14' flatbottom project

[125temple]

Hey everyone I just bought a 14' flatbottom jon boat with a title for $125 today, It has over 100 screw holes on the bottom, and rotten wood so I'l be doing a complete restoration, with paint. Already got the paint, blue.

Few questions, the floor is pretty weak, anyone have Ideas on strengthening it? And what do you guys trust to fill holes on the floor? I can think of allot, but I want to know what the majority vote is twords it.

 

[kfa4303]

HI 125. Cool find. There are several ways you can deal with the holes in the floor. You can probably get away with simply using JB marine epoxy putty/stick. You should be able to get it at any Lowes/HD. It's sort of has the consistency of Play-Doh and you knead it like bread to start the reaction you can then fill the holes and let dry. Once if fully cures is will be rock hard and can be machined, sanded, primed and painted. If you have holes larger than the size of a dime, you should probably try to get those patched by a welder, or could try sandwiching the hole with a small aluminum patch covered with 3M 5200 marine caulk, then rivet it together. As for the rest of the boat there are only a few rules; 1) NEVER use Pressure Treated Lumber. Non-PT, exterior grade plywood is fine. You'll then want to seal it. You can either use 2-part spreadable epoxy (pricey, but good and easy to use), or wax-free polyester resin and fiberglass mat (cheaper than epoxy, but messy and tricky), or you could use several coats (3-4) of Spar Urethane/Varnish, or several coats of Oil based enamel paint. The last two won't exactly waterpoof the wood, but should still give you many years of good use. You'll then want to mount and sealed wood and accessories with Stainless Steel hardware dipped in 3M 5200 marine caulk. You can brace the floor using aluminum angle, which is readily available at lowes/HD. That's really about it. The rest is only limited by time, money and imagination.

 

[fool4fish1226]

Either weld (welding is your best fix) them or patch them I did alot of patching on mine take a look

 

[125temple]

I finally removed all the wood, except the wood in the transom.

I cracked the bottom of the hull. #-o

The floor is very thin, I when I was prying the wood up I cracked the hull. Now I need to patch it up, I'm thinking JB weld, because I don't have access to a welder. I'm thinking a spray on epoxy, or laying a whole sheet of aluminum on, but I want it to be as light as possible, and the sheet of aluminum wouldn't really help that much.. Anyone have any thoughts?

I'm going to be adding three support beams, because they were taken out for some dumb reason..

 

[125temple]

.

 

[bigrog61]

If you are trying to keep it under a hundred dollars use jb weld and get a gallon of truck bedliner and roll it on both sides then cut a peice of half inch plywood to go on the floor and you should be good to go. Or steelflex is awesome to put on the outside bottom gives you less drag but still need to put something on the inside of boat. If it were me i would use the bedliner. That is just my two cents!! Good luck and show your progress.

 

[Jdholmes]

That boat is a mess, dude.

Don't use jB weld on the hull of an aluminum boat - it does not flex like aluminum and will crack. I speak from experience trying to use it and a few others here can attest to the same.

 

[sixgun86]

x2. It is really bad off. If you plan on spending money on a motor, electronics down the road find another hull.

JB will crack like mentioned and the floor is too thin and damaged to weld. From the looks it had PT wood that has corroded and eaten away at aluminum. Also the lack of braces is worrisome. There is the potential to have the floor wave. I think your only hope would be fiberglass and try to even out any weight by using ply board with wide braces. Still I wouldn't put anything larger than a 5hp unless you built it up thick w/ glass. With minor repair and medium to light passengers (2max) I think this boat is a trolling motor only setup.

 

[bigrog61]

I must recant my statement, I did not look at the overall condition of it and meant to say jb marine. Having said that if you cracked the hull by just taking out the floor it would make me very nervous and i would think of turning it in to a scrapyard for the price of alum,and use that money to look for something different. Just a thought i would not want you to get in trouble on the water.

 

[Ictalurus]

That boat is a mess, dude.

Don't use jB weld on the hull of an aluminum boat - it does not flex like aluminum and will crack. I speak from experience trying to use it and a few others here can attest to the same.

JDH

I've heard you mention not to use JBW on boat hulls in the past, as I'm sure you heard my reply that I've had success with it. Could you please post the pics of the problems you had with JBW on your boat.

I would not use JBW to patch a crack in the hull or to try to repair a spot that was previously welded (rib corners). But why not for small holes (drill holes for transducers, etc...)?

Edited to say: The issues you had may have been attributed to using the JBW to fix problems that extend beyond its capacity.

 

[Jdholmes]

The problem isn't with screw holes, though I don't know why that would be the choice for something like a transducer when 5200 is available...

The problem comes with anywhere that flex comes into play - which is a lot of areas on an aluminum boat.

 

[Ictalurus]

The problem isn't with screw holes, though I don't know why that would be the choice for something like a transducer when 5200 is available...

I guess that's where I was going. There were several holes on my boat (< 1/8" or so) that I filled w/ JBW. To me, the benefit over 5200 is that the JBW can be sanded smooth and painted, you'd never know it was a patch. For screws that are still there, I used 5200 to seal. Again, I'd stay clear of using it on a stress point on the hull. Where did the JBW crack on your boat?

 

[Jdholmes]

On mine it was a transom brace.

 

[Mojo^]

I see what appears to be a LOT of galvanic corrosion and most likely when you start cleaning-off that white powdery looking stuff, a hole will open-up underneath. I recommend you cut your losses and sell the boat for scrap. If not, you'll end-up having more money (and time) tied-up in it than it's worth.

 

[sixgun86]

I came across a 10' jon that was used to assist in dock building for many years. Saying it was rough would be an under statement.. I'm talking about giving a hammer to a classroom full of kids and letting them go wild. It had the entire underside of the hull glassed then repainted. UGLY but solid. Just saying it can be repaired, but like mentioned above depending on how resourceful and skilled you are it could cost more than its worth.