Help with new shallow water boat suggestions

[SoGa Rktct]

I fish around the Suwannee river, cedar key, steinhatchie area. Already have a rebuild 24' proline that gets me most places. But it won't get me in the really shallow water and far back in the saltwater creeks. Especially on low tide flows in winter. So I am considering a second boat. I usually fish withatleast one other and most of the time there are 4 on us in the boat. So I am thinking I want something around 20' in length and 8' in beam. I am not worried about rough water as I will always be in close with this boat. But I do want to be able to get up on plane and run in very shallow water and be able to drift and pole or use trolling motor in very shallow water so I can get back to the deep holes in the creeks. I have been looking at something like a Micro Draft or the XF20. But I am concerned that running at medium speed through a creek on very low water and hitting an oyster bar with this boat could leave me stranded. So I am also considering something like an Alweld 2070 with an pocket tunnel. But these seem to draft a little deeper from my research and it seems to me that while the microdraft might still float some with a hole, aluminum will sink, although it would take a lot more to put a hole in The aluminum boat. What are your thoughts?

[Harmsway]

I'd like to have one of the new El Pescador Cat. I think the prototype is a 24' full tunnel that is supposed to get up in 10 and run in 4.

Fishin' is the mission.

[Steve Stinson]

SeaArk aluminum with either a jet foot or a tunnel. I run a 1860 Tracker aluminum boat with a jet-foot. My outboard will push my boat in shallower water than my trolling motor. I prefer a stripped-down boat rather than one with storage, livewells, etc. That way when I run aground and step out of the boat it will float. I can normally walk a circle around my stuck boat to find the nearest deep water, then push it back and take off again.

All of them are a compromise.

The grass mats in the Summer give me a fit with the jet, and the shallower your boat runs, the more you tend to push your luck. So, sooner or later, you will hit rocks, oysters, sand bars and pretty much whatever else is down there.

I was camping at Cedar Key this past Winter when nothing but an airboat would work. They would launch, then shoot across the wet mud until they reached the waters edge. We had to wait to launch our kayaks and canoes.

[JIm Smith]

for those that dont know the outside ranps at Cedar Key are being made wider and the inside ramps are suppose to be dredged by Sept this year. the outside will be changed from 0ne ramp to three boats wide. the outside ramp always has enough water for any trailer boat, while the inside can go dry under the bridge

[SoGa Rktct]

I am staying away from jet foots. Had a good friend with one. He spent his life futzing with it and not fishing until he got rid of it. He says it was the best thing he ever did.

I know I want a pocket tunnel hull. I am just not sure of the ability of these "composite" hull boats to hold up to long term abuse in the really shallow waters. I would like to hear from someone that has a micro draft especially and how they have found it to hold up long term and to the oysters.
I like the idea of an aluminum boat for ruggedness. But even though it seems like an aluminum boat should float shallower and be lighter than a plywood hull boat, all my research says they draft 2 to 4 inches more. And sometimes getting from the mouth of a creek back to a deep hole, 2 inches can make all the difference.

[FUTCHCAIRO]

BY ALL MEANS GET ALUM. BOAT, PREFERABLE TUNNEL DRIVE. I DO NOT KNOW OF ANY COMPOSIT BOAT THAT WILL FLOAT IN LESS WATER THAN ALUM. G-3, LOWES, SEA ARK. STARCRAFT, AND MANY OTHER ALUM. BOATS OUT THERE TO CHOOSE FROM. I HAVE A STARCRAFT 18 FT. BAY BOAT THAT I JUST LOVE, HAS A 28 INCH GUNNEL HEIGHT, HAS ALL KIND OF ROOM, EASY TO LOAD AND UNLOAD, EVEN FOR A 90 YR.OLD MAN LIKE ME. GO TO A DEALER AND TAKE A RIDE BEFORE YA BUY, THEY WILL GLADLY GIVE YA A TRIAL RIDE SINCE BUSINESS IS SLOW RIGHT NOW. DO NOT UNDER POWER, GET A ENGINE THAT WILL PUSH THE BOAT ALONG AT THE 20-25 MPH RATE WITH TWO MEN AND EQUIPMENT, YA WILL NOT BE NEEDING ANTHING THAT WILL GO FASTER IN SHALLOW WATER. THERE ARE MANY BOATS ON THE MARKET THAT ARE USED AND IN GREAT SHAPE FOR ABOUT 1/2 THE PRICE OF A NEW ONE, ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TRY A BOAT AND ENGINE OUT BEFORE BUYING. RUN IT AT LEAST 1 HOUR AND SEE WHAT IT WILL DO. THAT'S MY .02 CENTS.
PA
SEMPER FI

[wevans]

This one looks like fun


http://www.sportsmanboats.com/new-boats ... lush-deck/

[Gulf Coast]

Jon boat for back of the creeks...hands down

[wevans]

Yep, this probably more what he needs


http://seaarkboats.net/2072-tunnel-pro-cc/

[Squirm88]

I saw this video on another forum. I've never seen a boat run this skinny with an outboard before. It's Majek 21 RFL. Any shallower and you need an airboat. Altough I would not advise trying this around here with as many rocks and oyster bed that we have.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXLDKaVb ... e=youtu.be[/video]

[Badbagger]

Here's SKINNY http://flatscat.com/

If you go with a welded boat, SeaArk. They're built like a tank and use .125 material on the 1872 and up. They'll pretty much take a direct hit from a hand grenade and keep going. I've owned 3 G3's and gone from the 1652 to the 1756 to the 1966. They're nice but not built anywhere close to the way a SeaArk is constructed. Personally, I wouldn't buy another one but to each their own. Tunnel hull wise understand that tunnels are built in two configurations - prop tunnel hulls and jet tunnel hulls and they're a totally different beast. If you fish the East flats especially, know that those damn rocks move daily!

[Rhettley]

[quote="Squirm88"]I saw this video on another forum. I've never seen a boat run this skinny with an outboard before. It's Majek 21 RFL. Any shallower and you need an airboat. Altough I would not advise trying this around here with as many rocks and oyster bed that we have.

Turn off your speakers before you watch Squirm88's video. The video is interesting. The background rap is not.

[SHOWBOAT]

I saw this video on another forum. I've never seen a boat run this skinny with an outboard before. It's Majek 21 RFL. Any shallower and you need an airboat. Altough I would not advise trying this around here with as many rocks and oyster bed that we have.

Turn off your speakers before you watch Squirm88's video. The video is interesting. The background rap is not.

Gives a pretty good perception into the background that gave rise to the video. I think he ended the %*^@ swinging constest as to who's is shallower.

[SoGa Rktct]

Yea that is shallow. But its all mud. Where I am its mud and oysters. Oysters eat boat bottoms. It would be very easy to be running as fast as he is in that video and and never see a bar 2" under the water and run up on it where I am. It seems like a heavier Aluminum hull could handle this kind of abuse regularly. But I am scared that anything with glass on the bottom would have me patching cracks and holes the rest of my life. The down side from my research is that something like an Alweld 2070 with a 90hp on the back is going to draft 7 inches at rest. But something like a Henderson Microdraft will draft 3 to 4 inches at rest. Thats a big difference when times get tight and the water gets slim.

[Redbelly]

I had a Scandy White 16' tunnel hull that was a beast. You could hit rocks with it and bounce off. Right now I have a 1756 G3 and am pleased with it. It will float shallow, maybe a 6" draft, with noone in it.

Just go slow near rocks and stuff around here.