Rhino-lining and other upgrades

[fathernson]

I have a 15-16 foot jon boat(I say 16 my dad says 15...I think its because he doesnt like to admit his boat isnt all that bigger than mine) haha. The boat is in rough condition however im convinced its got potential but then again who wouldnt think there first boat has potential. My plan is to hopefully have her turned into a legitimate fishing machine with enough time to still get ALOT of good fishing in this summer and fall. So my question is what kindof fixups/upgrade ideas would u suggest?lighting?storage?any ideas are ideas id like to hear. she floats has a little outboard, trolling motor, and running lights but otherwise is pretty much a blank canvas ready to be turned into a work of art. The other thing is ive read about applying rhino-lining on the bottom of the hull of the boat to make it more durable while that sounds like a good idea to me I still wonder if its really practical,what are thoughts on that? thank you

[TXSHOCKWAVE]

Do not put bed liner on the bottom of the boat!!

[Booyah Red]

Yep I used a roll on bed liner on my boat. I was happy with it except the bottom of the boat. What really messed it up was on a hot summer day the melted tar on the parking lot a SLP. Got it on the bottom of my shoes and transfered it to the bottom of the boat.

[kenny]

Do a search of jon boat upgrades. There are a lot to see like this one on the link http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...08/bote064.jpg

[fathernson]

Booyah red, how hot does the liner get compared to the regular aluminum?and is carpet a bad idea considering it would be used in saltwater atleast once or twice a week??

[Booyah Red]

It is cooler than raw aluminum. Never really worry about it being hot. I used Duraback gray, and it rolled on easy and looks good but its not as tough as I hoped it would be.

[WestEndAngler]

I did carpet on my jon boat... click on the photo tab we built ours back to new in a month we never painted it I sold it to a friend

[fathernson]

westendangler, that was a cool fixup. I have been considering putting plywood in the boat like that to make some what of a casting deck.The paint on my boat is ROUGH but is there any other reason to paint it other than to make it look good??? smoothmove, safe-floor looks pretty cool! i also saw they can put logos/names into the lining...that solves the problem of how i could get the boats name on there! booyah red would you still suggest it even though the toughness wasnt what you hoped?

[WestEndAngler]

Get safe floor or contact TXSHOCKWAVE for the stuff he uses... I would not put a drop of bedliner anywhere near my boat. I had it in my jeep and its a PITA to apply a PITA to prep and it doesn't last long on aluminum with all the flexing a jon boat does

[Booyah Red]

The next boat I get will have safefloor, the 2003 weldcraft I have now a $120 can of Duraback will do.

[manwitaplan]

Not to stir the pot..... I also have a 16 ft G3 that is perfect for what I do.

1) Consider the weight of safe floor and remember it will hold mud in the cracks but it is a great product. Also take a look at speedliner here in Houston for coatings on the inside. There is another product I have been looking at called Kiwi Grip that you can do your self.
Lastly you can go with a product called hydro turf. Will not freeze, stays cool on your feet, very light weight and is a little pricey.

2) Bobs makes a manual jackplate that weighs about 12 oz. i believe if you run shallow.

3) as others have stated there are a bunch of sites that show rebuilds in detail. I believe tin boats is a popular site for aluminum boats.

Good luck.

manwitaplan

[SlowRollin']

+1 for tinboats.net

Lots of mods for aluminum boats there, mostly geared towards fishing and bass boat type mods.