A jon boat is the most useful boat most people will ever own. The flat bottom that makes it look plain is exactly what lets it float in a few inches of water, sit steady while you stand to cast, and carry far more than its size suggests. Ours are built from 5052 marine-grade aluminum with riveted frame construction and a 2 mm hull plate.
Why aluminum, and why flat-bottomed
Aluminum takes impact differently from fiberglass. Hit a rock and you dent it — the boat is cosmetically worse and still watertight, and you keep fishing. The same strike in fiberglass cracks the gelcoat and means a shop repair. For shallow rivers, rocky lakes, gravel bars, stumps and flooded timber, that difference decides which boat you should own.
The flat bottom adds shallow draft and standing stability. The trade-off is honest: flat hulls ride harder in chop than a deep-V. On protected water and rivers that rarely matters. On big open water it does, and we will tell you so.
What we build
- Alloy: 5052 marine-grade aluminum — the alloy used for hull plate because it tolerates saltwater and repeated flexing far better than the cheaper alloys found in bargain boats.
- Hull plate: 2 mm, a little under 0.080 in — comfortably above the 0.050 in that is a sensible floor for a boat that sees trailering and rough launches.
- Construction: riveted frame, with a reinforced transom for outboard mounting.
- Deck: anti-slip decking, bench seating, sealed storage hatch and buoyancy compartments.
- Custom sizes: built to order for commercial and special-project work.
Choosing a size
Length is the wrong place to start. What actually determines whether you enjoy the boat is how you launch it, what you tow with, and how many people will be moving around in it at once.
Smaller hulls are light enough to lift into a truck bed and need no trailer at all, which suits ponds, protected coves and solo fishing. Mid-size hulls are the first that carry three or four adults with gear without feeling crowded, while still towing behind a mid-size SUV and fitting in a standard garage. Larger hulls buy you the ability to handle chop and carry a bigger outboard, at the cost of needing a proper tow vehicle and somewhere to keep it.
Beam matters as much as length. The same length at a wider beam is a noticeably more stable fishing platform, and you feel the difference the first time two people move at once.
Our standard lineup runs six hulls: flat-bottom jon boats in 12 ft, 14 ft and 16 ft, and V-hull utility boats in 12 ft, 14 ft and 16 ft. At the same length a jon boat runs shallower and a utility boat rides drier in chop. Our full sizing guide walks through the decision in detail, and the comparison table puts all six side by side.
What people use them for
Fishing. Stable enough to stand and cast, shallow enough to reach water other boats cannot, quiet enough to work a bank without announcing yourself.
Hunting. Flooded timber, marsh and backwater. Room for dogs, decoys and gear, and a hull that shrugs off stumps and ice edges.
Work and utility. Hauling, property access, shoreline maintenance, and commercial jobs where a boat is a tool and gets treated like one.
Towing and transport
Add the hull weight, the outboard, fuel, batteries and gear, then the trailer itself, and compare that against your tow vehicle's rated capacity — not its advertised maximum, which assumes no passengers and no cargo. We also build the trailers, so we can size the pair together rather than leaving you to guess.
Common questions
Is riveted construction weaker than welded?
No. Both build a sound boat. Riveted hulls flex slightly at the seam under load rather than resisting it rigidly, which is a large part of why riveted boats have survived decades of hard use. Plate thickness and alloy matter more than the joining method.
Can I get a size that is not standard?
Yes. Custom lengths are part of what we do, particularly for commercial and special-project work. Tell us the application and we will quote it.
Will it handle saltwater?
5052 is the marine-grade alloy for exactly this reason. Aluminum in salt water needs attention to galvanic corrosion — sacrificial anodes matter, and dissimilar metals need proper isolation — but the alloy itself is built for it.
How shallow can it run?
That depends on load and outboard, but shallow draft is the defining advantage of a flat-bottom hull. Tell us where you launch and we will give you a realistic answer rather than a marketing one.
Talk to us before you buy
Tell us where you boat, what you tow with, and what you plan to do on the water. We will tell you which size to buy — including when the answer is the smaller one, or when a different boat entirely is the better fit.
See all six jon and utility boats · Compare them side by side · Request a quote