Anybody ever build a Zackbox?

On the 16" flatbottom jon hull, I framed with 2x4 redwood. Then using 1/2" Dura-Ply (commercial sign board). The boat is stable enough to allow two 300lb men to stand or sit on the forward and stern decks and fish. We walk on our decks all the time.

The boat has a sealed drop down transom, so there is over 2' of floatation across the back stern and adiitional 2' of flotation in the bow. Placing foam between your framing though would be a good idea.

Early boats I made with plywood eventually rotted. The Dura-Ply has been exposed to the elements for 8 years with no sign of wear. Joe Norton who sometimes teaches at the wooden boat school out East with Sam Devlin, recommended it to me. I only mention this as an option if you do not want to epoxy.
 
This is a very interesting thread. I think that this is an off season project that I might want to tackle. A friend of a friend owns a machine shop about 15 minutes from my house and he does a lot with aluminum for fishing boats. I might see what the damage will be for an aluminum deck. Cost-aggravation factor tells me go with all aluminum for ease of maintenance.

Since I have a 12 foot BBSB I might think about going for a 16 footer. I am going to want the cockpit opening to be at least 9 foot. I would leave some extra covered area up front for storage. I would only take the sides in about 1.5 feet. Just enough to run decoy racks along the sides.

Now the big question is what name of boat would/should someone use. This is going to be a duck hunting boat and riveted seams would be ok if the brings the price down enough since I could seal the bottom for better protection. I would rather get a "suitable" boat and use the extra money for designing the deck and other amenities in the boat. This boat would only be used in the bay. Our local bay is not very wide compared to other bays and it is very shallow as well. I have been told at certain parts with the exception of the channel, you can almost walk accross it.

Hunting Dave - your good with posting drawings. Could you post some pics where the extra floating foam should go. I would more than likely leave the reat seat and take out the front two.
 
Mike, I'm thinking about leaving in the rear seat as well. I'd like to keep the cockpit under 96" to make the cockpit cover easy to fabricate. I'm undecided about the cockpit with, and would like some input. Thanks
 
I wanted a sealed back transom, so I left in the rear seat, filled the entire space between the transom and back seat with foam. You do have to put in a drop down box, so the motor can be tilted all the way up.

Using metal deck hangers for my 2"x4" framing, I coated the back of the deck hangers with silicone and then screwed or riveted the deck hangers to the boat.

Then tracing and cutting a 1 1/2" arc from the center to the sides, on my cross framing, I was able to give a gentle slope to the decks.

Hope this helps.
 
I thought I'd post a few more pics of my version of the "Zachbox" for David Barnes and any one else interested.

Per GPS, I can go just about twenty MPH with my old vintage 20hp merc., 2 guys, dog and all of the gear. I am amazed at how the speed differs depending on exactly how the boat is loaded. All my partner has to do is shift his weight a little and I loose a half a MPH or more.

My base hull is an '81 Smoker Craft "Alaskan". The original was the "Deluxe" model and had a wood floor, swivel seats etc. When I took out the flooring, I lost a little floatation. When I decked the boat over, I replaced more than what I took out, by installing foam under the top decking. I didn't take any pics of that because it's all enclosed. I framed the entire craft with aluminum brackets, angle, channel, etc. Unfortunatly for most of you guys, I am a packrat, saved most of the framing materials over the years and so I didn't have to buy much. I was originally planning on using aluminum to deck it over, but I decided to use wood to keep with the original idea. Besides I love wood. Aluminum would probably have been better though. Less maintenance. I am sure one could glass it over with epoxy resin and light weight glass cloth for the best long term service.

I originally framed in the decoy box upfront, but ended up decking it over because I figured I would never really use it. In fact if you look close, you can actually see where I screwed the decking down in the front, you can see the square screw pattern around the frame opening. Most of my toy ducks are in slotted bags, so I thought it would be useless.

I hope these photos help with ideas for anyone choosing to take on the task.

First is just an over view with the hatch,

Boat2.jpg


Front view of same,

Boat3.jpg


Inside,

Boat9.jpg


Side view,

Boat11.jpg


Step on transom,

Boat14.jpg


Feel free to post up with more questions or shoot me a PM.

Jon
 
Hey John,

Thanks for taking the time to post some pics. The more that I look at this project, the more that I think I am going for it. I can find these types of boats readily in my area. I could probably make it for half the price as a professionally made boat and it would be to my specs and desires.

What size is the cockpit area?
 
When foaming between the transom and backseat, the blocks of foam actually sit on top of the ribs and I left slots for water to flow out the transom. My drainplug is from the outside and there is two drain holes in the drop down transom, that do not need plugs.

Jon- what is the metal looking tracking on your decks? I have heavy duty bungi cord around mine for holding vegitation. Is yours for a blind?
 
Answers from previous replies,

Carl: I like the hull a lot. If there is any fault, it that it's just not big enough. Fine for two guys and dog, gear. But it is tight when traveling. I usually carry about 6-8 full-size goose floaters and about 60 magnum-sized duck dekes, gear for two, etc. My boat is a little different than what they offer now. It's 14'-7" long, about 68" beam, but it's very deep. I would guess in the 30"-32" range. Deep V in the front, yet tapers to flat in the back. Handles a rough chop pretty well yet gets up on plane easy.

Larry J: The width of the hull makes it a fairly stable platform anywhere. While picking up our toy ducks, often both of us will lean over the same side with no ill efects.

David Barnes: I framed mine with aluminum. When I was younger, I worked for a little amusement park nearby called "Shady Lake Park". The family that owned and ran the company used to own "Euclid Beach Park" which closed in 1969. After the Shady Lake closed in '83, I ended up with a box of aluminum 90% angle brackets. They were about 13" on one side, 4 1/2" on the other, whith the top member about 1 1/2" high. They were actually supposed to be for the loading step to get into and out of the "Rocket Ship" ride, but never used. The way they fit together, there was 1 1/2" available to fill with sheet foam. With the calculations at 60 pounds worth of floatation per square foot, There is plenty there. Plus, there is a lot of insulation in the side chambers which I left intact. And I don't see why you couldn't frame in 1 x 2 (although you may actually need 1 x 4 if your going to add any "arc" to them. Mine do not). If you do choose to use an arched deck however, be careful as plywood doesn't like to bend more than one direction. Plywood and glass would be grand. Just make sure to use epoxy as polyester resins tend to not adhere to wood in the long run. DO NOT USE TREATED WOOD! Treated wood is VERY corrosive, especially in a damp environment.

Mike Braden: The cockpit is about 98" long by 32" wide at the stern, 34" at the front. Note also I added a motor well with a rub rail for the motor tiller. It helps a lot when backing up to retrieve the dekes. I aslo added a piece of ABS pipe to the tiller. I can comfortably stand and hold onto the cockpit coaming when under way.

Mike Trudel: The aluminum track is for the blind. It's called "Awning rail". I have a factory made Bankes "14' Dominator" blind on the boat. The canvas has the matching "Awning rail" male counterpart sewn into it. If you go to ther website, you can see in better detail, although they use rubber rail. During the season, the blind stays attached to the boat. I sinch it down all around with 1" straps and plastic buckles.

My version is a very comfortable rig to hunt out of, albeit a little cozy room-wise. I have lites beneath the decking, bilge pump and a depth finder all fused and switched.

The boat is actually a "work-in-progress. Every year I make a modification or two. Next year I hope to re-paint the whole thing. (Especially the registration numbers ;-) I believe I painted them the night before her maiden voyage when I realized that I hadn't bought any yet!)

An additional note: be carefull when "cutting out seats". You can alter the mecanical integrety of the craft, leading to premature metal fatigue, cracking, loose rivets etc.

Hope this helps...

Jon
 
Thanks for the input.
I will normally be hunting 2 with about 60 reg sizedecoys. Sometimes fishing with me & the two kids when Hana gets old enough. I think that a 14 hull will be fine as long as the layout is good. One reason I am leaning towards the Slyvan now is that it has better storage & livewell than the Smokercraft.
 
Carl,

Following up on some of the "shallow water" questions you asked on another post; I hope you noticed in the floating pictures just how shallow draft these boats are. Due to the outboard you can't run them in 8" of water but get out and walk them and you should be able to cross 6" deep bars without problem.

Hull shape and seating comments:
If you are at all interested in decking the V-hull get a transom that is as wide as possible at the waterline. The initial stability of my old Wolverine was significantly higher than it is with the Starcraft. Plus the big tubby bow allowed me to stuff 12 keeled floater geese under the foredeck with a big rolled up camo net. The Starcraft is a more seaworthy hull but less efficient in volume and initial stability. For my use I should have purchased a hull closer to the Wolverine's shape than the Seafarer. Initial stability is important with the deck because the deck allows you to step further off the centerline than the open V-hull normally allows. My dogs also like to stroll around on the deck and 100 lbs on the gunnel can rock the 300 lb boat. Initial stability is also the thing that allows both you and your buddy to react to birds coming in with as little motion as possible although with the deck keeping the two of you close to the centerline it isn't a big concern.

I've mentioned "for my use" and I should define it. Most of my gunning with this boat is carry hunters and equipment to the hunting location. Set decoys normally by wading, then stash the boat and set upon shore. Requirements are to safely carry lots of equipment dog and up to three but normally only two guys. The flip boards let me hunt from her but I have only done so a few times over the last four years I've had the Starcraft. For this use I purchased and left the three bench seats intact. When fully loaded the benches act as stepping stones in a sea of decoys. Between seats are loaded and hunter sit on the deck. If it's rough, decoy bags get bungee'd on the deck, reminiscent of PT boats and their torpedo tubes. The deck lets me carry lots more stuff as I can work in three layers, below seats, below deck and above deck. This shot is the boat in trailer mode. Big geese stacked between seats and decoy bags filled with floaters. Bow filled with another doz. loose goose floaters for a total of 3.5 Doz. decoys and room for a three more bags while staying at deck level for trailering. Bungees go over everything to make sure it stays in and the flip boards stay down at 70 mph. Oh yeah, cockpit width should match decoy bags while keeping the deck width wide enough to allow effective flipboards.

View attachment fliptops.jpg

When hunting from the boat, I have two boards stashed under the seats that pull out and bridge the space between seats, add a boat cushion, and lean back against the coaming for a very comfortable seat.

Stashed:

View attachment stashed.jpg

Scott

View attachment fliptops.jpg
View attachment stashed.jpg
 
Scott,

Thanks again for your insight.
I dont plan to deck my new boat over, I will use my military cammo netting & frame from the boat I run now.
Mostly we hunt from the boat. This is for two reasons: a lot of areas we hunt "have no bottom", cant get out of the boat if you wanted to!
The other is that we are sometimes a mile from shore out on a shallow grass flat. My plan is to carry a couple of folding seats to sit on when hunting.
The draft of you boat seems similar to the mv jon I run now. That should work for me. Now I just have to wait a year to buy my new boat!
 
David,
Google Zack Box Boat. Guess where it'll take you ? You can then check out a lot of boats and especially the one on a converted Jon. If you navigate around that part of the site some you will find pics by Kirk Sherbine and Ed Askew too.

I'm hoping to Zackize my 14X48 Jon this summer.

Best,
Harry
 
John,
Scott already knows how much I like his boat from the number of times I have referenced his photos in other posts, but I would like to say how much I like what you did with yours. I feel that the deck and motor well add a huge margin of safety to a small boat esp in the cold winter months. Yours is a sweet rendition of the form and to know that it was built at home for the cost of a few materials makes it do-able by the average guy. I saw the mention of the Bankes name and like you I have admired the boats, but with 3 kids cant swing one. But a hull can be converted to give good service with a few of the features incorporated to make a usable substitute. Nice Job.
 
Harry, thats interesting. Took this thing full circle.

On the Jon boats. I had a 10' in college. I put a plywood deck with flip up sides that were hinged and grassed it up. In the early season we hunted 3 guys out of it and limited out. The next day I had 3 friends use it and they limited out or close to it.

We were more than happy with our killer rig. when the November season rolled around we were back. The only difference was it was blowing a gale from the NW. We were young and brave, fearless and stupid. The area usually had dozens of boats launching, this AM there were only 2. To make a long story short we made it about 20 feet from shore. The blind acted like a sail, however we were in a 10' flat bottom Jon, which of coarse has no keel. The wind literally flipped us upside down. We were able to retrieve all our gear. minus the blind.

We did the smart thing then. Raced home changed, loaded up a canoe and went somewhere more protected.

Conclusion: If you do this on a 10' jon boat. Don't go out if it's gusting 50 plus.
 
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Hi David, saw a guy and his son get flipped in a 12' v hull by shore break on an Island in the Pamlico once. We ran over and helped them retrieve as much as possible, right their boat and build a fire to dry them out. We relaunched their boat and to our amazement their little Merc.fired right up. They came in with us using our boat as a wind screen. I don't suspect they took that little boat into big water anymore.

To my way of thinking any tin boat under 14' is a death trap when hunting big and cold water.
JMO,
Harry
 
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