Jon Boat Plans

Jon boats are a great example of how a very simple boat design can be very practical, even if for limited purposes.

I’ve owned (and built!) several Jon boats over the years and have learnt to appreciate the ease of construction and maintenance that they provide, especially when you have good Jon boat plans at hand. They are excellent vessels for fishing, even standing up, for duck hunting (though I personally have never done that) and for other activities. They are often used by researchers when working in shallow river and lake waters.

There are a few peculiar characteristics to Jon boats (also known as johnboats, by the way). The most important of these is that their hull is almost flat. This makes them quite useless in rough waters, because they rise on the waves rather than go through them. This same hull, however, also makes them incredibly useful in calm waters, especially when they’re so shallow that other boat designs would simply hit the bottom. They are great for calm rivers and lakes and also marshes and bayous.

How to Build a Jon Boat

Now, suppose you want to construct your own Jon boat. How do you go about it?

First, you will need a boat plan. This is irrespective of whether you are an experienced boat builder or have never done it before – you cannot build a boat without a plan.

See here for the best set of boat building plans out there, including Jon boat plans.

Second, if your knowledge of boat construction is limited, you will probably need some guidance during the process. The best guidance you can get is in the form of an experienced boat builder at your side to show you exactly what needs to be done and how. Few of us have that luxury though.

The next best thing is to have detailed videos accompanied by text guides and high-quality photos that describe each step of the process. If you have little experience, then any little detail can easily confuse you and some things will be completely mind-boggling. That’s why you want the video materials to cover as many aspects of the process as possible and answer your questions before you get to ask them.

Where to Get the Plans

Frankly, I usually refer any people who want to build a boat but don’t know where to start to MyBoatPlans.com. It’s probably the most comprehensive collection of learning materials on hobby boat building that you can find out there, packaged together – including Jon boat plans. If I remember correctly, it contains around 500 different boat projects.

For most of the boats I’ve built, I would usually purchase a blueprint from somewhere. In the early years, those came on paper. Later different websites popped up and one could download various boats plans for a fee.

But nothing I’ve purchased before even comes close to the package that MyBoatPlans provides. You don’t pay for one blueprint – instead you get hundreds of them for a ridiculously low price. Each plan has detailed step-by-step instructions which most other plans don’t have.

Plus, you get hours and hours of videos showing different boat building techniques. Even I, a fairly experienced person in this field, found many of these of these materials extremely useful. For a newbie, they’re a goldmine.

Basically, if you are looking for Jon boat plans and thinking about building one, then I’d say MyBoatPlans is the best place to start. If you don’t like it, you can just get your money back and be done with it. It’s a win-win really, so go ahead, have a look.