Bass boat for a flats boat?

[wevans]

Too much deadrise on most typical Bass Boats (Champion, Procraft, BumbleBee, Ranger, etc..)...Drafts shallow, but takes alot of water to get up, cause the great amount of deadrise...most (other than the non carpeted Ranger crossover boats) don't have parts made to survive in saltwater

My G3 gets on top of the water in nothin flat "and will do it in 18 inches if by myself" and that's with a 40 four stroke The salt will take a toll on it though

[MudDucker]

My name is Captin Howard and I'm a coward nobody drowns on my boat!

I know your eyes are brown...cuz you so full of it. Boy ain't got no sense atall. Everyone else calls him Cat'n Scurvey

[Chalk]

Too much deadrise on most typical Bass Boats (Champion, Procraft, BumbleBee, Ranger, etc..)...Drafts shallow, but takes alot of water to get up, cause the great amount of deadrise...most (other than the non carpeted Ranger crossover boats) don't have parts made to survive in saltwater

My G3 gets on top of the water in nothin flat "and will do it in 18 inches if by myself" and that's with a 40 four stroke The salt will take a toll on it though

I don't consider your boat in the same category of Bass boat as a Ranger type....It's more of a Garvey style of planing hull

[Tennessee]

Too much deadrise on most typical Bass Boats (Champion, Procraft, BumbleBee, Ranger, etc..)...Drafts shallow, but takes alot of water to get up, cause the great amount of deadrise...most (other than the non carpeted Ranger crossover boats) don't have parts made to survive in saltwater

Well I have a little experience in this area, for I have just started fishing salt in December, I have made six trips since and have had the following experiences. For one, as far as getting up in shallow water I can get up in 2foot of water, turn boat side ways to direction I want to go with forward direction to the left. Steer hard to the left and throw it at it, let off and trim up once on top. I have also invested eleven hundred dollors on a jack plat specifically for fishing or running shallow. On my third trip to salt in Laffite,La my starter froze up, ended up tearing my TM, up and ended up doing very little fishing. Took the starter off and the guy said all that was wrong was corrosion from the SALT. So, the Ranger dealer gave me this silicon that I spray on any exposed metal, and the whole moter under the cowan. Don't know if it is from the salt but have had to replace all the seals on the hubs of my trailer. From here on I try to put in freash water, and come out in freash water. I know I will not always be able to do that but if I can I will. I guess what I am trying to say is first if you are going to fish salt in a nice bass boat, be ready to spend some money. Secondly, premaintanence things like silicon spray can help deter some of the salt. I asked my dealer about selling my bass boat and getting a ghost, or camen. He said I would still have problems, that is just things you deal with when fishing salt. What do you guys think? I am just learning as I go.

[Barhopr]

look at Chalk gettin all techy on us. I will say one thing about the bass boats, they take a turn like a roller coaster. I've never been on the sure nuff high Hp bass boats much but a friend of mine here on the Lake is a semi pro and we went out the other day for a quick trip. He was running about 45 or so and whiped the wheel hard to port and the boat never rolled to the side in the turn, it stayed level. Felt like I was on the Abominable Snownman at Miricle strip. The G's were tremendous.

[TroutTrent]

I've had 10 years to decide about fishing out of a bass boat I have a 18ft Stratos AKA ( StratosFaction ) . It has never had a problem because of salt water As for taking off in skinny water it sucks but once I'm up on a plain I can run in more skinny water than you would want to be in . The boat has Stainless steal nuts and bolts through out form the factory, I put a all aluminum and stainless trailer under it once the fenders fell off onto the tires going down the road,,it looked like a crash coming out of turn 4 at Talladega $$, I wash the motor out at home after every trip---not up the river like some do It will draft in 11in of water but you can't hardly ideal the big motor because of the way bass boats dip down in the back, trolling motor in that shallow no problem. As far as comfort go's and the ride it's sweet at a little over 50mph and it's hard to beat the carpet it act's as a cushion on your feet and don't get hot or slippery which is great for standing on a long day--- but it's hard to keep clean after a few Lady fish . Would I buy another bass boat for fishing the flats--- No--- To much to keep up Just the thoughts off the BassBoys

[grim reeler]

... and it's hard to beat the carpet it act's as a cushion on your feet and don't get hot or slippery which is great for standing on a long day--- but it's hard to keep clean after a few Lady fish...

Gots to get the red carpet to hide the fish blood. The red is soooo sexxxy.... not. But it beats bare aluminum, IMO.

[What a mess]

Did I say my barge was a bass boat?

I don't think so. I just said that I had started with a bass type boat didn't feel safe and wound up with a scratch and sniff skiff.

As long as you got a couple of quarters for the car wash after this thing is low maintenance.

She ain' purty, shes dang wet! but she will haul a bunch of folks go shallow and make it back to the hill. Lots of times with enough in the box to make the grease smeel bad. (epsecially if your net man can seal the deal)

[TroutTrent]

Nice boat, I like the red it looks good on that boat

[GIT-R-WET]

Don't they have floatation like any boat? They ain't supposed ta sink are they?

A carolina skiff will just float "better" if swamped, right? By that I mean higher in the water than say a regular boat?

That's another querstion too, about floatation. Is every newer boat that adheres to USCG regs not going to sink?

It don't matter what kinda boat your in if your in rough enough seas for it to swamp the boat you won't be able to stay on it anyway, the force of the next waves will take you off of it.

[blazer_dave]

There are several differences in the hull design of a bass boat versus a flats boat but, perhaps the biggest difference is in weight distribution. Practically all bass boats are designed to move as much weight as possible to the rear of the boat to increase bow lift and therefore speed. This unequal weight distribution makes them hard to get up and they have to have enough water to "squat", especially when loaded, to build enough speed to lay over and go. This can be a real problem when you're in shallow water, you either idle out till you have enough to get up or if you have a partner, let him get up on the front deck to add weight to help it break over. Another difference that the weight distribution causes is the boat tends to sit with a "nose high" attitude when at rest and some boats are even designed with a "droop" in the bow of the boat to compensate.

Flats boats are designed to sit flatter in the water and that is accomplished by a more flat bottomed design than the pad-v hull (like a bass boat) and as much of the movable weight (fuel tank, batteries and people ) in the boat moved forward. Add tabs (almost NEVER used on a bass boat) to that mix and you've got a boat that can get up and run in very shallow water.

And lastly, most bass boats will be dressed in good quality stainless hardware that will be comparable to saltwater boats but, most won't have the better quality electrical systems. Bass boats are also non-bailing so any water you take over the bow runs into your bilge and not out of the boat and I'm not a real fan of that and, I almost forgot to mention dealing with carpet!

I know there are some boys here that run bass boats in the salt and more power to them but, I'm gonna leave my sparkle boat on the hill.

[flatfish]

Can't sit on the sidelines on this one. Two of my friends died in a bass boat in 2001 out of Keaton. Both wearing life jackets and both died from exposure. To this day we can only speculate what happened, but several things are quite clear and I offer them in hopes that others may learn.

1. File a float plan.
2. Carefully match the type of boat to the type of fishing as well as the type of weather that you might be exposed to. Self bailing is critical in potential rough water.
3. Usually the moment you discover that you are in trouble, it is too late if your equipment is not up to the task.
4. There are 4 kids at home without a Dad because they were in the wrong place with the wrong equipment at the wrong time.

I might get in a bass boat on the flats, but I would never go deeper than I could stand, or walk home.

flatfish

[Redbelly]

Sorry to hear that, and it is sobering advice.
I think I remember that accident too.