Tunnel Hulll ?

[georgiaken]

Is it really that bad of a river that you can't dodge the rocks? Please don't think I'm meaning that as a smart blank comment I'm just curious why you guys need such beefy boats. We don't run big 250hp motors where I run. I personaly own a 40/28 Evinrude and love it. I run the Current River here in SE Mo and there are alot of places that are 3 inches deep and around 30 feet wide. What are boats lack in durabilty the more then make up for in speed and manuverability. I can go from about 40mph down river to a dead stop pointing back up river with the crack of the throttle.(Scare the crap out of you too :shock: ) Did once, don't want to do it again unless I have to.

Yes, it really is that bad.

They refer to sections of the river as the "X rock garden" or the "Y rock garden." We literally have rock gardens and ledges and boulders and the changes in the terrain can happen almost instantly.

We have rocks that jut up under what appear to be clear chutes...the list goes on and on...of course, I am referring to the Susquehanna River.

So, to use your point of view in reverse...if it wasn't needed, boat builders in our area wouldn't bother to add tunnels and UHMW plastic, just like in your area, if it was needed, Blazer would have done it already.

I can't think of too many guys who would voluntarily pay more money to be heavier and go slower unless it was needed. When guys talk about taking thin bottom aluminum hulls out on the river with jets, people always caution them...there are countless stories of guys opening up like sardine cans...

Some of the guys I know joke about the "aluminum that lines the river." Sometimes, you can look down while going up the river and see the glints of aluminum where people have hit over the years

Again, I am no expert, but the rivers up here run wide and often fast in some area (Class II and III rapids) and are full of rocks...I guess the wide variety of terrains is what makes it such a great smallmouth fishery...

 

[Lil' Blue Rude]

Ok I'm curios now, do any of you guys have some pictures of this river.

 

[optaylor823]

Ok I will throw my 2 cents in. I fish the Duck River in TN and the river is not that bad, but it does have its bad spots. After having 2 jet boats. One a 15 flat bottom with a 25/20 jet and the other a Triton 176 Sport with a 90/65. I now own a Snyder with a tunnel and UHMW on the bottom. I put a hole in the Triton, because the motor was not big enough to let me run any other way but wide open, and we all know that is not good in a jet when you try to turn. The other reason was the boat was not balanced good and was rear heavy. So now I have a heavy slow boat, but I do not have to worry about hitting rocks. I do have a tunnel in my boat and believe I can run a little shallower with it. I do agree that a tunnel is not for every boat, but in my boat I believe it works great. I do agree that certain boats are better in different rivers. The UHMW is great because I do not have to worry about that dreaded noise of aluminum against the rocks. I guess one thing I am trying to say is that some people may have the extra protection and not need it, but it does ease their mind.

This picture was posted at one time over at RiverSmallies and I think it come from some one trying to show part of the Susquehanna river.

 

[bajacoop]

I think we are talkign about 2 completly different kinds of rivers. Here is MO we are running skinny water mixed with rocks and such. Where they are running is more like a white water rafting type river. Is that correct?

We have lots of areas where you have to run real skinny because there just is not any water. I think they are in a situation where the depth of the river is much greater but there are a lot of rocks sticking up all over the place.

 

[RPjet]

The Susquehanna is a huge river. In some places it is nearly one mile wide but very shallow. It is not the rocks you have to worry about....it is the ledges! They are immoveable objects. Pictured above is probably the most notorious stretch on the Susquehanna for destroying boats, called the "Ft. Hunter" area. This area regularly eats boats, intakes and propellers with regularity. You do not want to run this area with a boat of less than .125. The only boats that survive in this area are built of .190 or better and also have UHMW of between 3/8 and 3/4 bolted onto the bottoms of the hull. Thus the reason that tunnel hulls rule on this river.

The whole river between Sunbury and Columbia is owned by shallow running jet boats. Boat owners are lumped into two categories on this stretch.....those that have tunnels and those that wished that they had tunnels. This area is so tough on jet foots that it has spawned two companies to offer jet foots made of UHMW.....Rockproof boats and Top Notch CNC. Both offer a quality option for those that do not have tunnels. I give the nod to Rockproof for those that do not have a tunneled boat and the Top Notch to those that do.

Me?........I run a RiverPro inboard so I don't have to deal with any of this!

 

[georgiaken]

You beat me to it re: Ft. Hunter. It's a great place to fish if you're down river of that rock garden in the pool...if you want to go up river, through that rock garden, you'd better have a thick hull and/or UHMW on your hull.

My boat doesn't have a tunnel and is only .1 I think...at any rate, I would not run that stretch of the river through the rock garden...no way.

Guys like me (without a tunnel or UHMW) have to get out, trailer and re-launch.

The worst part...depending on the time of year, some of the ledges are spectular in terms of the fishing.

I haven't been fishing long, nor have I been running the Susky for any extended period of time, but I know better than to get out there and sink my rig...

Edited: This video shows what some of the rocks look like in the shallows down near the mouth of the river...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fXk1LFK8OY
(it's not my video, but it does show what it looks like...and no, folks don't run through that)

End edit...

The whole river doesn't look like this, but there are definitely areas like this. There are also areas where the river is only 2 feet deep or so, with small pools that are 5-8 feet deep and rocks everywhere.

It's not advisable, but you could walk across the river at some points and only have to be worried about being "underwater" for 25 yards or so, and then, just barely....but the river would still be a mile wide.

Oh yeah...RiverPros rock! That's like a dream boat...for me anyway.

 

[S&MFISH]

Do you guys know the story behind RiverPro boats? They are built about 35miles south of St.Louis in Hillsboro,Mo. By a man who could not find what he wanted in a "river boat" manufactured by the usual suspects. So he designed at started building his own line the way he thought they should be built. He started in his garage behind his house,and then moved the operation into town a few years ago.I live about 15min fron his shop. At the time I bought my Alumacraft MV1756RiverRunner, I was looking hard at them,but couldn't afford one so I got the RiverRunner for about 14k less. They test run them on the Big River,which I fish regularly.Very small river,some places only 20-30ft wide and 3-6in deep, mostly about 50-100 ft wide and 2-7ft deep.

Oh,by the way the RiverRunner is an Mod V Jon with a 2'' tunnel.It has a 115/80 Merc Jet on it. And I couldn't be happier with it.I could only be happier if I had a RiverPro in the garage next to it.

 

[reedjj]

hahahaha! That looks crazy! Gravel bottoms and logs look like childs play compared to that place!

And to think I DID NOT get a jet because I was worried about a little sand getting sucked into it.

 

[reedjj]

Any pics of the UHMW? What is it? Like a hard plastic coating for your hull? Carbon fiber shield material?

 

[optaylor823]

UHMW is ultra-high-molecular-weight. I compare it to a teflon cutting board. I do not have any good pics of it on the bottom of a boat, but here it is on the side and it is put on the same way on the bottom. On my boat it covers the whole bottom of the boat.

 

[turne032]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8lnpPG9Hs4&feature=related

this is our little stretch of Current River~

 

[turne032]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU_tltc2v7U


and another one

 

[georgiaken]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU_tltc2v7U

and another one

So, this is kind of funny for me...when I was dreaming of getting a jet in late fall/early winter, I started watching youtube videos of jet boats. I was wondering what size jet to put on my old boat (14ft Roughneck). I did the math and for the cost of the jet, I could upgrade and sell my old boat.

But, the point is: I watched this video on more than one occasion. I was always taken aback by the guy who commented about you being an "outsider" to Van Buren. As a matter of fact, that comment is what let's me know this is the video I watched...it kind of stood out as a little "off."

Here's a video of a guy hitting on the Susky...he went up a ledge and I guess he judged it wrong. He has a tunnel and still split his rig...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENDLTH-DTmg

I don't know the guy or anything, I just found this on youtube a few days ago when looking for videos to show on here...

 

[turne032]

wow!!! we have a couple places that have big granite rocks like that. but i cant get over how wide that river is. that amazes me. I would never take my boat through that.


that second video is not me. but i do know him, a very nice guy. this area of missouri is very territorial. locals think they own it, outsiders think their entitled to, government tries to take a little more of it every day.

i just enjoy being their. ive never been to a place so beautiful as the current river. big bluffs, clean gravel bars, cold clear water, eagles soaring....its really awesome. and...i enjoy jet boats.

 

[semojetman]

The current River is beautiful. And like you said, the locals think they own it.

Well, to a point I think they deserve a little recognition for being there through everything but it a great river that should be enjoyed by all that love that sort of thing.

They complain about "tourist", but they should just be happy that they have something nice enough that people want to come see it.

I am not a river local, but not a far away visiting tourist.
I was born and raised in Poplar Bluff MO but own property near river in Ripley County.
Grew up with friends in Grandin,Hunter, Ellsinore, Doniphan, and other towns close to the river.

 

[georgiaken]

There are definitely some wide open places on the river as well, with less ledges, boulders and rocks, but yeah, it tends to be pretty wide.

The river has a few impoundments between dams where people can run props, but even there, they ave to know the place or they might hit.

When you learn different areas, you can run them without a lot of issues.

We use river gauge height to determine when the best times are to go out...strictly in terms of the river (we use the weather to, for fishing)...

 

[Scottinva]

I have been away for a while and just have a few comments. Yes the Susky is that bad. I fish there and the James River and New River in VA. The James gets so low in the summer that you literally have to drive over rocks to get to water. Thus the need for the heavy duty boat. Another comment - it was stated that you would lose performance with a tunnel because the motor was higher. I think this is a little flawed. I have a 6" hydraulic jackplate on my boat and I run the fastest when it it all the way up and pretty much of he jet is out of the water. If I lower it an inch I lose performance. For the record, I run a 16x60 Snyder Mod V with tunnel and with a 115 Etec. UHMW bottom and UHMW intake with a 6" hydraulic jackplate. Optaylor do you have a Jackplate on your Snyder?? Any comments on that?

Scott

 

[semojetman]

After seeing what these guys over in VA and over there are running, I have to admit, we do not have rocks, We run our boats through pillows and mattresses compared to some of the stuff I've seen from over there.

 

[Lil' Blue Rude]

I wasn't sayin it doesn't help to trim your motor up it hurts performance to raise the motor up too much. I can get my boat to lay down flat when I'm running wide open down river off a shoal and it won't bounce if I keep triming it gets to the point it starts to slow down because the jet is raised to high, it doesn't cavitate or any thing like that you just feel it lose speed and I can look at the gps and it will have lost a mph.
Yeah you guys have it ruff there for sure, If someone knew what they were doing and had the guts to could they make it through a place like that without spliting a normal boat open? Don't think I would want to take my boat through that, maybe a junker that could pick up cheap, but not mine. It would be wild ride and make for a real good youtube video. :mrgreen:

 

[optaylor823]

I do have a jack plate on my Snyder. I also agree that if I drop the motor I lose some performance. The only time I ever drop the jack plate down is if the water gets a little choppy and the motor goes to sucking air. I can still trim the motor up a little with the jack plate all the way up, but I only do that when I am running real shallow water, because it also seem to make the performance drop. Like I said earlier tunnels are great on some boats, but not meant for all. I feel the same way about jack plates.