netboy

Here's another good article on tunnel hulls... he also mentions "The plume"😁 Tunnel hull culture | Bassmaster

I use the Glacier gloves also.

Gotmuddy, here are the culprits that cause the seagrass problem in the winter. These are redhead ducks of which about 80% of the estimated 1.4 million North American population winters on the Laguna. They pull the grass up and eat the roots and the remaining stalks die and then float. Then in the summer low tide situations cause lots of the grass to die off. Some of the marinas down there get so clogged they have to hire guys to come and remove the grass so boats can launch.

Yeah I have seen his posts and pretty sure he is in the Port O'Conner/Seadrift area. I used to fish Port O'Conner and the grass issue is not nearly as bad as the Laguna.

Nobody runs jets down in the Laguna Madre due to the large mats of floating seagrass that would constantly clog the intake.

No deflection. Every example and video I have attached involved prop driven hulls. I have no experience running a jet with a tunnel, I'll let Jamie talk about that. I do however have 15 years of experience running a prop driven tunnel hull in shallow water and I can tell you that they do run shallower than a non tunnel hull.

Once again most of this discussion has been about prop driven rigs. Remember all of Wrench's measurements and calculations on prop sizes, skegs and water intakes?

The point is that you are going to very limited as to where you can fish in the Laguna Madre without a tunnel. Also this is an example of a tunnel hull running shallower than a non tunnel which was what this thread morphed in to.

I had a new neighbor move into the house across the street from us in Corpus. He and his wife went boat shopping and bought real pretty 20 foot non tunnel hull rig. He was not catching many fish so I took him out in my boat and we caught a bunch of reds. Next day he takes his wife to the area we fished and I get call that he is stranded in a foot of water shortly after he got out of the main canal. I went out and towed him back to the canal. Soon after he traded the pretty non tunnel hull boat for a tunnel hull. He took a pretty big $$$ hickie on the trade, so I guess you are correct that boat dealers make lots of money on these deals.

Wrench was talking about prop driven non tunnel hulls. That's the video proof I want to see.

Cool, you can join the "I don't know where I am going, but I want to be the first one there guys". Just kidding but a great rig...

Maybe, just maybe... does a tunnel run shallower than a non tunnel. Still anxiously waiting on Wrench put up a video, picture or some testimonial of a 20 foot non tunnel boat running over a 4 inch shoal so we can put this to rest??

Snagged...Do you have a Blazer? I saw that Calvin is now offering a tunnel hull option.

Here are a couple of articles about tunnel hull Jon boats. Make your own conclusions.... .What is a Tunnel-Hull Jon Boat: Full Guide (freshwaterfishingadvice.com) What is a Tunnel Hull Jon Boat? – Flat Bottom Boat World

Guys, this has turned out to be a great thread. Not just the tunnel discussion but all the great input. Lots of great experience on this one.

Well I was pretty fortunate that I worked for a major oil company that got gobbled up by a bigger oil company. That bigger oil company had tried a hostile takeover of our oil company a couple of years earlier that didn't work out. So our board of directors put sort of a "poison pill" into any takeover deal. Worked out great, I retired at 54 1/2 with healthcare and got a really nice offer to stay with the new guys but with the :"poison pill" package deal decided to just leave.

Well with the power you have I bet it doesn't slow you down much. Reminds of a guy I talked to at the ramp before a redfish tournament that had a 300HP on a flats boat. He said "I don't know where the hell we are going, but I want to be the first one there".😁

Oh I forgot to mention that some of our trips down on the Laguna were much longer engine time. During late summer and fall the redfish school up on the flats and the best way to find them was a method we called "reconnaissance under power" or RUP as the locals called it. Basically you would run the boat on slow plane and stand on the center console and hang on to what was called a "burn bar" on top of the console. You could then see the schools of reds as they pushed a large wake in the shallow water. You make a wide circle around them and shut down and when they came everyone on the boat got hooked up. On those days you may well be running 4 or 5 hours. That was 10 or 15 years ago. Now they make custom tower boats (with tunnels much to Wrench's dismay) to get higher sight advantage and run the shallows. Here is a video... Running up on a school of redfish in the Lower Laguna Madre - Bing video Also a pic of the new breed of tower/tunnel boats down there and these things are crazy fast.

Actually I had no problem adjusting...

That stuff is incredible. Had a friend with an Air Ranger airboat that I duck hunted with a couple of times that had poly on the bottom and he could run that big rig over dry land.

Actually the trip through the canals was quite relaxing. When we had company we would always do a booze cruise in the evening to look at the houses. Padre Isles is one the largest waterfront communities in the US with approximately 15 miles of canals and over 5000 homes and condos. Sometimes we would see some interesting "sights" at night when folks forget to close their bedroom window coverings.

Probably more like 2 hours per trip as we lived in a large subdivision on the Laguna. I had about a 1.5 mile trip through the neighborhood canals at idle speed before I got into the Laguna and then usually around a 8 to 10 mile trip each way to the better fishing/hunting areas. Not to mention the frequent "grass is always greener over there" moves to new locations where the redfish will be stacked up like chord wood (usually didn't pan out). Probably averaged 5 to 6 days a week fishing or running to my duck blinds during the season. Wife loves to quilt so she kept busy. I would usually go out early and be back for lunch. Pretty much on the same schedule up here. Just got back from a wade at Roundhouse shoals a couple of hours ago, fished the Narrows yesterday and Wildcat the day before. Also we had LOTS of company come to Corpus for the fishing and hunting and the kids would come use the house and boat when we went on vacation.

I had over 6,000 hours on my 2002 Suzuki 140 when I sold the rig in 2017 and never stranded.

Rule number 1 in South Texas boat running... don't throttle back until you have a least a foot of water under you.

Wrench, if you can show me a video of a non tunnel hull prop rigged boat that can match the shallow running performance of the tunnel hulls in the 3 videos I attached then I will admit you are right.