Bay Boat Owners.....

[b.latiolais]

Just want to pick your brains a little. I am still a ways from purchasing a boat but I look everyday just in case the deal of a lifetime pops up. Anyhow, I love the shallow water running boats but I am curious how they handle open water with a good chop. I'm talking about the Shallow Sports, Majeks, Transports.... I live on the bayou and mainly fish the marsh but I have two young kids and would like the possibility of running Sabine Lake and possibly hitting the jetties. Those of you with these style of boats please give your opinions on running these boats in a good chop.

I just got back from South Padre last week and I really like those boats. Just don't know if it is right for my scenario.

[jhall239]

I'd like to know the same as my wife wants to trade the s\Skeeter for a bay boat

[cominahead]

I run a majek illusion Ive learned to stay out of the bay and run where the boat likes. where the birds ankles show. haha if you want a range of boat I would go with a v and just be better about idling out to deeper water. no 1 boat does it all.

[panhandlehunter]

The Transport is a good rig. It's a copy of Gulf Coast/Boston Whaler. Decent shallow water performance and good on big water.

[breederbuck33]

I have a 20 ft express bay boat.. I've really enjoyed it, but i haven't even had it a year. I've taken it to Keith lake, all over east bay, out to the Galveston Jetties, as well as Sabine jetties. It has a hydrolic jack plate which really helps me when if i end up in the marshes... My one complaint is that if there is any wind blowing across the boat while your running, you are going to get wet! But it is a great riding boat.

[npe001]

I have a 22 foot Gulf Coast Classic. Runs in the shallow stuff about 8-10 inches. But with the trim tabs and design of the hull I can run it at about 30 knots through some pretty good chop (2 footers not a problem) and don't have to worry about getting wet or getting beat to death. Just look at the hull. If it looks like a flat bottom, it's going to be a bumpy ride, hope you have a good dentist

[Rsal07]

Agreed with cominahead. We run an older Shallow Sport, and while the shallow water performance is awesome, we don't get beat to death on rough water either(not badly, at least). I avoid deeper water on rough days to get from point A to point B and just run in skinny water, which is always a nice option, but I've heard some of the newer Shallow Sports are better about sitting on top of the chop while running. If you're willing to spend over 50k you can get the Modified V model and run wherever you like inshore and off. A Majek RFL or any other flat bottomed boat might not be the best choice if you're looking to handle chop, but on a really calm day any of the bay boats will do.

[txdukklr]

I've run in both and i argue with shallow guys all the time about how their boat will handle chop just like my vhull.

I got great advice when i went to shop for my boat. Mid coast and north/east . . . . vhull midcoast and south cat or shallower running boat.

I'll promise you right now i would not want to be on a shoal, pescador, mowdy, dargel in some of the junk i've been in on galveston bay or calcasieu. I've limitations in the shallowest of water but candidly I'll wade those areas, park my boat where she can just sit.

[Mayhem]

I have ran shallow running bay boat my whole life. Specifically boatrights and they will take rough water just fine if you know what you are doing they just ride rougher overall. The boatright and the majeks are the toughest boat on the market and will do anything you want them to. Just my opinion.

[stxhunter]

I used to run a shallow stalker down around port isabel/ south padre island. I could go anywhere the previously mentioned boats could go, drift in around 10" and get up easily in 16" without any tricks. It took the chop better than almost anything I've ridden in. It wasn't fast - mid 30s - but when on plane as long as I was running in more than 6" of water I was fine.

With all of that being said, if I were to buy a shallow-do all type of boat today it would be a cat hull. They get almost as shallow, ride a little smoother and are much faster.

[Dirtymike]

I think there is a happy medium. Like txdukk the real shallow stuff is for wading.

[mattfox]

I just got back from Baffin Bay guide trip and the guide ran a Tran Sport XLR8. It rode really nice in choppy water. We werent in big chop but it rode really nice. Great layour for fishing also. We fished 5 including the guide and had plenty of room

[stickman]

I've run in both and i argue with shallow guys all the time about how their boat will handle chop just like my vhull.

I got great advice when i went to shop for my boat. Mid coast and north/east . . . . vhull midcoast and south cat or shallower running boat.

I'll promise you right now i would not want to be on a shoal, pescador, mowdy, dargel in some of the junk i've been in on galveston bay or calcasieu. I've limitations in the shallowest of water but candidly I'll wade those areas, park my boat where she can just sit.

Well said. If you even think you might want to cross open water opt for a v-hull. Many of them will run and draft plenty shallow. Been in a ton of different bay boats and I really prefer the ride of a pathfinder or blazer bay. Don't get me wrong...majeks, haynies, SCBs, and so on are nice.

[AtTheWall]

I think there is a happy medium. Like txdukk the real shallow stuff is for wading.

Or drifting with directional control, using wind and or pole, at times both, to cover some serious skinny water, 6" on drift, without getting your feet wet.

I have a 10 degree deadrise, that runs fore and aft on my flats skiff. I've had it out in some nasty chop, whitecap stuff, and to run her in those conditions, I trim bow up hard at launch till she breaks plane...then tip her over to a neutral plane and keep her at 19 mph or higher....she then skips over the top of the waves like a stone. It's the only way to run her in a 1 - 2ft chop.

Open swells and or tanker wakes......she will take water over the bow and fill the cockpit with water. I have two skuppers that self bail the water out of the cockpit and an automatic bilge pump that kicks in as well.

The hull is unsinkable - foam filled like a whaler and she floats very positive. Weighs about 1500 lbs, minus the engine (300lb engine), so the extra weight is a good thing in chop. It rides way smoother than she looks but you have to know how to run her in chop with trim adjustments made and you have to keep the sea on the bow and bow quarters in the nasty stuff till you clear and find lee on the far shoreline.

Considering Texas inshore bays are more shallow than deep, mid coast and south even more so, it's harder to sail shallow than deep. Most of us don't fish on days when it's nasty - gale force winds. I've had this skiff out running in 25 - 30 mph winds on the Laguna and running the ICW chop in these same winds. Get her up on top and she skips like a stone but you can't back down and run it slow till you find a lee or skinny spot to come down off plane.

Jack plate with a lot of lift 6" or more
Engine trim
And if necessary, trim tabs

This will get the forward hull planed higher for more chop if you need to run rough but, each hull and boat needs a bit of tweaking in these systems to find it's top end for rough water (speed, plane, boat load placement etc).

I try to keep my weight aft in chop. I'll move gear forward when I'm on the flats.

[IMG]Untitled by Rob Zabroky, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Reelthreat]

I have a 21 Haynie cat and it is a lot smoother and faster across open bays than my old 21 Kenner. However, you can't anchor it in chop without a flooded deck... now with kids I think I am going with something like a Bigfoot for my next boat.

Every boat has their downfall you just have to weight the good with the bad to find out what boat is right for your situation.