# How limiting is a tunnel hull under everyday driving?



## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

That's the reason for a power jack plate.
Prop is up in the tunnel when you're running the glass,
Down below the bottom of the hull in the chop.
Wave height is controlled by water depth.
The shallower the water the smaller the waves.

btw, tunnel hulls are used in offshore hulls also,
Penn Yan, Shamrock and some other big names are built to
get the prop into a protective pocket to allow access
into shallower, protected waters for mooring and navigation.


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## East_Cape (Jun 3, 2008)

IMHO a tunnel is about 20% worse in a chop due to losing the bottom ( or running pad/surface ) in order to make the tunnel...
A JP helps it bite, but it won't make it ride any better as hull shape is hull shape.
I've been running my tunnel Caimen for a year now and it has it's + and - 

Hope this helps?
Kevin


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

> but it won't make it ride any better as hull shape is hull shape


Too true, a lightweight flat bottom hull is gonna pound in a chop
no matter what you do. But the tunnel lets you get into shallower
water where the waves are limited in size. So less bumping and banging.


Best thing about the tunnel, it gives you access to waters
that standard hulls have trouble getting to.


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## TomFL (Oct 2, 2007)

It's not the shallow thing I'm wondering about. It's the water you'd have to cross to GET TO the shallow stuff. 

2-3' wind chop. Usual winter time stuff in the St Lucie and Indian Rivers. 

-T


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## East_Cape (Jun 3, 2008)

your better off skipping the "t" then if you can't run inside to escape it. you have to decide is 20% less of a ride over a comparable "v" is worth it to ya...
only you can answer that one.


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Are you going to run full throttle in a 3 foot chop
in a 15' monohull and not expect to get wet
or get the snot pounded out of ya? Heck no!
A 20 foot bay boat will run that chop the same,
with or without the tunnel. The hull weight and
the bow vee do the job of cutting the chop.
A small hull just doesnt have the weight to
counteract the mass of a 3' tall wave. 600lbs of
boat hitting 2 tons of wave, which one do you think
is going to get moved out of the way?



> How limiting is a tunnel hull under everyday driving?


That's the question, well, I can take my tunnel hull into oyster creeks,
while running the motor, that without the tunnel, I'd have to paddle or pole, a long way.
In deep water both types of hulls can get from point A to point B
under the same conditions in about the same amount of time.

The real question should be:
Do I need a tunnel hull for where I fish?


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## flatoutfishin (Mar 6, 2007)

I ran a tailfisher which is a tunnel hull and would have to say it was a very wet and uncomfortable ride across tampa bay with anything other than slick calm conditions. The plus side was it ran extremely shallow, but yes it was very wet and uncomfortable. Keep in mind the tailfisher was much more flat bottom hull than alot of tunnels out there like the caimen.


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## TomFL (Oct 2, 2007)

I'm leaning more towards wondering how it'd be as a duck hunting platform than a traditional skinny-water fishing platform. 

The "skinniness" would possibly be to access the duck hunting better than my local fishing waters. 

How 'bout weeds?? They kill the tunnel and foul the prop or no?

-T


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## iMacattack (Dec 11, 2006)

> It's not the shallow thing I'm wondering about. It's the water you'd have to cross to GET TO the shallow stuff.
> 
> 2-3' wind chop. Usual winter time stuff in the St Lucie and Indian Rivers.
> 
> -T



I ran a 17T in those waters for a while. If you follow some simple ideas you'll be just fine. 

1. Throttle, trim and tabs are your friend. If your running flat in a chop, your doing it wrong for that hull design. Ride the rail, use your tabs to trim up one side and down the other, then use your throttle and let the edge of the skiff cut through the chop. It takes some time but it is a much more efficient and dryer way to run in a chop. Some times I would nearly bury one tab to get enough tilt going. 

2. Know the limitations of the skiff. It's a tunnel hull not a bay boat. ;D Cross and run the IRL with a stiff NNE or NNW, not a problem for short stints... cross Pine Island Sound with a 30knot N in the winter against the tide... yea, not so much! I would suspect Tampa Bay would be as snotty or worse.

3. Capitalize on it's advantages. It can run SHALLOW! I know... duh! ;D But seriously within the limits of the law and still protecting our environment you don't have to run in the channel to get to where you want to go. Use the tunnel to traverse areas that your Redfisher would not. That's how I would get around the IRL. Many time never once having to hit the channel unless I want to head from the east shore to west etc.

Just my .0000000002 

Cheers


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## iMacattack (Dec 11, 2006)

> I'm leaning more towards wondering how it'd be as a duck hunting platform than a traditional skinny-water fishing platform.


It'll do both very well IMHO...



> How 'bout weeds?? They kill the tunnel and foul the prop or no?


Kill the tunnel no. Foul the prop yes. In Flamingo if I crossed a floating weed patch they would wrap around the LU from time to time. I would subjective have to say more often than a non tunnel boat. I rarely if ever had the problem in the IRL.

Cheers


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## B.Lee (Apr 29, 2008)

Shoot, a tailfisher isn't much more than a original carolina skiff with a small tunnel. You shouldn't expect it to run smooth in anything but glass.

Lots of folks I see run too fast in too rough conditions. When it gets rough, slow down! You're beating yourself, your pasengers, your boat, your gear, everthing is taking a beating. If you have to cross big open water to fish, plan on either taking a rough or long ride back. Or get a bigger boat.

I've never had a tunnel before, so I'll have to get back with you on whether it's worth the trouble. The Sawdust Skiff will be my first tunnel.


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## dscott (Aug 2, 2007)

Tom

My old Pathfinder 17T ran fine in slop as long it was less than 1.5'. Anything more than that and the trim tabs and tight grip were a definite necessity. I would define the ride as way better than a flat bottom and not as nice as V. And a tunnel takes a better sea sense than either of the other boats in my opinion... or maybe just a little more extra care in rough water.

All in all a nice hull type that fishes the skinny a hell of a lot better than any other type of boat I have ever owned.

Don


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## markworley (Feb 20, 2010)

I have a 99 pathfinder tunnel 17 and just had it jel coated ..I did not take a picture of the orginal logo..do you by chance still have it on your boat?


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## justindfish (Dec 5, 2008)

http://img116.imageshack.us/i/marshmissile1abp3.jpg/?a=V&ci=0&rt=3

The answer to the tunnel!

Look how the bottom of the transom is on this boat it has step built into. This is not my boat but my boat is built by the same guy and has the same design. That particular boat will run in 3" of water with a mud bottom and topped out at 35+ MPH with the 40hp Mercury. I don't notice any different handling characteristics at all with my boat other than the step will allow me to run the prop shaft about 3/4" higher than the bottom of the boat and that the step lets the prop still get plenty of water in a turn which I here is a problem with tunnel boats. Even with the motor as high as I said above it still does not blow out and I can still get out of the hole and also keep 10+psi of water pressure on the motor.


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