# LoweHusky 18' flatbottom



## Spoiler (May 8, 2011)

Hello Everyone, Found this site by searching for jon boat modifications...that was three weeks ago. I found that I quickly got hooked and have'nt left. I really like how everybody is so willing to help and share there builds with each other. With that being said I would like share with everyone my jon boat mod. This is the first boat I have ever owned and plan on building in to a bowfishing boat/all around fishing boat. I bought this boat 4-6-11 and have made pretty good progress on it considering I have two very young "helpers". I have taken pics thru out the build just not sure if I post a few here and there or post all to sow where I am to date. Thank you and I look forward to comments and or suggestions. SORRY FOR THE PICTURE QUILITY IN THE BEGINING THEY GET BETTER AS THE BUILDS GO ON.


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## Jim (May 8, 2011)

:WELCOME: spoiler!

Thanks for joining. Great looking boat you have there.


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## Spoiler (May 8, 2011)

Well the first thing I did was have my brother who is a welder help me build a shooting platform that will attach to the bow of the boat. It will he raised 12 inches above the bow and will be removable with with 4 pins. We made the platform with a seat so my two sons can sit down and still be elevated while fishing. the floor is going to be marine grade plywood/carpeted.It is 5 x 4 and has about 18" rails around it.


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## fish2keel (May 8, 2011)

Will be watching closely! am building my 16 foot for bowfishing/fishing also and am looking for ideas!

Keep the pictures and everything coming!


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## basshunter25 (May 8, 2011)

Nice boat. Post all the pics you want. We love to look at pics!


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## Spoiler (May 8, 2011)

I just finished the trailer yesterday. It was in really good shape already but Im redoing the whole boat so I decided why not do the trailer too. I wired wheeled the whole thing then powerwashed it. Next day I primered it and the following day painted it gloss black. Some treated lumber and some indoor/outdoor carpet and I was finished. It turned out great. Sorry all these pictures are so crappy but I took them all with my cell phone


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## Spoiler (May 8, 2011)

From some reason the picture of the trailer all finished didn't attach to the last thread. Here it is.


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## reedjj (May 8, 2011)

I love the removable bowfishing deck! What kind of lights are you going to use and how many?

Dont' bother with the Marine Ply. Just get some good exterior ply and put a couple coats of spar urethane on it.

I don't have the heart to tell him about he Treated wood...someone else do it!


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## Spoiler (May 8, 2011)

When I bought this boat it had the worst camo paint job on a boat I had ever seen. I tore the floor out and pretty nuched junked everything even the nav lights. Here are some pics of the boat after I gutted it and set the shooting platform up on some 4x4's about where it will be. Also in these pictures you can see that I am stripping all the old paint off it. That proved to be alot harder than I origanally thought it was going to be.


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## fish2keel (May 8, 2011)

Wow that trailer looks great! 

I would love to see more of the deck and how you made it removeable. 

Listen to reedjj. Treated wood will pit aluminum since it has chemicals in it that react to aluminum. Better to stay far far away from treated wood.


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## Spoiler (May 8, 2011)

Thanks for the comments on the shooting platform, it definitly turned out awesome. A friend of mine is building me the lights I think there called Halides. I seen his and I know they are 400 watt and they have 30,000 lumans. When we held a 500 watt halogen on the wall and then turned the halide on you could no longer see the halogen. They are super bright and I love the fact that they are only 400 watt. I'm going to run 2 on front and 1 on each side of tha platform. Now someone please tell me about the treated wood on the trailer.


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## Spoiler (May 8, 2011)

Wow thats a shame. Sure wish I would have known that before I finished the trailer. Do you guys think I should redo it?


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## Spoiler (May 8, 2011)

Here are some pics of the oustide of the boat when I was priming it and one with it all primed. Also the platform primed. Everything got two coats.


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## Spoiler (May 8, 2011)

Here's a veiw inside. A few days after the primer was finished I started the first coat of Khaki tan.


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## fish2keel (May 8, 2011)

Spoiler looking good! Keep it up! 

Not sure if i read it or not but what are you putting on the back end of this puppy?


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## hsiftac (May 8, 2011)

looking awesome, nice big boat and that shooting platform is going to be great, cant wait to see more progress
good work man


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## Spoiler (May 8, 2011)

Two coats of Khaki tan with my dads sprayer and a huge comressor now cover the whole inside and outside. Spraying it that way was awesome and turned out great. Then it was time to put on my very inexpensive camo paint job. I took a piece of 1/2 in. pvc pipe and sprayed it with rustoelum camo "forest green". Then I went back and held the pcv pipe in the same spot as the first time and use "earth brown". After it was all done I went over it with two coats of clearcoat. Heres a couple of pics of the bottom finished.


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## Spoiler (May 8, 2011)

fish2keel said:


> Spoiler looking good! Keep it up!
> 
> Not sure if i read it or not but what are you putting on the back end of this puppy?


I have a 40 hp johson going on it.


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## Spoiler (May 8, 2011)

Well these are the last two picks I have so far. I have a bunch more to do it still. I will have the camo on the inside done tomorrow. Then it's going to be on to the floor and my dry storage boxes. After that eveything will get carpeted along with the floor of the platform. Then I get to do the fun stuff. I have all new nav lights, seats, fishfinder. Thanks for checking out the build. Please...if anyone has any suggestions Im wide open. Like what to do about the trailer. leave it or change it?


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## Spoiler (May 9, 2011)

I did some more painting today and I almost finished but was very limited on time "daddy duties". After posting the prior photos I took with my cell phone I relized how terrible they were. From here on I will use my camera, much better. I probably would have used it from the begining If I would have found this site earlier. Please give me some feedback.


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## Spoiler (May 9, 2011)

fish2keel said:


> Wow that trailer looks great!
> 
> I would love to see more of the deck and how you made it removeable.
> 
> Listen to reedjj. Treated wood will pit aluminum since it has chemicals in it that react to aluminum. Better to stay far far away from treated wood.


 Hey man I took some pics for you to show you how I mounted the platform and made it removable. I was going to put pins in it but decided not to. This is what i did instead. I mounted the rear 2 legs so they lined up perfect, then mounted the front 2 legs in a 1/4 in so when you put the platform on you have to push the legs in slightly. It made it fit super tight. You actually have to whack the bottom with a hammer to remove it. Hope this helps.


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## Ictalurus (May 9, 2011)

WOW :shock: That is one stout boat! Looks great, can't wait to see the final version. I'd love to have 18' of space on the water. I put treated lumber on my trailer runners too, they were painted and carpeted, no problems yet.


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## fish2keel (May 9, 2011)

I think for your trailer you should be ok but dont use it on the boat itself.

And thanks for the pictures! That is a great set up! What a great boat as well


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## Spoiler (May 9, 2011)

On the trailer the only place I used the treated was the bottom to boards. The boards on the bunk are not treated. Inside the boat is all marine grade.


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## Spoiler (May 12, 2011)

Well guys I got some more done on my boat today, its getting so close I'm almost beside myself with excitment. I cut out the flooring and carpeted it. What a pain to carpet with all the little cutouts for the ribs, sure hope I never do that again. I also ran the wires for the trolling motor to the bow and wired/mounted the nav lights( forgot to photo them). Carpeted and mounted the floor on the shooting platform. Tomorrow I will screw the flooring down and mount the seats. I might even have time to start the dry storage boxes. I'll post some more pics tomorrow. Open to suggestions. Thanks for veiwing.


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## FFDOZIER (May 12, 2011)

Boat looks awesome. I love the paint job.


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## KRS62 (May 13, 2011)

Boat looks great. Good work. Will people be riding up on the shooting platform when under way? I am curious if those 4 (crimped down) posts will become a failure point if you have a lot of weight up there and it gets rough. I am not calling you out as I think it looks great, just curious if you plan on riding up there.

KRS


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## Spoiler (May 13, 2011)

KRS62 said:


> Boat looks great. Good work. Will people be riding up on the shooting platform when under way? I am curious if those 4 (crimped down) posts will become a failure point if you have a lot of weight up there and it gets rough. I am not calling you out as I think it looks great, just curious if you plan on riding up there.
> 
> KRS


The only time people will be on the platform is when im using the trolling motor.


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## Spoiler (May 13, 2011)

Today was kind of a bummer day. I had high hopes of getting a bunch done, that didn't happen. All I accomlished was mounting the motor and carpeting the tops of the float boxes. Back at it in the morning.


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## bAcKpAiN (May 13, 2011)

The boat looks incredible.


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## r.spencer (May 14, 2011)

I would have used the shadows from the tress as a template and painted them black and gray for a camo effect. but I do like how you did yours. Keep up the good work


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## Waterwings (May 14, 2011)

Great job on the boat. Lookin' good! 8)


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## reedjj (May 14, 2011)

Awesome build. I really like your paint work and the deck is amazing. You are going to have to post a pic of it at night on the water with the lights on (no flash camera)!

I had forgotten that I commented earlier about it. If you boat is not in contact with the treated wood, then I wouldn't worry about it. If the bunks are made of treated wood and its only separated by the carpet on the bunks I would replace them at your earliest opportunity.

What size is this boat, I know its 18 feet long but is it a 52" or a 48" floor ?


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## Spoiler (May 14, 2011)

reedjj said:


> Awesome build. I really like your paint work and the deck is amazing. You are going to have to post a pic of it at night on the water with the lights on (no flash camera)!
> 
> I had forgotten that I commented earlier about it. If you boat is not in contact with the treated wood, then I wouldn't worry about it. If the bunks are made of treated wood and its only separated by the carpet on the bunks I would replace them at your earliest opportunity.
> 
> What size is this boat, I know its 18 feet long but is it a 52" or a 48" floor ?


The boat has a 60'' floor and is 83" at the gunall. I think its called beam and hull?? Im not sure, thats how new I am to this boating thing. :lol: I'm definitly learning new things everyday.


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## blueultra2 (May 14, 2011)

I believed most Jon boats are measured by their length and bottom width. And this would make your boat an 1860.


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## Spoiler (May 15, 2011)

I woke up to the sound of rain this morning, I said a four letter word to myself grabbed a cup of coffee and put on the weather channel. Did'nt look good for me and the boat but low and behold around 2pm the sun popped out. Just the break I was looking for. I started out by running a couple more wires to the bow thru the wire tube in the floor. I had already ran the wires for the trolling motor and the bow light but I decided to put 2-55 watt kc/fog lights on the bow mounted to the bottom of the platform for night driving. Next I put the floor in that I had cut and carpeted a few days ago. The two swivel pedastel seats went in after that. I had to stand back and look at it for awhile after that just thinking about how close I was getting. It made me smile for sure. I also cut the wood for the steps on the trailer, those will get carpeted and installed tomorrow. I have two major jobs to do still, one being the two dry storage boxes that will have a seat mounted on the end of each one (I took a pic of the seats so you can kinda see where they will be). The other being the rear rack which will hold the fuel tanks. After that is all small stuff-easy stuff. Here are some pics of today's progress. I also took some pics of the nav lights that I forgot to photo the other day. Enjoy, I always look forward to comments and suggestions.


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## Spoiler (May 16, 2011)

With my oldest off to kindergarten and my little guy napping I had 2 hours to get some things done today. I carpeted and mounted the steps on the trailer. I also mounted the kc/fog lights on the platform, these lights will not be used for bowfishing but rather for night driving. And they look cool. lol. Heres pics from today.


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## bt4264 (May 17, 2011)

First time????? Yea right!!!! =D> 

Seriously, this thing looks awesome. Great job! Lotta memories to be made in this gem....


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## Spoiler (May 17, 2011)

bt4264 said:


> First time????? Yea right!!!! =D>
> 
> Seriously, this thing looks awesome. Great job! Lotta memories to be made in this gem....


LOL. honestly this is really my first boat. Just goes to show you what this website can do for people. I learned and got most of my ideas just by following other builds and reading ALOT of posts. Thanks for the copliment.


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## Spoiler (May 21, 2011)

Here's some pictures guys. I worked for a couple hours on Thursday again while one is at school and the other sleeping. I framed in the two storage boxes that will also be the bases for the two other seats. Friday I used my two hours to cut the plywood on the small box. It went pretty well so I starting carpeting the pieces. Now the plan was to talk the wife into taking my six and two year old to tae kwon do. Did'nt need to she offered and gave me the night. Aright back at it.. and decided to finish the box in hopes of learning somthing before moving on to the large one. I went ahead and mounted the fire extinguisher and the air horn. Cutting out the large box was alot easier knowing where to give a extra 1/2 in overlap to make corners look good. Time was to short to do the carpet, I have to take out the tempoary 2x4's out and frame the large hatch in with 2x2's. Im getting closer!!


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## Spoiler (May 22, 2011)

Excited..Thats what felt pretty much all day. I knew my brother and I where going to finish the storage boxes, wire up the hummingbid, hook up the battery and get her wet. Today everything went my way, It was suppose to storm around noon and turned out to be 80 and sunny. Not one snag in finishing up the boat. At 2:30 we pulled it a 1/4 mile up the road and dumped it in the river. The 82 Johnson fired right up and we were going, I was one happy man tooling the 500 or so yards of no wake. I slowly worked it up the full speed and it road smooth and stable in the somewhat choppy river. We did some stop and go's and it gets up and go's, planes out very fast. After just a real quick spin we got to the dock and relized we did'nt even check the speed. We went and grabbed the wife and boys and headed back out. She does 28 mph with 3 adults and two kids. I was caught up in the day I only snapped a few pics. I also have a couple short vids but I'm sure how to post them. In the pic my brother is driving and my oldest son is loving life....what a day  I still have a ton of thing's I'm going to do to do to this boat!!! But not its usable now and I couldnt be happier! This post is FAR FROM OVER.


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## Zum (May 23, 2011)

Great everything worked out.
Thats a nice speed with all the mods/people/weight added.


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## Recon (May 24, 2011)

Looks great. What color/brand of paint did you use? I am almost at that stage with my mod and really like the combo. Would work great for ducks in my area.


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## Spoiler (May 24, 2011)

Recon said:


> Looks great. What color/brand of paint did you use? I am almost at that stage with my mod and really like the combo. Would work great for ducks in my area.


I can't remember the name of the Khaki tan I used but it was a exterior oil base. I bought it at sevens paint store and it wasn't cheap, $65. For the camo I used rustoleum camo in the aerosol cans. First I used forest green and then earth brown. Hope this helps.


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## Recon (May 24, 2011)

It does....thanks


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## Spoiler (May 29, 2011)

It's been awhile since I posted do to the fact that I been out enjoying the boat and not working so hard on it. Yesterday I ran submersable lights on the trailer and painted the motor. Well today was windy and I decided to spend the day working on some little stuff I have been wanting to do. I built the rear rack which will hold the generator and some additional lights in the future.Then I built me a couple pole holders out of pvc. Six hours later and I was finishing up the wind was dying and the sun was peeking out on the horizon...perfect. I ran home and ate some dinner grabbed my son and meet my brother at the launch. We had a great time, the fish were few and far between. We only saw 2 good size commens and never got shots off. We manage to get 3 and we worked for them, all the fish we saw were small, spooky and somewhat deep. The rearrack turned out to be My son had a great time and I have a feeling I never be alone in that boat! Here's a bunch of pics from today.


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## AimLowRobin (Jun 23, 2011)

Looks really good!


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## Poormans Boatright (Jun 23, 2011)

Nice build, is the front deck made from aluminun or steel? Nice camo job also.


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## Spoiler (Mar 19, 2012)

Poormans Boatright said:


> Nice build, is the front deck made from aluminun or steel? Nice camo job also.


Its made of steel. I made it out of a two man ladder stand sit pretty light.


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## Spoiler (Mar 19, 2012)

Well I uncovered her and the first I did was raise the deck 3 inches and mounted the lights uder it. I took her out twice this weekend and it started right up and ran like a champ. 12 days till opener of Bowfishing...I can't wait!


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## TimRich (Mar 19, 2012)

The boat looks awesome! Great work love the build! Wish I had a boat with that much room. Good luck this season!


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## earl60446 (Mar 19, 2012)

You did a real fine job on that boat, I can't get over how roomy it is. Like a backyard deck going down the river! Is that platform on the back for standing on? or maybe just mounting lights on?

In any case, please bring all your bowfishing buddies and come down to the IL river near Peoria to shoot bigeye asian carp, they are all over and we want them all DEAD. Here is a video to get ya going.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GTRtRyx6I4

Tim


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## Spoiler (Mar 19, 2012)

earl60446 said:


> You did a real fine job on that boat, I can't get over how roomy it is. Like a backyard deck going down the river! Is that platform on the back for standing on? or maybe just mounting lights on?
> 
> In any case, please bring all your bowfishing buddies and come down to the IL river near Peoria to shoot bigeye asian carp, they are all over and we want them all DEAD. Here is a video to get ya going.
> 
> ...


Hey Tim, the rear platform is for mounting lights on when I have 4 shooters. I also strap fishing's poles acrossed it when I have my kids with me so they are out of the way. On the Illinois river thing we are already planning a trip down there. Looks like a great time.


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## novaman (Jan 20, 2013)

Very nice boat layout and great construction job. Love how simple, to do, You made the camo job and how neat it looks. I may have to borrow that idea in the near future with a little twist ( using an S curved alum. tube). You've made yourself a boat to be very proud of and given others of us ideas to try, Thanks!


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