Can someone please tell me about this boat. For what types of water would it be suitable? Is it reasonably stable in moving water? Pros. Cons.
Contact Big D…
He owns one. Be prepared for several caavets about moving water. I was on the shakedown trip with him when he used his for the first time…lets just say, it holds a LOT of water. 
Flat-water - VERY stable
Moving water, not so much. Let me rephrase that. It’s stable in that it’s unlikely to flip over, but it HAS to be.
I have one and have used it in small (120 acre or so) lakes. In that condition, it’s incredibly slow to paddle. Not just slow, incredibly slow. My brother-in-law with a Pungo 100 and two blown-out shoulders was outdistancing me easily. Rowing is better. If you’ve got good balance, you can stand readily. I’ve taken my largest ever largemouth (23" and close to 6lb) fishing from my Jon Buoy on one of those small lakes. It is so stable on flatwater, that I take my squirmy-worm children out in it. I’d take my dog in it if I could get her off the couch.
I just purchased a 28 ft/lb thrust trolling motor for it and expect to get a lot more use from it on small lakes this year. Even with its comfort and carrying capacity, under paddle power it was just too cumbersome to use. Oars or trolling motor are the way to go.
I don’t recommend it for a river with strong current or anything bumpy. My first rapid in it was a straightforward class II wave train and it filled the boat about 6". It’s heavy, so has a lot of downward momentum at the front. When the front reaches the bottom of the wave, but the back hasn’t yet, that front just keeps on going and shovels up a big old scoop of water from the next wave. There’s no scupper holes, so that makes the front heavier, which gives it more momentum. You get the picture. Within a hundred yards of 2’ waves, I was carrying enough water in the boat to float my dry bag. There’s a picture of the result on my photo web site:
picasaweb.google.com/halffastpaddler/outdoorfun
I portaged stuff on that trip that I wouldn’t normally even notice.
I had a blast on the trip, was never in danger of harm, and caught a few fish, but the next day I borrowed a better suited boat when it came time to fish rough water.
If you do are considering one for small lakes, I think it’s well suited. But I would encourage you to consider using either oars (it comes equipped with oar-lock seats and a center seat for backward rowing, 6’ oars will do the trick) or a trolling motor (it comes equipped with a reinforced transom, battery tie-down, and space to install a bench seat).
If you live in the DC Metro area, we can arrange a flatwater trip this Spring and I’ll let you borrow mine. I have oars and trolling motor and paddle. Only way I can’t help you is if you plan to use it to sail (yes, it comes equipped to install a dagger board and mast).
- Big D
jon bouy
So I need to install the bench seat to use the trolling motor. Sitting in the back puts one way too close to the tiller. Yes? No? Maybe?
Nah
But to put in a bench seat, all you need is a $0.52 hunk of 2x6 from the cull lumber section from your hardware store. Who cares how much the lumber weighs, you’ve got a 450# weight capacity. Why wouldn’t you? Even if you weigh 350# and take 50# of tackle and lunch, you’re still 50# under weight. Heck, you could put a jon-boat seat on it. You’re not going to get too high of a CG in that boat. You could probably pole it if you wanted.
Plus, you’ve got to understand that I screw with everything.
When I’ve used the wayback seat without another occupant, I just put my tackle and cooler on the middle seat and that’s kept things manageable.
If you choose to paddle, using the rear bench seat and a long (230 cm) two bladed paddle has worked best for me.
Same web site as before, there’s a picture of me in the Jon Buoy on a small lake. In that picture, I’m seated on the wayback seat. You can see with the cooler and tackle on the middle seat (still within easy reach from the wayback seat), that the boat is not unbalanced. For reference sake, I weighed about 250lbs when that picture was taken.
- Big D