# Jonboat to Flats boat- Alumacraft 1648



## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

Last spring I stumbled upon a good deal on a 16 ft Jon boat just up the road from me. I hadn't been on a Jon boat since high school and used to fish a local lake on a buddy's jon boat with a trolling motor thinking we were king of the seven seas. I thought this boat would be a great to teach my boys on. After having this boat a year I think this my be my favorite boat I've ever owned, and am sprucing this old boat up a bit.

This is the day I brought her home, and my motley crew had to climb aboard in the driveway.


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

The motor is a 2 stroke Yamaha that ran great but didn't pump water well. What I thought would be a simple job turned out to be a nightmare as the coupler on the shift shaft froze and when I tried to turn it it snapped the linkage off right under the power head. Parts were ordered, power head pulled, and eventually this motor got a new impeller, new spark plugs and the carb's rebuilt ( twice, its a learning process).


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

The trailer for this little boat is actually a custom welded aluminum trailer. However, one of the things I knew was wrong from the beginning was the axle and springs were bad and needed to be replaced. Well I should have fixed that first because on the second outing I hit a bump in the road and the axle bent into the shape of a hockey stick. Parked the boat under the bridge and called a towing company. The boys did think it was funny to have to call a tow truck for the boat.

No pics of the fix, but the trailer got a new axle, springs, hubs, tires, and lights, and is as good as new.


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

For the remainder of last summer we used the boat in the as purchased but fixed up condition. The boat was perfect for trips to the sand bars, inshore exploring and catching the occasional fish. I put the boat on an old jet ski jet dock, and I think we ended up using this way more than our "big" boat a Whaler 18 Outrage.


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## MudSkipper (Jan 11, 2021)

Nice rig, great family photos, and a great place to park your boat! 👍


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## fjmaverick (Sep 18, 2015)

Been watching your thread on tht. Nice work!


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## Wilmywood (Oct 7, 2019)

Think I recognize that waterway! Wrightsville Beach area?


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## NealXB2003 (Jun 8, 2020)

Jon boats are a lot of fun. I use my aluminum a lot more than my big boat these days because I can enjoy my time on the water and not worry about banging docks or scraping rocks.


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

fjmaverick said:


> Been watching your thread on tht. Nice work!


Thanks. I was googling ideas for the skiff and this forum popped up. I stubbled down the rabbit hole of amazing projects and boats on this forum earlier this week. I thought this might be a good place to share my little project too.


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

Wilmywood said:


> Think I recognize that waterway! Wrightsville Beach area?


You got it. We are a little further south though, closer to CB inlet.


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

So this is where the transformation starts. After a year of using the boat in the original form I thought it would be fun to spruce her up and convert her into a bit of a flats boat. (Skiff may be a better term but its my boat and I'll call it what I want  ) 

The boys and I removed all the old plywood decking and everything else in the boat, built a motor stand and flipped her over. We then sanded anded cleaned the hull. I sprayed sprayed her with a 1k self etching automotive primer I bought from TPC Global as the first step of this transformation. I'm not 100% sure how it will hold up but we will see. I started adding lines for how I want to mask it off for bottom paint later.


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

The next step was to get a little color on the hull sides. I masked off the boat and painted it with Totalboat's wet edge paint in seafoam green using an electric sprayer. I know this isn't the typical tool for painting boats, but I figured it was a jon boat and I'd give it a try. I ended up doing 3 coats and I think it came out pretty good. 

Again I'm not sure how well these 1 part paints will hold up, but for this project I'm happy thus far. I will say the electric sprayer worked awesome for my purposes. Probably not the best tool for a yacht finish on a Hells Bay, but for an old dented up jon boat, this thing worked great. I would certainly recommend it to anyone trying similar, and may be great for just doing primer on other jobs.


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

I'm likely going to keep the boat on that little jet ski dock again, but I wanted to bottom paint her so I could have the option to keep her in the water too. I wiped the boat down, taped off the lines again, and applied 3 coats of Totalboat's ablative copper free bottom paint.


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## Mako 181 (May 1, 2020)




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## Mako 181 (May 1, 2020)

No Wood - All Aluminum
Fun Comfortable Boat
Lots of Room - Lots of Storage
Lowe 1648


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

One of the great things about an aluminum boat, especially one of this size, is how light weight they are, and how easy they to move around. I pulled the boat off the trailer with hopes to flip it over, but here is where the one part paints come into question. Both the hull side paint and bottom paint was not cured enough to pull it up on the trailer, even after sitting out to cure for a week. I let the boat sit another few days and updated my technique. I still got a coup of scrapes but I think I should be able to touch it up without much issue.


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

My posts are quickly getting things caught up to date. Two weekends ago , the boys and I power washed and scrubbed the inside. I then cleaned the whole inside with acetone, which took me much longer than expected, but it got up a lot of grime I didn't even realize was there so it was worth the effort. Finally I got her all taped off and sprayed the inside with primer.


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## MudSkipper (Jan 11, 2021)

Good to see you have good help. They will be invested and it will be lasting memories.


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

One of the parts of this transformation I have been most excited about was Raptor Lining (bed coating) the interior. I used Custom Coat's spray in "GM White". My "research" says that it is the same exact thing as Raptor Liner only repackaged as TPC Global's in house brand and sold for a little less. I ordered the 2 gallon (8 bottle kit) which turned out to not be enough and had to order an additional 4 bottles for 12 total. There was a little bit of a learning curve and the sprayer they included stunk. It sprayed well enough but the trigger on mine was broken which made it really hard to use. 

Overall, I'm really happy with how the final coating turned out, both in color, texture and what I believe will be duability. Other than a crummy spray tigger, the product itself sprayed well, and my old 30 gallon craftsman compressor was more than up for the challenge. Only other con to this coating is it was a bit on the pricy side. Depending on color and if you need a sprayer they run around ~$150 for a 1 gallon/4 bottle kit. They say 1 kit is enough for one pickup truck bed, but when you need 3 kits that price starts to add up when we are talking about an old jon boat. 

Next step is decking and some motor maintenance.


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

Next on the list was creating the decking for the boat. I decided to try something different and with the crazy price of plywood, I think it was more cost effective in the end to use 1/2 inch PVC, no epoxy sealer, fiber glass, or paint required. Once again the boys helped me clean up the boat (problem with keeping it parked uncovered under some trees), build a small frame structure, and cut the deck. 

My bow frame may need a little bit of reinforcement, its plenty strong for my 3 testers, but under my fat butt it does flex a bit. Strengthening that up a bit might be on this weekend's list. I won't screw down any of the decking until we are done rigging and doing the electrical.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

I would use long aluminum rivets to hold the decking in place


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

Love your "helpers". Gonna be some smiling faces when she gets fishy. Good looking rig!


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

fishnpreacher said:


> Love your "helpers". Gonna be some smiling faces when she gets fishy. Good looking rig!



Thanks so much, and I hope so. At first it took a little coaxing to get their help. But now whenever they see me out in the garage its, "Whatcha doing? Can I help? "


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

Over the weekend I made a bit more progress on boat. One of my favorite things about little motors is they are light enough to take apart without much hassle. After having the powerhead out last year I noticed a bit of an exhaust leak, so this is something I wanted to take care of. I also wanted to replace the kill switch button, and the little bracket for the motor tilt (which was surpisingly expensive). With that the motor is now sorted and ready to be hung for the season.






































Also mounted a much needed new winch on the trailer.



















Seems to be running well


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## beber (Aug 22, 2019)

So it took a while to finish up but she's done, and after 3 weeks of thunderstorms I was finally able to put her in the water and tie her up to our dock. 

Some of the projects since my last update was fabricating a small console, installing a fuse block and switches, running the wiring for and installing the battery, switch panel, fish finder, bilge pump and charging system. I also fabricated a make shift bow mount trolling motor mount for an old transom mount motor. 

Looking forward to using her this summer.


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

That dog will hunt!!


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## Surferguy (Jun 18, 2017)

Where'd you get the 1/2" PVC sheets and how much? How's it holding up to you standing on it and how much flex/deflection? 

I need to do a deck (atop the ribs) in my new AlumaCraft 1648MV - thinking about putting 1" thick foam down between the ribs before I put deck over - should keep deck and boat bottom deflection to a minimum and quiet things down, at minimal weight add.


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