# What duck boats best?



## greatprohunter (Jul 25, 2001)

Well lets here all thr pro's and con's. 
what size?
what length?
motor?
blind?
How is the avery quick set blind?

The reason Im askin is that im looking a 16 ft polar craft with a fixed blind and a 25 or 40 horse mercury.My main consern is that the boat might be a bit to big? I want to hunt and fish out of it.
The salesman said that the boat will go in 6 inches of water? Also will I be able to get to the hard to reach places that are fun to hunt. But the bay is alful large. any coments welcome,lets heasr um!!!!


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## Jerry68 (Jan 24, 2002)

Best duck boat... the one a hunting buddy owns and maintains!


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## Dutchman (Jan 17, 2000)

you will never hear anyone complain about to much room in a duck boat. as time goes by you will add more and more to your must have with you items. as far as the avery blind. I don't like them, but they sell a lot of them. I like fast grass and natural vegitation.


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## sean (May 7, 2002)

Go-Devil is going to be what I recommend all the way 18ft with a 27 horse or if you have the loot go with the twin go-devils.


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

If your talking about Sag. Bay then I don't think there is a boat made that is to big. A 16' fills up very quickly. If it was me I wouldn't go smaller then 18'. Also, 6" of water means the boat will float in 6" of water. If you wish to hunt in 6" you'll be pulling not motoring.

I'd go with an 18' Alumaweld, or 18' Lund Alaskan. 1872 Sea Ark is nice but the bay is more suited for a v-hull.


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## Chasin (Jun 25, 2002)

A 16ft is probley a good alround size for most open water hunting. and still small enough to camo effectively. they will hold a one man layout well. Which may give you more options in the future. if you are going to use it for fishing also I would stay away from the GoDevil they are too hard to manuvure. and not very fast, but they will go through about anything. The boat will probley be large for some small water applications but I dont think overall you would be disipointed with something in the 16-18 ft range.


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## white tip'd tales (Aug 23, 2002)

I own a Polarkraft 18' "Ducks Unlimited" series boat with 40 hp Merc tiller steer, with Avery blind. Have to agree with Dutchman, dont think you ever have enough room in the boat and the one I have has the V-seats with open floor all the way to the front with built in gun rack, dry boxes, etc. You will enjoy the maintenance free construction of the Polarkraft though, their made of stainless steel, and WILL NOT RUST.. but do need to be touched up with camo paint each year.
When I bought mine I questioned the salesman who wanted to sell me the 40hp pkg. he said, you get 4 people, dog, gear, and deeks in this thing and want to get to and from where your going you'll be glad you went bigger.....of course I thought, OK... I'll either be satisfied or just be able to go like hell? Well he was right... the 18' is rated for 5 people and when you get it loaded you are still stumbling around deek bags, etc in the dark of morning. 
As far as the AVery blind goes, it has its good and bad points. First its pretty easy to put up and down, and pretty solid in the wind. I have made several modifications to it over the years to get it the way I want, including faster setup and take down pins, and allowing the top to colapse tighter than the mfr allows to add more concellment. The skirting that comes with it is OK and pretty durable, but like Dutchman I have modified that too including grass, and other to get a better affect.

As far as fishing with mine, I've had it out in Sag Bay when some 3~4' came up and it does take on some water, but as long as you keep the nose into the wave, it does just fine. Plus you can modify the heavy duty steel side railings to accomodate rod holders and even down riggers with no problem. 

Over all I love mine and will probably will it to my son and grandson to use......... good luck.....last time I repriced this pkg was last year (and I paid $8,400 for mine in 1992), now I think the same pkg costs over $12K? Got mine at Freeway Sports in Fenton, their pretty fair to deal with.


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## ahartz (Dec 28, 2000)

The fact is that you cannot have one boat that does 5 different things well. We hunt with a 18' lund alaskan that this year we had a blind installed on. BTW the boat has a 75hp OB. We use this boat to primarily tend to a two man layout, looking to expand our options we put a boat blind on this year. obviously we will not be going back into 1-2 feet of water in this boat, thats what the go-devil is for, but I certainely can't tend to a layout with a go-devil or fish for spring walleyes in the detroit river. 

If you are venturing out on big water, sag. bay/lake St. Clair etc..I would say 16 feet is the minimum. Duck hunters don't tend to hunt those days with 5-10 mph west winds. I would consider the type of hunting you do the most of and address your needs. In chosing a boat there are needs and wants, be careful you fulfill needs first..andy


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## duckhoss (Sep 25, 2002)

I have a lowe Roughneck 1752 with a 40HP longshaft outboard. 
Love the boat, but the outboard is too big. 

The speed comes in handy and a shallow V is important if you plan to hunt saginaw bay, but if you plan to hunt a shallow diked managed area you will want some thing small that you can "pull over" easily.
A Sportspal square-back canoe with a small mud motor would be perfect.

Also, I would trade in my 40 long for a 27 Mudbuddy in a heartbeat. That would push thru the 6 inches of water with authority.

If you do go with an outboard, remember one word... "merc".
I'm not even going to talk about the mistake called Johnson that I made.

Last and most importantly, I think the Avery blind is the biggest most collossal waste of money of the last two centuries. It looks too big, too square and the Die-cut camo sheets are sewed in a long line. What you end up with is a big tall square box with horizontal lines on it!. Save the $800, buy a conduit bender and enough fast grass to surround the boat. You'll save money and wont flare so many ducks.

One final thought; the greatest fun in duck boating is the constant tinkering and modifing. If you buy some thing used and in sorta rough shape you will be more likely to drill holes, paint, mount a winch and generally customize it the way you want it.

A trout tastes better when you catch it with a fly that you tied yourself. 

Please, Don't make the mistakes I made.

PS. Sorry about the ranting.
PPS. Any one want to buy an outboard?


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

Boat size really does depend upon where you're hunting and what you're after. Between myself and my hunting partners, we have three canoes of varying sizes including a Radisson that can tote a ton of weight, and two boats, one small meyer aluminum for dragging dikes, and one deep V for the bay. One thing to keep in mind, as many have said, is current water depth. If you're planning on hunting the near shore areas and not the deep water, lighter boats that draw little are a must. And don't forget the weight of your motor either. If you have to drag through 3-6 inches of water to tuck into the cattails, a large motor will weigh you down just enough to make this tough on you. As far as Duckhoss' comment about merc's, I had a merc once. Let's just say I will NEVER own another. Reliability was an issue. I have always loved Evinrude's, and have two now. But since OMC was sold a few years ago, I would avoid them as well. I just bought a Yamaha this summer and love it. hated to buy a foreign product, but it's made in 
California....figures!


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## solasylum (Mar 29, 2000)

I would just second DuckHoss' comments regarding the Avery quick-setup blind. My buddy has one on his 14 ft. War Eagle. With the water low in most lakes it is hard to get the boat tight near natural cover. What you end up with is the boat about 30 ft. from shore sticking out like a sore thumb. I think you are much better off building your own blind to suit your specific hunting needs. 

As far as the boat, I would just second what everyone else has stated.....totally depends on the hunting you do! The War Eagle boats are put together very well and tailored for the duck hunter.

Scott


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

white tip'd tales are you sure your boat's stainless?


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## white tip'd tales (Aug 23, 2002)

TSS:
Ya, nearly certain its stainless (what the owners manual says). I'll go back a double check it. Its a 92 Polarkraft "Ducks Unlimited Series". Maybe they've stopped making them of that now and went to aluminium???? Or maybe its "Galvanized Aluminum"?? I may have misspoken????? 

Things got a 30 yr guarentee on it, and the reason Im pretty sure is that when and were ever the paint flecks on it its bright shiney silver under neither. These exposed spots never rust..... the only problem as I pointed out is the need to upgrade with paint every year to cover these up (because of the sheen).

Again, re read my earlier thread and probably mis spoke, not sure that its stainless probably not, more likely galvanized aluminum, but I know the aluminum thickness is greater than most boats. It has many other features you take for granted too, like the V-bow with "ice-cutter"....this I know is steal and works very well on those late Nov mornings when theres 2~3" of ice on the lake... you just go slow and cruise right through..... 

anyway, why do you ask, are you thinking about getting a similar model?


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

Was just curious.


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