A 10hp kicker and a river: What kind of boat?

speedbird

speedbird

Life of the Party
My Dad is selling our Bayliner, (A great condition hull but unfortunately with multitudes of engine problems. If you want to take it off our hands I can send you pictures! It’s a 94 Cierra 2355) but we are taking our time with finding a more seaworthy replacement. In the mean time, he wants to invest in a river craft and I have absolutely no objections whatsoever. I might talk him into an NRS raft and a simple frame, but we are keeping the 10hp Mercury kicker from our boat and he wants to put it to use. I can think of a ton of good fishing you can get done in a cheap old aluminum boat and that kicker: Sloughs around the Snohomish, lower Skagit, and weather dependent I bet it would be perfect for chasing cutty coho and chum in the south sound. But if I am honest, the times I most wish for a watercraft are the pristine drifts on rivers where you can’t bring a motor. I found some cheap older smaller jet sleds for sale, and good prices on older lunds, but I also know that NRS sells an outboard bracket: Could I mount that kicker on the back of a raft and use it to motor upstream or mill around lower river frog water, and then take it off when I want to explore places like the Yakima or OP? How crazy is mounting an outboard to a drift boat? Some guys online do it but every forum post I see about it regards it as a crazy idea
 
A drift boat with outboard is probably the most common do it all boat you'll see here in OR, for their simple utility. Motor on for lakes, sloughs and placid rivers, motor off to drift the faster rivers.
Hard to beat a 90's Clackacraft for such, they have a straighter rocker than most tin drift boats so are a bit faster under power, and are quieter and warmer than tin. Keep your eye on CL and be willing to drive, you'll find one for around 4K or so. The older Clacks can be hand for 3K, tend to be a bit narrower in the beam, so a tad slower under power, float a bit deeper in the water.
Check the trailer well for corrosion and such, galvanized best of course. If the frame is decent enough to warrant a sand down and repaint, a new axle/hub/bearings assembly can be purchased from Potter-Webster for $300 or so, figure $150 for new rims and tires.
 
Drift boat (metal or glass) with motor is incredibly versatile. I haven’t been able to convince myself to do it (bought a sled instead) but it is the fishing craft of choice of most folks that I know.
 
There is always a trade-off when trying to do multiple things with just one boat.
Maybe you need two? 😉
Something like a 13’ Smokercraft Alaskan or similar would be pretty versatile from using the outboard you have point of things.
It would get you there and on the water but no speed records would be set.
SF
 
Kashf said:
My Dad is selling our Bayliner, (A great condition hull but unfortunately with multitudes of engine problems. If you want to take it off our hands I can send you pictures! It’s a 94 Cierra 2355) but we are taking our time with finding a more seaworthy replacement. In the mean time, he wants to invest in a river craft and I have absolutely no objections whatsoever. I might talk him into an NRS raft and a simple frame, but we are keeping the 10hp Mercury kicker from our boat and he wants to put it to use. I can think of a ton of good fishing you can get done in a cheap old aluminum boat and that kicker: Sloughs around the Snohomish, lower Skagit, and weather dependent I bet it would be perfect for chasing cutty coho and chum in the south sound. But if I am honest, the times I most wish for a watercraft are the pristine drifts on rivers where you can’t bring a motor. I found some cheap older smaller jet sleds for sale, and good prices on older lunds, but I also know that NRS sells an outboard bracket: Could I mount that kicker on the back of a raft and use it to motor upstream or mill around lower river frog water, and then take it off when I want to explore places like the Yakima or OP? How crazy is mounting an outboard to a drift boat? Some guys online do it but every forum post I see about it regards it as a crazy idea
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Drift boats, as have been suggested above, are modeled (usually) after sea dory boats, so a motor can work, but how well is the question. A couple of challenges/things spring to mind:

  • Drift boats tend to have a lot of rocker (curvature from bow to stern), which means they will tend to react poorly to sudden/hard acceleration. Fixed trim tabs could help with that, but I think you'd have to make them yourself as I've never seen a drift boat with them.
    • I imagine the 10hp motor you've got would work fine for a 16'+ drift boat, but much shorter than that and I'd be wary. Even with 10hp, I'd be wary as your stern may get pushed down quite a bit and the more that happens the harder steering will be.
      • Even with a 16' boat, especially in rivers, I imagine it wouldn't turn quickly or well in reaction to emerging situations like rocks or logs.
Source: Anecdotal based on a lifetime of using outboards on boats that run the gamut from canoe to sailboat, dory to C-Ranger Tug, and quite a few watercraft design books.
 
Stonedfish said:
There is always a trade-off when trying to do multiple things with just one boat.
Maybe you need two? 😉
Something like a 13’ Smokercraft Alaskan or similar would be pretty versatile from using the outboard you have point of things.
It would get you there and on the water but no speed records would be set.
SF
Click to expand...
If I had unlimited money I would probably own a small navy! That smokercraft style boat looks nice and would be perfect for most rivers I want to fish. I bet I could take that out on a nice day in the south sound too. Would it be a usable rowing boat out in the OP or on the Yak?

Just like with big boats the best way to find out is probably to sea trial it…if anyone has any river boat of any style with room for a second person, I’d love to go out with you. If its got an outboard I can foot the gas bill for the day, if its got oars we can work something else for now, but I will be more than happy to do some rowing for you once I pick up my own boat
 
Kashf said:
If I had unlimited money I would probably own a small navy! That smokercraft style boat looks nice and would be perfect for most rivers I want to fish. I bet I could take that out on a nice day in the south sound too. Would it be a usable rowing boat out in the OP or on the Yak?

Just like with big boats the best way to find out is probably to sea trial it…if anyone has any river boat of any style with room for a second person, I’d love to go out with you. If its got an outboard I can foot the gas bill for the day, if its got oars we can work something else for now, but I will be more than happy to do some rowing for you once I pick up my own boat
Click to expand...

You would not want to take the Smokecraft for rowing the OP or the Yakima.
SF
 
Stonedfish said:
There is always a trade-off when trying to do multiple things with just one boat.
Maybe you need two? 😉
Something like a 13’ Smokercraft Alaskan or similar would be pretty versatile from using the outboard you have point of things.
It would get you there and on the water but no speed records would be set.
SF
Click to expand...
My boat/fishing addiction is strong enough that if the 9.9 was too slow I’d probably dig up the money for a 25hp jet outboard for it some years down the line. How far upriver could I run that kicker in the S rivers though? I see guys super high up like on the Marblemount-Rockport section or on the Sultan-Monroe section of the Sky using prop kickers to control their drift. The wisdom is to not run prop boats upriver over here, but is it draft dependent? Or is it just a matter of taking it slow and watching where I put the prop
 
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