EP. 9 - Hatch Lids From Scratch | Jon Boat to Bass Boat | Tracker 1236

This episode includes:
- DIY rivet together dry hatch lids
- Cutting hinges to size
- Dry box water diversion lips with door edge guard for asthetics and protection
- Building the lid frames from 3/4" square tube and 90° brackets and 1/16" sheeting
1236 Tracker Topper - Full DIY Jon Boat to Bass Boat conversion. All aluminum construction, including framing, supports, boxes and decking. No plywood was harmed in the making of this video.
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Everything used on this build can be found at the store on TBNation.net
Many thanks to Michael Lopez and the rest of the crew at TBNation Outdoors. This build wouldn't have happened without them leading the charge.
For more like this (with extremely in-depth explanations), check out their channels:
Tiny Boat Nation: @Tiny Boat Nation
TBNation Outdoors: @TBNation Outdoors
Fireant Fishing: @FIREANT Fishing
Send It Jon Boats: @Send It Jon Boats
JDS Outdoors: @JDS Outdoors
Adam Ryan: @Adam Ryan
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[@claytonfowler857]

Had the same idea just haven’t got around to making them yet thanks for the video

[@derekmcjonboat]

No problem 👍

[@kevinsheppard2787]

Incredible work. I wish my build looked like your work. I noticed you don’t wear gloves. I wear gloves jacked up. LETS SEE YOUR HANDS BRO

[@derekmcjonboat]

Thanks a lot! I'm pretty proud of how it turned out! I find gloves only make it harder to handle small parts - like the approximately 40 million rivets that went into this boat. I didn't have any issues through the whole build, except for the one time I stupidly didn't move my hand and drilled into my fingertip when the bit punched through.... Though I don't think gloves would've helped much with that.

[@SlimetoBJ]

Thank you saved me some munyun

[@derekmcjonboat]

Glad I could help!

[@traviscarter9182]

Amazing work my friend. Do you find that the 16th was overkill or just enough for the back corner lids? The reason I ask is i have a project and need lightweight as possible. Frame is 8th wall 1.25 sq tube thinking over lof using 20 ga w eva on top w rivets every 2 or 3 inches apart. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated Sir! Thank you for your time.

[@derekmcjonboat]

Thank you! The 1/16th was JUST enough for the lid and even then is kinda pushing it. I used 1/16" everywhere, including all the angle and tubing specifically to get the best strength to weight ratio I could. I'm not certain how 20ga on 1/8 would hold up. I assume it would depend on just how close your actual supports are together. For 20ga, if I had to guess, I wouldn't recommend a span bigger than 4-6" without some sort of support underneath. Even then you might have some flex that will eventually loosen the rivets on such a thin sheet. The EVA doesn't do anything to actually prevent the sheet or the lid from flexing, but it does hide it a little. Obligatory disclaimer: This was a DIY project. I am by no means an expert and this is pure speculation based solely on what I learned from this project.

[@davehaag8175]

Thanks …been looking for alternatives for corner bracing… holding up strong?

[@derekmcjonboat]

Yeah, there was a bit of flex on the corners at first, but the under supports strengthened the lid up a ton. There's still just a little bit of flex on the lid overall but it wasn't noticable once I put on the EVA foam. I also fished the boat all last season and didn't have any issues with it deforming.

[@beomaster100]

What are those small temporary rivets / clamps called? Thank!

[@derekmcjonboat]

They're called Cleco fasteners. I found them on Amazon.

[@windyfishingguideservice326]

What are you using for a countersink for your rivets?

[@derekmcjonboat]

Do you mean which bit? It's a 120° bit to match the angle on the rivet. I ordered it online somewhere. The standard 90° ones in the hardware stores didn't let them sit flat.

[@mattm912]

Can you please send me a link to the bit that you used to countersink your rivets?

[@derekmcjonboat]

www.amazon.ca/dp/B00FXBSORC

[@coreypalmore8988]

How are the hinges attaching?

[@derekmcjonboat]

To the boxes or to the lid? They were cut to the right height on the lid side then riveted on. To mount them to the boxes, I left a space between each angle, slid the hinge between and riveted them through both boxes from under the lip.

[@brandonmiller819]

What thickness are the lids?

[@derekmcjonboat]

The lids and nearly everything else is all .063

[@claytonhill4424]

How big is the angle that you used to make the brackets?

[@derekmcjonboat]

For the corner brackets I just used 1" x 1/16" because that's what I had on hand. It's held up just fine, but I would have preferred to use 2". That way I could have doubled the amount of rivets in each bracket.

[@darrengillesdarrengilles8336]

Im wondering what size materials were used for all the parts being assembled??

[@derekmcjonboat]

3/4" square tube, 1" angle and 4x8 sheets. Hinges were 2" x 2" (or 4" when open). All 0.063" thick. 3/16" rivets.

[@darrengillesdarrengilles8336]

@@derekmcjonboat Thanks

[@derekmcjonboat]

No problem!

[@darrink2336]

Where did u find those bigger piano hinges ?? Big box stores don’t carry those

[@derekmcjonboat]

No they don't. I had to order them through Grainger in the US and have them shipped up to Canada. Problem is they only sell to businesses so I had to beg a favour to get those. They were definitely the hardest thing to source for the whole project.

[@darrengillesdarrengilles8336]

@@derekmcjonboat Oh No😮‍💨

[@garrettcrossley3844]

​@@derekmcjonboat although it's been a year since this, just for any future niche parts like that I'd actually suggest McMaster carr, I'm not sure if they ship to Canada though

[@derekmcjonboat]

Good to know. I don't remember if I looked into them at the time but I do remember checking a whole bunch of different US sources and could only find what I needed from Grainger. I did a very quick reddit search and apparently McMaster Carr also only ships to businesses in Canada but those posts were 5+ years old so that may have changed. I'll keep that in mind as a possibility for the future. Thanks!

[@gforcefishingandgaming8656]

how can i get this stuff and the video for a topper 15ft

[@derekmcjonboat]

Check out TBNation.net for all your parts and accessories. I think Anthony Jones has done some 15s, or check out Adam Ryan's 1432 here: kzbin.info/aero/PLYnhuAxsRTpL8cl_ZSV3TMEJZ0ANc0pWV

[@gforcefishingandgaming8656]

the problem im running into is the live well in the middle seat on my 15ft topper what do i do about the hole @@derekmcjonboat

[@derekmcjonboat]

Sorry, don't know what to tell you. I'm not an expert or anything, this 1236 is the only boat I've done like this. On my 1648 Bass tracker, for the livewell hole, I used a boat plug from the inside and filled it with silicone from the outside as a backup. That's only because the previous owner just filled it with silicone and left it at that. Aside from having it welded closed, I don't know what the best way would be.

[@darrengillesdarrengilles8336]

So the lids are 1" higher than the surrounding deck , will you be putting 1" plywood down on the deck to get things even?

[@derekmcjonboat]

Nope, in the later videos you can see exactly how I did it, but I ended up laying out 3/4" tube and using the aluminum sheet on top. The only wood used in the boat at all is in the transom and that was just because it was in perfect shape and not worth replacing with aluminum. The total thickness on the lids is actually 3/4". I did all aluminum to avoid any possibility of warping or rot in the future, but you could go with 3/4" plywood on all the stationary panels if you wanted to save a little cost. Though by the time you seal the wood it ends up being pretty close to the same cost and weight

[@darrengillesdarrengilles8336]

@@derekmcjonboat Yes I skipped ahead and it makes perfect sense now thanks , I had a terrible time attaching the outer channel piece for the decking to attach to .Where my deep V tinny approaches the bow nothing is flat or level and I had a terrible time trying to figure out how to get that line straight for the channel to attach to what's your trick? It would have been much simpler in a John boat. Also unless you know what your boats stance is in the water your casting deck may be leaning back or forwards , this all looks so frigging easy in the videos and as well there is no 1/16 L available in Ontario what the hell ?? I have to use 1/8 for everything and it is really hard to bend even with all the cuts I made with my miter saw.

[@derekmcjonboat]

Haha, my trick was pure luck. I leveled the entire deck to the existing seats working under the assumption that they were all level to each other. They weren't - the bow seat was very slightly higher, though luckily not enough to make a noticeable difference. I'm in Ontario too and sourced all my aluminum from Metal Supermarkets. They have locations all over southern Ontario. I did buy everything about 2 years ago so I'm not sure what's available now. Stay away from Home Depot for the metal. It's insanely expensive compared to the suppliers. Maybe try asking around for 1" x 1" x 1/16" angle instead of L channel? If you CAN track down some 1/16, I'd definitely recommend that instead of 1/8. Much lighter and much easier to work with.

[@derekmcjonboat]

Reposting this really here, in case you don't get notified on the other comment: If you're not already aware of them, I'd recommend checking out some of the videos posted by the guys I've linked in my video descriptions, particularly Michael Lopez at Tiny Boat Nation. He's the OG tiny boat guy and has a ton of in depth instructional videos available for free. Adam Ryan also put together an excellent series on his 1436 Jon boat. They both explain in detail what they're doing and why, as opposed to my straight time lapse videos. I put mine up more as a "what I did" rather than "how to".

[@darrengillesdarrengilles8336]

@@derekmcjonboat Thanks for the reply and the videos, they're brilliant. I am making pretty good progress now but there is still a long way to go. My tansom is AL inside and out I wasn't going to drill right through as you did in your video of the wooden transom. I was just going to blind rivet into the transom wall on the inside of my boat, I was at metal supermarket yesterday in Etobicoke where I live and it really is pricey to mod these boats out looks like Mr. Metal is a very good option to consider I will be there Monday for my 3/4 tubing for the hatches thanks for now Oh BTW in you r video you were working on the rear corner hatches and you had both flaps of your hinge in the space between your back to back angle I would have thought you would have spaced that angle to the width of just one of the hinge flaps? a little later on you kept pushing a thin strip[ of metal into the same recess while positioning your hinge, wondered what that was ?