Re: Driftboat

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Kevin) wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> ok found a real small portable drift boat. check out
> http://www.fishingnorthwest.com/boats.htm

Several things would suggest to me that this is a prototype and wonder
to myself how much real life testing it has had, I could be wrong. One
could imagine by the photos that this is the first season for this
boat, and it may not get a lot of testing till spring. I see no
flotation in the boat and even though as a drift boat it may not be
required, it would be plain stupid to take a boat that small on water
like that, without it. Look at these pics:
http://www.fishingnorthwest.com/boats.htm
http://www.fishingnorthwest.com/crissxshadowboat.jpg
As a builder it makes me furious that someone would sell someone a
boat this small and tell them to take it on water like this but I will
hold my temper here. This boat is just too small in my opinion for
this kind of water and without flotation? Also, I don't see anywhere
on the site a reference to being a USCG registered builder, following
the rules and regs that apply for construction, safety, flotation,
seaworthyness, etc. If it is a novelty you want, go for it, if you
want a drift boat, keep on looking till you find one that will do the
job you need it to do.

Sorry to rail on you like this, but you asked. I can come off like
this because I am a hobbiest, and all of these comments are opinions,
based on the limited information available on this builders site. I am
sure some of the professionals here would agree with me that the boat
you are looking at is just to small, but being professionals, they
have decided to stay out of it, I can understand that.

Boats are always a compromise between size, weight, style, and
capability... If you really want the right boat, you will put
capability at the top of the list and work down from there. You may
not get exactly you set out for in the first place, but you want the
boat to do what you intend when you get it on the water.
Unfortunately, that is not always the boat we initially imagined.

The above statements are only opinions based on looking at the website
provided by the builder and noted here by the origional poster. My
opinions only reflect my impression and obvervations and do not
necessarily mean I feel that this is not a good boat, although I do
not think it is the right boat for this kind of boating. Still I have
built over 50 boats, all under 12 feet and done a lot of boating in
many of them, I know small boats and what they can and or
should/should not be asked to do. Again, I don't build drift boats but
would note that the established professional builders don't build them
this small, I am guessing there is a good reason for that. ;)

And since I should not shoot my mouth off without a solution... I am
looking over a set of Roger Fletcher's 17 footer (riverstouch.com)
here and could probably see it coming down to 15-16 feet LOA. If you
built it right and left out some of the interior (or made it removable
for transport) you could probably keep this boat under 200 pounds,
maybe even less using ocoume and glass but it would take a good touch
with the epoxy spreader. I could do it. I built a 17 foot Payson Dory
(Gull) last season and kept it under 140 pounds. Maybe you could knock
this boat down to 15 feet, but not much less in my opinion, either way
I would ask the designer first.

Scotty from SmallBoats.com