Greetings and welcome to my Jon Boat build,
I built this site for all of the people who have dreamed of owning their own boat but kept putting it off because life and responsibility always demanded that your finances were needed elsewhere. The build itself is not complicated, but it is time consuming which makes this a perfect project to do over the winter months, at your leisure, regardless of the design you choose to build. It took me about a month to build the boat you see here working a couple of hours a day. You can choose to build fast or as slow as you like, make it basic or really dress it out with "the works". That's the beauty of it, your own custom built dream come true, and you don't have to be a master carpenter to build it.
The first order of business was deciding which Jon Boat to build. There are lots of free plans out there but only a few of them are practical in terms of weight / vs / size or aesthetically pleasing to the eye. I elected to build a Jon Boat that was designed by a Naval Architect. I got a copy of the free plans at http://www.grandpasarchive.com/page2.html , look for the 12 foot Jon Boat link. I chose these plans because consideration was given to overall weight, easability of transporting, and the design satisfies my perception of what a Jon Boat should exhibit, ruggeness and stability.
Erecting a sturdy strongback became a matter of priority because neccessity dictated that I build this boat in the great outdoors which meant I had to protect the unprepared building materials from the elements with a large tarp and build a level strongback on unlevel ground. This is what I came up with:
I built a pair of sawhorses out of 2 inch by 4 inch white pine boards and mounted a 12 foot hardwood shipping skid (those used to ship steel) on the horses and leveled the structure as best I could. It turned out pretty good. (For those working in a garage on a concrete floor, you have it made, 1/2 of your job has been done for you compared to building outdoors.)
With the installation of additional hardwood bracing, the structure was surprizingly strong and rigid which is very important in building any boat properly. There will be considerable hammering, planing and multi-directional forces being applied during the build and the strongback must not move an iota, nada, zilch, zero if the boat is to track well under way, I cannot stress this point enough! Think of a boat doing a doughnut every time thrust is applied.
Now that the strongback is built and properly secured, it is time to loft the frames from the plans drawings and build the frames.