Jon boat

John Newall

John Newall

New member
Hey brothers ! I just put a deposit to buy a 2019 G3 1852 jon boat equip with a 60hp mercury , i wonder if anyone have experience with jon boat or have any recommandation …… thanks IMG_1503.png
 
What are you asking specifically? What are your intentions with the boat? It looks more set up for fishing than hunting with that Bimi top. What kind of recs are you seeking out? What kind of experience are you in question of?

Ive run a tiller style jon boat with a mud rig for many many years. Ive run jon boats all the way up to 115 tiller handles. Ive driven many console boats and even console jon boats. Should be a fun boat, congrats on your purchase.
 
we ran a couple of G3s when I was with ADCNR, they held up well to constant use.
Are you going to duck hunt with it?
 
Carl said:
we ran a couple of G3s when I was with ADCNR, they held up well to constant use.
Are you going to duck hunt with it?
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Yes im going to use it for hunting and my conservation program on the saint-Lawrence river , lake Saint-Pierre …. Its my first boat ever (exept canoe) and i was thinking of building a pvc frame for our boat blind maybe someone already done it before
 
John Newall said:
Yes im going to use it for hunting and my conservation program on the saint-Lawrence river , lake Saint-Pierre …. Its my first boat ever (exept canoe) and i was thinking of building a pvc frame for our boat blind maybe someone already done it before
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Im actually going to build one for my havoc this offseason. Last season was the first time in my life I ever wanted a blind on my boat. With that said, Im going to build mine with 1" metal conduit instead of PVC. Does your boat have the rail system?

Theres some decent youtube videos on how scissor blinds are built with the metal conduit. I have some ideas, I will incorporate the rail system thats on my havoc, and a pin that holds the blind frame into an adapter that mounts to the rail system. I will then use black plastic mesh attached to the conduit to hold my grass on the blind.

Not sure when I will get to this project, we still have lots of time, but plan on taking lots of pics and uploading here when I get to it. I am elbow deep in decoy stuff right now.
 
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John Newall said:
Yes im going to use it for hunting and my conservation program on the saint-Lawrence river , lake Saint-Pierre …. Its my first boat ever (exept canoe) and i was thinking of building a pvc frame for our boat blind maybe someone already done it before
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Neve use PVC to build a blind. Either use square aluminum tube are aluminum conduit.
 
Yea, squash the PVC idea now. Doesn't hold up well in cold temps to rough use. EMT conduit is your best bet and easy to work with . Borrow or buy a conduit bender. Theres good tutorials on bending on u tube if your not familiar with bend measurements. A frames are super easy to build and stow easily. Or get creative and frame out and build a hard skin blind. Plenty of design info out there.
 
William Reinicke said:
Im actually going to build one for my havoc this offseason. Last season was the first time in my life I ever wanted a blind on my boat. With that said, Im going to build mine with 1" metal conduit instead of PVC. Does your boat have the rail system?

Theres some decent youtube videos on how scissor blinds are built with the metal conduit. I have some ideas, I will incorporate the rail system thats on my havoc, and a pin that holds the blind frame into an adapter that mounts to the rail system. I will then use black plastic mesh attached to the conduit to hold my grass on the blind.

Not sure when I will get to this project, we still have lots of time, but plan on taking lots of pics and uploading here when I get to it. I am elbow deep in decoy stuff right now.
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Thats a good idea ! We sure have lots of time to build it ! Im looking at video of this i didnt know it was called scissor blinds , same as me im trying to be ready for the snow geese coming in next week
 
roy brewington said:
Yea, squash the PVC idea now. Doesn't hold up well in cold temps to rough use. EMT conduit is your best bet and easy to work with . Borrow or buy a conduit bender. Theres good tutorials on bending on u tube if your not familiar with bend measurements. A frames are super easy to build and stow easily. Or get creative and frame out and build a hard skin blind. Plenty of design info out there.
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Yes! Thats what im going to do ….. it wont be expansive tho ! Maybe few hundred
 
William Reinicke said:
What are you asking specifically? What are your intentions with the boat? It looks more set up for fishing than hunting with that Bimi top. What kind of recs are you seeking out? What kind of experience are you in question of?

Ive run a tiller style jon boat with a mud rig for many many years. Ive run jon boats all the way up to 115 tiller handles. Ive driven many console boats and even console jon boats. Should be a fun boat, congrats on your purchase.
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Yes the guy i bought it from was fishing salmon with this in Gaspésie , im going to take off that top and front deck , my only concern is about navigate trought big waves with the side being this low … is this made for calm waters only?
 
John Newall said:
Yes the guy i bought it from was fishing salmon with this in Gaspésie , im going to take off that top and front deck , my only concern is about navigate trought big waves with the side being this low … is this made for calm waters only?
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Jon boats arent the best for taking big waves and rough waters. They are light compared to fiberglass boats. My bass boat is WAY more comfortable than my jon boat. I will say this though, I have had my jon boat out on windier and rougher water than my bass boat and I have made it home just fine. The fact yours has an outboard helps a ton as OB have way better torque than a lawn mower motor. You will learn to navigate rough waters. The more hp you have, the easier it is imo. Believe me when I say you dont want to be caught in 35 mph winds with a 14 hp mudmotor on a 17 ft jon boat. Pretty sure the waves were moving faster than me when I went with the wind. Last year I was caught in 30-40 mph winds with my 1756 mstc that has a 55efi mudbuddy and never once did I feel that I was going to sink that boat, just was miserably wet. Once you get caught taking the swells to the front of the boat, it takes a lot of torque to get up to speed to get back on top of the waves. Its hard to describe, but its all instinct when caught in those types of conditions. You will even learn to read the waves and learn when to take one head on or when to point the bow at a slight angle instead. I am always kind of watching the next wave im going into (whether thats with or against the wind) and kind of paying attention to what the next 3-4 are doing as well. If you have the hp to stay on top of the waves, its not bad at all. If you fall between the waves and take it in the bow and lose that steam, its a rough wet ride. Ive had the bass boat out in 30ish mph winds and with a 150, we just slide and stay on top of the big waves. Every once in awhile catch one right and get a little airborne but theres so much better torque in an outboard than a mudmotor so it rips right back on top of the waves and carries enough speed to stay on top. I think thats what you will find here with this setup.

Do your best not to get caught with side waves from side winds, even if that means doing zig zags down the lake to stay safe by going with or into the wind. Take wider turns so you are hitting the waves more head on than on the port or starbord side. If you have landscape and can get out of the wind, run close to the shoreline. A lot of boating is just common sense stuff, but the trick to big waves and light boats, is finding a way to try and stay on top of the waves, or being smart with the way you hit the waves. You will take a roller over the side and it will be scary, but thats how you learn. Just make sure you have good bilge pumps, always test them every so often and I bet youll be fine. No living man ever felt like they were a pussy by wearing a life jacket in this kind of weather. Only the fools at the bottom of the lake ever felt that way.
 
William Reinicke said:
Jon boats arent the best for taking big waves and rough waters. They are light compared to fiberglass boats. My bass boat is WAY more comfortable than my jon boat. I will say this though, I have had my jon boat out on windier and rougher water than my bass boat and I have made it home just fine. The fact yours has an outboard helps a ton as OB have way better torque than a lawn mower motor. You will learn to navigate rough waters. The more hp you have, the easier it is imo. Believe me when I say you dont want to be caught in 35 mph winds with a 14 hp mudmotor on a 17 ft jon boat. Pretty sure the waves were moving faster than me when I went with the wind. Last year I was caught in 30-40 mph winds with my 1756 mstc that has a 55efi mudbuddy and never once did I feel that I was going to sink that boat, just was miserably wet. Once you get caught taking the swells to the front of the boat, it takes a lot of torque to get up to speed to get back on top of the waves. Its hard to describe, but its all instinct when caught in those types of conditions. You will even learn to read the waves and learn when to take one head on or when to point the bow at a slight angle instead. I am always kind of watching the next wave im going into (whether thats with or against the wind) and kind of paying attention to what the next 3-4 are doing as well. If you have the hp to stay on top of the waves, its not bad at all. If you fall between the waves and take it in the bow and lose that steam, its a rough wet ride. Ive had the bass boat out in 30ish mph winds and with a 150, we just slide and stay on top of the big waves. Every once in awhile catch one right and get a little airborne but theres so much better torque in an outboard than a mudmotor so it rips right back on top of the waves and carries enough speed to stay on top. I think thats what you will find here with this setup.

Do your best not to get caught with side waves from side winds, even if that means doing zig zags down the lake to stay safe by going with or into the wind. Take wider turns so you are hitting the waves more head on than on the port or starbord side. If you have landscape and can get out of the wind, run close to the shoreline. A lot of boating is just common sense stuff, but the trick to big waves and light boats, is finding a way to try and stay on top of the waves, or being smart with the way you hit the waves. You will take a roller over the side and it will be scary, but thats how you learn. Just make sure you have good bilge pumps, always test them every so often and I bet youll be fine. No living man ever felt like they were a pussy by wearing a life jacket in this kind of weather. Only the fools at the bottom of the lake ever felt that way
William Reinicke said:
Jon boats arent the best for taking big waves and rough waters. They are light compared to fiberglass boats. My bass boat is WAY more comfortable than my jon boat. I will say this though, I have had my jon boat out on windier and rougher water than my bass boat and I have made it home just fine. The fact yours has an outboard helps a ton as OB have way better torque than a lawn mower motor. You will learn to navigate rough waters. The more hp you have, the easier it is imo. Believe me when I say you dont want to be caught in 35 mph winds with a 14 hp mudmotor on a 17 ft jon boat. Pretty sure the waves were moving faster than me when I went with the wind. Last year I was caught in 30-40 mph winds with my 1756 mstc that has a 55efi mudbuddy and never once did I feel that I was going to sink that boat, just was miserably wet. Once you get caught taking the swells to the front of the boat, it takes a lot of torque to get up to speed to get back on top of the waves. Its hard to describe, but its all instinct when caught in those types of conditions. You will even learn to read the waves and learn when to take one head on or when to point the bow at a slight angle instead. I am always kind of watching the next wave im going into (whether thats with or against the wind) and kind of paying attention to what the next 3-4 are doing as well. If you have the hp to stay on top of the waves, its not bad at all. If you fall between the waves and take it in the bow and lose that steam, its a rough wet ride. Ive had the bass boat out in 30ish mph winds and with a 150, we just slide and stay on top of the big waves. Every once in awhile catch one right and get a little airborne but theres so much better torque in an outboard than a mudmotor so it rips right back on top of the waves and carries enough speed to stay on top. I think thats what you will find here with this setup.

Do your best not to get caught with side waves from side winds, even if that means doing zig zags down the lake to stay safe by going with or into the wind. Take wider turns so you are hitting the waves more head on than on the port or starbord side. If you have landscape and can get out of the wind, run close to the shoreline. A lot of boating is just common sense stuff, but the trick to big waves and light boats, is finding a way to try and stay on top of the waves, or being smart with the way you hit the waves. You will take a roller over the side and it will be scary, but thats how you learn. Just make sure you have good bilge pumps, always test them every so often and I bet youll be fine. No living man ever felt like they were a pussy by wearing a life jacket in this kind of weather. Only the fools at the bottom of the lake ever felt that way.
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Thank you very much , very helpfull !! I do have all summer long to learn how to manœuvre in bad condition and will buy a decent Bilge pump just to be sure like you said …. Now i know others done it before
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William is braver than I am - I spent a lot of time as a youth in a Jon boat here on the coast, but have no interest in being in one in bad conditions. Rather than taking out the front deck, you might consider replacing it or building it up and crowning it. There is a lot of value in having a deck that puts water over the bow back in the sea rather than in the boat.
 
Jons aren,t really extreme rough water boats. They sit on top instead of in water and tend to be at the least a rough ride in waves . You,ll be fine up to about a 2 ft. sea than you better start learning how to read waves and approach. Head into and hand on the throttle to adjust speed , surf them if any size. You don,t want to be taking any bigger stuff side to as you can get swamped in a lower sided jon. If your in a bit of rougher stuff wear a rain suit as your going to get wet and if it doesn,t already have install a good bilge pump.
 
Install 2 bilge pumps. One on a three way switch for on/off/ float and the second on a two way switch on/off. Always remember this. In a boat on the water( two is one and one is none)

Don't remove the front deck, decks in jon boats aka flat bottom boats are structrual and removing it/them will weaken the hull and allow flexing and broken welds.

If that boat isn't a fully welded hull, I would retract my down payment and find a hull tats fully welded. No riveted hulls.

Also one summer is not enough time to develop the needed seamanship to know how to handle ruff water in a jon boat/ flat bottom. It takes hundred of hours of experience over several years to develop these types on knowledge.

My advice for the next couple of seasons don't take either out in winds over 20 miles an hour and seas bigger then 1 foot no matter if it's rollers or chop.

Something to think about, the boat will not handle or have the same speed once you put a big enough blind on it to hunt from. It's going to be slower and handle much more sluggishly. And the the blind is going to act like a sail.

Hope this helps.
 
I didn’t express myself clearly, guys. I’m buying this boat for the St. Lawrence River and Lake St. Pierre. These areas are called ‘the bayous of the North’—so no big waves, but sometimes to get to my spot, I have to go through the main river, which can get choppy at times. But generally, it’s for a marshy region with lots of vegetation. But i will add 2 pump for the 2=1 rules and wear the safety vest also i cant take my 1k deposit back (paying 6k usd for the package) , ive seen new one for like 50k cad wich is the annual salary around here in quebec but would buy a deep V one if i had the money haha ill keep working hard we never know boys !
 
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