on doing the same with my 1244f. I’m just sad you missed the chance to put the bilge hole on the dot of the i in fisher. Thank you for your videos.

Man that’s awesome! Video is put together very well too. Keep up the good work. Just subscribed!

Dan great video! Makes me want to reduce weight on mine.

Looks like a fish-catching machine. Nice work.

There's some good ideas for my 1240 jonboat. But my primary use is duck hunting with fishing secondary. I like the flooring idea, but I'm not so hot on removing floatation from the seat. I have 2 old bilge pumps so that's another consideration. thanks

Can't wait for the videos to come Dan. I have a 12 foot I'm looking to rig out to.

NICE!! from Missouri

I have now watched this video about 7 times over the last few months. I kept coming back to it. I am almost certain to be buying a beater 1436 for a few hundred… overhauling over the winter and making additions of sheet metal to it (keeping it simple like you), and paint. Then throwing on the 5hp two stroke and hitting the water. Thank you for the grab bar idea. I love it!

I just bought a 14 ft recently and paired it with a mudskipper surface drive plan on using it for the same thing saltwater

still have the boat need some fishing videos in it haha

lil Jon!

Dan ,I would to see you post some usage on this awesome project of yours. Really cool what you did here

Not sure if u said for saltwater use, if so wouldn't that foam keep salt in it? I'm thinking of a jon for saltwater back channels. Like what u did!

you need a long tail mud motor for real shallow water

One of my favorite videos of yours. Lol Mostly because I’m partial to Jon boats (I love my 1448) and Key West 1720 boats. If you ever need another Jon buddy to go out, let me know! 😂

I love the simplicity of your boat. I think I'll be stealing some of your ideas. Od like to see the anchoring system

Nice project. I too have a 1232 jon boat in the yard, and am considering a similar makeover. I'm curious to know how well the EVA foam has held up to weather and UV exposure and how well the glue is holding after a year.

For future reference, for anyone wanting to take the foam out of their bench to put a dry hatch in don’t chisel the foam out, burn it with a benzo torch like a plumber it will was cleaner looking

Any idea how much a Jon boat like that costs (with or without motor)?

Nice build but i was wondering how you got the foam floor to stick to the aluminum?

Where did you get your push pin?

can you show how you made the jack plate

Awesome job Dan! I have a 1236 if like to build out similarity for some of our smallmouth and pike backwaters. What did you do for trolling motor wire extensions?

hey man I love the set up I was wondering where you found the double rod holder, I can only find the triple like the one you linked in the description.

One thing I saw and liked was the jack plate/mount on the rear of the boat. Store bought or home made ? Have a Waco 1436 with a 9.9 4 stroke. would like to get the motor higher. Thank you for the info.

Nice boat, I like it. There’s only one change I’d make to it. I’d get a Go Devil longtail with a 6.5 horsepower Vangaurd instead of a cheap 2 stroke. Theres 3 main reasons for that: 1. I want the ability to go through mud with my main motor without damaging it. Outboards can do it but it’s not good for them. You get all the mud in your cooling passages and it ends up clogging them. 2. The motor is not something I would cheap out on. I want something that I know will be reliable and last a long time. It runs you $2300 but it’s worth it. You’ll have the thing forever. We have a Go Devil with a 21 horsepower Vanguard that has lasted 32 years and is still going strong. 3. I’d rather support an American company than buy something from overseas.

Did you ever run this setup? If so, how did it perform?

Ilive in south Louisiana and mostly fish in the salt water and mostly fish out of my kayak but Ive had my John boat for a long time and I've never done anything with until the past couple weeks, i was putting a wood floor in it but after seeing your video i can't wait to go to home depot and get them panels for the floor woohoo!! it's gunna be so awesome , I'm soo glad i seen your video and I'm definitely getting that hatch.. how's that floor holding up for you??

How well did the sea deck stick to the floor board? I was wondering since the floor boards weren't smooth. I like your channel and videos. keep it up.

Hey Dan, What kind of jack plate did you use? Where did you get it?

Nice build. What did you do for the tiller extension?

Too Cool Did you have to treat floor and underside of the boat for saltwater use?

EXCELLENT! This is exactly what I'm doing with my 14' jon boat. I'm adding items for duck hinting as well though. Do you have more info on the other modifications you did?

Info on ur motor mount i see u built it to ride high and the pole ext for the throttle pvc???

Sweet build! Where did you get the grab rail? And is it aluminum or stainless?

Curious on what that transom mount was for the outboard

What's the deepest u have gotten with this rig? Strongest wind? Open water bays? I wanna hit backwater marshes off the gulf coast but some require crossing some "exposed" bays that can get good waves during wind and weather.

You have crafting scissors? Lol. Subbed & Liked

Curious if we can get an update on the engine? I'm thinking of getting one for my jon boat but I might build a mudskipper for super skinny rivers ponds and creeks. Thanks for any feedback.

Enjoy your techniques that I want to use I've had good luck using an electric carving knife dealing with styrofoam.

Hey dan how's that motor? I just ordered one just seeing if its holding up

How’s that plastic floor holding up. About to tackle this project but you’re the first I’ve seen to use that material. Most are using plywood with fiberglass or epoxy finish.

where did you get that little jackplate

Bro I go over 40 miles off NJ in a 16ft aluminum starcraft for bluefin sharks mahi and wahoo all summer.

Had a question, how has it held up in saltwater with it being aluminum?

i have a similar set how much would you charge me to show me a few water was?

How did the flooring hold up on the thin plastic?

How is it holding up in the saltwater

Did u come up with a name for it? I like the floor

Is that engine salt water ready? I have tons of questions

Any updates on using this jon boat?

How is this boat holding up?

Did you ever end up fishing this boat?

Don’t remove any foam from your boat it keeps it from sinking. You will eventually take on water if you remain a life long boater. There are many unexpected reasons why it can happen.

Honestly

This was a great project , I mainly fly fish the flats and wanted a flats boat but let’s face it there expensive! Especially now, I mostly fish alone , but wanted something that I could take a buddy with , I decided to make a nano flats skiff from a donor boat , after a long search I finally found an 11’ ft 1965 Cacci craft three seat fiberglass V hull and trailer for $250 bucks , it needed the transom replaced and they needed a title and registration that cost me $91 bucks , next a motor found a 1977 - 15 horse Johnson that I picked up off of Craigslist for $200 bucks that hadn’t been run for 8 yrs it to needed work , so I found an old guy that works on old motors thats redoing the motor , I’ll be taking out the forward seat putting down a floor and front casting platform with storage under it , like your boat the mid seat Will have storage there and a hatch I’ll have to put some flotation back in the bow area , buy the time I’m done I’ll have total maybe $1200-1300, already got a 45 lb thrust minncota rip tide saltwater trolling motor & battery, I’ll make a bracket to bow mount it , starting to put things together in between the rainy weather, it weighs approx, 250 lbs and you don’t even know it’s behind the truck , this is a fun project and I can’t wait to get it on the water !

any videos of you using this boat??

And turned it into this.....( adds metal stand up bar to it )