Plastic Jon Boat Buyers Guide | DON'T GET SCAMMED!

welcome back to more tiny boat fishing my favorite topic and uh we're not on the boat today because this is the current state of my breaker on my trolling motor had to replac that today we are talking about the buyer's guide for plastic flat bottom or just in general any plastic johnboat it doesn't have to be the popular 12T model I used to own the 9.7 ft water tender flat bottom same concept this is going to go for all of them now there's going to be a different guide for aluminum versus plastic as plastic is the new kit on the Block and by far the cheapest option stay tuned to the end because just like my pontoon boat buyer guide I'm going to show you the good deals the fair deals and deals to definitely avoid you guys seem to really appreciate that section of the video so we will definitely focus on that now most of my points today are going to be relatively similar however throughout the video there will be a few other little subtle differences between you know the buyer guide on the johnboat versus the Pontoon and if you're torn between which model definitely check out my video John boats versus pontoon boats before we get into it I want to give a quick shout out to today's video sponsor Vera they're the ones who made the johnboat catch and cook absolutely a ton of fun totally different all electric you can click the link in the description you're seeing some footage right now and I'm going to tell you the details I absolutely love this little machine the Vera power brick 1000 powered the catch and cook johnboat video and we had an absolute blast this thing comes with two usba a ports two USBC ports a couple High DC ports a th000 wat a power capacity and a 10year longlasting LIF po 3,000 cycle battery it also comes with a slew of accessories including that DC saucepan UCS cooking with it has low heat emission a lot of power a ton of juice and absolutely an awesome product it's only about 8 in by 6 in and weighs just 20 lb like I said the power brick boasts a capacity of a th000 wat hours and there's overall just a ton of plug andplay products and accessories that go along with this brick to make your camping boating catch and cook Adventures that much better and it's all clean electric energy no propane no gas no nothing it is awesome you can click the link in my description to check out veras power brick and accessories as well as all of the nitty-gritty details down below all right let's start with the before you buy things that you need to do at the house or wherever you live before you start your search and that is what size do you want and do you have a place to store it because my 10 foot pontoon boat takes up very little space but my 12 foot John Boat is a lot wider and of course 2 feet longer so all things considered my johnboat takes up a lot more space than the pwn Prowler does so you're going to want to take that into consideration are you going to want the 10ft water tender or you going to want the 12T Sund dolphin American 12 or the pawn Prowler 12 or the quest Sportsman 12 any of those votes they're all relatively the same if you want to compare and contrast between all the different models of the John boats available on the market now I do have a video comparing every single model that's currently available for sale so figure out what size you want what brand are you looking for now brand doesn't really matter that much the only one that has a significant difference is the Pelican Intruder line they do have a different kind of thing going on there with a lower weight limit and a higher price point so watch out for that that's why you should check that video out for sure but personally I would recommend going with the 12T over the 10t johnb my water tender was 9.7 ft very Tippy very small too small if you're going to be in a small 10ft boat you're going to want to be on the super stable Ultra comfortable pontoon platform in my humble opinion so if you can absolutely go for the 12T all right number two is a place to store it you know it does take up a lot more room and you got to remember the beam is definitely wider than the prowler and an extra two foot I keep all the boats I own in different storage units and I'm always swapping things around because I have one trailer for both and listen the pawn Prowler fits like a glove on my utility trailer the johnboat sticks out quite a bit the pwn Prowler fits like a glove in any nook and cranny of any of my storage units the johnboat definitely is a lot bigger so it's not going to be the same exact storage solution because you are going to need more space for sure next is a way to haul it the pond Prowler can fit in really small truck beds especially the 8ot model uh when I say Pon Prowler I'm really referring to all of the Pontoon Styles I happen to own the prowler so that's what I call them but you know if you have a short bed or a narrow bed it's going to sit sideways since it's wider and it's going to stick way farther out so I'll see if I can find this photo I saw of a Sund dolphin available for sale in my area about a week ago and yeah they were not hauling it the most efficiently now you can get a trailer you can get a John but trailer uh a a Jet Ski trailer you can get a utility trailer like I do just make sure it sits level and it's at least 8 ft long you can get those bolt together Harbor Freight trailers and you can simply throw it in the bed of your truck my personally my boat fits absolutely amazing in my 6 foot Ford F-150 bed with the tailgate down it's barely sticking out and it's absolutely doable I personally use a 5x8 trailer and that's a small as you'd want to go but you can also get hitch extenders if your bed is wide enough but it's really short so you can get a hitch extender that you see uh pretty popular with kayaks so you're going to have to figure out a way to haul it and finally the budget do you want a plain hole like ibought or do you want a boat that has a bunch of gadgets on it do you already want pre-wired Electronics well that's going to shoot the price way up so you can expect your budget when you're searching around to be up are you wanting a boat and trailer combo okay you're going to have to bump the budget up are you looking for a boat motor mods and trailer okay you're looking at thousands of dollars here so definitely keep into perspective what you want ahead of time which makes your search a little bit more efficient and you can think clearer and say all right this is a good deal because this is what I'm looking for and I'm only looking at listings like this and you can compare and contrast between the two of them Mak things easier versus just seeing what's out there and hoping you get a good deal all right moving on to things that you really need to start hammering down on once you start the messaging process you know hey is this available and by the way I don't know if this is obvious or not I'm just talking used boats because I'm a used guy I bought mine brand new but I bought my Prowler used for 300 so I've done both sides and I bought the water Tinder I actually traded for I traded some guns for it which I regret all right anyway I do have a full length video on this Channel about how to register new and used plastic boats and kayaks because my pond Prowler is unregister and I had to register my Sun Dolphin brand new which is also kind of tricky because the DMV didn't know what a sunnd dolphin American 12 mini fishing boat was so you know it's a definitely an important section but if it's unregistered you're actually going to have a little bit easier of a time but if it is registered make sure they have everything that they need because here's the thing folks every St not every state but Most states have a little difference there's little nuances little subtle differences that would make you know buying an out of state boat maybe a little bit more complicated in let's say the State of Florida for example not every boat in every state requires titles sometimes Motors also require titles but here in the State of Florida we do require titles my Sund dolphin American 12 has a title so you want to make sure you're going to have all of the appropriate documents because they do not make it easy to fix that issue I bought my Pawn Prowler out of state from a seller that didn't have the original registration and that's exactly what the Florida DMV needed and they can't get it for or won't get it I should say long story but yeah I can't register it no matter what I've tried so don't make that mistake at least in the State of Florida if it's registered no problem have a proper transfer look up all the details things change but if it's unregistered perfect maybe they only use it on private ponds private Lakes whatever they didn't register it who cares then all you need is aill sale so you're either going to need all the documents if it's titled and make sure you get them and they're good or at least get a bill of sale if it's unregistered figure out what your state requires and what that seller has available to give you this is very important this is one of the most common issues I see is registration issues and it's one of the worst because you get this boat you do cool stuff with it you got these plans you spent this money but now you can't register it and it's going to have a hard time selling in fact there was an absolutely free Pawn Prowler 8ot boat with two seats down in Pensacola a couple hours from me I tried to get it they were actually a fan of the channel which was super cool but they promised someone else before I could get to it and they flat out gave this boat away for free because they couldn't register it we were one away from getting a free Pawn Prowler 8 for the channel and I was going to give it away but it's all right I hope that the person that ended up taking it has a whole new world of tiny boat fishing and they become a part of our community all right registration is the biggest deal so I spend the most time on it next is whole damage flip these boats over I run over rocks I run over sticks logs I run over a lot of stuff now this is really durable strong plastic I have put my Pawn Prowler through hell and I and my son dolphin American 12 gets beat up but it's okay however things happened maybe they threw an outboard on it and they ran over some shws they ran over some oysters or something and there's just a really deep gouch things happen hasn't been an issue for any of my three boats but things happen flip the boat over make sure there's not too deep of cuts that could go anytime make sure there's no major dents or anything like that a lot of people try to sell boats with vents in them now this is a bigger problem with the pontoon boats I've noticed I don't see many dents in the johnboat flat bottom Styles not sure why but that just seems to be how it is just make sure there's nothing out of the ordinary of course no holes no dents no cracks look closely at the cracks I'm telling you folks depending on where you live letting plastic freeze th out freeze or putting it on the water putting it in you get ice or you get water in between the two hole fittings which we'll talk about momentarily it expands things happen maybe you're here in Florida they left it outside and condensation builds in it and there's issues inside of it which we'll talk about uh here in a second point being is flip it over holes dents cracks just move on next sidewall damage and I'm talking about that rubber strip that waterproofs the two whole fittings together that's riveted together that's in all these kind of plastic boats um so this is a big issue because a a lot of folks I've seen in the groups they buy brand new from a department store they get it home they get a closer look at it and on the back you know transom port side underneath it a big chunk just got broke off during transportation and it's leaving a entry point for water to get through the two plastic hole fittings look out for that stuff that happens you know sometimes sellers don't even know that's another reason you know if it's you're standing there looking at it you see a big chunk taken out of it okay you see it no big deal but that's why you want to flip these boats upside down because maybe you just float it over something at the dock I've done this you float it over the rivets the Rubber seal with the rivets go over your dock right here you get in it and it rips it off things happen they absolutely happen on accident and sometimes sellers don't even know now this is not the end of the world you can absolutely fix this but you know if you're spending this money on these little boats why do one that already has problems right especially look new from the stores where they're throwing these things around where they take less care of them than people who actually own the boats okay I want to jump back to registration real quick I didn't think about it because we're not talking about buying new but if you do buy new watch my video make sure you get a manufacturer statement of origin if you can't get one or they don't know what you're talking about and the DMV requires one which they will I have a link in the description of that video to get an MSO for all these plastic boats just a quick thought all right next is water logs speaking of that rubber piece that connects the two holes it is two holes and that rubber piece is not perfectly waterproof you know I don't really have this issue I've had three boats I don't really have this issue you know I'm going through heavy saltwater waves big wake you know yacht military boat wake speedboat wake boats and when I'm Bridge Fishing it gets crazy out here but you guys have seen all the insane things that my tiny boats have been through here on the ocean make sure not a bunch of water gets in there the main culprit is leaving it outside and a lot of rain just pours on it and it seeps through and it can soak up into the marine foam the marine foam is supposed to be waterproof but nothing's perfect if it's older or it's simply sat there for a long time pooling water it will soak up the foam water logging your boat lowering your weight capacity making it move through the water slower lower in the water and overall just be way heavier and harder to move you do not want that there are things you can do you can tilt it up on a tree in the sun open the plug and just kind of let it evaporate out but you know you don't want to do that this is a big one because next is a solid transom this is a bigger deal in the johnboat than the pon Prowler because the John boats have a six hor Power Max rating and we all know if a boat has a six horsepower that means people are putting tens on there you know the Palm parala has a three so people are putting sixes the John Boat has a six so people are putting tens so you want to make sure that that transom really is solid and is that piece of wood in there reinforcing it's not busted out it's not rotted it doesn't Creek you can't squee it in there's not a whole lot you can do to inspect it other than just grab it and see if it makes any weird cracking or creaking sounds you know it's going to go and it's going to flex because it is plastic but there shouldn't be any super obvious signs that that big metal plate that you're grabbing is going to give or crack or bend in and of itself right so definitely check out the transom more so on the John boats cuz people do wild stuff next make sure it has a legible H whole identification number this become come in uh handy for filling out a manufacturer statement of origin registration transferring the title or any sort of issues of you know getting pulled over and proving the fact that you own the boat now this can be on registration papers but these henss you know sometimes come out of the factory not stamped very well they fall off quite a bit or they just fade over time so definitely make sure you get a boat with an hi in because that could lower your headache and stress down the road exponentially next get in the boat walk on the benches walk on that front little area that's not really bench some models it's a bench some models it's more of a table just walk around in there make sure the floor doesn't feel like you're going to fall through into the ocean make sure the benches can hold your weight make sure you can stand on your benches if the benches feel like they're cra ing or pressuring or or you're putting too much pressure on it or it's bowing or making any sort of weird sounds I mean listen folks I stand on my benches and fish all the time they should be Rock freaking solid folks it should be nothing but foam and wood in there coated in thick durable plastic so it should not have much give at all last thing you want to do is realize that the previous owner drilled too many holes or did something bad to it it snaap the wood support in there and when you try to drill your own johnboat seat into the bench you're going to fly off backwards make make sure everything is structurally sound we're actually going to jump into the computer hop on Facebook Marketplace and we're going to run through some deals in real time let's do it if you are a member of my tiny boat talk Facebook group you already know this but this is the place to talk about tiny boats and one of the main things I do is personally I search every single day morning afternoon and night looking for the best deals that I can bring to you guys I posted this one only an hour ago a fair deal in Bushnell Florida but if we scroll down here you will actually see whenever I posted about the free boat and people were going nuts over it as you can see we got a lot of tiny boat content oh that was a fish that I caught yesterday great morning now let's see if I can find this free one look at that that that's a very similar build to mine but this is a super super cool group it's not only for plastic boats it's for all sorts of different types of tiny boats but of course the plastic ones are the most popular here's one of the most popular models of all time the Bass Hunter because it's only one piece only $100 that is pretty awesome okay here we go here is three days ago free boat alert and people were all over it so yeah definitely join the group anyway most of the search results that we are going to get in today's search are aluminum now aluminum has its own entire set of drawbacks there's a reason I didn't get it mostly including the new cost and even sometimes used ones in good conditions cost still more than a brand new plastic one but there's also more cons as well on the plastic side so we'll be making a plastic jum johnboat versus aluminum johnboat video soon but I just typed in plastic johnboat and we're just going to scroll through here in real time now this one is actually only an half hour from me $500 Sund dolphin 12T boat now if this is truly a new boat which it is used like new only been in the water once a oh a trolling motor that's never been used okay sell separately that's fine so basically you're getting a pretty much new boat for $500 now I bought my boat brand new from Tractor Supply for 600 and the next week for whatever reason it went down to 550 so you're only really saving $500 on this boat and you're not going to save on taxes by the time you register it because you will have to still pay sales tax on the purchase of your boat regardless so this is one of those Fair deals if you don't have any available near your store which they can be kind of sparse this could be a decent fair deal for an under market value used like new boat that would not be one I would absolutely jump on and post in the group but it is a boat okay now check this out you can see how quickly the price goes up $1,200 used like new with all sorts of mods now this is probably let's see if it comes with a battery trolling motor two seats I mean we're looking at $400 in accessories so you get a 30 lb hand operated uh trolling motor which is great Marine looks great sell the boat only for 700 without the extra extra stuff but you still get the seats and that okay that's that's a pretty decent deal um not an absolute screamer and you know for $1,200 you could probably recreate this brand new so this would probably be a pass not good deal you know if you really needed it you were low on options and you didn't want to do these mods yourself sure but this for me personally would be a pass for $1,200 that's a bit much now I think they call the Coleman uh but to me this is the Pelican Intruder it's the different shape it has the extra bench lower weight capacity and more narrow beam so for let's see $360 two seats oh man yeah this looks pretty good Coral Springs Florida looks to be in good enough condition wow look at that low weight capacity 420 lbs Max that's almost 100 lb less than the competitors but this boat can sell for over $1,000 sometimes brand new it is a good-looking boat but for 360 man that's hard to beat it's a little bit dirty but it looks perfectly fine and it's pre-wired for a trolling motor which mine is not and it comes Factory with uh handles which is makes it easy to tie down to a trailer and of course move so honestly 360 that's stoked I need to make a post about that in the group I I would definitely buy that I'd be stoked to get that we got a pontoon boat here uh yeah I don't I don't know if uh what this boat is rated for but probably twin 150s all right let's move down here lot of aluminum here's another one $700 looks like it comes with one seat uh yeah um I don't know about that 12 plastic John Boat no holes only boat no trailer yeah not a good deal you can literally buy this for cheap brand new uh doesn't come with that trolling motor don't know if it comes with a seat either way you can get seats super cheap yeah this is definitely a pass so I hope you're getting a good idea of what a good deal and a bad deal looks like all right we have another $1,400 sell better come with a trailer it does come with a trailer all right here we go for $1,400 looks like it definitely needs some work um you get a trolling motor some accessories okay so this is when we're talking about all sorts of stuff oh comes with a fish finder that could be expensive depending on what it is all right for $1,400 2023 trailer motor battery plus a lot of Labor put into it you know I would say that this is a pretty f deal I like this for 1,400 bucks you could essentially get everything you need besides an outboard and be ready to go including a boat trailer instead of just utility trailer and it says it's in like new condition of course you want to inspect it but if it checks out 1,400 bucks for this whole package with electronics that's pretty awesome I would take that I'd be pretty happy with that all right let's find one more here let's go through uh here we'll look at one with an outo $1,500 so if you say that this is 600 new that's probably a $300 one of of those Tractor Supply Harbor frit Outboards not totally sure but that's what it looks like so we're looking at probably $1,000 between the two here plus this trailer depending on where you're from could be another few hundred bucks I would say this is fair and not too far off which you could buy new excluding the trailer probably a new motor probably a new boat looks like there is some wiring done to it uh but for this package I would pay probably 1,200 maybe a th000 it's not terrible but this is not one of those super high quality name brand Yamaha outboards I'm almost positive this is one from Tractor Supply Harbor Freight uh air cooled type you know you can kind of tell by looking I've seen enough of these small motors actually you know what let's let's get a better view on it here looks like it's registered already has the nav lights that is awesome oh here's a thing they have drilled holes into the bottom of the boat so that way the water can drain between the benches and it goes inside of the boat now the problem with this is is you could get a lot of sand sediment mud leaves a bunch of crap in here and over time that just makes your boat weigh down I personally don't do that with my boat and that's something that you're going to want to consider uh I actually bought a boat just like that it was the water tender with holes drilled into it for the same reason and I ended up patching them and it kind of sucked so let's go ahead and check out the motor here so yeah I'm pretty sure oh it's a hang Kai all right yeah so that's the exact motor I was talking about the super cheap Chinese yeah you know i' I'd probably spend a th000 bucks on this 1,000 bucks would be a good deal $1,500 is probably maybe a fair deal so I hope that you guys were able to kind of check this out and get a good idea of what's worth it what's not things to look for little details like small holes in the bottom of it uh oo th000 bucks looks like it's got some mods on it a motor uh that's not terrible that's actually not terrible in Carthage Tennessee th000 bucks this is probably a $700 boat you got another 100 to 200 in seats and clamps uh yeah not terrible I'd say fair deal if it comes with the motor and a battery and a couple more accessories we don't see so you know something to consider anyway guys hope you enjoyed definitely join the tiny boat talk Facebook group hit like And subscribe for more tiny boat content we've got a lot of fun fishing adventures and follows around the corner so we're going to start doing a lot of mods that seems to be your guys's favorite anyway guys I'll see you next time