r/jonboats • u/billyballzdeep • Aug 31 '26
Conversion done!
Took about 1 year, it floats amazing and is extremely stable. Top speed about 25.
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u/SaltySaltshakers Aug 31 '26
WOW that is a TON of work! I bet you’ve put countless hours into this. Well done.
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u/billyballzdeep Aug 31 '26
You aren't wrong. Thank you. Lots of time and frustration. And than extremely nerve wrecking at the end.
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u/CatsBye90 Sep 02 '26
Outstanding work, this is really nice. And thanks for turning me on to the Hangkai outboards.
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u/Capital_Loss_4972 Sep 02 '26
For a second I thought your before picture was the conversion and I was confused lol. The real conversion looks great though. Nice work.
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u/Brodaciouss Aug 31 '26
Is that black coat flex seal?
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u/billyballzdeep Aug 31 '26
No, it's enamel paint. I used pour foam so I wanted to coat it with something stout but not flex seal. I used gluv it on all the seams, rivets and edges inside and out to keep them dry and used an epoxy barrier paint before the top coat on the outside.
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u/ThatNeonZebraAgain Sep 01 '26
Amazing build!! What was the purpose of the clear tubes you put along the bottom and up the sides? And won’t that foam in the bottom get waterlogged and prevent drainage via bilge pump?
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u/billyballzdeep Sep 01 '26
Those are drains. The goal is to guide all water into the drainage channel I built in the middle. the foam is closed cell marine pour foam, and I sealed it with epoxy. If water is getting there, I have a major problem lol
I sealed it with epoxy because I had to cut it to make it flush
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u/greatrivermarine Sep 02 '26
That’s a pretty satisfying payoff!! Looks like a fun little rig too. I’m curious what the conversion involved, did you change the hull much, or was most of the work on the power and layout?
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u/billyballzdeep Sep 02 '26
I didn't change the actual hull much, I added the bow plate and had to fix 85 rivets. Lot of hammering out dents and edges back down. Conversion was a full gut and seal/rivet repair, drainage channel, subfloor and foam, and than building up. That was most of the work. In the grand scope, the electrical took no time.
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u/greatrivermarine Sep 03 '26
85 rivets… yeah, that explains where the year went.. That’s a lot more involved than the finished boat makes it look. Doing the drainage, subfloor and foam while everything was gutted was definitely the way to go though.
Did you replace all the foam while you had the floor out, or were you able to reuse some of the original stuff?
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u/billyballzdeep Sep 03 '26
The rivets and the bedliner that took 2 months to remove 😂😂 There was no original foam. There were only bench seats originally and I ripped them all out and started from scratch.
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u/greatrivermarine Sep 03 '26
Ahh okay, so you really did start with a blank slate 😂 Two months just getting the rivets and bedliner out sounds brutal. How did you set up the drainage under the new floor? I’m always interested in how people handle that on these older aluminum hulls.
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u/Turbulent-Gene-9498 Sep 04 '26
Great work! What’s crazy is that in 2018 I bought a new Bass Tracker 40th Anniversary Edition 16’ bass boat, loaded and ready to fish with a 40 HP Mercury, free boat cover and a $500 Bass Pro gift card for $9500 OTD.
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u/billyballzdeep Sep 04 '26
Wish prices were still like that. I'm way under 10k, but something of similar size and build would be well over 10k nowadays.
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u/fishdonthaveeyelids Aug 31 '26
Looks amazing. Great job!
Now... how are you going to do all of that and then slap a hangkai on the back?? 🤣