# How Shallow can you Run ?



## Flyline (Mar 3, 2008)

yes it's a record for custom gheenoe. propbably for the record for a microskiff!

my NMZ runs respectful 10" of water and should be shallowest running for 15.4 highsider or NMZ model.


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## SOBX (Sep 29, 2009)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but can she take 3 footers and run 45 mph in em as well!!! ;D

Sorry, just couldn't resist going "Florida Sportsman" on you this morning!!! ;D ;D

It shouldn't be to long before skiff companies will have a boat with a negative draft and floating slightly above the water will also eliminate hull slap!!! ;D

Good Fishing!!!


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

> Yeah, yeah, yeah, but can she take 3 footers and run 45 mph in em as well!!! ;D
> 
> Sorry, just couldn't resist going "Florida Sportsman" on you this morning!!! ;D ;D
> 
> ...



What do you mean shouldn't be long?
You must not have heard of Egret.
They're also the only self bailing boat on the market. :






lol


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## Flyline (Mar 3, 2008)

I want a skiff runs and draft 1'' of water and what skiff it would be? I guess not! ;D A Gladesmen not even come close... ;D


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## Gramps (Nov 1, 2007)

> I want a skiff runs and draft 1'' of water and what skiff it would be?  I guess not! ;D  A Gladesmen not even come close... ;D


Airboat


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## Flyline (Mar 3, 2008)

> > I want a skiff runs and draft 1'' of water and what skiff it would be?  I guess not! ;D  A Gladesmen not even come close... ;D
> 
> 
> Airboat


Airboat is for ******* Gator boat.  Not for poling airboat skiff


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

[/img]

This is the back end of my Flamingo mud runner.
18' MV Alumacraft with a 35 hp jet outboard.
Loved running Lake Ingrahm back to the tree lines.
Too bad the hull couldn't take a chop. Kept cracking ribs.
Run across 2", float in 3" (empty), needed 8" to get on plane.

                                   

After getting tired of paying for heliarc repairs,
I sold the beer can and moved the important stuff
to a fiberglass 15' Kenner Pro-skiff tunnel.
Now that was a skinny running skiff.
Ran across 1", but needed 5" to float and 10" to get on plane.
Note the 4 hp kicker, no way I was ever getting stuck
way out in the back country after learning the hard way. 








[/img]


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## wookalar (Nov 24, 2009)

Go to youtube and do a search for unbelievable boat runs in 1 inch of water. Its a flats boat that runs shallow check it out


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## Yoreese (Oct 15, 2009)

I think we are going to be pushed in a little different direction with more "no-motor" and "pole and troll only" zones. That is going to make having a boat that poles very skinny and easily more important that running extremely shallow. We are already seeing plans for just this type of management in Everglades National Park.


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## JimCameron (Jan 3, 2010)

My CS J14 runs on a wet sponge.


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## rashouri87 (Jul 2, 2009)

My Inshore is a technical poling skiff that runs straight mud, so I guess I'm the first to reach the "negative draft" team. If you need video evidence, I can make some when my boat comes back from accident repair next week!


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## JaxLaxFish (Aug 23, 2010)

Hey man I'm new on this forum. Yeah i think i'll need to see some video evidence.

-Kenny



> My Inshore is a technical poling skiff that runs straight mud, so I guess I'm the first to reach the "negative draft" team.  If you need video evidence, I can make some when my boat comes back from accident repair next week!


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## HialeahAngler (Dec 18, 2008)

regardless of how "shallow" your boat runs, it can't be good for the bottom. People think that because they have a shallow running skiff, and because it doesn't feel like it's hitting bottom, it's ok. evidence from the aerial shots from ENP, and their new plans shows different. many of the people who swear they aren't doing damage are doing the most, including many of the guides. if your skiff runs shallow, good, but don't run super shallow when you're over sea grass. 

hey Brett, I know that jet boats are banned in ENP, but does that include jet outboards as well? do those outboards leave a small pothole in the mud when it takes off very shallow? just wondering as I've never seen one in action.


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## adc77 (Jul 23, 2009)

> My Inshore is a technical poling skiff that runs straight mud, so I guess I'm the first to reach the "negative draft" team.  If you need video evidence, I can make some when my boat comes back from accident repair next week!


will it do a hole shot sitting in the mud?


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## iMacattack (Dec 11, 2006)

> many of the people who swear they aren't doing damage are doing the most, including many of the guides. if your skiff runs shallow, good, but don't run super shallow when you're over sea grass.


X2!


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## adc77 (Jul 23, 2009)

> if your skiff runs shallow, good, but don't run super shallow when you're over sea grass.


 X2!


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## adc77 (Jul 23, 2009)

you beat me to it lol X3


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## iMacattack (Dec 11, 2006)

great minds think alike... but in this case it was simply a fluke...


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

> Hey Brett, I know that jet boats are banned in ENP, but does that include jet outboards as well? do those outboards leave a small pothole in the mud when it takes off very shallow? just wondering as I've never seen one in action.












When I first took my jet outboard to Flamingo, at the ramp a couple of the Rangers
walked over to talk to me. They used the same type of outboards
when stationed at parks in the north. So they were curious how
it would deal with the grass and mud at Flamingo.
Never gave me any problems with running it in the park.
They did however make me take out my charts and indicate
specific areas they didn't want me to go as they were doing research
or were rookery areas and didn't want the birds disturbed.
I went all over out front, never ripped up any seagrass
due to the design of the pump intake. At speed the intake
pushes water in faster than the pump pushes it out.
So the suction doesn't transfer to the underlying water.
But, at takeoff, you needed 8 to 10 inches of water to spin the hull up on plane.
I always poled to a deep pothole or slough to hop up on top.
If you didn't get to deeper water and tried to launch in less you went nowhere.
My biggest problem was that the boat ran shallower than she floated.
Too many times I'd power down and find myself aground.

                                           ;D


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## HialeahAngler (Dec 18, 2008)

> great minds think alike... but in this case it was simply a fluke...


I am utterly offended, if that makes sense. 

thanks Brett. pretty cool man.


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## aflatsnut (Feb 12, 2010)

My 15T will run 3-31/2, ask Gramps (POI March 2010)


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## kentvanhook (Jul 23, 2010)

wow Rummya87 that is one sick boat. the only thing i would change is a hyperdrive....i know i'm getting off the origanl thread  [smiley=ill-take-it.gif]and i am sorry but i had to check and see if you also use this as a duck boat? non the less that is one bada$$ setup man, i am official in love with your boat.


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## HialeahAngler (Dec 18, 2008)

so when you guys say you are running in 3-3 1/2, is half to 1/3 of the prop not in the water? because a prop is wider than 3 1/2". and how do you guys know it's 3-3 1/2? do you run across somewhere and then turn around and run yourself aground and measure it? how can you get a real measurement of that? can't be by vision alone. guaranteed that even though your boat is still moving, you are causing damage to the flats you are running over. no way someone can say that they run in 3" but have room to spare without touching the grass and/or mud. this just sounds irresponsible to me. it's better to take the long way around. please, don't start throwing tomatoes at me. thanks.


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## cutrunner (Jun 8, 2010)

the prop thing is a good point. also you have to add in the length of the skeg. the only prop that runs with half of the blades in the air is an over the hub chopper..


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## HialeahAngler (Dec 18, 2008)

good point. I forgot to mention that the skeg would be chopping through the bottom like a trimmer. thanks. but you know what I mean. If I pull half of my prop out of the water the boat won't go anywhere. so I can't see how someone running that skinny isn't doing damage. everywhere I go I see prop scars. It's sad.


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## adc77 (Jul 23, 2009)

supposedly the tunnel will pull up enough water to feed the prop while it is jacked up.   but i think people think just because they blast over a hump and dont get stuck that there skiff can run that shallow.   either way you are damaging the bottom and your skiff.


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## cutrunner (Jun 8, 2010)

i am fully with the whole harming the flat thing but sometimes down in the keys you have no choice. and no boat runs shallower than a tunnel. period. i have a 13 foot skiff with a 25hp and a jackplate jacked to the point of cavitation and i couldnt follow my buddies 17 pathfinder tunnel. i found that out the hard way.... his tunnel really does run 4 inches of water.. mine maybe 6... thats just reality..


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## HialeahAngler (Dec 18, 2008)

there's always a choice. take the long way around. from Flamingo to Key West they have small channels to get you around everything.


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