BOATS, BOATS, AND MORE BOATS

[huntnphool]

"Count me in phool.  I'll just sit in the corner, drink beers and take pictures..."

Your in Pope, will have you bring the waiver form for everyone to sign

[huntnphool]

"I guess that I could switch to shooting seals, eh?"

If your serious I'll make your down payment

[50CalJim]

To Huntinphool or anybody else who cares to chime in what kind of polish do you like to use on a aluminum boat. I've been using a 3M paste that seems to ok but if there's something better & definetly easier I'm all ears.

[M_ray]

Count me in phool.  I'll just sit in the corner, drink beers and take pictures...

I was thinking the same thing ... me and Pope are going to get along good hey Rob?

[Coasthunterjay]

ZEPS..........


yeah and you know you can count me in phool!

[jackelope]

i don't have any pics handy but i have a 16' lavro lazy drifter driftboat. it has no horsepower...all man power and river power is all it takes. it's been down a few rivers and a few overnighters, been on a few lakes too. plenty of fish have been caught out of it.
i just sold my 20' bluewater sadly, but there will be another powerboat in my future, likely it will have a pump and be something like the others on here...
nice toys, gang.

[cohoho]

Now this boat was my hunting/fishing machine, so sad I sold it before leaving the north.  Every year it would start off with Bear blood to begin the season in late May, then Kenai River kings, to dip netting Reds, then to running northern glacier rivers for Silvers and finally end up with either Moose, Caribou or another bear to make certain there was cleaning to do before storage for the winter.  18 foot welded sled, with tunnel, 50hp Honda with jet (Kenai Legal), literaly could run 4" of water and lauch -well, where I felt like.... Not fast.... but soooooo shallow.....and to the places nobody could go, except for the Airboats.   Wish I still had it, here it would be the ideal boat for the rivers, but would change out the motor for a 90hp E-Tec... since there isn't any motor restrictions.  

Don't feel sorry for me, I did up grade to a 23' Thunderjet with 375hp out the Hamilton 212 with 3/4 hard top and all the extras goodies........ Huntnphool, I'm in and ready to run.....

[Coasthunterjay]

is a hewescraft River runner jet sled a good boat?

[boneaddict]

Depends on how much money you have.

[jackelope]

Depends on how much money you have.

x2

[huntnphool]

Hey All, as far as I'm concerned the more the merrier.

50Cal, I started by sanding the boat with 150 grit, then 200, then 600 and then a liquid with a buffer. The liquid made one hell of a mess on the floor though. Now I use jewelers rouge with a buffing wheel attached to a Makita buffer. It runs somewhere in the 3000-4000rpm range. It takes my brother and I about an hour to tag team the boat and get it done, this includes pulling it off the trailer to get the area behind the bunk rails and putting it back on the trailer. We end up completely black when we are done but it sure looks nice.

[Coasthunterjay]

Depends on how much money you have.

it would be a used Boat....in good shape, nothing mechanically bad. looks great from what little i have seen....something like a 98' or 99'....i found one that a gentleman might be wanting to sell for 12K. 19ft comes with a 175 sportjet. wonder what the gas mileage would be, lol...guess he doesnt use it as much as his wife thought he was going to so she is telling him to get rid of it. Now i guess is what he said .....sucks for him but good for whoever buys it.....just thought i would ask because it sounds like a really nice boat, for a price range that i could afford.....thought it would be great for the neah bay area and for the columbia river....thinking alot of stealhead, salmon, sturgeon fishing could be done from it and i need something that i can do all that in and then take people sking and tubing with. i really want something that i can just take to a park and beech if i need to and not really worry about damaging it.....and really 19 feet you could put a duck blind on this style of boat and with a 7 person compasity and a 4inch draft? hum possabilities....but im just looking anyways....but i like the style of boat

[popeshawnpaul]

Damn, Cohoho is hard core.  Nice chrome and bear.

I can return the favor phool and m-ray, it's just I don't have a river boat and I do love running rivers.  I'll take you guys on a prawning trip you'll never forget.  I guarantee limits but only one rule...no gps's allowed.   Oh, throw in your halibut rods also... 

[Antlershed]

I'm not sure how much fuel the 175 sportjet sucks, but I know how much the 240 does, and its quite a bit. 

A river run sounds like a pretty cool idea. I would be in (with boat) if it was a day I could make it.

[cohoho]

Jay- What use is the boat going to get, meaning primarily running what, Rivers, Bays, Lakes, your price range, ease of maintenance, etc...   I'm pretty knowledgeable about what works in skinny shallow water and have tried darn near every boat made up north.  If your running rivers only and want performance, i.e. go where other can't, I would suggest a flat bottom john stle, but stay away from Rough Neck and several other john boats (green) they aren't made to the same specification, there good boats and not meaning to offend anyone that owns one, but they were designed for props in the south, the tunnels they put on the models like the 1650 TN doesn't work, unless you want to run high hp to get it flat and on step quickly.  It was meant to raise the prop out of the weeds.  The Alumaweld skiff is great but lacks great turning abilities.  The best designed smaller river boat are the 18' ATEC or Wooldridge 17' Alaskan, or even Alaskan !! in the larger model 20-23, etc.. For motor performance you cannot beat the E-Tec period for power and weight ratio.  I had a 90hp Honda before putting on the 50hp for Kenai legal requirements and my buddy same boat set-up with 90 hp E-Tec, literally Night and Day, that thing was like a raped ape on steriods....  With that set-up out of the water was almost instant with no back drop.  Boat sat flat and ran flat... The idea is to get as much displacement under the boat and the shallow tunnel with the right degree hull, (not truely flat), but almost, creates the proper flow of water to the jet pump and add power and personal abilities to just go, trial and error is critical here.... The ribs on the bottom are of .125 or better depending upon model, .160 and .190 like the big boats is just too darn heavy to get off sand bars and other items.  I have shaved two ribs all the way through running Glacier rivers over the past few years, simple solution, weld it shut and add another tube over top to add extra strentgh..  Unless your running an Big Airboat, you won't go shallower...  Trust me, have seen all sorts of Big inboards try to go where I did, thank goodness most had a winch to get off the rapids.   Several places the Air boat guys came up and asked how the heck did you get that boat up here.  Even the well aclaimed Extreme Shallow couldn't go the distance..  As much as I love my new boat, I can't go to the places that I used to and probably will get another one day, especially when I return up north.  Big water your own your own, absoultely no experiance there, except for jumping on with friends and charters....