Sears model 61115 14' Aluminum Jon Boat

Greetings, new to the forum. I acquired the boat (data below) in a trade. That's all I could find on it, maybe it wasn't that popular Anyone aware of any additional info? I'd like to at least know the date of mfg, thats probably encoded in the SN?

I'm planning on the usual; cleanup, paint, decking, some electronics. What is the best deep-cleaning method to start with?

"What is the best deep-cleaning method to start with?"


I just brought my grody looking aluminum back to a clean shine using StarBrite's Aluminum cleaner. Doesn't take much scrubbing. But, it won't work on painted surfaces. I think they make another product for that, but have never used it.

Below is a link to my results. There have been other relatively recent threads with folks sharing their methods for cleaning things up.

https://forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?p=484991#p484991

Nice. Now to find a 14hp outboard for it!

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LDUBS said:

But, it won't work on painted surfaces.

Below is a link to my results. There have been other relatively recent threads with folks sharing their methods for cleaning things up.

https://forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?p=484991#p484991

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response ldubs! Your results are beautiful for sure. Initially, I'm looking to just clean it up from river dirt and leaves and stains, not strip the paint off. I figured a power sprayer would be a good method, but that will likely take off a little paint here and there. Given I'll eventually paint it, maybe that's not a bad thing.

Most of the Jon boat mods/conversions I've seen here seem to focus more on turning the jon boat into a fishing platform, and occasionally a hunting platform (duckblind, cammo, etc). While I'd be doing some very limited fishing, mostly I'm interested in turning it into a boat for river floating/camping (take a week float down a small river and stop and camp on gravel bars each day). In that use-case, it's probably more important to optimize storage and tiedown of supplies. Think more along the lines of a survival/prepper boat lol. If anyone has something more along those lines I'd love to see some pics to get ideas.

Thanks for any input folks, and I look forward to learning from the folks here!

Best,

J

Old Fart Reminiscing Alert!

When we were growing up those small Sears boats were a common fixture at all the lakes. I've spent a fair amount of time on them, but not the jon boat style. Way back then, Sears had a pretty good selection of just about any kind of sporting equipment from boats to hunting. Monkey Wards too.

Camping along the river sounds like fun.