Our last article focused on the 8 Awesome Advantages of Jon Boats, and I’ll be honest, we still feel like they are awesome machines for their typical use. At the same time it’s good to know what you’re getting into, because Jon Boats are not great for all types of boating.
An easy to transport, inexpensive, no-frills fishing boat is a lot of fun to have, but there are definite draw backs to these little aluminum flat-bottomed machines. Let’s talk about them.
1. Rough Water
Most Jon Boats are going to have a relatively flat-bottomed hull shape instead of a more traditional V-shaped hull. This flat bottomed shape fits a specific purpose, and that is to provide the boat with shallower draft. Draft is basically the distance between the water line and the deepest part of the boat. In flat bottomed Jon Boats, the draft can be as small as a few inches, and usually at or under 12 inches. This means it can get into some seriously shallow places that boats with a traditional V-shaped hull just can’t.
The downside to this shallow draft is that it is not forgiving in rough water. A V-shaped hull is able to “cut” through the wave because of its design and break through the chop much more efficiently and produce a smoother ride. However, these boats will need deeper water to operate in than their flat bottomed counterparts.
This isn’t reported to be so much of a safety factor as it is a comfort factor. So just know that if you’re having to get across a lake to come back from your day of fishing, and the wind has picked up, your joints are going to be feeling it.
2. Leisure and Comfort
In fairness, leisure is fairly subjective from person to person. But what I mean here by leisure is the mental image of lounging in a fully reclining plush seat of a pontoon boat. Or cruising along in your MasterCraft with the smoothness and quietness of the inboard motor and being able to hear the music on your mounted speakers.
If you’re envisioning accomplishing the above leisure activities on your Jon Boat, you can probably go ahead and dismiss that expectation. Jon Boats are going to be very rigid in the way they feel on the water, and typically won’t have much, if any, padding on the bench seats unless it’s something that you add.
By default they are not designed to be comfort cruisers for you and the family while your girl sips on a glass of wine. They are more rugged in their look and feel (which you might actually put on your “pros” list…), which isn’t necessarily a bad thing unless you are going for cushy seats and long cruises.
3. Water Sports
While some Jon Boats can technically go fast enough to ski behind or conduct other water sports, they aren’t really designed for this. Sure you could probably tie up a ski rope to a metal cleat in the rear of the boat, but this is going to look (with all respect) very redneck. You would need one of the medium or larger size Jon Boats (at least 14 feet to get a big enough engine, and probably more like 16 feet). We put together some lengths and speeds of typical Jon Boats here.
While you might technically be able to do some water sports behind these boats, keep in mind they are not a smooth ride in any sort of chop, and it’s not going to be very comfortable for the rest of your passengers watching people ski or tube behind you. It’s just not really built for this.
4. Need Size for Speed
If you are needing cover any sort of distance, you are going to need a big enough boat to where you can outfit it with a larger motor. There are actually horsepower limitations that are provided by each manufacturer for each of their boat models. They are trying to keep you from over-powering your boat which would be fairly easy to capsize.
So a $1,200 starter 10-foot boat isn’t quite going to cut it if you’re needing to cross any decent amount of distance. You’re probably looking at more like a 14 to 16 footer for $2,500 – $5,000 that will get you around 20-30mph on 25-35hp. And it goes up from there.
5. Engine Noise
With outboard motors, Jon Boats are going to expose you to all of the engine noise that isn’t shielded by any engine compartment or covering. And if you’re operating with an older model engine, they can be surprisingly loud. Granted, the newer models will be quieter and sleeker, but keep in mind you’re still only a few feet from an engine that you’ll be frequently running wide open. It’s going to be loud.
Granted, one way to cut down on this (and you’ll probably want to do this anyways) is to get a trolling motor so that for the majority of your fishing you are using the quiet electric motor.
