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

[cva34]

Unless you really need the sponsons, I wouldn't put 'em on!! Mine has 'em along with a pretty big tunnel... maneuverability in reverse is next to zero!!

Good point! Mine has that problem for same reason...Lots of interesting Ideas in those photos...Thx for Share.Great job on photos too

[eastxhunter]

PM sent Texas Grown

[Texas Grown]

Unless you really need the sponsons, I wouldn't put 'em on!! Mine has 'em along with a pretty big tunnel... maneuverability in reverse is next to zero!!

The boat needs em Charlie. Sits pretty low in the back. I've already determined what the water displacement will be. And how much lift it will give me. It will almost displace the motor weight. I'm afraid without them, someone will back wash over my transom while at anchor. Otherwise I wouldn't put them on. 2 batteries, gas tank, and a 189lb motor on a short transom boat don't leave much room for waves.

The fish are biting, and there's hogs to be kilt. Gotta go!

[marshman]

Looks great! You did a great job!

[Blood Trail]

I see some duck hunting in our future. Awesome Job, Mike!

[Texas Grown]

Thanks fellers! Gotta new shotty that's gonna get broke in good this fall.

[Wall_Hanger]

Looks great!. You may want to think about making some panels that you can lay on the top rails of your blind. We usually take palms and zip tie the stalks together with the fronds on opposite ends. We lay these over the blind top rails to keep from having a really bad silhouette of the blind. Picture the ducks flying over your blind when you brush it in. The sides need to be brushed in well for when they are on approach but if you get pintail circling or any birds coming in high/overhead having the top brushed will help you out a lot. It also gives you a lot more room for error moving and keeping an eye on them when they are working.

Another thing that is handy is to weld some tabs on the top rail that can be used to rest the barrel of you gun in to keep it from sliding or getting in the way. Wrap the area with electrical tape or something similar to keep it from scratching your guns.

[Texas Grown]

Thanks for the input. But it works pretty doggone good as it is. And I wouldn't be able to fold the panels. Grass is zip tired to die-cut material that is woven onto the blind railing, with a weighted bottom, and zip tied in place. Folding it is a breeze. And less than a minute to set up or take off for fishing or storage. Outa the 35+ years of duck-n, I've built a few blinds in my day. But thank you for the advice.

The fish are biting, and there's hogs to be kilt. Gotta go!

[AlwaysGigEm]

Love the addition of the ladder. Awesome work on the restoration.

[Wall_Hanger]

Thanks for the input. But it works pretty doggone good as it is. And I wouldn't be able to fold the panels. Grass is zip tired to die-cut material that is woven onto the blind railing, with a weighted bottom, and zip tied in place. Folding it is a breeze. And less than a minute to set up or take off for fishing or storage. Outa the 35+ years of duck-n, I've built a few blinds in my day. But thank you for the advice.

The fish are biting, and there's hogs to be kilt. Gotta go!

No worries, when they flare off of you hopefully they come our way haha!

Just to be clear though, when I said "panels" I meant two fronds zip tied together that are rigid enough to lay on the top rails. When we drop the blind we just toss the fonds into the fold of the blind and then lay the blind all the way down. They ride there well, very easy.

[Texas Grown]

Thanks for the input fellers.


Hopefully I'll be able to start welding the pods up soon. And get them welded on before the season starts here in North Texas.

The fish are biting, and there's hogs to be kilt. Gotta go!

[Texas Grown]

Well, had a little time this afternoon. So I thought I'd start putting my next mod together. Was hoping to get them both all tacked up. But to my disappointment, I ran out of Argon . Oh well, I'll get some next Friday. Who knows, maybe I'll get them not only tacked, but welded out, and maybe welded on.
And yall never mind my custom tig welding table. Took a lot to put that together.




Here's where I got to for today. 5 of 7 sides tacked on the first pod.

[mdm7]

Excellent work!

[jnd1959]

Mike,

Are you using a wire welder or a Tig for that aluminum? I have a wire welder and have read some info about running aluminum through the sleeve. I need to build some aluminum boxes for my trailer / kayak hauler and I wanted to use aluminum. I've never worked with that metal at all but I think steel would be way too heavy.

Nice work!

[jnd1959]

I looked at your last post where you said Tig welding table so I assume your using Tig.

Ha. That is one fancy welding table. Looks like some of mine.