. . . I love john boats and have 3 currently...Pros and cons to about any boat design.
Ain't that the truth.
I too have three Jon boats. Got a 12' that is stashed in a back marsh to access this area with oars for a week. Some winters I use it on early ice as a sled, before snow. Get into a questionable area, walk around back to the stern, grab the transom, and push across. Hear the ice cracking jump in and skid across. If I bust through, I'm in a boat. Push to thicker ice and use the spud to lever out.
The 14' awaits the scratcher.
And the 18' is for duck hunting and fishing. Got a 35 hp longtail on that one. Now I see Go Devil has a 40 horse longtail out. Will have to check with Ron Paul in Fox Lake to see what his feelings are on that one.
16' V-bow with another 35 hp longtail for trapping. I prefer the V-bow over the flat for heavier payload in the bow.
And two canoes. An old standard 17' Grumman my wife and I paddle down a river occasionally for the ambience. It's also my mule lashed to the side of the 18' Jon loaded with gear when headed to deer camp in the river bottoms. Have had that since I was a kid.
The second canoe is a 13' Sportspal. I love that canoe. Fella can throw that over a shoulder and walk into a back slough with traps and such in the other hand. Got a 2 hp Honda air cooled standard outboard that will push it in those long stretches in the back slough.
There is no such thing as one boat does all. My first wife thought so.