If you sell your 16' let me know. I may be interested depending on the timing. And I don't know where you fish on Erie, but if it's anything like when I go with Dave I couldn't imagine taking my mud motor. That would be a long, slow boat ride. Love my mud motor for smaller stuff and rivers duck hunting though.

 

Subscribed!

 

Not sure if you can even get a 3/16 ribbed bottom?

 

I'm not sure either. I'll have to talk to the builder and see.

 

no fan, just a surface drive with remote steer so that I can run it from the front deck and a 24v troller.

for sure it'll be a 3/16 bottom, I'm just not positive on ribbed or slick.

 

Sounds like you have a boat plan! I agree with poly being heavy and unnecessary for grass and mud. I'm putting poly on mine but only because we have a gravel bottom in a lot of places here and poly will slide across it easily while giving my boat the protection it needs from the all the cypress stumps and oyster beds. Looking forward to seeing your build pics.

 

you are going to be sorry if you put poly on the bottom of that boat...

 

I'd go with a slick bottom if you're going with a surface drive. Or at least look into the cost of each.

 

so my conclusion that I've come to is ribbed hull with gator glide, surface drive (at least a bd5500) with remote steering on the deck for an alternative to trolling, and empty pockets lol. Thanks guys.

 

Why would you want a ribbed bottom with gator glide. If you plan on putting a fan on it, a slick bottom will not grab on the bottom while turning. A ribbed bottom will grab and limit you too turn it. Slick with gator glide and you will be a proud boat owner.

 

now logical answers like these are exactly why I started this thread. I appreciate the help so that I might stop worrying about it and get some sleep.

 

poly is HEAVY. That's why I said to use gator glide.
And no holes drilled in the bottom of the boat.

 

Lol ain't it the truth!!

 

I would have a problem with drilling a couple hundred holes in the bottom of my brand new boat!

 

Poly will help protect the hull and make it slide over stuff easier but it also adds a bunch of extra weight.

 

IMO ploy will just get you stuck on anything but a powerfull airboat!
:co:

 

Wouldn't poly, even 1/4 inch, Help the boat glide thru shallow mud??

 

Slick bottom, NO PODS unless you see you need them afterwards. I wouldn't see any need for poly either. Your not gonna run dry, lol. If anything get some gator glide on the bottom.

 

I'm liking the slick bottom and surface drive combo. I don't mind trading top end speed for the ability to go just about anywhere.

 

If you don't mind the loss of speed and don't do a lot of long runs, then that would be a great combo. If you do go that route, you should consider a hunt deck for extra flotation. Pods don't work well with mud motors.

 

3/16. D@mn phone likes to change what I type. I tried to edit the post and it wouldn't let me but yes its 3/16 bottom and transom.

 

I just had a 1772 side console built with a slick bottom with 29" sides. Bottom is 3/8 transom is 3/8 the sides are 1/8. Has a 6 ft flush deck 10" walk arounds. I'm happy with the setup I went with. Hoping to test it in the water after I figure out my steering setup.

 

3/8? Thats some serious aluminum. One heavy SOB .... I'm sure you meant 3/16" lol

 

I have a 2008 Silver Dollar Mod VEE 1/8 thick 5086 1774 20 inches deep.
2008 50 hrp Honda long shaft
Boat has pods on it and the hull is flat as a pancake at the back b/c I wanted it that way.
Pods have trim tabs made on them, made from 3/16 5086, have braces in them and you can trim tabs down where boat will not porpoise.
They drain on inside of boat, and made to push water at outboard!
I like it.

 

and also boat does 14 mph wide open with a 25 mph wind at back,lol...

 

I agree that if you want speed then a mud motor is out. Just thought it may be a good option if you're fishing a lot of shallow water where you have to worry about hitting stuff with an outboard.

 

Kinda like running dirt track, use the throttle to help you turn. If you're not going to do a fan I don't think it makes that much difference though.

 

http://bow.fishingcountry.com/forums/showthread.php?44857-1772-Custom-Boat-for-sale&highlight=runt

this is kinda what your wanting. i think . i bought this few months ago.

 

although this is not my ideal setup, I like a lot of things about this rig. very cool.

 

If you let off just a little a slick bottom will turn. I wouldn't worry about that, I kind of like driving them that way. I've had mine around 58 mph and never thought " I wish I had ribs".

 

Here is my $0.02... I was in the same situation this summer when considering my next boat. As you've seen, I ended up with a 1660 tunnel with pods. During the process of reaching that choice, I also considered Jet vs Prop vs Mud, Slick bottom vs Ribbed, Tunnel hull, pods.. etc. Each of these things has pros and cons, there is no perfect set up. What I had to do was build my boat based on what would perform best for 95% of my time on the water.

For a Jet outboard, you have the benefit of running super skinny, but it has the draw back of sucking up things, such as a massive amount of sea weed if you run salt water like I do. They also have problems with wear when sucking up sandy bottoms.

For Mud motors, which were my top pick for a while, you can run in stumps, mud, and super shallow without worry, but you give up speed, and a lot of it. To get anywhere near the performance of an outboard, you have to run dual mud motors, which will set you back a very pretty penny.

After ruling out Jets, and Mud motors, I came back to a propped outboard. A standard outboard has considerably more speed per HP, and is a better bang for the buck. The draw back of course is that you have something hanging below the boat which will limit how shallow you can run, and possibly hit things with.

This led to the choice of Tunnel vs. no tunnel. Since I wanted to run as shallow as possible, and had already ruled out mud motors and jets, it left me with a pretty clear choice of building a tunnel hull. If my choice was one of the other propulsion methods, I would not have had a tunnel hull built.

The choice between a slick bottom and a ribbed came down was a tough one. If I had an extra $3K I probably would have ended up with a slick bottom with rounded chines from Gatortrax, but the cost difference was just too much for me. To have any kind of turning performance for a slick bottom, you need to have rounded chines, which the vast majority of boat builders don't do, leaving you with very few, and expensive options. Cost being a factor pretty much dictated the choice of a ribbed bottom for me.

 

I've spent quite a lot of time looking at pictures of your boat. I'm not sold on a jet, mostly because of the thick weeds just about everywhere I fish.

I'm not opposed to a tunnel and propped outboard. that way I would have the efficiency of an outboard and still the ability to run relatively shallow.

 

I've set my maximum boat size at the depth of my garage. I can't have a boat note and storage fees at the same time. Otherwise I'd have a 2072. I'll have to take an accurate measurment later when I'm out shoveling MORE SNOW!!!!!