Jump to content

Thread for Skiff Owners

Rate this topic


AndyS

Recommended Posts

Guys, I'm a new boat owner as of last spring. I bought a new Key West 16 1/2 footer, a 166 SK to be exact. Posted a few pics here so you can see my rig.

 

Key West is fairly new to the Skiff market, so I've had a tough time finding other Key West owners to converse with. As such, I'm eager to hear from other owners of skiffs of any brand - Carolina, Sundance, etc. etc. Now I know a lot of guys refer to their boats as a skiff. For me a skiff is a skiff - pretty much a flat bottom boat maybe with or without a modified v hull. Generally a light weight rig that is made for fishing skinny waters in the back bays, creeks, lakes, and rivers. Obviously on the right days, we can venture into the inlets and maybe even off the beach, but for the most part these are true back bay, skinny water boats.

 

I'd love to hear from other skiff owners that fish our mid-atlantic waters. Where do you fish and how do you fish? How do you have your skiff rigged, what do you like an what don't you like? As an example, I'm considering adding a power pole to my Key West, and maybe even a little poling platform over the engine to occasionally pole the flats of south jersey. I'd love to hear if anyone else is doing this from a skiff? In this case I am referring specifically to skiffs like Carolina, etc. - not to flats boats that are typically rigged with poling platforms.

 

At any rate, I have no idea how many skiff owners are out their that frequent SOL. Maybe this thread won't go very far, but who knows maybe other skiff owners are looking to get and share advice specific to this type of boat?

 

Again, here are a few pics of my rig. If there is interest I'll share more details about what I like, what I don't like, and some things I learned in my first year with the boat.

 

1000

 

1000

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well Congrats, and it is a nice looking rig. You will have plenty of fun in here.

 

That being said, I owned 2 different carolina skiffs, they are wet, and will beat the snot out of you.

 

I assume that you will be boating in the deleware and deleware bay? If so, you will have a HARD time getting a lot of summer boating on the bay or ocean. I know because I also live in a north-south body of water, and summers are packed with strong south winds. Making south-north water hard if not impossible to fish in a skiff. That being said, there are plenty of great opportunities in spring and fall where you should see some great fishing and weather(wind).

 

One thing to watch for, but I have no idea of the construction of the Key West, is beware of foam-FILLED boats. Both my skiffs had hundreds of pounds of water soaked in the foam. The skins were so thin, once you mounted anything in the boat, it would leak into the foam cavity and just fill the foam. Two-part foam DOES soak up water when constantly immersed.

 

Not trying to disappoint you, i know it comes across as that, just trying to alert you to some concerning areas I have noticed over time

Link to comment
Share on other sites


My Sturdee was used 10 to 1 over my 18ft Maritime Skiff. A 3 gallon tank of gas gets me about 6 hours of fishing. I carry 2 extra 1 gallon containers to extend my time out. GPS and Fishfinder all you need. Great boat! I do miss my 14ft Carolina with a 25 on the back. This would fly and had a great casting platform on the front.



 



<br />



 



<br />


Spend all my free time on the boat searching for fish that don't count.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guys, great looking Stur-Dees. Interested in what you target and where you primarily fish?

 

Chief, I had the boat in the Delaware Bay once this past season. I launched at Husteds Landing. Enjoyed navigating through and fishing the creek, and spent 3 or 4 hours on the Bay that day and loaded up on many weakfish. It was a fun day and I had no issues. The Bay is a big body of water, and I will pick my days wisely when I do venture out on the Bay. I'll also stay relatively close to port so I can tuck back inside quickly if needed.

 

I always hear people complain about the pounding in a skiff. I never really felt like I got pounded in year one, but again I mainly fish in the back and try to be careful picking my days. I trailer the boat so can take it wherever I want to. A good deal of my time on the water this past year was in the Absecon area waters (behind Brigantine), and also the water behind Sea Isle like Ludlam Bay. I learned alot, but have much more to learn. Hopefully my Key West is built to last, and I won't experience water getting into the foam. I guess only time will tell. Right now I haven't even started season 2, and probably have about 30 hours on the motor. Hopefully lots of enjoyment and fish await.

 

I would really be eager to know if anyone has a power pole installed on their skiff. I can see that as being a really effective tool to anchor down effortlessly in skinny water. I can see myself installing a powerpole before installing a polling platform. Doubt I will do either for this next season, but it's fun to think about next upgrades.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For power pole, I think you'd get more out of a forum like th ehu lltr uth.c om. That site has a lot more Florida guys on it, who use poles a lot more than us up in the NE.

 

To the foam, here's the easiest way to keep an eye on it. As I said I dont know the construction type, so I don't even know if this is an issue. Look around your house for a scale, like a truck scale, or scrapyard scale. Go there and talk to the guys, explain what you're doing, and why. Also, make a list of equipment on the boat, and any time you install something new, write it in like colored marker/pencil and list it's weight. Then go to this place every year and weigh the boat. If you start to get waterlogged foam, it will show(should you keep good records of how you weight it, like what gear is installed). My j16 carolina skiff had 342 lbs of water in it. Thats a LOT of water for a very light boat. If you go yearly, throw the guy $5 to weigh it, very easy insurance. If you see it go up, this might be something you can catch before it gets bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Most of my fishing is in the East end Long Island sound, R.I, Fishers Island and a few spots on Cape Cod. Mostly fish for  Stripers, Blues, Albies and various other fish depending whats out there. That being said, This type of boat is more of a fair weather boat. I have been in rough water many times with it and it will be slow going and not very comfortable. If the weather is bad I'll sometimes head to the big rivers and fish. It's great for fishing with one or two on-board. It's a great economic boat to run and maintain.


Spend all my free time on the boat searching for fish that don't count.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For power pole, I think you'd get more out of a forum like th ehu lltr uth.c om. That site has a lot more Florida guys on it, who use poles a lot more than us up in the NE.

 

To the foam, here's the easiest way to keep an eye on it. As I said I dont know the construction type, so I don't even know if this is an issue. Look around your house for a scale, like a truck scale, or scrapyard scale. Go there and talk to the guys, explain what you're doing, and why. Also, make a list of equipment on the boat, and any time you install something new, write it in like colored marker/pencil and list it's weight. Then go to this place every year and weigh the boat. If you start to get waterlogged foam, it will show(should you keep good records of how you weight it, like what gear is installed). My j16 carolina skiff had 342 lbs of water in it. Thats a LOT of water for a very light boat. If you go yearly, throw the guy $5 to weigh it, very easy insurance. If you see it go up, this might be something you can catch before it gets bad.

 

342 lbs = 40ish gallons ~ about enough to fill a bathtub or 8 five gallon buckets. You're right thats a lot of weigh for a small craft. It's like hauling two extra bodies along.

 

Good tip about weighing the stuff you install.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a CS 198DLV. I like it. 8' beam makes it a roomy, stable platform. I don't find it to be a wet boat. My previous boat was a 15' Mckee craft tri-hull. Now that was a wet boat. There were times in that skiff that I felt like I was going to drown at the wheel:shock:. But my DLV has much higher gunnels and the modified V design does a good job of deflecting spray. If the wind is greater than 15 knots and the chop is more than 1-2', I will get some spray when running into the wind, but really not much. As for the ride, again, a world better than the Mckee, but still not great running into a tight chop. Running down sea is not usually bad at all. It all depends on the period. As far as water in the hull, it has been an issue for some. From what I understand, the foam they use now is closed cell and does not absorb water. But what can happen (in any boat that has encapsulated foam) is that water can get trapped in the voids betweer the hull and deck. Most guys who have drilled into their hulls to get the trapped water out have found a negligible amount of water. Unless your boat starts to sit differently in the water, or your performance (cruise speed, time to plane) begins to drop off, I would not worry about it.

 

My skiff has a forward and aft casting platform, so I love to go out and plug the back bays and drift the flats for fluke. I also take it up to 10 miles off the beach on a nice day to fish the deep fluke spots and hit he wrecks and reefs. WOuld like to add a trolling motor when the budget allows as it will make the plugging and the fluking easier.

 

Best of luck with your new boat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Quote:

Originally Posted by Swanney View Post

Stur-Dee/Sturdee/Sturdy (spelled 3 different ways by 3 different owners biggrin.gif) are sweet.

I haven't seen one before but now I want one.



Made in RI one at a time. Used ones can be hard to find in good condition.


Spend all my free time on the boat searching for fish that don't count.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

See this is unfair. I can't find 1 Key West skiff owner to converse with. I make a post about skiffs, and in a couple days the Sturdee guys got a little clique going! LOL Nice looking skiffs guys. Hopefully we can kind of keep this skiff thread going, and keep updating with our exploits.

 

quiknet - I know the CS DLVs well and looked hard at them. Really nice boat and I'm not surprised to hear you are pleased with it. I actually wound up going with a smaller rig, primarily because I needed to keep it in my garage. I was really pushing it even looking at the 178 DLV or the Key West equivalent which I believe is the 177 SK. Everything is a trade-off. I can fish comfortably in my boat with 3 guys, but a 4th is pushing it. I really do like the fact I can zip around in the back all day and never burn more than 5 gallons of gas. Any chance you can post up some pics of your rig? If you ever have any questions on the trolling motor, I'll do my best to help with my experience. Also, what kind of electronics do you have on the DLV?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to register here in order to participate.

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


×
×
  • Create New...