# Ankona Shadowcast 16' review



## Joshua Dupree (Nov 21, 2017)

I recently purchased a Ankona Shadowcast 16 and wanted to share some of the boat details with the Microskiff community.

I want to start with noting that the staff at Ankona is fantastic. The hull design seems really well thought out. The boat rides exceptionally smooth and floats in almost nothing. The boat floats in around 4", at its deepest draft, when standing in the rear. The draft can be reduced to about 3" by moving your body weight into the center or bow. The shallow draft combined with the narrow beam means that almost anything that resembles a waterway can be accessed.

The boat can handle running full speed into waves up to about 2', although at over 1' the ride starts getting wet. The boat can run quickly down the waves up to about 1.5.' When reducing speed the boat can handle short period waves up to around 3' on the bow, or about 2' on the stern before things start getting sketchy. It would be nice if the boat could handle larger chop, but this isn't marketed as a 2000lb deep V bay boat. Any hull design changes to make the boat handle a little rougher water probably would lead to sacrifices elsewhere in the boat's design.

I have one of the currently new Tohatsu 20 EFI motors on my Shadowcast. I think this motor is a good fit for the boat. The 10" pitch prop that comes with the motor is good when the boat is fully loaded, but its not enough pitch when the boat has less than 200lbs of people and gear. With the 10" prop and 1 person, the engine can hit the rev limited at about ~75% throttle with a speed around 24mph. I have swapped to a 11.5" pitch prop and that seems better for lighter loads. With that prop the engine can be run at full throttle with get the boat up to 27mph. At around 15 mph, 20mpg is obtainable.

The weight of this boat is also a huge plus. Ankona's website says the boat is 300lbs. I don't what was on the hull to get that weight. The title has the boat at 220lbs, plus the motor is between 95 and 115lbs. The boat can be pulled from a marina slip onto the dock with one person. It can easily be towed behind a car. If I put it on the trailer crooked, I can just pick up the back of the boat to realign it. If it gets stuck, it can be dragged back into the water with one person, or carried by two people.

All in all, I think that this is a great little boat that is well built, well designed, and represents a great value.














The Continental trailer isn't a perfect fit for the boat, even after shimming the bunks. Ankona does offer a better trailer for this boat.







There is a rough spot in the tunnel. This would be my sole complaint on the boat's construction.








One of the Dry Launch light fixtures failed almost immediately.







A sample of the coring and construction. I love the use of the plastic honeycomb coring. There are some small air pockets visible within epoxy. Perhaps vacuum bagging would have removed these, although that would drive the price up.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Great initial review. I'd love to hear what you have to say once you've been running it for a while -say a six month report...


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## CPurvis (Apr 6, 2016)

Nice honest review.


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## GG34 (May 2, 2014)

I've had the same prop issue on my 1444. Do you have the new 2018 tohstsu? They said after the new year they will start producing a12 and 13 pitch prop.


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## Joshua Dupree (Nov 21, 2017)

Yeah, I have the 2018 Tohatsu. If the 12" pitch was available I probably would have ordered that.

I'll try to remember to post a 6 month update. As of now I only have about 15hrs on the motor plus about another 20 or so hours fishing without being under power.


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## GG34 (May 2, 2014)

I posted a thread in the motor section on engine wobble at idle. Does yours do the same thing? I'm only at 6 hours so the tech advised me to wait until the new props come in before a change it out. I put a tiny tach on it and highly recommend it. I was way higher in RPMs than I thought.


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## Backcountry 16 (Mar 15, 2016)

Joshua Dupree said:


> I recently purchased a Ankona Shadowcast 16 and wanted to share some of the boat details with the Microskiff community.
> 
> I want to start with noting that the staff at Ankona is fantastic. The hull design seems really well thought out. The boat rides exceptionally smooth and floats in almost nothing. The boat floats in around 4", at its deepest draft, when standing in the rear. The draft can be reduced to about 3" by moving your body weight into the center or bow. The shallow draft combined with the narrow beam means that almost anything that resembles a waterway can be accessed.
> 
> ...


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## Backcountry 16 (Mar 15, 2016)

Get a grab bar you will enjoy running it standing much more here is my shadowcast


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## Joshua Dupree (Nov 21, 2017)

GG34 said:


> I posted a thread in the motor section on engine wobble at idle. Does yours do the same thing? I'm only at 6 hours so the tech advised me to wait until the new props come in before a change it out. I put a tiny tach on it and highly recommend it. I was way higher in RPMs than I thought.


I haven't had significant wobble at idle. Occasionally in between displacement speed and a plane I have felt a wobble as waves have come through the tunnel, but that's about it. The increased load and decreased engine speed due to the increase in pitch smooths the engine out a lot a planing speeds. At speeds below maybe 15mph, I can't notice any difference between props. 

Maybe a silly question, but is there any chance that the tilt lock lever is in the unlocked position?


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## GG34 (May 2, 2014)

,


Joshua Dupree said:


> Maybe a silly question, but is there any chance that the tilt lock lever is in the unlocked position?


No it's locked. It's not that big a deal. I sent a video to tohatsu and they seemed to think it was normal.


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