Tag: tiny boat nation

The New Jon Boat Battery: THANK YOU READERS!

Good morning brothers!

I write today from the snow-covered Land of Lincoln. (Yes… already… ugh…) This year, I was able to avoid getting stranded in the ‘ol jon boat – this is largely because of your generosity! (Thank you very much!)

I bought a new battery with your donations at the very beginning of the season after a lengthy conversation in the Bass Resource Forum. The battery that I was using… was rated at 50 Amp Hours… and I drained it more than once.

Let’s do some simple maths:

A Minn Kota Endura with 30 pounds of thrust will pull 30 amps at top speed. Theoretically, a 50 AH battery should provide power for (50 AH / 30 Amps = 1.67 Hours) 1 hour 40 minutes. Now, there are considerations when it comes to battery selection, such as battery type (flooded lead acid, AGM or Absorbed Glass-Mat, and Lithium Iron Phosphate or LiFePO4). These differ primarily in terms of cost, battery life, and power output. I decided to go with something that would provide good, level output for a full day on the water. This Mighty Max Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery powered my trips.

All year. With no issues.

The Mighty Max ML4D-LI 200 AH MONSTER!

This new battery is rated at 200 AH, which easily gave me over 6 hours and 40 Minutes of run time (200 AH / 30 Amps = 6.67 Hours). It’s big. A pain to move, as it doesn’t live in the boat, but the peace of mind is worth it. The DNR stopped me more than once by the ramp this year, and each time he said “oh hey, I remember you, you’re the guy with that huge battery.“

He thinks I’m nuts.

He’s not wrong…

I also picked up a small battery to run my graph separately. Some people worry about interference when running a trolling motor and depth finder on the same battery – and sure, that can be an issue, but it’s not a big concern for me. I do want to isolate my power consumption, however. This Mighty Max Battery is small. It’s less than $40, sealed lead acid, and just 15 AH – but it easily powers my Striker 9sv all day.

The Mighty Max ML15-12 Sealed Lead Acid

I charge both with a Noco Genius 10 Battery Charger & Maintainer. This is extremely important for taking proper care of the larger, $550 Mighty Max. I’ve ruined a few older batteries by leaving them sit idle for too long…

Noco Genius 10 Battery Charger & Multi-Purpose Maintainer

Finally – this little Minn Kota Endura pushed my butt around all year, into all sorts of close quarter situations – which is one of the main advantages of fishing out of a small, flat bottom boat. I was able to get where nobody else done got!

Minn Kota Endura – Inexpensive Trolling Motor for Small Boats w/ 30 lbs of Thrust

We caught hundreds of fish out of the jon boat this year. Mapped new lakes and canals, and next year I have some killer locations lined up for fishing from spring through fall!

Jon boat largemouth…

… and smallmouth.

It was a great year.

I was able to do more, and catch more, because my tools were improved.

Next year?

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Well, next year this battery will be dedicated to the latest upgrade – a Minn Kota Powerdrive.

The New Minn Kota Powerdrive – a $1,600 Trolling Motor on a $200 Jon Boat…

Why? Because the Powerdrive will allow me to set paths and run ’em both forwards and back via GPS, and I can work my active presentations as the trolling motor pulls me about. This will result in more casts, and more fish – I guarantee it – and when you fish alone like I do… you need to look for every opportunity to make your trips more efficient.

The more casts you can make, the more fish you’ll boat.

This will become even more apparent over time, and it’s a good reason to INVEST in quality gear, and DISCARD the fluff. The more you minimize the crap, the more focused you will become. The more crap you discard, the better your pool of fishing equipment will be.

How much is too much?

Well… we have some thoughts on that…

How Much is TOO MUCH to Spend on Fishing Gear?

So thank you again, my friends. It is because of your generosity that I have been able to upgrade my humble rig. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the support, the feedback, the emails, the camaraderie – all of it. So many donations had messages attached to them that said some variation of:

“Be careful, and get back out there!!”

Noted, and will do.

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

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November 2, 2023
Restoring the Old Jon Boat: Part 3 – Using Sealed Pop Rivets

I lost Bill the night before I taped this video.

He killed himself.

Bill was my pet largemouth bass.

Goodbye, Sweet Prince…

He jumped out of his aquarium and dried up on the floor. I am still completely confused at to why he did this. Fred the Miracle Fish did this as well… at a later date… maybe we’ll get into this a bit more later on – but…

Back to the jon boat!

Here is an update on using sealed pop rivets. Like we mentioned in the last article + video, these are aluminum which is very important! We used these – along with marine grade silicone – to plug up the holes left in the aluminum after I removed the seats that were in the boat – leaving just the shell of the hull.

Jon Boat Upgrades: Using Sealed Pop Rivets

Click the banner to jump to The Minimalist Fisherman on YouTube.

A few important points:

If you are using marine grade silicone (or any silicone) to apply and repair the holes in your boat, make sure you only squirt out what you need. When I was completing this step, the silicone I had out was drying up and getting gummy and hard to work with.

I actually had to remove one of the rivets because the silicone did not create a good, smooth seal.

So definitely something to be mindful of.

Aluminum Jon Boat Holes to Fill

Aluminum Rivet, Silicone and Washer Combination on Jon Boat Hull

Inside View of the Rivets Used on the Jon Boat

Also, like I mentioned in the previous video, make sure to use the smallest drill bit you can when you are removing old rivets.

I made a lot of extra work for myself by creating holes larger than they needed to be – don’t repeat my mistake!

The way that I fixed this issue was by stacking washers. You can see in some spots in the video a little washer on top of a big washer held together with the silicone and the rivet. Not the best situation, but they have held up.

You can check out a more recent update on the boat here if you’d like.

So all in all, this step was successful. We have a few more things to do to the interior and then we need to take it out on the water just to test everything and make sure all of the holes and rivets are water tight!

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

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April 25, 2020
How the Jon Boat is Holding Up

Several years back we started The Jon Boat Project. It went well. Today, I’d like to give you an update on the original boat project and show you how everything is holding up, as well as a closer look at some of the modifications that were made.

This was a great, relatively simple project that anyone can do. It’s also a great alternative to shelling out thousands on a brand new fishing boat if you just need a simple – but comfortable – alternative. Not to mention… it’s really fun.

Jon Boat to Bass Boat Project

Click the banner to jump to The Minimalist Fisherman on YouTube.

You can view the full playlist as it grows and more videos and updates are added.

Over the next several weeks I’ll be getting caught up on the update videos that I took during the time I was working on the project. These have yet to be turned into videos, because while they were being created I was completely obsessed with growing my business – not fishing or video editing.

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As we discussed in the very first video that was created for The Minimalist Fisherman, I’m still very plugged into my business – but – I’ve also made many modifications to my behaviors, so that fishing and video editing (along with healthier eating, working out and minimizing) are all playing a much larger role in my life.

They can play a much larger role in your life as well.

All you need to do is simplify and make a one change at a time. Progress. Progress leads to happiness.

We’ll talk more about that as we go, but for now here are a few before & after photos of the jon boat project. Feel free to hit me up by dropping a comment if you have any questions.

Jon Boat – Delivery

Aluminum Jon Boat – Seat Removal

Jon Boat Fixed Back End

Current Jon Boat Status – Holding Up Well!

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots!

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Your support directly funds the creation of weekly articles and videos that promote the development of better anglers and better men. Our country (and our kids) need both. Please share this site, and consider a monthly, weekly, or one-time donation. You are helping us make a difference!

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April 22, 2020
Restoring the Old Jon Boat: Part 2 – Using Aluminum Rivets

After I washed out the ‘ol boat in the front yard, which we discussed in Restoring the Old Jon Boat: Part 1 – Summary, I immediately started ripping out the seats so that I could have more of a shell. More of an open canvas.

Jon Boat Seat Removal

There are all sorts of arguments online for the case against ripping out the foam in aluminum boats like this, primarily because it will help you float better… however – I’m not buying it. At least not at face value.

Removing Jon Boat Seat Foam

Think about it – if you placed a foam cooler inside the boat with you, would it help the boat float? Of course not. Will that foam minnow bucket from Wal-Mart full of water and bait aid in flotation? Nope! Just the opposite, it adds weight to that boat, doing more to weigh it down than lift it up.

Some people will actually use household spray can foam on the inside of their boat when they need to add more for whatever reason – DO NOT DO THIS!!!!! When we started to work on the Tuffy Restoration Project, I actually found this crap inside the boat – and it was completely waterlogged. (Apologies, I do not have pictures of this but I think you can see some of it in the Tuffy project videos I’ve linked.) This crappy foam added WEIGHT – it did not help with FLOTATION.

(A quick search let me know that the spray foam is not “closed cell”, which means it will take on water, and that the foam used in boats at the factory is “closed cell”, and impenetrable! Well, not impenetrable, but it doesn’t soak up water. We’ll keep this in mind as we continue to work on the Tuffy.)

Job Boat Seats with Closed Foam Underneath

Foam can displace water and prevent more from coming in the boat. Foam can add stability. Foam does not “help you float more good” just by being present.

So when is foam beneficial?

When you’re taking on water for one, because it means that space within the boat that could be filled with water is already filled with foam. This could prevent you from capsizing completely, and it could also make it somewhat easier to recover an upturned vessel… or keep your boat from sinking to the bottom of the lake.

Still, after considering this I decided I wanted the space, so the seats (filled with foam) had to go.

Jon Boat Blank Canvas – Seats Removed

This led to the introduction of many holes in the hull… and I didn’t have any idea how to fix them…

Aluminum Jon Boat Holes to Fill

One thing I learned right away was that there are several different kinds of rivets (sealed, solid and open for example) in several different sizes (quarter inch, half inch…) made from several different kinds of material (aluminum, steel).

Using Sealed Aluminum Rivets

Click the banner to jump to The Minimalist Fisherman on YouTube.

If you are repairing an aluminum boat with rivets – make darn sure they are aluminum rivets. When you add water to a situation where you have steel and aluminum, you’ll get galvanic corrosion.

Make sure to take a few minutes and do a bit of research on this before you get too deep into your jon boat project. There’s a lot of information out there on this subject.

I also learned another very important lesson:

When you are working on a boat, do NOT drill holes any larger than you absolutely have to. Repairing holes sucks.

Jon Boat Holes to Fix

I had to purchase some washers to expand the reach of my rivets because several of the holes I attempted to plug were just too wide. These washers also needed to be aluminum to avoid corrosion, and I purchased them off of Amazon. They’re easy to find there, but I couldn’t find any in my local hardware stores.

At first, I purchased standard rivets, and as you can see here, the tube contains a small circular element that causes the rivet to expand when pulled into a rivet gun – but it does not create a water-tight connection.

Standard Rivet with Open Body

Sealed rivets however, are completely closed off.

Sealed Rivets for Jon Boat Project

Close Up of Sealed Rivets and a few aluminum washers for Jon Boat Repair

So sealed aluminum rivets, with aluminum washers, in combination with Marine Sealant Silicone was what I used to plug all of the holes that I had created. Quick note on the latter… don’t try to use old silicone!

Go ahead and load your rivet up with the silicone, pop it in the hole, apply pressure using the rivet gun and you’re good to test. If you don’t need to use a washer – don’t! I used several on the INSIDE and OUTSIDE of the hull as you can see in these images. If the rivet head was not wide enough to completely cover the hole and stay firmly in place, then I would place a washer on the opposite side of the hull for stability and added coverage. If you can avoid this though, you’ll have fewer points that could fail.

Aluminum Rivet, Silicone and Washer Combination on Jon Boat Hull

(You can see an example of this at about 2:45 in the “Jon Boat Modifications: Using Aluminum Rivets” on YouTube.

One other thing to keep in mind is that rivets come in different sizes, with different sized shanks. The shank is the tubular portion and it gets left behind after the mandrel is spent. Use the shortest shank that you can get away with (I believe most of mine were 1/4″ long, and 3/16″ in diameter), because the longer they are, the more chance you have of snagging one with your clothes or a shoe or a bag. Aluminum is not as strong as steel, and you could break them off if you catch one the right way.

So nothing to worry about, but do be careful.

Best of luck with your project. I’ll post another update on the jon boat soon – and in the meantime if this helped you in any way or if you have any questions, hit me up on social media or in the comments and let me know – I’m happy to help!

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

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February 29, 2020
Restoring the Old Jon Boat: Part 1 – Summary

I fished all of my young life. It was something that was built into me by my patents, particularly my father. However, because we went on fishing trips every summer (sometimes multiple trips) and had access to a house on a lake in WI (my grandparent’s), as I got older I started to take it all for granted.

Scott Hauser & AJ Hauser Fishing

When it was time to head off to college, we stopped going. I didn’t touch a fishing pole for several years, and instead focused on making websites and playing music.

About 10 years ago, I really started to get the itch again. I started to fish by myself from shore at places like Lake Shabbona, “the pit” in Sheridan and the Fox River & Illinois River… but I quickly realized that not having the option to use a boat was pretty frustrating.

A “pit” bass – notice the extremely light coloring. The bottom here is sand.

When we were growing up, we never had a “great bass boat”, or a big ‘ol Lund – we had a simple aluminum boat with an outboard, and I can remember when Dad upgraded to a 30 horse Mercury… oh man – we thought we were Evel Knievel and Dale Earnhardt all rolled into one!

Scott Hauser’s sweet aluminum boat & Mercury

Speed demon? Check. Trolling capability? Check. Fancy seats? Triple check.

That hat screams fish slayer

I remember fishing from that boat, and when I rekindled my interest for the sport, I quickly learned how limiting not having my own boat could be… but… I didn’t have any money…

Me and my brothers & Dad

So began my Jon Boat Project…

Jon Boat Project – Clamping the Deck

(If you watch this summary video, make sure to look at all the crap in the background… this was clearly pre-minimalist fisherman…)

The Jon Boat Project

Click the banner to jump to The Minimalist Fisherman on YouTube.

My first thought?

What if I bought an old crappy boat, and I fixed it up?! Ohhhhh… I think maybe we’ll do that!

Turns out this original idea was not so original. After doing a few Googlebox searches, I found out that this was a semi-common practice, and there were tons of guys doing it – even selling plans!

I bought some plans… but… I wasn’t too impressed. So I made my own – check out these killer, super-professional blueprints!

Jon Boat Project Plans

Now don’t get me wrong – I love fishing from shore when that is the plan and when I have good shoreline access. Hell, because of the added simplicity, this helped me get back into pond fishing after obsessing over my business and (briefly) falling away from the sport again.

Back to Pond Fishing

Click the banner to jump to The Minimalist Fisherman on YouTube.

But I didn’t like that I could ONLY fish from shore. There was a small lake I found near me that had a few miles of shoreline (not the pond mentioned above), with only about 25 feet that could actually be fished via the shore. Situations like this really lend themselves to a small boat – and even though I have a kayak, I wanted something that was a little more comfortable to fish out of.

Fishing a small lake with limited shoreline access

So I hopped on Craig’s List, and I quickly realized that everyone wants just a little too much for their boat. I’m not sure if this is because they have buyer’s remorse, or they don’t quite understand what things are actually worth, but it was pretty frustrating browsing overpriced listings.

Finally, I found this ‘ol dingy for the low low price of $200, located in a little town called Buda (population 528 at this time) and it was on like Donkey Kong! I went to pick it up without even thinking about how I was going to get it home…

Jon Boat Project Pick Up

Fortunately, I had several straps, bungees, and access to back roads so I could get this beast back, drop it off, and begin the process of working on it.

I remember when I arrived, I literally tossed the boat in the front yard and started spraying it out with a hose, and TONS of bugs and spiders came running and sliding out of it.

Jon Boat Project Delivery

It was disgusting… but… this was at least a solid starting point.

Jon Boat Project – Beat Up Bottom

Jon Boat Project – Beat Up Back

I had the boat.

I didn’t have a TRAILER… but… I had the boat.

So then obvious next question was “well… now what? Where do I start? Where do I even begin??” Look at this big green thing on the garage floor… I don’t even know if it floats! I don’t know if I drill a hole in it if I can seal it up!

So like I already mentioned, I did what we all do and went to the internet! Huzzah! I found some “plans”, but they were all so messy… I bought one of the PDFs I stumbled upon, and I wasn’t real impressed… we can do better.

We must do better.

For science.

This led to some late nights sitting up drawing out what the boat could be… and that is a fun little game to play. If you haven’t done this with a project in a while, I highly recommend it. Let your mind just GO wherever the hell it wants. We could put a livewell in it. We could put some storage compartments in it. We could put a flamethrower in it!!

Jon Boat Project Plans

Well, a lot of these ideas didn’t materialize – but you know what – simplicity won. The boat is minimal (imagine that!) and it is functional and it is awesome. We have fished out of it a lot, and caught some lunkers – and I plan to do much more of that this year.

Jon Boat Project – Fixed Back End

Jon Boat Northern Pike

I have a stockpile of images and videos that I need to go through and post, along with every single receipt for everything I bought for this rig, and it all started with a $200 boat and a $300 trailer.

Onward, my friends – if you have any questions just let me know, I’ll be happy to answer them.

A couple of brothers, just fishin’ with Dad

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.

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Thank You For Your Support

Your support directly funds the creation of weekly articles and videos that promote the development of better anglers and better men. Our country (and our kids) need both. Please share this site, and consider a monthly, weekly, or one-time donation. You are helping us make a difference!

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February 22, 2020