What year(s) did present bass boat design start?

[Black Bass]

How far back did the current design for hulls, decks, and storage-live wells etc. start?

[Brian_Reeves]

I'm assuming that the designs started to become more evolved and specialized around the late '50s and '60s when bass tournament and recreation fishing started really taking off.  Before that, because of limited tackle and media exposure, I don't think there was all that much of a market for bass fishing.  I'd say that the compartamentalized designs that we have today came from around that time.  Things like livewells, rodboxes, and consoles...that sort of thing.

The hull designs actually remind me of some designs that first started appearing in Navy warships and patrol craft from the '20s to the '60s when awareness and knowledge of hydrodynamics and aerodynamics became more abundant.  Before that, ships and boats weren't nearly as streamlined or hydrodynamic as they are in these "modern" times.  

Now that's all my guesses, but I hope it gives you something to go off of for your question.  It's pretty generalized but should point you near the right directions.

[cart7t]

Let's see. These may not be 100%, I'm going by memory.

The original Skeeter boat came out in the early 60's if I recall. Mainly a narrow, shallow draft boat with 2 fishing seats that could slip in and out of shallow water big bass haunts.

By the late 60's, the cathedral style hull bass boats came out. Still no decks but the swivel seats were on pedestals. There was an occasional storage box.  Then Cathedral hulls went to raised decks.  Horsepower started increasing so the need for a faster platform was becoming evident. Tournament angling saw guys wanting to go farther and get there faster and SAFER then the current cathedral hulls could manage. Anyone that ever rode in one of those knows what a back breaking ride they gave.  

I'm not sure if it was Ranger, Hydrosports or whom created the first pad hull bassboat in the early 70's.  The boats were V's by nature but boat designers felt a V hull bass boat with elevated casting decks would be too tippy so they added sponsons on the sides.  Typical horsepower for these was around 115, a few 18 footers that would take a Merc Tower of Power 150 were produced.  This was the first real heyday of high performance bassboating with bells and whistles, lots of storage, livewells and guys trying to get every drop of speed out of their boats as possible.

About 1975 Skeeter showed up at a tounament in Texas with the most radical design to date. A true V hull, around 16 feet long but much wider than the typical Sponsoned V's that were out then.  Those who rode in those early Wranglers described the boats as a wild ride, not a very good boat at all but that was all it took,  it proved you could have a true V hull with raised decks and it not be tippy if the boat was wide enough.  Champion later refined the V hull *** couple years later when they took a Hydro Stream, high performance speed boat, modified the hull and built a 16 1/2 foot bass boat.  That was the boat that really got the ball rolling.  From there the hulls have been lengthened, widened, tweaked, modified, new building materials used, etc. but the basic design is still there.  

To answer your question best, most of the stuff like storage boxes, livewells, raised casting decks, swivel fishing seats, etc probably became industry standard by around 1970-1972.  Boat design, especially in hulls is what has evolved the most over the years.

[RobDar]

present bass boat style....

hmm...do you mean with the front and rear fishing decks and all?

I am going to go against the grain here and disagree with everyone. I think that effort towards hull designs and low wide boats began as long as the 70's...but as far as real, functional bass boats...as late as the late 80's and early 90's. If you look at boats as recent as 87-92 they did not have much of a front deck and not alot of rear deck either to speak of...they were really more fish and ski style...the boats were really other hull made for other purposes adapted to be "bass style" boats. Boats like skeeter etc while called bass boats were actually building fishing boats...and the boats were designed to be used by multi species anglers...

dedicated bass style boats like you see on the water today...built to satisfy the needs of bass anglers and only bass anglers...with big decks and quality storage and electronics...I think that is about as recents as the early 90's

[Its a big one]

1984

[cart7t]

present bass boat style....

hmm...do you mean with the front and rear fishing decks and all?

I am going to go against the grain here and disagree with everyone. I think that effort towards hull designs and low wide boats began as long as the 70's...but as far as real, functional bass boats...as late as the late 80's and early 90's. If you look at boats as recent as 87-92 they did not have much of a front deck and not alot of rear deck either to speak of...they were really more fish and ski style...the boats were really other hull made for other purposes adapted to be "bass style" boats. Boats like skeeter etc while called bass boats were actually building fishing boats...and the boats were designed to be used by multi species anglers...

dedicated bass style boats like you see on the water today...built to satisfy the needs of bass anglers and only bass anglers...with big decks and quality storage and electronics...I think that is about as recents as the early 90's

Make no mistake.  Bassboats as early as the first Skeeter were a species specific boat.  Hull design merely followed what was popular and feasible at the time.  In the beginning there wasn't a great need for wide, long boats because nobody fished in a manner to make that kind of hull or boat popular.  Popular bass methods of the time involved fishing in shallow areas with heavy cover, not exactly what a TR-20 Triton is suited best for. As tournament angling became more popular and anglers wanted to go farther distances, the early cathedral, trihull boats just weren't suitable. So the sponsoned V hull was developed.  I can tell you as someone that owned a 1976 Charger Pad hull bassboat, that it was no fish n ski.    But whether you look at the old Ranger TR10 style boats from the early 70's, to the Skeeter, Hydrosports,etc. style pad hull boats from the mid to late 70's into the early 80's and then the V-hulls that we know today, there's no doubt those are bass boats, not fish and ski's. (The fish and ski bassboat was developed by Cajun boats in the mid 70's BTW)  

The bassboats you see produced today aren't much different in hull design than the Champion V hulls made in the late 70's early 80's.  In fact, it is only the style in the way we bass fish, with tournament anglers wanting to fish with both anglers at the front of the boat, fishing further from the takeoff area, larger livewells, larger storage boxes and bigger, faster, more fuel efficient OB motors that have driven the boat's width & length to the dimensions they are today.  

[Nick_Barr]

I was just reading about the History of Skeeter Boats today and at a tournament the "WRANGLER" was introdueced in the mid 70's, which blew everybodies mind, although not a GREAT Boat. Then to take even a bigger risk in 1979 Skeeter Unveiled the "STARFIRE" Series of boats which was one of the first TRUE Aggressive High Performance Speedy BASS BOAT Hull. Trust me, I have a 84 Starfire, and its just as good of a hull as some of todays smaller bass boats. So to be Exact, the Hulls of today really spawned off of the Starfire Series from skeeter in the late 70's.

[cart7t]

I was just reading about the History of Skeeter Boats today and at a tournament the "WRANGLER" was introdueced in the mid 70's, which blew everybodies mind, although not a GREAT Boat. Then to take even a bigger risk in 1979 Skeeter Unveiled the "STARFIRE" Series of boats which was one of the first TRUE Aggressive High Performance Speedy BASS BOAT Hull. Trust me, I have a 84 Starfire, and its just as good of a hull as some of todays smaller bass boats. So to be Exact, the Hulls of today really spawned off of the Starfire Series from skeeter in the late 70's.

Well, that's Skeeters take on things.  The Wrangler proved that a true V hull was fishable, not tippy even with elevated casting platforms, and didn't require the stabilizing sponsons as long as the hull was wide enough. It was in 1977 or early 1978 that the first Champion 16' 8" SuperV came out.  Based on a Hydra Stream performance boat hull, it did everything the Wrangler didn't.  The Starfire came out in 1979 IIRC.  Right about the time Champion introduced the first 20ft bass boat hull based on their SuperV 86" hull.  Many of those early V hulls like the Starfire and SuperV's, (not the Wrangler) continue to be great hulls to run even after over 25 years.  Not a lot has changed as far as the hull design since then which is why some of those early models are so cherished by their owners.  I know I love mine.  The ride on my 184DC is one of the best in the business even after all these years.

[Glenn]

Perhaps of interest...

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/bass_boat_features.html

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/ranger_boats.html

[Keithscatch]

Nice articles Glenn. I was going to add that Skeeter invented the "bass boat" in 1948.

[cart7t]

ESPN2 had one of those bass fishing shows on this morning that gave a pretty good synopsis of the history of the bassboat.  The timeline was pretty close to what I stated earlier in the thread.  Most of your creature features that became standard on all bassboats, rod boxes, aereated livewells, storage boxes, raised casting decks, pedestals with fishing seats were all in place by the very early 70's.  It's been hull design, engine horsepower (led by the Mercury Black Max 175hp in 1975), trolling motors and hull construction techniques and materials that have changed the most.