Wooden Boat | Guide and Tips for Fishing and Hunting

Building a Wooden Jon Boat..pt.14

Well the boat is finally finished and ready for a motor and then it’s off to the water! Overall the project was very satisfying as this is my 5th boat. As I said in the beginning of this series, there is nothing as satisfying a being in your own boat that you built with your…

Building a Wooden Jon Boat..pt.13

Things are wrapping up quickly on the interior and I am beginning the priming and painting inside the hull. I am using Kirby Boat Paint for this boat. Their oil based enamel is hands-down the absolute best paint that I have ever used! It flows off the paintbrush like a dream and dries extremely hard.…

Building a Wooden Jon Boat..pt.11

Next up on the construction schedule is building the seats. I wanted to keep the boat interior as open as possible with minimal stuff to get in the way of fishing equipment. I decided on standard bench style seats. Later on in the build process I will add several swivel style pedestal cushion seats using…

Building a Wooden Jon Boat..pt. 12

Now on to the gunwales! Therese are the rub rails at the top edges of the boat. They serve several important purposes. I built these out of large 1 1/4″ material as they need to be strong. Large and stiff gunwales will add tremendous strength to the hull and will help keep it from twisting…

Building a Wooden Jon Boat..pt.7

It’s been a while since I have updated the progress of my boat. Rainy weather has played havoc with my building schedule. The past couple of weeks I have been glassing and fairing the hull. I used 6oz. cloth over the entire hull exterior. I also used double layers of 4″ tape along all edges…

Building a Wooden Jon Boat..pt.6

Today the boat is assembled! I finally got a break in the weather and managed to make some decent progress the past few days. When it is cool outside it can take a full 12 hrs or more for the epoxy glue to dry. This slows down progress considerably. I glued the side panels together…

Building a Wooden Jon Boat..pt.5

Still making good progress the past few days. At the moment I am in the process of fiberglassing and encapsulating the frames with epoxy. This is slow and tedious work, but it is much easier to do this while the frames are still flat on the work bench. It takes 24hrs. for the epoxy to…

Building a Wooden Jon Boat…pt.4

Today I am making some progress. I am currently waiting on an order of epoxy to arrive, so while doing that and twiddling my thumbs, I decided to build the strongback frame outside to get the boat ready to assemble. I should have prepared a little better and ordered my supplies in advance so I…

Building a wooden jon boat.. pt.2 Setting up shop

Since this boat is 16ft. in length, you don’t need much building space. This boat has been built in single car garages all over the country. Many people build their boats outside in the backyard. I recommend buying a full set of plans from DuckWorks boat building supply. They have the plans both in instant…

How to build a wooden boat

Yes I know….I can buy 16′ aluminum jon boats all day long. But I am a builder. I’ve built all types of boats, houses, airplanes, and another 1000 things in my life. I just love to build. So there. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. There is just something about the feel of…