A Jon boat journey - Life and times, and mods, of a G3 river Jon.

[Texas Grown]

You can use a good garden hose to help protect the wires in route fore and aft. But a good flexible 1" heater hose will provide more protection over the long haul.


Use the wire end connectors that have the heat-shrink. Most are "tinned" for moisture resistance. And heat-shrink everything you can for added protection.

[WesTex1]

I don't have pics of the electrical or a diagram. But I ran one hot wire from the battery to a multi fused switch panel. Then branched that out to each fused switch. From a switch, I ran a wire for each utility. Some have multiple lights. Some just an outlet. And tied it all back into a heavier gauge ground that goes back to the battery. That minimized the number of wires going forward and/or aft. For the power up front, I also ran a single hot 10ga to a bussbar. And a separate bussbar with a 10ga ground going back to the battery. The 10ga+ gave me power for a fused wire for my ethernet switch, my bluetooth puck, and the forward graph. I tied the grounds on those into the ground bussbar going back to the battery. I will add a 50amp breaker to that pos+ 10ga later. I have two 12v outlets on the bow that my spot and flood each plug into (or accessories). They each have a separate pos+ wire going back to the switch panel at the helm. That way, I could control either from the helm while underway. Both are grounded to the neg- buss-bar at the bow also. And my bow navigation light is on the fused switch panel as well, with it's ground going to the neg- bussbar on the bow. It's removable pull/push type light. And I have my live-well light, a 12v mid-ship outlet, and cargo/gun box(s) lights tied into it. It will only be on when under way or when fishing at night. I have the stern light on a separate switch on the helm switch panel also. That way I can turn it off or on as needed. Or just pull the light out of it's socket and store it. All lights except the flood and spot, are LEDs for minimum amperage usage.
Confused yet?


Being this is a very light weight boat, I'm trying to minimize the weight in the boat, somewhat. So I opted for a two battery system for now. One is for the troller. The other is a DP cranking/trolling AGM. That little 25hp don't take much to crank it over. And it also has a pull start . It's also has T&T with tiller steer, and trolling RPM control on the grip. And puts out over 50 amps service with 15 dedicated back to the starting battery. If I opt for a separate battery for the accessories, Evenrude has a plug-n-play Y-cable for such a set up so both battereis are being charged when the motor is running.



As for the the Ethernet set up:
I ran one Ethernet cable from the helm to the bow. And tied it into an Ethernet switch at the bow. I have the Terrova Ethernet cable plugged into the Ethernet switch. And the forward Helix 10 plugged into the switch. However, the US2 transducer on the Terrova is plugged into the forward Helix 10. At the helm, I have the other G1 Helix 10. And have a transducer y-cable plugged into it. On one Y sits the SI transducer. On the other Y is a high speed 2D sonar transducer for when I'm underway. I can switch to either one. Or run both from forward or aft sonar units via selection from Helix menu. I have another Helix 10 SI that I plan to put at the helm also. So, there will be two of them. I'll install another Ethernet switch at the helm and plug both units into it. That way I can have more screen area to view/navigate/whatever, pending the view I want/need. It will also increase my saved waypoint and routes capacity.


What's really nice about all this is: it's all removable for duck hunting, Including the "drop-in removable fishing deck" I would like to build for it (hopfully this summer) . I've had the aluminum for the frame since last summer .

Thanks for all of the info, I bought a lot of components already to get mine underway just trying to work out all of the logistics! And yes electrical marine is confusing to me, at least the right way is haha! I will post some pictures of my rig soon so you can get an idea.


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[WesTex1]

I picked up this boat, motor and trailer for $800. Motor has good pressure on all three cylinders and it fired right up after minimal cleaning of the carbs. Going to change the water pump out soon but having issues with the tilt/trim unit so need to have it rebuilt.


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[Texas Grown]

That should be a good-n.


Good price too!

[MainFrame8]

Man I enjoyed that. Great job. Jealous of the welding skills! I haven’t mastered aluminum yet! Well I haven’t mastered anything for that matter!!

[Texas Grown]

It was great to meet you this evening James. Hope your boat serves you well. And ya get a big-n this season.

[Texas Grown]

Finally got to get it out Saturday and really run it with the new pods. I had it out last April. But the VST pump went out on it. And Covid didn't help with getting a new one. It was just before Labor Day when I finally got one in. And end of Sept before I got a chance to install it with a few other maintenance parts. She performed as expected. Kicks a little water up between the pods at near full speed. But little to no water in the boat. And she drafts up really shallow now. No more worries about someone's wake washing over the transom too.

The fish are biting, and there's hogs to be kill-t. Gotta go!

[panhandlehunter]

Looking good Mike. You’re still supposed to take me duck hunting.

[Texas Grown]

Philip, thank you sir.. And pack a lunch. I can have you on ducks in the morning, crappie or sandies mid day, and deer or pigs in the evening, all in the same day, .

The fish are biting, and there's hogs to be kill-t. Gotta go!

[Army of Dad]

Just found this thread. Great read and I’m jealous as can be.


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[Big Lee]

Looks great!! Your welding/fab skills are amazing!!

[Texas Grown]

Thanks fellers.

I finally got to get out and put the duck blind to use Sunday morning. And do a little giving of thanks for all He has done.

The fish are biting, and there's hogs to be kill-t. Gotta go!

[Big Lee]

Turned out great!

[stoic]

Did the ducks cooperate?

[Texas Grown]

Did the ducks cooperate?

Yes sirree! I just gotta learn to hit-em with this new Beretta. Should a had a limit easy.


Ducks were move-n about 7ish to 10:45ish, slow but steady. Been Duck-n for over 35 years and just put my first Canvasback in the boat that morning. 2 more birds besides that. Passed on a few. And missed several. Then found out just how tight the Beretta shoots with a Mod in it before I changed to IC and started hitting some. May go with a straight Cylinder Bore next time. I started picking up at noon to go look for some fish. Couple of miles later, found that Saturday's high S winds and Sunday's northern blowing in over night shut the fish down from the previous weekend, mostly. I did still yank a few out though, before heading home.