30 Bridge

[Hog Wally]

I would go with the 16'

[Seth]

52 is the bottom width...I think the transom is 78 inches from rail to rail. You are right this will not be a boat you take the family out in, I already have one of those. The front deck will be extended back and there won't be much room in the bottom deck of this boat around the console.....just a suicide seat in front of the console for another fisherman....if you dont like being up on the decks you wouldn't like this boat. It should run pretty nice with the 2 stroke fuel injected 60/40 on the 14 foot hull though and will run shallow as hell if need be. I had a 1752 w/a 90/65 and a 20 foot Shoalrunner before neither of them went as shallow as I needed to go.....this one will.....but, you are right fishing only and a lot of the time it will be me by myself.

There is a guy in our bass club that runs a tiller rig with an extended front deck. It's a pretty nice setup and is all a guy really needs for fishing the rivers. I'd love to have a rig like that in the same size that you are getting for the Meramec. I'm to afraid of tearing my boat up to take it on that river. That's one reason I wish I still had my old 1648 with the 50/35 just for the Meramec. I didn't lose sleep hitting stuff in that thing. It was pretty beat up already from the previous owner running the Meramec with it. Plus if I did get it stuck, I could shove it back in the water by myself. My Legend is way too heavy for me to move on my own if it's get's out of the water much at all.

Be sure to post some pics of that thing when you get it.

[Al Agnew]

Al the 1652 weighs 420lbs and the 1452 weighs 370lbs not much difference....the console is a composite material and weighs very little but I am extending the front deck back, which will add some weight. Current River Marine called today and we discussed a 1656 option....I will say this Current river Marine is very nice and seems to be very interest in a custom build. I just need to go as shallow as possible....nothing is set in stone yet other than the center console....I want to be able to stand and drive....I am open to any suggestions......Current River Marine agrees a wider and lighter boat balanced at the center with a 2 stroke motor will get you shallow.....I will take any ideas though.....I wouldn't mind a tiller if I can stand somehow while operating the motor???

My 1652 has an extended front deck, too, so probably weighs a little more than your specs.

My thoughts are that you're reaching a law of diminishing returns trying to come up with something that runs as shallow as possible. My boat runs in 6 inches without a pucker factor, and will skim over 4 inches but might tick the bottom. I can adjust that a bit with the power trim on my motor. I've never noticed that sitting on a high seat in the back as I do makes the rear end go a lot deeper than it should--it's somewhat balanced by the weight of two trolling motor batteries under the front deck. Heck, you need a little bit of water just to allow the jet to suck in enough to keep going without sucking gravel. But draft while drifting is pretty important, and it's only partly a factor of weight, it's also a factor of water displacement. A 1452 will have less water displacement than a 1652, and if both weighed close to the same the 1652 would float shallower. I don't know how much less weight you have to have to counteract the less water displaced.

I just went out and measured the scum line on my boat. Looks like I draft about 7 inches at the deepest, and that's actually right around the point where I'm standing on the front deck while fishing, not back at the motor. I know I can drift over riffles where I have to lift the trolling motor until the prop is spitting water and not getting anywhere.

I would think you'd be able to get some kind of extender on the tiller and run standing up using the tiller. I can run standing up with the tiller that's on mine, but haven't seen much reason to do so, since my seat sits up pretty high. My biggest problem is seeing around the pedestal butt rest on the front deck. It just sounds to me like the center console would take up a whole lot of room. I love the open feel of my boat, with nothing but a live well on one side between the front deck and the back bench.

[Hog Wally]

I'm a fan of the etec for sure. My last boat was a 17 56. It floated shallower than any other I've owned until the river pro came into my life. The problem is always the fact that you need speed to get through the shallows so if there is an impact it's painful. The river pro solves that problem. I've got 36 hours on mine and haven't hit anything yet. I ran from 44 bridge to goodes mill on the bourbeuse. That my friends is a nasty stretch of river. I think the meramec from the caverns down you don't have to worry about much. Seth your legend boat is what a lot of people run down here. My brother sold his 2 years ago. It had a 225 etec on it. Never a shallow water issue with it except for fishing through riffles. We almost never fish through riffles. We start below in the hole and troll up into the fish Big tough trolling motor is paramount with this fishing method. I hate losing crainkbaits.

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, I love my ETec. Starts instantly every time, has been completely trouble-free and I've had it now about 6 or 7 years.

By the way, two of the worst boat eating riffles on the Meramec are below the Caverns. The one that put a huge dent in the bottom of my boat is right below Sand Ford, the other one is a couple miles downstream. And there are also a couple of split channel very shallow gravel riffles between Sand Ford and Redhorse, and at least one split channel that gets log-jammed now and then.

[Hog Wally]

True that. Okay. I would say from red horse down almost trouble free. Below thirty bridge 2 miles is a boulder water fall that will make you pucker though. Oh yeah let's not forget the fish trap below robertsville ramp I love the meramec. I wish it could be more. It has clean beautiful water source. I just hate bringing this into the fray but if anyone passes through stclair please stop at dons bait shop and sign the petition to stop the monster gravel plant wanting to continue the dredging and new mining sight that will create a 100 acre lake upstream from 30 bridge. If they dredge you can forget about visibility for 15 miles downstream used to be that everyone could take a little gravel off your land and no big deal. Now it's like only this big shot company can get gravel and when they do it looks like nuclear holocaust. Just saying. If u pass through sign it. Planning and zoning decide on it next week I think. If anyone is wanting website to voice your opinion I can post it. They didn't dam up this river but they let it get raped.

[Mitch f]

I'll sign it!!!!

As far as the jet boat seat position...when I first got my jet boat, a friend told me that I shouldn't have a high back seat because if I ever hit something, I would get thrown out of the boat very easily. Well, because I have a high back seat I can see from a better angle and (knock on wood) I've never been thrown out of my boat while running the big motor. I have been thrown out a couple of times while drifting when my trolling motor hit a log (ask Jeremy). My buddy who told me that, however, sits in his console seat and has been thrown out at least 3 times that I know of.

As far as the ability to run shallow...I think weight distribution is very important. I, like Al, have an open middle in my boat. I tell the rider in my boat to sit on a cooler so he can kind of adjust his location to suit the situation. It seems to me that if we both sit in the back, I can go a couple of miles per hour faster, but if he sits on a cooler, a little closer to the front of the boat, we can't go as fast, but can go maybe 1" or so shallower. I could be wrong, but that's my guess.

[Seth]

Guess I need to just pucker up and hit the Meramec one of these days. Only gonna learn it by being on it anyways. I run a 70# Maxxum and usually troll in to the current on the Gasconade while fishing. It pulls in all but the fastest riffles I have been in so far.

[cwc87]

Just for safety sake. There are some non runable riffles on the Meramec. These are solid rock bottoms that will eat your boat. Couple riffles down from hwy O One below birds nest

A few around Meramec state park.

Best float over riffles and have a photographic memory on running back upriver. FYI

[Hog Wally]

So me and smallie bigs hit the river today. Despite a 1 1/2 foot rise a little debri and a drop in water temp from the obvious snow melt we did catch some smallies. Keepers but nothing to write home about They were stuffed like peppers. Guess they fed up yesterday with the rise. Nonetheless fun to fish with a new friend and see some new stuff.