Jon Boat design

Discussion in 'Boat Design' started by piits, May 8, 2015.

  1. piits
    Joined: May 2015
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    Location: Latvija

    piits Junior Member

    Hello boatbuilders!

    Im looking for a welded ~4.5 m long Jon boat design. I will put on it outboard engine ~15hp.

    boat will be used as catagory D boat (Lakes and Rivers).
    Maybe someone have that kind of design and you can sell it to me?

    Thanks!
     
  2. messabout
    Joined: Jan 2006
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    Location: Lakeland Fl USA

    messabout Senior Member

    Piits; More information is needed before suggesting a particular boat for you. How will the boat be used......fishing, to transport cargo, pleasure boating...... how many people will be in the boat, How fast do you need it to go, Do the lakes and rivers have large waves or currents?
     
  3. piits
    Joined: May 2015
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    Location: Latvija

    piits Junior Member

    messabout;
    boat will be used for fishing
    for 2-3 people
    i dont need speed boat
    i dont think the lakes and rivers in Latvia have big waves or currents.
     
  4. SamSam
    Joined: Feb 2005
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    Location: Coastal Georgia

    SamSam Senior Member

  5. messabout
    Joined: Jan 2006
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    Location: Lakeland Fl USA

    messabout Senior Member

    Piits; a Jon Boat of at least 4.5 meters could work well enough but a 5 meter length would be a better choice for three normal sized fishermen. With a 15 HP engine you could expect speeds in the 35 Km per hour range with either of those lengths.

    If speed is not important, then a much smaller engine would be satisfactory. It all depends on the distance that you wish to travel and the time that you are comfortable with. The 5 meter Jon would probably not plane with a 6HP engine ( it would be slow) with three people , but it would be far more economical to buy and to operate. At 35km/hr the Jon boat would give a bumpy ride if the water was anything but smooth. You could still go at reduced throttle with the 15 HP engine and the ride would not be so bumpy

    Jon boats are typically flat bottomed and about as simple and practical as a boat can be unless you need to operate in rough water or at high speeds.

    There are many variations on the design of Jon boats, many of them have rather narrow chine widths but they all seem to serve the purpose for which they are intended. The problem is that some people expect more than the design was actually designed to serve. They are the way to go if shallow waters are the preferred fishing grounds.

    I am not sure whether the design firm, Glen-El, has plans for Jon Boats. If they do, they are a reliable source for well done plan sets.. Refer to their web site.
     
    1 person likes this.
  6. FMS
    Joined: Jul 2011
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    Location: united states

    FMS Senior Member

  7. yofish

    yofish Previous Member

    Note that Specmar boats aren't true Jon's in that they all have V, not that I want to argue what is or isn't a jonboat. I don't think that Specmar has a single design that does not have a self-bailing deck thus a lot of extra weight and cost for what the OP wants.

    I think the OP would be better off looking at wood as a building material. There are is no lack of material out there to choose from:

    http://unclejohns.com/jonboat/photos/Default.htm

    There can hardly be a simpler thing to build. Some will disagree but wood plans can be translated to aluminum.
     
  8. piits
    Joined: May 2015
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    Location: Latvija

    piits Junior Member

    Gys thanks for your respond, but i prefere alluminium as material this time . And boat im looking for is something like this (attachment)

    Im ready to buy a drawings for this kind of boat
     

    Attached Files:

  9. yofish

    yofish Previous Member

    Good luck with that.
     
  10. piits
    Joined: May 2015
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    Location: Latvija

    piits Junior Member

    Thanks. Ofc i can create 3d model of the boat by my own (have all the software for that) but im civil engeneer not boat engeneer. I can design any kind of building but i dont have exp for boat desining.. So i ask for help. Mby some one know how to correct choose hull material thikness and boat engine support thikness ( load from engine )

    Hope somone can help me! I realy whant create my own boat!
     
  11. Kevin Morin
    Joined: May 2013
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    Location: Kenai, AK

    Kevin Morin Junior Member

    Plans for thin aluminum jon boats

    piits, I've designed lots of skiffs and other small boats to build in my own shop. Yofish has too, others may as well?

    What needs to be stressed for your original question is that there is no market for the plans for a small (<20' [6m) LOA) jon boat because #1 of the very thin materials that will be in proportion to that build, and #2 because of the very scarce market for those plans.

    In the US these boats are for sale for less than the cost of the materials purchased through conventional Local Metal Vendors retail outlets.

    In the US, at least, all the thin hulled jon boats, as yofish and others have already mentioned are press formed, roll formed or stretch formed - the equipment to do those tasks required thousands of boats to return that investment. Further their designs rely totally on being made of thin and very formable alloys that are extremely difficult to weld, and if you considered setting up to rivet these hulls in a one-off design build- let's just say that you could build dozens of other boats in that same time interval.

    Next is the design community, people with the skills and knowledge to design even a simple jon boat are mainly focused on selling plans- more copies of the plans the better. But it those whose skills to weld thin metal or those who'd take the time to rivet that same thickness of aluminum (!) are few and very far between.

    So, I doubt you'll find a native aluminum design for this size and class of aluminum boat. If you convert a plywood or plank design, and approximate the framing elements, you may be able to build something that was useful in your waters? But, I can't expect to find any designer who would draw stock plans for this class of boat because of the tooling commonly used and the one in ten-million customers for his design?

    Last point: I've been approached by dozens of new welded aluminum builders in the past ;" just sell me the plans and I'll do the rest"! Famous last words, and only the foolish (I've learned) will sell his own plans to others unless they're already a full time professional builder!

    What happens is the plans show a builder what to build but they do not teach boat building or more exactly; plans don't teach metal boat building. As a result the new builders to whom I've been foolish enough to 'sell plans' have all called, written and emailed back looking for a course in boat building!!!

    If I were to sell to another inexperienced builder in welded aluminum I'd want to charge at least $25,000.00US to pay for the hundreds
    of hours of teaching, illustrating, troubleshooting and other distance learning at an apprentice level - teaching- issue resolution in the email is time consuming.

    Taking all that into account; in my opinion nobody has a 0.090" (2mm) jon boat design building plans for sale to the public.

    Cheers,
    Kevin Morin
    Kenai, AK
     
  12. piits
    Joined: May 2015
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    Location: Latvija

    piits Junior Member

    Ok u have your oppinion! Thanks for that!

    Im keep looking for boat design in europe.

    Thanks all
     
  13. yofish

    yofish Previous Member

    "Last point: I've been approached by dozens of new welded aluminum builders in the past ;" just sell me the plans and I'll do the rest"! Famous last words, and only the foolish (I've learned) will sell his own plans to others unless they're already a full time professional builder!"

    Whoooboy, I second that emotion!
     

  14. waikikin
    Joined: Jan 2006
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    Location: Australia

    waikikin Senior Member

    Although these are bigger they might give you a few ideas, Aluminium "plank" punts as an example are a fairly ubiquitous feature in Aus in waterfront constructions, oyster farming & similar roles. Maybe a bit much at 4.5m but very stiff straight material, I believe the edge welds are often semi automated. Heavy duty construction seems to be tending to heavier plate boats as more enduring with push knees & similar. Aus a few years ago- maybe 10-15 went through a small plate boat craze with kit options, some still available. Backing what Kev & Yofish indicated about new builders, a couple of the kit suppliers offer training onto a build etc. http://www.platealloy.com/boatbuild.htm

    http://www.bowdidgemarinedesigns.com/Bowdidge_Marine_Designs_1/Malee_Punt.html

    http://www.bodenboatplans.com/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=8
     
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