Ott DeFoe's river boat

[Guest]

Have y'all seen this boat? These guys have modified them to run super skinny water. Why wouldn't they just buy a boat with a jet outboard? just curious 

 

https://www.bassmaster.com/slideshow/inside-tunnel-boats-defoe-and-friends

 

 

[Mitch f]

4 minutes ago, TrophyFishR said:

Have y'all seen this boat? These guys have modified them to run super skinny water. Why wouldn't they just buy a boat with a jet outboard? just curious 

 

https://www.bassmaster.com/slideshow/inside-tunnel-boats-defoe-and-friends

 

 

I agree with you, get a High End jet boat instead. Those tunnel hulls aren’t my first choice either. All they do is take away lift and and the ability to run shallower. 

[Guest]

Don’t get me wrong, I really like those modifications. I need a boat that runs skinny water & doesn’t require custom made equipment. I’ve been eye balling the 1752 blazer SS, but I really didn’t like the front deck. 

[fishinwrench]

Tunnels are a lousy design for shallow water in general because like Mitch said they sit lower in the water.    I have put together a dozen or more prop rigs designed for running shallow flats and the limit I can't seem to break no matter what I do is 14" running wide open, and 17" at idle speed. Any shallower than that and you have to kill the outboard, drop the TM, or pole it.

For guys like Ott Defoe that IS shallow.  And for all of my flats fishing it is certainly shallow enough. 

The advantages of a prop rig are that you have more steering control with a wide boat at slow speeds.  And in Ott's situation he is traveling a good distance before ever getting to the shallows where he wants to fish, so a jet pump rig would kinda suck.   But his choice of a tunnel hull is pure ignorance IMO.  Anything you gain as far as an elevated gearcase you lose in a deeper hull footprint.

[Flysmallie]

10 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

   But his choice of a tunnel hull is pure ignorance IMO. 

Probably has more to do with $$$$$

[Falcon215]

I believe they are running them to skirt the rules.  Last I read, B.A.S.S. Is considering closing the loophole because a bunch of people were pissed when he won that open and the guy building them was up in the top 5 or 10 as well.  They had already banned jets.

[Mitch f]

Yea, I’m always thinking rivers first. For a flat with vegetation and muck, the jet prop would clog too easily. And you would lose quite a bit of speed too.

[tjm]

It said that boat would run on plane in 3 inches of water, how much shallower will a jet get on plane? Or, how much shallower do you need to get?

It seems from all the comments that he ran up a river where glass boats couldn't go, unfair advantage and all that,  might not have won in a regular boat, blabla..So i suppose that hull has some purpose.  They did mention that jets were not allowed.

So, how much does a guy win in a tourney like that? Are the boat expenses worth it?

[dblades]

9 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Tunnels are a lousy design for shallow water in general because like Mitch said they sit lower in the water.    I have put together a dozen or more prop rigs designed for running shallow flats and the limit I can't seem to break no matter what I do is 14" running wide open, and 17" at idle speed. Any shallower than that and you have to kill the outboard, drop the TM, or pole it.

For guys like Ott Defoe that IS shallow.  And for all of my flats fishing it is certainly shallow enough. 

The advantages of a prop rig are that you have more steering control with a wide boat at slow speeds.  And in Ott's situation he is traveling a good distance before ever getting to the shallows where he wants to fish, so a jet pump rig would kinda suck.   But his choice of a tunnel hull is pure ignorance IMO.  Anything you gain as far as an elevated gearcase you lose in a deeper hull footprint.

 You may have a  14" minimum but they are running in 3" with a prop rig.  Guess they didn't hear you say tunnel hulls suck at shallow running. 

[Guest]

I know a couple places where you could win tournaments with a rig like that. 10-15mile run in deep open water, then a couple miles of really skinny shallow water up the river. So a modified prop rig would be an advantage over a jet motor due to the length of travel in open water. 

Can this be achieved with a standard hull job boat & jack plates or other specialized equipment? I would want to retro fit an existing job boat with prop motor to run super shallow