# Duck Boat



## Feather Mucker (Nov 9, 2007)

Gentlemen; 

I am determined to get a boat this year. However, I am in a one boat only situation, so I need a boat that can be comfortably fished out of (inland lakes, occasional river) with one or two, and can withstand being hauled over the rocks at Shiawassee.

I have trolled the past posts on this subject (nothing too recent though) and find myself in a state of confusion. I kow this subject gets hashed alot, but it's in-between seasons and I'd appreciate the current schools of though out there. Also would like suggestions (pm) on local dealers who are good to deal with. 

Leaning towards a short-shaft mud motor, but not completely sold, might even spring for a mud and an outboard depending on cost/financing available.

Thanks in advance for your input.


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## Big Cans (Oct 25, 2007)

Lindy's in Quanicassee sells flat bottoms. Perfect for Shiawassee. I also know of few of the St. Charles River Rats that purchased their flat bottoms from Becks just north of St. John's. From what I have and have seen -- most of them run 1475's or 15'. There are a few of them that run 1650's.

Flat bottoms are great for Shiawassee, but a little "iffy" on saftey for the Bay. I see you are from Auburn, so if you are looking for 1 rig to do everything - then you may have to go BIG and get the Shi-Town Wench.

Motors -- good luck. Everyone has an opinion.


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## duckhunter382 (Feb 13, 2005)

if you only need it for small waters and rivers I would suggest either a 14 ft or 16 ft flat bottom you could get by with smaller however as a boat owner my suggestion is go bigger or you will wish you had. look in the used ads at mlive.com my dad picked up a 16 ft with a motor and blind for 1500 just last fall its amazing what people will let stuff go for just because they dont use it anymore.


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## Quaaack (Nov 22, 2007)

I was in the same situation a few years ago. Needed one boat to fit all of my needs. Go with John 14-16ft. Obviously the 14 will be lighter and easier to drag and conceal. I would strongly recomend getting something with as much free board as possible (High Sides). 

Check the classifieds, and Craig's list as mentioned. 

I picked up a 14ft with 15hp for $1500 spent another $800 on blind, carb. kit, motor tune up, paint, wheel brgs, seals, and accs. But I am happy with it now and can use it for just about anything except the Great lakes ( could on a calm day, but things can change on the water real quick)


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## Quaackwhacker (Nov 28, 2007)

Go with with a 14 to 16 Jon. Get as wide of one as you can!

I also purchased a 14' Jon last year for a very reasonable price, put a little into the motor (actually a buddy did the work!!) and have some work to do on the trailer, but have a nice all around boat!

Be VERY cautious to abide by the weight rating on on your boat! We had my buddies boat LOADED with three guys and A LOT of gear on one outing last season and darn near sunk it!!! We had water rushing OVER the front of the boat and the navigation lights were submerged!! Needless to say, I think we all had to put on a clean pair after that hunt!!!

Good luck on your search!!!


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## sean (May 7, 2002)

Have my watch set, to see when the "carp" comes in.


I would personally go with the mudmotor and 16-18ft boat, especially if Im using you money. Good luck


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## Greenbay (Mar 2, 2008)

If you are going to use this for going up and over the dikes in St. Charles I would go with the long tail mud motor. The short shaft, (Hypers) will more than likely drag when going down the dikes.
I am upgrading and buying a new rig, which makes my current rig for sale.

1436 Lowe with 8 hp Mercury outboard and trailer. I bought the boat and motor brand new in 200 and I made the trailer 2 summers ago.
The boat has a livewell in the center seat, lights, the bracket for mounting a lewis winch on the front and aluminum rails on the bottom of the boat. $2000.
I also have a mudbuddy longtail 12hp with the gear reduction. 1 yr old for $2000 ($2800) new.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

As has been said many a time, there is no "one size fits all" boat. Between my regular hunting/fishing buddies and I, we currently have four canoes, three boats, and lots of motors from electric trolling, to small kickers, up to my 50hp on my big Lund. What you have to ask yourself is are you ONLY going to be hunting Shiawassee River, or will you once in a while go out on the bay as well? And if so, open water on the bay, or the close in shallow marsh areas? And this goes for fishing as well...small inland lakes and rivers, or maybe the Saginaw River for Walleye, or the bay? If you only plan on those small water areas, and Shiawassee for ducks, then by all means take the advice that has already been given about jons and mud motors...solid thoughts. You may also wanna talk to Shiawassee Kid or one of the other shiawassee regulars about a winch to get you over the dikes. But I'd caution you that no boat will fit all of your needs. You will eventually need more than one.


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## Greenbay (Mar 2, 2008)

You mentioned about hauling over the rocks is Shiawasee......are you referring to the game area?? I duck hunt there (St. Charles) a good part of the season and I do not recall anywhere that we are pulling over rocks. 

Just Ducky made a good point about a winch.....you will want one with anyboat you are probably concidering. Bares in St. Charles was selling them last year but you have to go somewhere else for the saw motor.

I still am not sure if you are going to use this in the game area itself for duck hunting but if you are guys have found that a 16' boat is to big....at least the guys I have talked to.


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## Quaaack (Nov 22, 2007)

just ducky said:


> As has been said many a time, there is no "one size fits all" boat. Between my regular hunting/fishing buddies and I, we currently have four canoes, three boats, and lots of motors from electric trolling, to small kickers, up to my 50hp on my big Lund. What you have to ask yourself is are you ONLY going to be hunting Shiawassee River, or will you once in a while go out on the bay as well? And if so, open water on the bay, or the close in shallow marsh areas? And this goes for fishing as well...small inland lakes and rivers, or maybe the Saginaw River for Walleye, or the bay? If you only plan on those small water areas, and Shiawassee for ducks, then by all means take the advice that has already been given about jons and mud motors...solid thoughts. You may also wanna talk to Shiawassee Kid or one of the other shiawassee regulars about a winch to get you over the dikes. But I'd caution you that no boat will fit all of your needs. You will eventually need more than one.


 
I agree as well. A good network of hunting buddies with an array of vessels is great. Between Quaackwacker and another buddy we have a 16' V, (2) 14' flats, 10' flat, and 15' canoe, and we used each of them equally last season, just depended upon where we needed to be and what we needed to do! Which reminds me Quaackwacker , I think Monkey boy should step up and buy a 20' flat or pontoon, to add to the list since you and I have 2 vessels each!


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

Greenbay said:


> You mentioned about hauling over the rocks is Shiawasee......are you referring to the game area?? I duck hunt there (St. Charles) a good part of the season and I do not recall anywhere that we are pulling over rocks...


Greenbay,

I doubt it's rocks he's refering to, but rather the "rip rap" used on the dikes. Many of the pull-overs have rip-rap for protection...Miller Rd. pull-overs are a good example, and I think back on the old federal marsh. They can be tough when it's slippery.


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## Quaaack (Nov 22, 2007)

Quaackwhacker said:


> Go with with a 14 to 16 Jon. Get as wide of one as you can!
> 
> I also purchased a 14' Jon last year for a very reasonable price, put a little into the motor (actually a buddy did the work!!) and have some work to do on the trailer, but have a nice all around boat!
> 
> ...


I can remeber every micro-second of that incident clearly. All I can remeber thinking is Crap! How am I going to get my boat and motor off the bottom of this lake! I think that lake would have swallowed the boat never to be found again! The good lord was looking out for us that day for sure!

So your buddy knows his way around a motor, Huh? I might have to give him call:lol:, If I could only get Monkeyboy to bring me his motor, to stay up on preventative maintenance, I might feel better when we take his rig out. At least I know both of our motors will run with just a few pulls everytime!


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## Quaackwhacker (Nov 28, 2007)

Preventative maintenance, like securing your car battery!!!!!


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## muliefever (Jul 2, 2007)

Lowe Roughneck 1760 MT. You can get them with a factory tunnel Hull for shallow water running. Awesome boat!


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## 1fish (Oct 2, 2006)

I think that most everyone of us that has bought a boat before has been through exactly what you're going through.

The bottom line is, as has been said multiple times on this thread already, there isn't that one perfect boat for everything.

Best advice I can give, albeit painful, is decide what you are going to be using it for the most, and buy the best rig you can afford for that application. Then use it when possible for the rest.

For me, I own a 17' War Eagle LDSV, fully decked out it's a $20,000 rig. I use it for everything from Lake Michigan salmon trolling, Lake Erie & Sag Bay Walleyes, Detroit River Eyes to small inland lakes. For ducks it works great as a blind boat as long as you have enough water under the hull to float it (about 12"). I use it for divers 10 miles out all the way to the managed areas where you can launch into the fields.

However, this last season, much of the hunting I did it was absolutley worthless and it sat at home while the canoe and kayak did the work (i.e. Shiawassee, Sag Bay shorelines, etc...)

I too can only afford and only have room to store one boat, so for me I picked the rig that allowed me to do 90% of what I wanted a boat to do. I don't regret it a bit (well maybe a little while I'm paddling my backside into the 30's at Shia...). But for each guys personal preference and budget it's going to be different.


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## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

1fish said:


> I think that most everyone of us that has bought a boat before has been through exactly what you're going through.
> 
> The bottom line is, as has been said multiple times on this thread already, there isn't that one perfect boat for everything.
> 
> ...


i would paddle to the 30's also.....if the trade off was having that rig.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

1fish said:


> ....I use it for divers 10 miles out all the way to the managed areas where you can launch into the fields...


:yikes: Man 1fish, that's a lot of boat to use in a managed area. But I guess if you're launching right into a field, and there's enough water, AND cover to hide it, go for it. Great rig!

I'd never consider putting my 17' Alaskan into a managed field. Great boat, and it can run pretty shallow, but I'd take out most of the corn strip trying to hide it :evilsmile


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## Feather Mucker (Nov 9, 2007)

Thanks for the input guys. It was worth asking the question just for the entertainment value in the responses.

As far as the flats goes... as low as the water was last year, i don't want to pull anything to big. And even with the winch, many of the pulls were high and dry and you still had to muscle a bit (at least it was downhill, though)

So, I need a 14' flatbottom with a long-tail, and an 18 deep vee with twin 120's (I already have a canoe).


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## eyecatcher (Feb 2, 2004)

Just Ducky has given you what I think is the best advice. I have been hunting waterfowl for well over 50 years. I have used every thing from an innertube blind to a 24 foot john boat. my best rigs were a 13 ft wood duck boat buit be Neil Smith from Royal Oak in the mid 1950s and a 19 foot Grumman square stern canoe. the wood boat gave me 15 seasons and got ripped up in ice come in from a hunt on the bay. The canoe would still be in use but Im getting to old to hunt out of it. I used an airboat for a few years never cared for it to loud scares the bird out before you get there. I have at times owned up to ten boats, Im down to two now a 16ft deep v river boat and a 24 ft aqua sport for open water. I can not imagine having to setttle on one boat for the different waters I travel. I hunt the marshs from a 16 ft john boat with my hunting partner and we use a one man layout towed by the 24 ft aqua sport. for open water. We have used the john boat for river fishing but its a bit scary when the wind kicks up or if there is a lot of traffic creating a lots of wake. Expand you group of friends that hunt and fish then you will all have more choice boats for the right conditions. Get a boat you comforable using and stay under the tag load weight when they say 3 adults they mean 3 people who weight 150 lbs each, alway be safe. good luck.


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## Quaaack (Nov 22, 2007)

Quaackwhacker said:


> Preventative maintenance, like securing your car battery!!!!!


 
I'd bet you a $100 that his battery is still rattling around, unsecured.:lol:


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