Work boat?

[ryanwp87]

So I'm new to the forum. Kinda. Been reading it fora year I think. Anyways part time commercial river fisherman. Trotline, crab and fish, pots, eel and crabs, hoop nets, fyke nets and gill nets. Tide runs pretty hard where I go so a big boat is out of the question. I've been using a 16 ft john. But I want something more stable that I can run stick and pulley steering that my 25 HP will reasonably push. Im in no financial place to buy a Carolina. I've seen a lot of runabouts bowriders and esp trihull walkthroughs converted. I don't want foam or a console. I just want wide open space and side to side stability when at rest, pulling pots, fishing nets, etc. Give me your thoughts. Safety is a concern but then again I won't be building a bass boat or luxury recreational fisher. It will be dirty it won't have carpet the floor will prolly be like my john paint with sand mixed in. I hold this forums opinion in high regards so have at it.

 

[southkogs]

Welcome aboard.

What about riggin' up an old pontoon platform? 20' 'toons, paint out the floor however ya' want ... deck rail that makes sense and a helm? Basically a dock with a motor on it. Is the river smooth enough for that?

 

[Watermann]

The 16' sized boat will pretty much all have the same stability problem as they aren't as wide as 18' + boats. I would suggest something with an aluminum V hull as a V has more surface area under the water than a flat bottom Jon and will be more stable. I don't know where your fishing but in my area I see scores of 16' V hull AL boats on CL for very reasonable prices.

 

[ryanwp87]

The Chesepeake Bay and the Rivers around it. The Pontoon boat would work on the Patuxent and Wicomico but it can get pretty nasty on the Potomac. I had a North American S19 io that I converted to outboard but there was an issue with the title so its pretty much worth less. An old pontoon boat might work. Aluminum hulls are pretty expensive here compared to their glass counterparts

 

[64osby]

Sometimes a road trip can be worth while when shopping. Don't be afraid to travel an hour or four.

I picked up a Suburban last year, drove a couple hundred miles, saved half of what they were selling for locally and it had no rust compared to the usual rust belt vehicles.