Having a stable experience when either cruising around or sitting idle on your jon boat is important for safety as well as stability reasons. And if you have more than a few crew present, you definitely don’t want to be practicing any man overboard maneuvers. One of the more useful additions you can make to your jon boat includes jon boat outriggers.
So, what are jon boat outriggers? Jon boat outriggers are floatation devices shaped like kayaks, but much smaller, that extends out of the side of a jon boat. They are connected directly to the jon boat and provide extra stability for the boat. They are generally found at the bow and stern of a jon boat.
Adding more stability to your jon boat may be a requirement since not everyone has the ability to comfortably walk around a jon boat while it’s sitting out on the water. This is especially the case when there are multiple people on the boat, which can potentially lead to a man overboard situation. Thankfully, jon boat outriggers are an effective solution to these problems.
What You Need to Know About Jon Boat Outriggers
You may find yourself needing an extra amount of stability when out on the water in your jon boat. Whether it’s just you enjoying some alone time or you have a small crew with you, extra stability can make a difference during your experience. With jon boat outriggers, you’ll experience a more stable experience, but there may be a cost associated with it.
By far the best reason to outfit your jon boat with outriggers is to enjoy an enhanced level of comfort when it comes to stability on your jon boat. By essentially having a wider boat, your jon boat’s stability will be much greater, resulting in less situation where you or anyone on board feels they might go overboard.
If you’ve ever been out fishing or hunting on your jon boat, you know the feeling you get when having to stand up. While it can certainly be learned through practice how to stabilize yourself under these circumstances, not everyone is able to achieve that level of stability. In that case, it makes sense to have a set of jon boat outriggers installed to keep your fishing or hunting experience optimal without any accidents.
Another great reason for installing jon boat outriggers is for the occasions that you have many people on your jon boat at one time. Having the ability to increase the stability on your jon boat using outriggers can be helpful when you wish to reduce the chances someone will fall into the water accidentally. Jon boat outriggers are especially useful for elderly folks finding their way around on a jon boat.
However, jon boat outriggers aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. There are several downsides to having outriggers installed on your jon boat, which only you can determine are sufficient reasons to either use them or not in the end.
One of the more unfortunate outcomes to using jon boat riggers is that they ultimately make your jon boat far wider than it was initially designed for. Due to this fact, it’ll make it more difficult for you to squeeze into places you once were able to easily get into, including high grass areas, docking areas, and high-traffic routes.
Another negative outcome that comes along with having outriggers installed on your jon boat is the fact that it ultimately slows down your jon boat’s top speed. Since you’re increasing the contact surface area between your jon boat and the water, you’re effectively increasing the amount of frictional force your jon boat has to overcome when spending energy moving forward. This means you won’t be hitting the speeds you were once accustomed to, but you may find that isn’t a big deal.
One of the best characteristics of cruising around on a jon boat is that you can easily maneuver yourself and accelerate quickly. Unfortunately, jon boat outriggers hamper these two characteristics quite dramatically, which can be a show stopper for many of those looking for stability without sacrificing maneuverability and acceleration.
In the end, you have to decide what’s more important when getting outriggers installed on your jon boat. If you’re willing to sacrifice some performance and location accessibility for increased levels of stability, they may be the perfect addition to your jon boat. That’s ultimately up to you to decide, so be sure you want outriggers before installing them.
How to Make Your Own Jon Boat Outriggers
If you decide to install outriggers on your jon boat, then it’s certainly possible to make your own by venturing into a fun DIY project. There are a lot of additions you can make to your jon boat that only require a little bit of elbow grease, which is one of the best qualities about owning a jon boat.
There are a few simple steps you need to follow to install jon boat outriggers, including:
- Choose whether they should be permanent or detachable.
- Decide where to install them.
- Determine the width of the outriggers.
- Purchase the materials necessary.
- Make your outriggers.
- Attach them onto your jon boat.
The absolute first step of making your own jon boat outriggers is to decide whether they should be permanently attached to your jon boat or detachable. By far the most common route to take is making them detachable, since you may find yourself in a situation where you need more performance and accessibility as opposed to stability.
The second step is to decide where on your jon boat you want to install them. For clarity, you’ll likely want to install four different outriggers to your jon boat with two at the bow and two at the stern. The pair at bow should be exactly aligned from port to starboard side and the same goes for the outriggers at the stern. Some jon boaters only use two where they’re in the center of the jon boat, but I’ve seen tip-overs in those situations.
You’ll want to make sure that the width of your outriggers serves your stability needs while not being too wide that your jon boat’s accessibility is reduced to near zero. My suggestion is to have each outrigger extend out 1/4-1/3 of your jon boat’s length. That way you can have reasonable stability without sacrificing too much accessibility.
You’ll need to buy some materials to make your own jon boat outriggers, including:
- PVC pipes for the extending poles.
- Trap floats/buoys for the floatation devices.
- Flagpole holders to keep attach the outriggers to the boat.
With these simple materials, you can make your own custom jon boat outriggers easily within a weekend. All you have to do is find a way to permanently attach the PVC pipes to the trap buoys, install flagpole holders to your jon boat where you want to connect them, and attach your new outriggers to the flagpole holders whenever you want extra stability on your jon boat.
This is by far the easiest way you can go about installing your DIY jon boat outriggers. Unfortunately, there aren’t many options for jon boaters when it comes to purchasing outriggers since they’re mostly used for kayaking and canoeing. Either way, with these simple steps, any jon boat can take advantage of having outriggers installed on their jon boat with only a little DIY action.
Alternatives to Jon Boat Outriggers
If you’re not fully convinced whether jon boat outriggers are right for you, that’s completely fine since there are alternatives to consider. For some jon boaters, it’s just not an option to sacrifice the performance and accessibility for increased stability, especially when it requires you to make your own outriggers.
By far the most popular way to increase stability as well as performance on your jon boat is to purchase and install floatation pods. Flotation pods are fantastic because they allow your jon boat to plane out much easier when hitting top speeds while also provided the much-needed support at the stern of your jon boat where most weight is situated.
I wrote an article all about floatation pods, so I’ve covered this topic extensively. However, I want to suggest to you the floatation pods I’ve found as one of the most valuable additions made to my jon boat, which are the Beavertail Float Pods (link to read reviews on Amazon). These floatation pods are fantastic because they provide just the right amount of support while having effectively improved my jon boat’s performance and fuel efficiency.
Another alternative to getting jon boat outriggers is to simply buy a wider jon boat. Obviously, this can be considered a “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” solution, but it’s not necessarily a bad option if you’re already in the market for a new jon boat. Based on your experience using your existing jon boat, you might have come to the realization that you require more stability when out on the water, which should be a sign to purchase a wider, more stable jon boat.
