Need some work done on my jon boat, and I was wondering who you folks might recommend. The work I need done:
1 - I think I might have a leak, but I couldn’t find it myself by filling up the jon boat with water while it was on the trailer. Need somebody who knows what he’s doing to check again.
2- need a bilge pump installed (see above). It’s too difficult for me to run the water out when I am either by myself or with my very young son because the plug goes on the outside of the boat, and I can’t reach it while also holding on to the steering wheel.
3- need some rod holders mounted to parts of the boat that have foam behind it (i.e., bow and stern where you can’t reach or see the opposite side of the aluminum).
1- What spurs you to think you’ve got a leak and how bad is it? It could just be excess water from the cast net, water coming in from running through wakes and waves, etc. If it’s riveted and you want to be extra sure, you could always flip it over and put a dab of JB Weld on each rivet. A buddy of mine did that and swears by it. It sounds like a pain to do and to me it seems as though the flexing of the hull would break free from the JB Weld but, as I said, he swears by it. If it’s welded, then well, slap some more JB Weld on the cracks in the original welds if you can find them. Remember, it’s just an aluminum hull and they’re made to go through hell.
2-Bilge pumps are pretty easy to do. The question is if you want to run the output hose over the transom or sides or through the transom. To go through the transom you’d take a hole saw and punch out a hole (above the waterline) big enough to run the hose through. Slap a whole mess of caulk around the hose to keep the water from coming in and wire it to a battery. That’s the way a buddy and I did his jon boat (same one from above) and it seemed to work fine. As for me, I just keep a plastic cup in the back by the drain plug so I can bail as necessary. My boat is a bit wet at times so it comes in handy.
3- I’m about to do the exact same thing except my little boat is fiberglass. I just use 3/4" stainless self tapping screws and call it a day as I don’t believe there’s going to be enough pressure on them to pull them out. If I were in your shoes though, I’d go with rivets. Self tapping screws would work the same but the aluminum sheet metal is going to be a bit thinner than the fiberglass in my boat so I believe a rivet would be much more effective as there would not be much for the threads on the screw to bite to. A snazzy rivet gun cost me abotu $20 and the rivets are about $5 so it’s not that intense of an investment but now I can rivet the **** out of anything I so desire.
Somebody told us Wall Street fell but we were so poor we couldn’t
Agree… those are all DIY items. My rod holders in my jon boat are 1.5" PVC pipe cut to just less than the height of the seat, secured with self-tapping screws. Drill a hole through both sides of the PVC to make turning the screwdriver easier.
If you’re really worried about a leak, coat the bottom with a truckbed liner. Herculiner costs about $100 for a gallon and will cover a 14-16’ jon boat floor nicely. The black will get hot, but you can spray paint it OD green or something to match the hull. Good luck.
“You” should get busy with a tube of 5200. I’ll help you with the bilge pump.
Slim
I’ll take you up on that. We also need to go gigging soon. And how do you get away with calling yourself “slim”? Is that part of your fantasy internet persona?
“Fish,…I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends.”
Ditto on the 5200. I had an old jon boat years ago that leaked around the rivits. I tried welding them first. They cracked “around” the welds. Then I tried JB Weld. After a few trips, it started to crack and chip off. Then I got some 5200. After cleaning with some scotchbrite and laquer thinner, I put a dab of 5200 on all the rivets, smoothed it out to a little bump with a wet finger, then put a strip of duct tape on top of that. I used that little boat hard for about 5 years and it didn’t leak a bit.
Bob Van Gundy
Marine Designs,Inc.
Custom Aluminum Fabrication
803-727-4069
Second on several responses. 5200 for rivets. rivet the rod holders in. bilge pump over stern. try a product called durabak in the inside (like truck liner but can be had in colors to avoid black (hot)
third and forth the 5200 for the leaks and rivets, then for the bilge put a toggle switch breaking the positive side of power with the switch and the auto side automatically so you can run it by hand or auto and your answers are solved!!! Very simple, a switch breaks one leg of power causing power to cut in and out!!
