This may be a long entry because I want to include my whole process in this post. Ill have pictures of the final product at the bottom if you want to cut right to the chase!
I bought a 1232 jon boat (named Captain Leroy) to put put around the marsh for redfishing and duck hunting in some really shallow waters. In hind sight a wider boat would be a lot more comfortable but when I bought the boat I had just graduated high school and its all I could afford :lol: . After looking at some of the posts here I was determined to make this thing as nice as possible.
I started by stripping the exterior paint, I wanted a winter marsh camo pattern so i bought a cheap paint gun and some paint from "One Hit Wonder Paint". I also used razor grass stencils from redleg cammo. The painting process went as well as a first time paintjob could go, mediocre.
For the interior I started by installing a grab bar. I picked up a grab bar from godevil and some rivnuts at harborfreight. The bracket that holds the grab bar had to be slightly modified, I welded angled steel to the base so I can fasten the whole assembly to one of the ribs and the middle bench. (Its hard to explain by text but you can see in the pictures what I mean.) I also did some decorative cockscombing on the handle. Its nice and removable, and I can tie my guns against it when hunting to save floor space.
Walking around the boat was a little annoying with the ribs exposed but I couldn't justify adding a floor made of sheet aluminum, its expensive and heavy for such a small boat. I read a topic posted by member "JNG" who mentioned using FRP board over foam board. Its lightweight, and rot free...perfect for me. I made some stencils and in a few hours my boat had a floor!
Another issue with the boat is that it got really hot, really fast. To solve this I added hydrodeck to the benches and floor. This was a game changer, now I don't have to sit on a lifejacket to not be fried by my own boat. One thing I didnt think about was drainage on the main floor, because of this cleaning the hydroturf is a pain in the behind. This is a mud boat though so its not the end of the world if it looks a little muddy on the interior.
Lastly I had to do the electrical work. I made a consul under the grab bar for the electrical controls. Its made of bald cypress wood (a cool touch since its our state tree). Mounted to it is a switch board for the running light, courtesy lights, gps/fishfinder, and the bilge pump. The main battery sits in the front of the boat and a wire runs to the switch board in the consul. From the consul each wire goes through the spray rail (I think thats what its called) to its respective electronic device. The navigation lights are clamp on and battery powered, and the trolling motor sitting up front is wired directly to the battery.
When I'm not running the boat in mud I use the 5hp briggs and stratt air-cooled outboard that came with the boat, it doesn't go too fast with it but hey, that boat isnt designed for speed. When im out hunting and need to power through mud I have a homemade mud motor with predator 212 modified to be about 12 or 13hp. With it I've gotten to 18 mph with me and a buddy.
This whole project took about a year and I am super proud of my work, there were a lot of first and I feel I've gained a few skills from working on this boat. On top of that I think I have one of the nice 1232s now :lol: Its been catching Redfish pretty well, and it performed decently for early teal season. No ducks down but that will change when duck season comes. Thanks yall for reading!
I bought a 1232 jon boat (named Captain Leroy) to put put around the marsh for redfishing and duck hunting in some really shallow waters. In hind sight a wider boat would be a lot more comfortable but when I bought the boat I had just graduated high school and its all I could afford :lol: . After looking at some of the posts here I was determined to make this thing as nice as possible.
I started by stripping the exterior paint, I wanted a winter marsh camo pattern so i bought a cheap paint gun and some paint from "One Hit Wonder Paint". I also used razor grass stencils from redleg cammo. The painting process went as well as a first time paintjob could go, mediocre.
For the interior I started by installing a grab bar. I picked up a grab bar from godevil and some rivnuts at harborfreight. The bracket that holds the grab bar had to be slightly modified, I welded angled steel to the base so I can fasten the whole assembly to one of the ribs and the middle bench. (Its hard to explain by text but you can see in the pictures what I mean.) I also did some decorative cockscombing on the handle. Its nice and removable, and I can tie my guns against it when hunting to save floor space.
Walking around the boat was a little annoying with the ribs exposed but I couldn't justify adding a floor made of sheet aluminum, its expensive and heavy for such a small boat. I read a topic posted by member "JNG" who mentioned using FRP board over foam board. Its lightweight, and rot free...perfect for me. I made some stencils and in a few hours my boat had a floor!
Another issue with the boat is that it got really hot, really fast. To solve this I added hydrodeck to the benches and floor. This was a game changer, now I don't have to sit on a lifejacket to not be fried by my own boat. One thing I didnt think about was drainage on the main floor, because of this cleaning the hydroturf is a pain in the behind. This is a mud boat though so its not the end of the world if it looks a little muddy on the interior.
Lastly I had to do the electrical work. I made a consul under the grab bar for the electrical controls. Its made of bald cypress wood (a cool touch since its our state tree). Mounted to it is a switch board for the running light, courtesy lights, gps/fishfinder, and the bilge pump. The main battery sits in the front of the boat and a wire runs to the switch board in the consul. From the consul each wire goes through the spray rail (I think thats what its called) to its respective electronic device. The navigation lights are clamp on and battery powered, and the trolling motor sitting up front is wired directly to the battery.
When I'm not running the boat in mud I use the 5hp briggs and stratt air-cooled outboard that came with the boat, it doesn't go too fast with it but hey, that boat isnt designed for speed. When im out hunting and need to power through mud I have a homemade mud motor with predator 212 modified to be about 12 or 13hp. With it I've gotten to 18 mph with me and a buddy.
This whole project took about a year and I am super proud of my work, there were a lot of first and I feel I've gained a few skills from working on this boat. On top of that I think I have one of the nice 1232s now :lol: Its been catching Redfish pretty well, and it performed decently for early teal season. No ducks down but that will change when duck season comes. Thanks yall for reading!
