American Angler Drift Boat Article
- This topic has 47 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated Nov 23, 2010 at 4:00 am by
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Nice article Zach. Now the question is after doing so much research which boat would YOU get if you had the money to buy what you wanted and why.
One other question. Did you talk about the differences between low and high side boats? I read the article pretty fast so I may have missed it.
Joel
Joel –
Not a lot; the main issue is obviously wind resistance most places versus swamping in the places where high sides are really needed.
I am of course a little bias but think you made an excellent choice choosing the Boulder boat as your top pick. Recently Corey Kruitbosch and I hooked up and floated and fished. We fished out of my boat the first day on the Missouri and out of a Clacka the next day on the Madison. It has been a while since I have rowed another persons boat and I was stunned at how less responsive the Clacka was compared to my Boulder Boat. I think Corey was too. Needless to say I bet Corey ends up with a Boulder Boat someday. 😉
Zach, PM me the amount you are willing to spend on boat and trailer. I will keep my eyes open for a good deal for you. The Boulder Boat is pretty popular in the Missoula area and I know some of the guides using them had rough years and may need to unload their boats.
Joel
If I had an unlimited budget, I’d buy a Boulder Boatworks 16′ Pro Guide with the low profile hull.
Nice boat, but I thought you had taste. If I had an UNLIMITED budget, this is what I would be towing around.
http://www.montanaboatbuilders.com/driftboats_freestoneguide.htm
Lando –
I’ve never fished out of a wood drift boat. Â I can believe that they are all light and elegant but I know with my less than excellent rowing skills, I’d damage one pretty quickly. Â Maybe for later down the road.
Actually, if I were buying a wood drift boat, I would seriously hire Kyle Kosovich to build me one of his wooden longboats.
Lando, that would look good behind a 2011 Range Rover! ha ha
If I were to buy another bathtub I think that I would look really hard at the Clacka Flypod. I really like storage and organization, and that is the best approach to an uncluttered boat.
Zach, the one thing that drove me crazy about my 14′ southfork skiff was storage. It got really cramped with 3 anglers and made for a string of broken rods. I am not a fan of the hand release anchor and the gunnel height at oar mounts were also way too low and you would hit your knees when rowing.
When Robert Eddens @ Ro bought the molds and rights to SFS, he really addressed these shortcomings of the older models while retaining the classic hull and look. Robert is a great guy that builds a hell of a boat! I was always pleased with his customer service.
I’d think you could have extended the oar mounts up with some inserts, right Adam?
I am not looking to get a 14′ boat.
I scoured for a longer oar lock than the standard shaft NRS or Sawyer cobra and there is nothing out there that i could find. NRS told me that the mold would cost thousands of dollars to make longer ones.
I took the poly support bushing out of the bottom and flipped it over to the top but it only gave you 1.5″ which partially fixed the problem. Ro raised the gunnell at the oar locks about 3″ which would make it similar to other boats and eliminate the issue on most people. I had 8’9″ oars which were about as short as you would want to go.
Seems like you could have rigged up a sleeve of pure brass tubing, which would accept the oarlock, then on the other end of the sleeve you could tap in a screw fitting, and fit a brass rod to plug into the original oarlock foot receiver.
You’d probably need a machine shop to hook you up but I think it’d be pretty doable.
Zach
that would work in theory if the sleeve diameter was bigger than the split ring that keeps the oar lock from popping out. The split ring was about 1-1/4″ diameter so that would be some serious modifying of the fiberglass gunnel as a result that would question the strength. I have an engineering degree as does my father in law who manufactures farm equipment. We looked at a lot of options and there was not a simple fix.
The best fix would have been to have had a machinist make a longer oar lock and put spacers in it to raise it up to the desired height, which I looked all over for. OR lower the seat.
Luckily, modern boat manufacturers have taken into account these angles in their low profile designs and raised the area around the oar locks.
Liked the article also Zach.
I am of course a little bias but think you made an excellent choice choosing the Boulder boat as your top pick. Recently Corey Kruitbosch and I hooked up and floated and fished. We fished out of my boat the first day on the Missouri and out of a Clacka the next day on the Madison. It has been a while since I have rowed another persons boat and I was stunned at how less responsive the Clacka was compared to my Boulder Boat. I think Corey was too. Needless to say I bet Corey ends up with a Boulder Boat someday. 😉
Of the 7 models of boats I rowed this year I felt a the most comfortable in a Clacka HS. Being a big dude, along with the safety advantage of the HS, I felt a HS was a good fit for me. However, after rowing Joels BBW low side… I felt very comfortable in it and was going to go with the low side. Until, Joel found me a used BBW HS up in Missoula. So, thanks to Joel and with the amount of savings to be had I threw down on the HS BBW.  I’ll be headed to MT to pick it up and put it in the water for the first time in a couple weeks! Hopefully, Joel can make it down to Twin Bridges to float for a day or two! 😉
Plus .. Those BBW boats are pretty sexy!
😉
Plus .. Those BBW boats are pretty sexy!
True, but there are no beer holders.
>:(
My biggest complaint about the boats Lando. Clacka certainly has that part figured out in a big way!
Whoa, great tip Bill!
http://regalsportingtechnologies.com/index.php/Regal-Oar-Locks.html
$80 a pair does not seem at all unreasonable, either.
Zach
Wooden boats are as strong as fiberglass, guys. If you check, you’ll find that the crazy guys that run the Colorado do it in wooden boats – not low-sided Clacks.
The Clacks, Hydes and Boulder boats (and now the RIO boats being built in Bozeman) are great tools and highly recommended if you guide 100+ days per year. They are very low maintenance. But, part of owning a wooden boat is the care of feeding of it. My son and his friend guide on the Bitterroot, Blackfoot and Clark Fork in wooden boats and the biggest problem is client abuse.
If you feel you need it, you can put Kevlar bottoms on wooden boats or add a ‘shoe’ to the outside. I’ve done neither since I only float the Delaware River and it has nothing to hit.
I think the only value of low-sided boats is that it’s easier to get in and out of for old guys! I’ve been in Clacks and Rio’s and had to ‘high side’ in order not to ship water.
Zach, a skiff would be a great choice for you. My buddy has a MBB skiff and it’s great for transportation. A bit crowded for two anglers plus someone on the oars. The Clack skiff is used by guides on the Yellowstone a lot and that’s saying something.
Finally, couldn’t resist posting these shots of my boat – especially after the comments about the MBB Kingfisher and Land Rover. It’s a MBB 16′ Guide that I built (for less than the cost of a new Clack or Boulder boat) in 2006.
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