Tunnel Design

[jtf]

Luckily, a member here referred my 1648 to a shop in Bluff City, TN. Mike Watson is about to finish up this week and is tuning the jet to hull.

There was a boat hanging on the rack in the shop with an odd tunnel hull mod. It was for a pro-angler, and was adjustable to run with a prop in 3-4" of river. The hinged tunnel plate folds up and down and motor shifts in/out to the transom. I did't know but the pro-circuit doesn't allow jets, so this is made for a 65 hp prop on an 18ft tracker. He said they run 60+ miles a day in tournaments.

 

[richg99]

Never saw anything like that. I'd like to know more about what they are doing with the "motor moving in and out" and the "hinged tunnel plate"???

Anyone else ever see anything like this?

richg99

 

[jtf]

Best I can describe it, saw it from the bottom of the hull. The tunnel is about 36-40" long and rectangular about 8" wide. It tapers from 8" deep at the transom to the forward edge where it is hinged with a pin inside a tube.

There is a raised "box" on the inside of the boat to accept the flapper when pushed up making the tunnel full and adjusted incrementally down to zero at the transom for running full open, it becomes a non-tunnel hull.

If running shallow, the flap and prop gets raised into the tunnel cavity and the full tunnel is open. The flapper is connected to hydraulics that manipulate it up and down as desired, see the photo, like a sailboat rudder turned 90 degrees.

There are two hydraulic jack plates mounted in tandem that adjust the up/down and forward/back position of the motor shaft/prop to stay in "clean water" behind the transom.

https://www.bassmaster.com/gear/slideshow/boat-tour-skylar-hamilton-s-aluminum-rig

Kind of hard to find, but there are 23 photos. I don't use face book, maybe better info there? I don't know if the shop has a web page.

 

[richg99]

Ingenious... I'd hate to be running full out and have that pin pull out or break.

Regarding the advantage of a "full hull" instead of just a tunnel.... I guess it is that you get better MPG without the tunnel. Tunnels reduce MPG and also reduce the ability to FLOAT in really shallow water.

I owned a couple of them.

richg99

 

[jtf]

Solid hinge rod through full length tube not likely to fail. And it's built to handle hydraulic cylinder operation. I noticed the pro keeps an entire lower unit stowed under deck for repair. The problem will be putting a lower unit in a shallow rock garden. Say current pushed back against a rock or tree or the boat hung something and pivoted/swung. I use that move with the drift boat sometimes, spin with the oars to drop off an obstruction. But it doesn't have a motor, just UHMW bottom.

 

[richg99]

If you have to carry a spare lower unit, I think I will skip that location.

Ha Ha richg99

 

[jtf]

These guys make livings putting fish in their boats...and they are both taking home the dollars due to how shallow they go. Their sponsors pay for it. Have read a few comments that it's unfair to other competitors. The modification is $3k, more than my tin boat cost.

I'm with you. But...that's the nature of many of our eastern mountain rivers. My plan is to jet the rivers this winter in clear water and learn the lines, going upstream instead of down in the drift boat.

 

[jtf]

Why I like tin boats. Put the 16' in the river for jet break-in yesterday. Saw three miles of water I could never get to before. Will need a strong trolling motor to safely fish coming downstream.

Spoke with Mike Watson today, the shop that designed and built the tunnel...Bassmasters outlawed his tin boats this past week. It just didn't suit the big factories selling $60K+ bass boats to get whipped by a little 17ft metal jon. They never squawked when the boats came in 3rd, when they started winning, that was another story.

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

3" of water? I'd have to see that to believe it. Very interesting design. I'd like to see it in action.

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

Why I like tin boats. Put the 16' in the river for jet break-in yesterday. Saw three miles of water I could never get to before. Will need a strong trolling motor to safely fish coming downstream.

Spoke with Mike Watson today, the shop that designed and built the tunnel...Bassmasters outlawed his tin boats this past week. It just didn't suit the big factories selling $60K+ bass boats to get whipped by a little 17ft metal jon. They never squawked when the boats came in 3rd, when they started winning, that was another story.

B.A.S.S. recently outlawed jet drive boats. There reasoning is that it's a specialty boat. What is a $60K boat with $10K in electronics then? Jet is a trade off and has plenty of disadvantages.

 

[jtf]

The new electronics being used surprised me too, $10,000 for three screens? The big manufactures are in business to sell product. It's not the small guy's game.

Getting rid of jet drive is how this prop-tunnel got designed and two years in the making.

 

[richg99]

Many Fiberglass scooters in South Texas are designed with a tunnel and a propped engine. They can run on spit. I wouldn't want to run them in a rocky river, though.

 

[jtf]

Neat boat. Like to see some of the water you fish.

 

[richg99]

That isn't my boat. I just posted the picture so that people can see what is used in the South Texas flats. I am up near Galveston. We have "deep" water i.e. it is normal to run and fish in 4 feet or less. I am often drifting in a foot or less.

In the Laguana Madre, in deep South Texas, they have to run in less than a foot for many miles to get anywhere. I haven't been down there and I don't have a boat that would do that.

 

[jtf]

The big boys got to the table, or under the table. B.A.S.S killed this prop design a couple weeks ago when the tin boats started winning. It looked a lot like Rich's picture, in metal. Just learning my jet, and under power it is a skimmer, but it's not a heavy boat.