# Opinions On Carolina Skiffs



## Dschouest42 (Jul 12, 2017)

Im curious about yall's opinions on Carolina Skiffs.
Around here in south Louisiana, they are cheaply available, draft super shallow, and I can put the size motor I want on them (30hp). Im aware they have lots of hull slap and are a little on the hard-to-pole side. 
I guess Im really interested in them because there are quite a few dealers around here, used ones for sale, and they are in my price range of about 10k with engine and center console.
How do you guys feel about them?


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## 994 (Apr 14, 2008)

My good fishing/drinking buddy had one before he moved away a few years ago. I've sightfished plenty of spooky lagoon reds from a Carolina Skiff and also poled one around for a while. They work just fine. My only gripe was the freeboard, any breeze and we were sailing. I think they're very capable and resilient skiffs. Not as pretty as a more finished Skiff, but more than able to get the job done and it won't break your heart when it slams against the bridge while you're fishing for sheepshead. They're a great utilitarian Skiff.

That said, if you're looking for more fit and finish a Salt Marsh might be in your price range too. Good luck!


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## Ben (Dec 21, 2016)

Every boat has its purpose and unless you want/need a poling skiff thats super quiet and easy to control then they work just fine. My buddy had a J16 years ago and we caught plenty of reds and snook out of it. I was leaning towards the 17' DLX because it would be more comfortable for my family but it wouldn't fit in my garage. I liked the 16' one too but it lacked the walk around gunnels so I went with the Saltmarsh 1656. The only downside of their J version is its extremely uncomfortable in chop and it is a little nerve racking in tighter turns.


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## noahvale (May 24, 2016)

I too was searching a Carolina a few years ago. I found a Southern Skimmer in TX: http://lafishing.blogspot.com/2014/07/one-of-best-days-of-my-life-or-why-i.html
It was a really nice setup. It would run on top of the water on plane. But... any wind at all you were not able to control it with a trolling motor, much less a pole. 
Low freeboard makes a huge difference when the wind blows. But then the wind is not a factor down here but nine months out of the year...


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## mtoddsolomon (Mar 25, 2015)

I had a Carolina SKiff JVX18, it was the first boat I ever bought myself. I think for getting out in the water and fishing with a no frills boat it's awesome. It doesn't pole well so I'd say get a trolling motor, but it'll get you out there for sure.


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## GullsGoneWild (Dec 16, 2014)

Look at Mr B's boats. He's somewhere in Louisiana. I know some of his skiffs are used by the chandeleur island charter companies, which is how I was introduced to them. When I ran the skiff I beat the sheet out of it. They had 15hp yams with manual tilt which was a pain but the skiffs were light, easy to operate and tons of fun. When I was looking for my first skiff, I looked hard that these but pulled the trigger on a SM1444. if I remember right, he can customize the layout to your specs.

http://www.mrbsboats.com/


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## jmrodandgun (Sep 20, 2013)

There are a handful running around that are set up like a poling skiffs. The two I have been on worked surprisingly well. They were not the best poling boats in the world, but you're really splitting hairs if you're trying to critique a Carolina skiff on how well it poles. Once you get use to how it tracks, it poles just fine. I promise the fish will not care.

Do they ride dry in heavy chop? No, but that's not what they are built for. Do they have a little hull slap? In the right conditions all skiffs get a little slap. The Carolina skiff may experience hull slap when other boats would not, but then we are back to splitting hairs. You will learn how to manage these situations.


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## TylertheTrout2 (Apr 21, 2016)

they're the tits for what they are/how cheap they are...buy one and just fish the living shit out of it


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## MooreMiller (Sep 10, 2016)

I have a J14. It baffles me just how loud it is with a slight ripple on the water. I cannot get it to track straight on the pole or with the trolling motor with the engine tilted up. 

On the plus side the freeboard is nice if you fish or dive outside protected waters. I fish in nasty ports and inlets quite a bit and never feel like I might sink. 

The hulls are nice and thick and super stiff. These things feel like tanks compared to gheenoes. 

You will learn ways to get these boats to ride better. Putting one tab down or putting all the weight on one side to use the chine to slice the waves helps. Running at an angle to the chop also helps a lot. If you are young and still have plenty of back to break, you can make the ride work.


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## TylertheTrout2 (Apr 21, 2016)

....stop running your trolling motor with the engine up (on any boat)...bam!, your good!


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## No Bait / Lures Only (Apr 10, 2011)

GullsGoneWild said:


> Look at Mr B's boats. He's somewhere in Louisiana. I know some of his skiffs are used by the chandeleur island charter companies, which is how I was introduced to them. When I ran the skiff I beat the sheet out of it. They had 15hp yams with manual tilt which was a pain but the skiffs were light, easy to operate and tons of fun. When I was looking for my first skiff, I looked hard that these but pulled the trigger on a SM1444. if I remember right, he can customize the layout to your specs.
> 
> http://www.mrbsboats.com/


Plywood and Chop and Woven Roven and Polyester Resin.......Mr. B's...


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## anytide (Jul 30, 2009)

great boats
self bailing
pos flotation
stable
roomy
prolly my next boat


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## Rick D (Nov 14, 2011)

This is my J16. Love that boat. Can't kill that thing. Fast & shallow. It will never win best in show or be called a smooth, dry, quiet ride, but it has never left me stranded and my Yamaha has never made me miss a day on the water.


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## predacious (Sep 1, 2016)

No Bait / Lures Only said:


> Plywood and Chop and Woven Roven and Polyester Resin.......



Carolina skiff ? chop and woven ??

you do realize that when a boat's built in a mold - gel coat,then a skin coat - the "skin coat" is chop strand matt

wood ? wood in a Carolina skiff ?? older,as I real old,these had wood - since mid 90's the hull has no wood,some of the "kit boat" parts,like decks,these had wood as coring too...


Carolina skiffs - not a great product,not a bad product either.one big problem is owners often make mistakes by drilling holes in the cockpit decks,and expecting a fastener to hold.
first - its not recommended to drill a hole in a Carolina skiff's deck - it's in the warranty...these boats are composite built - composites will not hold fasteners - there's a specific technique required to make sure fasteners hold securely,fail to follow that technique - fastener fails ! 
another problem with inexperienced people popping holes in them,that's sealing ! 3m 5200 ! inexperienced individuals will state it's permenant - WRONG ! inexperienced individuals will use silicone to seal the holes they just punched in the deck of their Carolina skiff - expect that to seal...it doesn't...end result,boat becomes water logged ....

remember this: improper sealing techniques and improper use of fasteners is the biggest problem with these boats...


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## No Bait / Lures Only (Apr 10, 2011)

Wow, are we a bit confused? I don't own one, but after calling the mfg and he quoted the construction details to me. Mr. B's boat is what I quoted the construction. And yes I do realize that skin coat is a layer of mat, not a chopper gun product but a uniform layer. I have 3 skiffs and all were built with biax n mat and foam coring, but that was my choice not to buy lower quality products with chop n wood n woven.


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## jonterr (Mar 24, 2013)

No Bait / Lures Only said:


> Wow, are we a bit confused? I don't own one, but after calling the mfg and he quoted the construction details to me. Mr. B's boat is what I quoted the construction. And yes I do realize that skin coat is a layer of mat, not a chopper gun product but a uniform layer. I have 3 skiffs and all were built with biax n mat and foam coring, but that was my choice not to buy lower quality products with chop n wood n woven.


I had 2 that I bought new, a Jvx 17 tiller, and a Jvx 18 cc.
They both got cracks on the decks and floors, only cosmetic, but it drove me crazy! They ran and floated shallow, and jar ur teeth in an 8 in chop!


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## bermuda (Aug 22, 2010)

I had a J16 for 10 years - liked the boat but it got water intrusion in the hull and the transom got soft and had to be redone by the subsequent buyer. I would say they are good if there are no holes drilled into it and it is kept under cover.


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## fishicaltherapist (Mar 9, 2013)

Built strong, meant to be beat up beyond belief, teeth jarring ride, slow positioning turns are a nightmare (turning radius of a train), won't sink. Did I say built STRONG ? Oh ,you catch fish from them just like the high $$$$$ skiffs. Best of luck !!


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## JET4 (Jul 14, 2014)

Had a J16 , was a nice boat before a hurricane dropped a tree on it, Lol. Next I bought a JV13 with stick steer. Thought I would like the stick steer but never did. Ending up selling the JV13. The Jv was a little nicer boat than the J.


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## albuilt51 (Sep 30, 2016)

Definitely research for more posts on waterlogged foam/hulls, especially with CS boats. If you're buying new you should be OK, but think again about putting any holes in the floor.
I really enjoy fishing from my J12 because of their stability. Wind and big waves are not an issue for the smaller Michigan lakes, thankfully, but you'll quickly learn to take large wakes at an angle.
I build a jack plate for every boat I own, then follow that up with either Doel-Fins or SE Sport hydrofoils, which get the boats up on plane almost instantly, eliminates porpoising, and makes turning very stable at any speed.


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## SC Bill (Jul 22, 2017)

Very popular bay boat and sees heavy duty action in Pamlico Sound (NC) and other open, unprotected water subject to wind and waves. I see a lot of crab fishermen in CS in the Sound.

Always wondered why a boat company in Waycross, GA named itself Carolina Skiff?


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## cskid1 (Dec 14, 2019)

Rick D said:


> This is my J16. Love that boat. Can't kill that thing. Fast & shallow. It will never win best in show or be called a smooth, dry, quiet ride, but it has never left me stranded and my Yamaha has never made me miss a day on the water.


Good morning. Nice looking skiff. I also have a J16. Looking for a canopy. I like yours in the picture as I'd like one that is a little lower to the cockpit and not so sky high in the air like most I've seen for the J16. I'll only use it when I have my wife and little guy on the boat cruising and not fishing. Won't have it up when I'm fishing on the boat. Will you let me know which canopy you have shown in your photo? Thanks.


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## albuilt51 (Sep 30, 2016)

I installed a Bimini top from Leaders on my CS, purchased off Amazon. Quality and durability was excellent. They are very nice to have on hot sunny days, or pouring rains.


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

still miss my j16 tiller 20yrs later............


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## jonterr (Mar 24, 2013)

predacious said:


> Carolina skiff ? chop and woven ??
> 
> you do realize that when a boat's built in a mold - gel coat,then a skin coat - the "skin coat" is chop strand matt
> 
> ...





albuilt51 said:


> I installed a Bimini top from Leaders on my CS, purchased off Amazon. Quality and durability was excellent. They are very nice to have on hot sunny days, or pouring rains.


i have a black canvas top and frame off my Jvx 18 if anybody needs 1
I kept it when I took my 6 mo old boat back to dealer


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## fishnpreacher (Jul 28, 2018)

This is my Skiff the day I picked it up. I swapped out the rear mounted trolling motor for a bow mount remote troller, added some electronics, basically rewired the whole thing, removed the rod holders, and added a 12 gallon fuel tank under the back deck. It don't ride like a Cadillac, but it catches fish.


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## Terry (Jul 26, 2009)

Only picture I have of my old CS. This J14 put me on countless shallow water Redfish. It didn’t have the best ride, didn’t pole very straight, but a little time on the tiller and a little more on the platform I got pretty good at it. As fore mentioned, not the prettiest, not the driest and not the most pleasurable the fish out of, but very capable.


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## redchaser (Aug 24, 2015)

I fished a J16, sight fishing with fly for over 18 years and caught a buttload of fish out of it. A few things. The only plywood that was in mine was in the forward deck, but on Carolina skiffs, the decks are replaceable, and my understanding is that they have moved away from plywood in the decks, it would be easy to check and find out. As to the "Chopper Gun" constructions, the durabillity of the boats speak for themselves. If you're from here in LA you see all the crabber running them because they can't break them. I just retired mine because I was in an accident, rolled the boat, then it got rear ended. Truthfully the hull wasn't near as messed up as you would think and could be repaired, but since the outboard got trashed, the cost of repairs to the hull would have put it over the value of my policy so insurance totalled it.

In the J series the freeboard isn't too bad, they do float crazy shallow. Excepting the very front, the whole bottom of the boat is one big flat piece so it has tons of displacement. Recently someone took a picture of me fishing my boat with someone on the front and the water was below the chine. At the back of the boat the Chine is right at 5 1/2 inches from the bottome of the boat. 

I never found mine difficult to pole, but I've been poling a long time so maybe it just came easier to me. It may be tough for those with girly arms. It does have quite a bit of hull slap, I got around that by working with the wind or fishing leeward banks. Honestly, when I first started poling the marsh with it, the fish really didn't care, but as pressure in the marsh has increased exponentially, both from sight fishers and bow fishers, it makes a difference now. It's wet and rough in a chop, but never felt unsafe. I've been in Calcasieu Lake with it when it was really rolling, got soaked and beat to shit but the boat never felt squirrelly and teh nose never plowed a wave. I don't think it's possible to plow a wave the way the bow pops up over them. Set up properly it's a fun boat for poling and sight fishing. Here's a cool video of the second to last trip I took in it 



 . Incidentally on that trip we had a group of 10 guys and 4 skiffs. My J16 and 3 much nicer much higher dollar technical poling skiffs. Over the course of the trip just as many fish came into my boat as anyone elses, and at least the 2 biggest reds of the trip came into my boat as well (the biggest isn't in that video, it was 27 pounds). 

Now, all of tha being said. When I bought my J16, there weren't a lot of poling skiffs on the market, and none anywehere near the price I got my j16 for. Boat, motor, trailer and poling platform etc.. I was in for about $7,000 with a Yamaha 3 cylinder 2 stroke 25hp . I know that's changed a bit. The other thing that's changed is that there are a lot more skiffs on the market, and in particular a lot more "affordable" skiffs, many of which will offer quieter poling, a dryer ride, and actual dry storage, although I doubt many will be as rugged or durable. Doing it over today I would first watch the used market for a deal on a poling skiff, but still keep the J16 in mind. Good luck.


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## CBag (Aug 30, 2019)

This year I purchased a new 2019 17 JV CC. 40hp Yamaha T&T, I-Pilot, aluminum trailer. Has everything I wanted and love it.


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