Skinny water...how shollow will you run in?

[Stevens520]

Re: Skinny water...how shollow will you run in?

You can go in crazy shallow stuff with a jet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKWSCH4iDPo&feature=related
With a I/O I get nervous when I see my depth finder flashing 5'.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Skinny water...how shollow will you run in?

This is "skinny" water in FL. Completely different from the vid. The whole idea here is to be quiet as a church mouse so you can sneak up on the fish on a sandy bottom in ankle deep water. Many of the guides use little more than 10-20 hp motors on their speedy little skiffs and Gheenoes. More my cup o' tea, but I guess I'm biased. Although, I could see why Rescue services/military might want a boat like the one in the vids.




btw, apparently lots of carp fishermen in the midwest and elsewhere are have great success use very similar set ups and techniques in the "flats" of their own regions. Go figure.

 

[Oshkosh1]

Re: Skinny water...how shollow will you run in?

Also remember that "river rocks" tend to be smoothed out due to errosion in comparison with the static water, more jagged edged rocks found in lakes. Skipping over limestone in a swift river is much different from the potential hull breachers found in still water.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Skinny water...how shollow will you run in?

This is what happen's to us up here in the Northwest.....Two weeks of straight sun and in the seventy's in october and we go ga ga..aka sunstroke...Calm down Ondarvr rain is coming on friday.....Ohh my god i just realized halloween is close...call's the rain gods....

 

[scott8058]

Re: Skinny water...how shollow will you run in?

I don't have a jet boat but the river we boat on is very shallow unless your in the channel. We have to come out of the marina on plane and run thru about 2 ft of water for over half a mile......with an i/o you def keep your hand on the throttle!

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Skinny water...how shollow will you run in?

If you running around crazy in skinny water here in 'Bama you will catch a stump sooner or later... but probably sooner.

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Skinny water...how shollow will you run in?

The reason I love my 14' Lund. With the engine tiltled up I can motor in about 10" with one other person aboard. Motor full up with a paddle about 6" before I start touching bottom and it's a good thing too with the lake down so far this year or I'd never get off the trailer at my favorite ramp.

 

[mrdancer]

Re: Skinny water...how shollow will you run in?

I try to stay deeper than 8 inches, but with the river I run, you sometimes don't have a choice. Sandbars are constantly shifting around underwater, and this time of year with the sun low on the horizon, you can't read the water very easily to spot them.

I can run in four inches in hard sand, prolly two inches or less in soft sand/mud (mostly hard sand around here, though). Mind you, in four inches of sand the skeg is dragging along with 1-2" of propeller blades. If you stop, you're stuck, so you need to stay on plane, slow enough to keep water supplied to the tunnel so your prop doesn't blow out from lack of water.

We can't run jets here because the sand eats away the impellers too quickly - they are a maintenance nightmare. Tunnel props work best. If I lived in clear, rocky rivers, I would go with a jet, but the props rule in the sand.

Motor is 115 Merc 4s, prop is Baumann 4-blade blaster (tunnel prop).

A lot of people don't realize how shallow six inches is. It is six inches to the top of my boot, twelve inches to mid-calf. You can usually see bottom in four inches even in very turbid water, but the low angle of the sun plays havoc this time of year.

 

[southkogs]

Re: Skinny water...how shollow will you run in?

If you running around crazy in skinny water here in 'Bama you will catch a stump sooner or later... but probably sooner.

Same general idea around here ... but more rocks. I was being careful last year and toasted a prop on a big flat top.