Posts: 1106
Location: Muskegon Michigan | My wife and I own three boats now. We started with an 18 foot Starcraft fully decked out powered by a 115 Merc efi 4 stroke. Its much to expensive to lug around to all the local small lakes . We still needed the big boat for Lake St. Clair and several of our northern Michigan inland seas Like Torch lake . I wanted a small compact wide,light, fishing machine that had all the whistles and bells that my starcraft had. The answer? A 1448 Sea Ark Jon boat.
I picked this little jewel up for 2300.00 used with a 9.9 merc two stroke and a galvanized t-1000 caravan trailor. I put a light carpeted floor in the back for my wifes casting deck and extended the front casting deck by another foot. That created a 4 foot dry stroage area under the end of the front casting deck. By cutting two chunks of angled Oak and bolting them to the bow I was able to mount a small 36 pound tiller minkota on the bow. I just reversed the handle and added an inline momentary contact foot switch to turn it on. I just set the speed and step on the button and it goes. This takes up way less room then a conventional bow mount motor. I used a ram mount for my old x-71 lowrance and added a Global 4800 GPS. This unit uses the same software that my Starcraft uses(navionics chips) . I installed 4 oak boards to mount my 4 downeaster s-10 saltys in the back. The Battery is a Die Hard Deepcycle and will last for two full days on the water before needing a recharge. I can Troll and cast for a whole day on less than 2 gallons of mix gas. This little boat is a edge trolling machine and outperforms my starcraft 10 to 1 when it comes to precision edge trolling. Another neat trick I used was to install four 7 foot Tubes down the sides through the middle and rear benchs. I used the grey 2 inch electrical conduit with the flare on one end. My wife made me 4 fleece rod socks and I can store 4 rods safely.
A 1448 does not require a separate insurance policy,it goes on your homeowners. The bottom is 48 inches wide with a 72 inch beam. Its quite stable for two people standing and casting. It handles up to 1 foot chop with out taking on any water but this has never been a problem with us because we only use it on small lakes and can move to the quiet side if things get rough. Its low to the water making figure 8's a dream. I have front and rear pedestals for our butt seats . Top speed fully loaded with gear and two people is 11 mph. empty with one person and light gear 15 mph on a nice plane. The best thing about it though is the fact that I pull it with a 2004 Chevy Aveo. The little wagon gets 30 mpg pulling it at 55/60 mph. and has no trouble pulling the boat up out of the water. I must add though the I added Cabelas roller bunks to the trailor and lowered the bunks as far as possible. This makes getting the boat on and off the trailor in shallow water a breeze. The Aveo never even gets wet and niether do my trailor lights. This little craft was easy to build and has proven to be the best addition to my musky fishing arsenal over any other purchase. I am able to fish anywhere within 3 hours of my home for around 20 bucks round trip.
If you would like to see pictures of this boat and the setups any of you can email me in the spring and Ill shoot a spread of pictures for you and email them out to you. I have few here that Ill post as a reply to this. Good luck,take your time and find the right boat for you. Kingfisher
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