This is a 14ft 1985 Tracker Grizzly I bought off Facebook Marketplace
It also came with the original 1985 trailer that looks to be in perfect condition.
While waiting for my offshore boat to get out of the shop for its transom repairs I decided it was time to start a Jon boat boat restoration project. I can use this boat for catching bait, fishing the flats, duck hunting, back country, gigging and all sorts of fun stuff!
And I filmed the whole thing...
This is what the boat looked like after a month of work and 8 hours of raw uncut footage:
I wouldn’t make you watch 8 hours of raw footage on how I made this boat go from old to freaking something so sleek you can take your girlfriend for a ride and she’ll never leave you.
I edited this whole boat project into 1 hour and 38 minutes. I’ll add the video below with all the timestamps!
Your buddies will be comfortable when waiting for the sun to come up to get a crack at some ducks. The EVA foam floors also make moving on the aluminum silent so you can enjoy hunting and fishing with more peace.
Jon Boat Restoration Video Timestamps:
05:07 - Before shots of the Jon Boat
06:27 - Breaking down the old Jon Boat
08:20 - Test to make sure Jon Boat doesn't leak water
10:41 - Cleaning off old Jon Boat (pressure washing)
11:54 - Removing live well from old Jon Boat
12:55 - Tell if your Jon Boat transom is rotten
14:11 - Striping paint off old Jon Boat (paint thinner)
17:00 - Sanding paint off old Jon Boat
17:40 - Removing rivets from Jon Boat
18:43 - Taking rotten transom off old Jon Boat
21:55 - Removing paint from bottom of Jon Boat
22:57 - Why I don't like using paint stripper on a Jon Boat
24:30 - New livewell plug on bottom of Jon Boat
27:13 - Painting bottom of Jon Boat with Fasco Epoxies SteelFlex Super Slick
39:12 - Sanding paint off Jon Boat with orbital sander
40:10 - Painting Jon Boat with Fasco Epoxies SteelFlex Neutral
47:16 - Flipping Jon Boat on a trailer
48:47 - Making wood floors for a Jon Boat
49:43 - How to make a template for your Jon Boat floors
52:00 - Sanding and painting wood floors in Jon Boat
54:55 - Cutting a new transom from Old Transom for Jon Boat
56:31 - Gluing two pieces of wood together for Boat Transom
58:28 - Making wood transom and wood floors waterproof (sealed with Low Viscosity Epoxy)
1:02:16 - Putting new transom into Jon Boat
1:03:24 - Putting new Rivets for transom on Jon Boat
1:06:30 - Mounting backing plate on Jon Boat transom
1:07:11 - Painting Jon Boat floor with truck bed liner
1:13:22 - Putting Live well into Jon Boat
1:14:50 - Lining boat Livewell with Flex Seal
1:16:28 - Finishing painting the Jon Boat
1:18:00 - Make your own SeaDeck with EVA Marine Foam
1:20:02 - How to glue EVA marine foam SeaDeck to your Jon Boat
1:23:59 - Adding EVA foam SeaDeck to my Jon Boat floors
1:28:07 - New Jon Boat Before & After video
1:29:22 - Printing and adding Vinyl stickers to Jon Boat