Amazing DIY Jon Boat Build - Start To Finish

[Music] [Music] [Music] well guys this is it the reveal video for the Top Gun Jambo it has been a long road but the boat is finally done and I'm ready to show you what it looks like 100% complete and in depth so thank you for joining me before we get started I wanted to cover a couple of things really briefly okay number one is Instagram guys I know I'm plugging my Instagram and past videos but I've never heard fully explained to you why you should follow me on Instagram and there's a bunch of reasons number one is I do a lot of exclusive content to Instagram what I mean by that is you're gonna find photos on Instagram I don't post anywhere else and also videos I edit videos very short videos that are specifically made for my Instagram page you're not going to find them on YouTube so if you're only following me on YouTube and not on insta you're only seeing a fraction of the content that I actually produced also on Instagram it's in real-time so when I take the boat out I can literally post a picture of the boat with it out on the water that day you don't have to wait for the content to drop like you want on YouTube I do stuff on my stories whether it's boat build progress or me going on the road to see my dogs play out of town or me acquiring fishing gear or whatever it may be you'll find it on Instagram so please check me out there it's at a dub Jones okay next I just wanted to tell you that the majority of the parts used in this boat bill can be found in the description too big if you click on it and go down it'll show you the links to just about everything I'm putting in this boat is off of Amazon it'll take you right to exactly what I used on there guys from day one I bought parts off Amazon for this boat where I live in the middle of nowhere Georgia it's hard to get a lot of the stuff that you would want to put in a boat like this and so I just started linking everything because people were asking and I've even went back in my older content and edited those descriptions a lot to link everything on there also so on this video is no different if there's anything in particular you've seen this video that you're interested in that I used just click on description and it should show you exactly what it is so just feel free to check that out on on this video or any of my videos and lastly guys you're gonna see in a minute some clips play across the screen I've kind of put together a montage if you will of images that are just early on stuff of the boat when I first got the boat first started building the boat long before my youtube channel I documented everything by just taking pictures so most of this stuff I've never posted before and I just edited it to kind of show you what I went through early on in the bill all the way up until why start my channel so as those images play I'm going to tell you a story behind this boat this boat actually has a story this boat not only means a lot to me because of how modified it is but because of how symbolic this bill process was for me and and some things that I went through in my life to actually accomplish completing this boat when there was a time that I never thought the thought would ever get done so I'm going to kind of tell you the story it'll cover how it was acquired and then some of the goals behind the bill and hopefully it'll it'll clear up a lot of questions that I commonly get on the build and why it is the way that it is but I just think it's a neat story and I really wanted to share it with it so thank you guys again for joining me and let's get started I almost forgot guys before we get started I've actually had the liberty of taking this boat out about a half a dozen times now on the water everything works great I'm very happy for my first build guys I've even caught fish and put fish in the boat so stay tuned for a future video of me demoing this boat out on the water and as always may your tiny boat bills be great I wouldn't do the boat any justice showing you what it's become without showing you how it began what would eventually become the Top Gun jambo started life as a 1991 grumman she measures in at 14 feet in length with a 38 inch wide bottom and a 55 inch wide beam my wife Michelle and I received the boat in 2012 as a wedding gift for my dad my aunt and my uncle at the time we lived near the Coosa River in Alabama and they thought the boat would be a great way for us to spend time together out on the water we owned the boat for three years before I officially began work on it in 2015 what started as a few simple modifications quickly snowballed into something more upon starting I discussed Bill plans and goals with Michelle because technically the boat is half hers the first goal of the boat was to be budget-friendly I would let the fabrication work be the focal points within the boat build instead of high-dollar boat accessories all-in-all this goal was achieved in the end by building a Top Gun Jambo for roughly 2,000 dollars the next goal was to build a multi-purpose boat a boat suitable to take the kids out for some cruising on the lake and a boat functional enough to do a little bit of fishing in the boat would also be capable of running a gas tank and outboard for bigger lakes or swapping the tank and outboard for a second battery and electric motor to use on one of the many electric only reservoirs we have here in the state of Georgia long before my youtube channel or a social media following there was compromised I wanted a casting deck Michelle wanted a trolling motor free deck leaving plenty of room for seating and sunbathing I wanted a live well Michelle wanted plenty of floor space in a middle bench for the kids compromise and so it began in late 2015 I started the boat build I wouldn't get very far though before parking it beside the house tarping it and letting it sit for much longer than I ever intended 2016 rolls around that year I did not touch the boat instead I found myself battling with my own personal struggles and demons I'm pretty private when it comes to this chapter of my life and only bring it up because of its relevance to the boat build the following quote says it best your past has given you the strength and wisdom you have today so celebrate it don't let it haunt you that year I went through the hardest time of my life unlike so many others who go through trials and tribulations that is what made me who I am today I had to go through that place to get to the place I am now little did I know that the boat out of left for dead beside the house would eventually become an instrumental part of helping me out of a dark chapter in my life in 2017 I slowly started working on the boat again I set no deadlines and I was in no rush as time went on the build slowly became more in depth and more detailed the boat became an outlet for my creative energy and therapy from a wandering mind the boat became to me what a canvas is to an artist yes I was building a boat to take out on the water but that took second place to the actual build process itself I lost track of the labor hours that went into it in April of 2017 I made my first boat build post on Instagram and continued to slowly and methodically fabricate the boat in early 2018 and the hopes of helping others with their own boat bills and to document the remainder of the Top Gun Jambo build I started my youtube channel and as they say the rest is history or in this case documented on my YouTube channel a lot of life events happen through the build process and the boat slipped down the priority list more than a few times we bought land we built a house we moved we had two kids it was a long journey from start to finish but the Top Gun John boat is finally done what you are about to see is the final product [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thanks again for joining me guys we are going to do a walk-through of the finished top gun John boat the boat originally came with a Honda eight horsepower four-stroke that I kept and had a lot of work done to it to get it up and running I'd like to get a shout out to Jeremy my mechanic has a rear casting deck that is 38 inches plenty of floor space I kept the middle factory bench has a front casting deck that's 48 inches and the boat is notorious for the hand painted shark's teeth that took almost 16 hours to do it features a Seahawk Illuma Hawk gray paint job a custom built trailer full onboard electronics and a 15 gallon live well in the rear deck the boat can run the Honda 4stroke gas burner or a rear mount electric motor almost every inch of this boat has been modified in one way or another so as I do this walkthrough I'm gonna try to be as in-depth as possible but I'm sure that there gonna be some things that I'll leave out so please leave a comment if you have any questions we'll get started with a casting deck up front which is framed out of 2 by 2 western red cedar the decking is 11 32nd plywood coated and fiberglass resin and then the carpet is a outdoor carpet from Home Depot I have a total of 4 hatches and then a drop down stow in the front and then some carbon-fiber accents in vinyl carpet decals ok in this first hatch you're going to notice the flush pull laps I use throughout the build and then I did a control panel in here and when you flick this switch and it eliminates you've got power to a USB port and a 12 volt so you can charge whatever you need to charge inside of that hatch off the casting deck out of the way the Sun and your feet and keep it nice and safe I've got a shoreline marine light in there for illumination and then I did a for system and then side panels in there that are actually insulation and then 1/8 plywood coated Estonian oil-based paint and then the tactical matte foam material on top of that directly opposite from the hatch I've just showed you is a mirrored hatch the exact same size the exact same construction process exact same everything the only difference is this one stores a 22 inch frabill telescopic landing net okay in between the two hatches I just showed you is my center hatch that stores my battery that runs all the electronics in the boat you'll notice the gas strut there that I used throughout the build you've got a battery kill switch you've got the custom battery box and battery tie-down and then the positive and negative leads go to the back of the boat where I've got my fuse box in my relays this 3m carbon fiber wrap door is a flip-down access to underneath the casting deck first thing you'll see there is the three-part floor system that I used throughout the build and in the center is another shot of the battery box that you saw in the last clip as well as on the hatch dividers on the sides there two atwood telescopic paddles mounting some custom trays you've got LED lighting up top with closed cell foam insulation in between the framing to help keep the temperature stabilized and then you can see the seat pedestal up top that is recessed into the framing to give a hidden clean look from above the casting deck and of course plenty of room for storage next we've got the front hatch and this is a mod that I'm very excited I was able to fabricate it's one of the earliest ideas I have when I was doing the boat build it is a flip up light bar mod or a hidden light bar inside of a hatch it took a lot of math but I made it work it's a 22 inch light bar mounted to the underside of the hatch to support about 2 22 and a half pound gastrous so essentially almost 50 pounds of pressure holds that thing up while you're out on the water and it is bright very bright and fat here is a demo of how bright and then here is a shot of me actually on the water coming in late at a very secluded boat landing and it was nice to have it because this boat landing has no lights and I was able to leave the light on while I got out of the boat in the dark and got up to the truck and got the truck down the ramp I have a adjustable seat pedestal with a butt seat and I have three bases pedestal bases one is in the front casting deck one is the middle bench and one's the rear casting deck so I could move this but see around but when I'm not using it I was able to just squeeze it in under the casting deck if I want to even for transport mode and it's pretty amazing that I was able to do this this is another big thing that I wanted to do and it took a lot of measuring and you'll notice that there's holes in the side hatch dividers with a grommet and that's what it's for I've gotten a lot of questions regarding that there you go a second option is to use the space under the deck for storage and here's a couple of the double-xl plano containers loaded up with gear for a day of fishing instead of running the butt seat underneath the deck and we will move on to the rear casting deck which houses a custom fabricated Live Well and in the corner you have a molded in storage compartment that was built to the dimensions of the Plano tackle trays that will hold five in this corner will hold another five tackle trays although you'll see I'm housing three mini trays and two bags of soft plastics currently here is a igloo 18 Kane core that was molded in that houses the Live Well recirculate pump as well as foot of braided hose for de la ville chill modification the live world build was one of the biggest projects I did in this boat just trying to figure out how to make it work and was also the first video series I did when I launched my YouTube channel in this shot you can see one of the trick things that I did was mold the seat pedestal base to the underside of the lava oil patch lid as opposed to mounting it on top that way it gives it hidden look we've got LED lighting and a drain in the bottom here I am demoing the live wheel out on the water that's a Minuteman 3 Live Well timer switch to the run cycle this is a flow right pump out / aerator combo nozzle you pull out on the nozzle it changes the valve inside to pump out the water instead of recirculating it the last hatch is in the rear center of the boat and it houses on the left' and 800 gallon per hour live will fill and on the right and 1,100 gallon per hour manual bilge column LED lighting and can house a battery or gas tank depending on the motor setup I'm running here's another shot of that Igloo cooler with the live well research and braided hose and drain plug Here I am prepping for a day out on the water I've got the cooler full of some canned beverages I got some San Pellegrino don't leave home without it got some ice just go ahead and fill the cooler up with ice and that's gonna do a couple things number one it's gonna cool the liable water as it recirculates through that five foot of braided hose and it's also going to keep your drinks cool for a day out on the water moving on to the side hatch you'll find the DIY tackle storage system that I did a video on know tackle hanging in this clip but it does work great then inside the hatch you'll find the rear polite mounted opposite of that hatch is the command center for the boat there is the blue sea systems fuse box / negative terminal and then the custom panel I did that houses all my gang swishes voltmeter and live well timer moving on to my first motor setup this is the Honda 8 horsepower four-stroke the fuel line actually goes through the hatch thanks again Jeremy to that custom fuel line to the gas tank is stored under the hatch and that is actually a cap off of a camper where the power cord comes out on the Honda I did a complete restoration of the motor cowl which included new paint and new graphics here is the second motor setup which is a new port vessels 55 pound thrust rear mount electric trolling motor and this motor itself runs on a deep cycle battery that I swapped the gas tank for and it's got a custom battery tray and a circuit breaker on the positive here is another shot of that new port vessels rear trolling motor and I will do a video review of this unit in the near future but I will say so far I've been pretty pleased carbon-fiber throughout the build there's the drop down hatch carbon fiber on the strut here and then on the splash guard on the live well this is a 3m carbon fiber wrap guys the link will be in the description of the video there it is again on a strut I used it for all of my panels now also used it on the front lip that goes around the casting deck the stuff is phenomenal it really really looks awesome in the rear for fun I did a couple of pull holders and there is the hose in the custom mount for the rear bilge did a Scottie rod holder system here on that side hatch and then we did some kayak rod holders in the front casting deck as well and then on the rear of the boat I've got some boatbuckle transom tie downs and mounted to the trailer and these things work great guys I used to have an issue with the boat bouncing and I do not any longer and then I've got some Amazon broad bungees to hold down the rods and last but not least a tackle webs Sanpellegrino holder right there by the rear bench onto the electronics in the John boat at night for a more in-depth look at everything I actually did please check out my video ultimate electronics I did courtesy lights throughout the boat in a blue LED I did navigation lights up front I installed LED lighting in all of the hatches of the front casting deck and rear casting deck I did USB ports throughout the boat locations a voltmeter the flip up light bar and a rear Stern light the LED navigation lights are incredibly bright along with the blue LED light strips that I hid under the lips of the casting decks turned out very nice here is a shot of the code all lit up at night and if I'm out at night I have no issues finding anything in the boat I have taken the boat out night fishing to Lake Hartwell in North Georgia where there are a lot of high-end boats and wakeboarding boots I have to say I did receive a few compliments this walk around the rear shows all the lights on out lit up everything can be for you for a night out on the water and in the front casting deck is no different from the rear LED lights and all the hatches so you can quickly and easily get to what you need to get to at night long gone are the days of me carrying a flashlight in the boat I find what I need and of course the Live Well is lit up as well and that keeps the fish happy at night also I have a pretty basic but very functional lowrance mark for death finder slash chartplotter and that is mounted to a grand mount that is installed to the boat my custom control panel houses nine gang switches a voltmeter and a USB port and all of these switches are wired to illuminate when activated and one final walk around the boat all lit up for good measure before we get out of here I just wanted to say that this boat turned out better than my wildest dreams and I cannot wait to show you to my next build [Music] that's it guys thanks for tuning in thanks for checking out the boat build I'm actually at Hartwell right now on the water trying to get on them fish and it's a tough time of year but at this point I just want to give a few shoutouts obviously I'd like to shout out and give a big thank you to all of you guys the subscribers for viewing my content checking out my channel sharing subscribing all that good stuff man all the feedback I've gotten all the awesome people I've met throughout this John but Bill and this journey of me starting my channel and you know put myself out there the support I've got and I really greatly appreciate it then I'd like to thank my wife obviously my number one biggest supporter I mean without her none of this would be possible she guys she puts up with my crap I'll just put it that way so a big shout out to Michelle and and then obviously want to give a big shout out to Michael Lopez the godfather of the tiny boat game man number one in the game he's got a channel that's gonna break 50k at some point here soon and I'm he's doing big things man and if it weren't for him starting the movement and doing the Facebook the tiny button nation getting that off the ground man I never would have gotten into this at all so thank you Michael Ryan at fire ant fishing which is now murder Creek outdoors great individual here in the state of Georgia who has helped me a lot man he's just a good dude if you haven't checked out his channel he's got hunting fishing boat builds he's got it all murder Creek outdoors on YouTube thanks again Ryan and again you guys are subs man thank you so much for the support and the love I look forward to bug bill number two I don't know how long it's gonna take or even even what it's going to turn out like but I'm excited about the process so that's all I got again thank you guys for for everything and stay tuned for more content in the future on that boat build number two hopefully I'm gonna get on some fish here in a minute and that is it guys may your tiny boat bills be great and I will catch you soon on the next build [Music]

Channel: Anthony Jones

Views: 288,250

Keywords: jon boat build, top gun jon boat, jon boat to bass boat, diy jon boat, tiny boat, tiny boat nation, aluminum boat, aluminum boat modifications, aluminum boat restoration, boat restoration, diy boat, fishing boat build, jon boat, jon boat casting deck, jon boat livewell, jon boat modification, jon boat restoration, how to build a jon boat, jon boat to bass boat conversion, diy fishing boat, custom jon boat build, Anthony Jones

Id: WpXRLEd1C2w

Length: 27min 54sec (1674 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 02 2019