I'm thinging of getting a boat.

[Stinky]

I'm thinking about getting a boat. I'm not sure of what kind that I need. For the most part, I don't fish. I want it to access my hunt'N area. I just want to use it to get to my area to hunt...not hunt out of it. One of my former Marine buddies, for whatever the reason thought that I want to duck hunt out of it. Then, he finally got the idea that I want to use it to get to my honey-hole...correct, I want it for clandestine insertion (that he understood).

Preferably, I want to be able to go back up stream, but it could also be used to get wet (put it in the river), float down, hunt the other side of the river, and then float down to a dif spot to get out.

Also, I'd use it to float down the river, once in a blue moon. That brings us to another issue, fluctuation of flow. The thing will possibly be used in high water, to dragging on the bottom. I want be running rapids, per se, but 2-3' swells. My Marine friend says that I want to avoid a john-boat (which he has, and swore that it was what I need, until I got it through his thick head of what I wanted it for).

I'm looking at an aluminum or fiberglass boat 12-14' and probably V hull. Orrrr, a canoe. I wonder if those types could be used on the river, and how much motor it would need to go back up stream.

I talked to another guy, a canoe purist. He has done the Grand Canyon, twice and has otherwise canoed just about every navigable stretch of water w/in 300 miles of here. He is pretty much an expert (if you don't believe it, ask him) and he is even an expert on stuff that he has only done once. He says they they run the river all the time on regular boats. At first, he said that is what I should get. Then he said a standard canoe w/a motor adapter and that a 2-4 HP motor would move it just fine. He also said that I should avoid a square stern canoe (and based on what he said, I think that it is what I should be looking for) as they are a pig in the water (I want to stay dry, I've been thrown out before), are heavy (15# extra, whoop-dee-doo) and are wider (all reasons that a purists would hate one, but reasons that would make it more desirable for a goober, like me, that is using a motor). He says that plastic is the way to go (actually, the new high-tech stuff, that is a plastic-laminate-plastic sandwich). I tend to agree w/that. He also said, AL drags on rocks. Now, that is data that I can use. But, my Marine friend says Al can take a lick'n (like a Timex) and keep on going. He said that fiberglass is more fragile.

At the moment, I'm thinking of a standard plastic Old Town canoe, w/a motor attachment and out riggers to keep it from tipping. I note that Cabelas has em in their catalog for $220 (and I can't imagine why anyone would buy something of such a simple design). They would keep the thing from tipping.

So, what do yall (youse guys) think? V-hull, or canoe? AL, fiberglass, plastic? Square stern.

As a side note...how is trolling motor power measured? I see them listed from 30-50# of thrust. What does that mean?

[Not_A_Llama]

That had to have been one of the hardest, most Rashomon-esque inline-commentary-filled paragraphs I've ever read in my life.

[funkfool]

Boat.... defined:
Break
Out
Another
Thousand

[HBARleatherneck]

ok, so my interpretation is...

you want a canoe or a flatbacked canoe, with a gas or electric motor.

i had a flatbacked canoe. they are generally very wide, and very stable.
i had a minnkota 35 on it. approx $160. with a deep cycle battery. This very stable, and could work for you.
there is the coleman/pelican scanoe, old town makes one. actually several companies make them.

i now have an old town discovery 169. very, very wide and stable. my four boys walk around in it and lean over the edge. secondary stability keeps it upright. put a small electric on that, and that would work well also, i think.

i doubt you need the outriggers. i thought i did, but if my kids cant tip it, and i cant tip it by standing and casting, i dont think they are necessary.

[Byte Stryke]

[HBARleatherneck]

yes, we went on LCACs sometimes. i was going to buy one, but they wouldnt accept my usaa debit card.

[TEAMRICO]

You know they say the two happiest days for a boat owner are the day he buys his boat........and the day day he SELLS his boat.

Anyway, I know a guy named Donnie Baker and he has a boat he has been trying to sell for years.
I swear to god he does.

[mx'r]

Let me know when you take your 14' glass boat down a river with rapids. I wanna put it on youtube.

[Elhuero]

best of luck to you.

I don't have any info for you. I'm a land lubber.

born and raised in CO, nowhere near any bodies of water and about as far away from the ocean as you can get in this country, I'd never buy a boat.


I'd only have one if I lived on an island an needed it to get home.

for the money I'd rather have a beltfed.

but it's mighty cool to have a friend that owns a boat~

[ERNO]

If you have to travel a lake or bay too get to the river, you need at least an 18 foot metal V-hull to be on the safe side, if you have to deal with 2' to 3' swells. You can get by with a 17' canoe, but it is very tippy without alot of weight in it. Maybe just tow your canoe until you get to the river.
For the river, a jet propelled motor is preferred; but if not, rig up a pitchfork in front of the propeller to make it skip over the rocks. But never at high speed, because you might find that skip will have a live engine on your lap with a whirring propeller.
In a quiet river you can learn to pole a V-hull along.

In a river, with a canoe, if you have a bowman, you have to teach him how to steer the canoe from the bow.