Bored at work today thinkin bout upgrades fer my boat. I take shit from some on here bout it bein just a jon boat but I love it an fer what I paid I couldn't a gotten nothin close in a "real mud hull".

So..... what if I were ta weld a sheet of aluminum on the bottom, right over top a the runners that is say 3/16" 5086? Since the water runners are 3/4" from the bottom a the boat and 4" apart I could even put 6063 plates in between em fer the last 5 feet a the boat where most a the hits and dents happen. I could run the sheet all the way ta where the rake a the boat hits the water with a heavy load. Only bad thing I could think a happenin is that I may wanna cut a small "U" where the motor sits so it aint 3/4" too high on the transom.

I know some a ya gonna say why waste my time with a crappy boat, go buy a better hull, but this is still WAY cheaper and with this addition not only will it only cost me bout $500 but I'll still be $1,000 under anything remotely close and have damn near the same strength hull.

i see guys doing that all the time. don't see why it wouldn't work man. if you do it get er done before the run.

That might void your warranty.

Something I see here in Alaska with people running jet motors and tunnels on their jon boats is cutting the last 4' of the bottom out and welding in a piece of 3/16 aluminum in its place, and adding a tunnel, which of course isnt needed in your application, but if you just cut that last few feet of .100 metal out and replaced it with something beefy, you'd be good to go!

My buddy had something similar done except he just had the floor cut out to about the rake and replaced with one smooth sheet then they did longatudial bracing and cross bracing like a regular mud hull. I will say though it started out as a custom boat to begin with it did have 3 or4 runners on the bottom though. And he also added a huntdeck. It pretty much looks like a custom mud hull now

^^^^This!