18' Lowe center console flat bottom rebuild

[Mrtoler]

Here's the boat a few of you guys asked me to post. I had been looking for a big Jon boat like this for awhile and found a couple but the sellers kept giving me the runaround. I found this one a scooped it up pretty quick, it's a 18' mod v Jon boat it's 60"s wide at the bottom and 72" wide at the gunnels. It has an older 75hp mercury mariner on it that runs awesome and absolutely sails this boat, it does around 40mph. I plan on using this boat for flounder gigging during the colder months and for the rest of the year I'll be chasing redfish through the marsh and crappie through the bayou. It will also be a great bass fishing boat so in my mind it's a fishing machine! Here's pics

[Mrtoler]

The floor felt solid but I suspected some rot because of it's age so I tore it out and went against a few people but I'm SOOOO glad I did. The reason the floor dident feel soft was because of the good bracing under it but it was shot no doubt. Out it came







The floor was fiberglassed on top



After a few good wacks with the hammer

[Mrtoler]

I built a motor stand out of some scrap wood I had and removed the engine





Then I took it off the trailer and began stripping the paint







That's where I am for now, the boats about 90% stripped. When I finish I'm going to put it back on the trailer and fill it up with water to check for leaks, if I have and I'm going to fix them with the aluamweld rods. Then I'll tackle the transom, the wood is rotten in it also and I'm going to try and go back all aluminum. Here's a quick sketch of what I'm planning on doing





I found these pics on another site, this is what I'm wanting to do with the console stand

[lakerunner]

Great post, thanks.

[spurhunter]

Im looking for a boat to do the same thing to. I love the toon, but fishing tailwaters with all the dam's we have here, the toon SUCKS. Need a flat-bottom bad. Great looking project so far!

[curtiscapk]

Awesome looking boat! As good as you did on the toon no doubt the boat will look great.

Don't forget the discount on seats from PS the have bassboat seats now too.

[Mrtoler]

Thanks, spurhunter ya I love to fish from my toon but sometimes it's just a bit to big to get into small cuts and VERY shallow flats where I like to fish. Another big downfall is how much wind the toon catches, sometimes it's difficult to navigate around the structure.
Craig, ya I hope this thing turns out half as good as my toon did, ya I forgot about the discount. I was planning on building a flip flop seat since I still have the livewell and all the hardware leftover from my toon rebuild but I will need two fishing seats!

[redbeard]

Great job and thanks for the pics, you know we all like to look, again great job you always do a good job keep up the good work and keep the pics coming.

[Bamaman]

Every bass fishermen with their $50K boats secretly want one of these boats with the wide beams. They're just hard to find.

And you don't have to worry about scratching the gel coat on the rock bottom of the lakes.

[Texoma Toon]

I've know lots of guys with those shinny $50k+ bass boats that couldn't catch a bass if they tried.
Mostly because they won't get way back in the sticks where the big girls live. That will be a fish catching machine when you get done!

[BobG]

My first thought was "my God, that's an ugly boat".
My second thought was "my God, that's REALLY an ugly boat".

Then I saw the beauty of it. Yup, it'll get you where you wanna go, and you won't be afraid to stick it in the weeds and trees.

[Mrtoler]

Thanks, ya this boat won't have any problem fishing in the really grown up areas or sliding across an oyster reef in the bay. I'm going to coat the bottom with steel flex so it will be really slick and very durable. I agree BOBG it is ugly now but I see potential of a great all around fishing boat with a chance of looking pretty decent when I'm done with her!

[Mrtoler]

I worked almost all day on the boat, I got a lot of grunt work done. The whole bottom the transom and the bow are now 100% stripped





I flipped the boat back over and got to work on the transom, I drilled out a few rivits and I had the tray over the back off and I got a good look at the transom DANG that thing is in bad shape. The previous owner did a bad job at patching some small leaks and the water that got in just got between the wood and the aluminum and also in-between the foam in the rear compartments. This caused som savere corrosion, Ill admit I had a few thought run through my head like why did I buy this junk! Since I'm in it this deap I'm going to bite the bullet and fix it RIGHT! I pulled out about half of the transom wood with my fingers that's how rotten it is.









I coulda got about 10 more years outta that transom whatcha think....lol

[Texoma Toon]

WOW! That was bad! Looks like a redo of the whole transom.

[Mrtoler]

Ya a new transom for sure, the only thing holding the wood together was the fiberglass it was wrapped in!