What bass boat would you recommend multi-use lake/river. Shallow draft a must.

[retiredbosn]

I am looking at upgrading my current set up. I love to smallie fish and live on the Greenbrier River, not the deepest river in the world. I am hoping I can find a boat that I can multi-purpose with, in other words lake and river fish. Aluminum hull is a must, and shallow draft a must, think like 6" if needed, for the ripples, they are not rapids until they are class II or above. So who makes the shallowest aluminum hulled boat?

[TopDog]

Give this guy a call. He should help you out.

http://www.jetdoctor.net/

[Way2slow]

Sounds like you're looking for an aluminum tunnel hull or possibly a jet drive, no other boat with a motor on the back is going to run in 6" of water. A tunnel hull with a hydraulic jack plate is you're best option. Jet drives run shallow but since they are nothing but a huge vaccum system, they don't do well in shallow water over a dirt or sandy bottom. They suck up huge amounts of dirt/sand and it's causes severe wair problems on the screw and housing. If you're concern if rocks, trees and limbs, not sand bars, the jet drive would probably be better.

As for the boat itself, it's going to be what size you want.  The lighter the boat and the more hull surface area it has, the shallower it's goig to float.  A 350 pound 16x48 is going to ride shallower than a 350 pound 16x42

[cart7t]

Unfortunately,  getting a rig set up for running in shallow rivers with a jet drive will put you at a ride disadvantage if you decide to go to a lake.  There are a few places here in Missouri that specialize in building custom river boats that will run in inches of water on this states Ozark rivers but I wouldn't want to take that same boat to a lake, at least not one that had even a little chop on the water.  

[retiredbosn]

Thanks fellas, I'm checking into the draft of a basstracker.  I have a few spots that I would actually put my glass boat into, of well thanks.

[Crowcommander]

WOW!!! What a website!!! The Jet Doctor is awsome. Will definetly call tommorrow and get a whale tail and spray bar for my 1650 express. Just had a 40 jet installed and its spraying water in big time. Its amazing what you can learn just by reading the titles of forums.

[mikesjet]

I have a spectrum dominator (for all intent is a bass tracker mod. V) with a Merc 60hp jet.  I can run in less than a foot of water when on plane.  I take the same boat since it is my only boat to very large lakes also with no ill effects other than the lack of speed and what becomes very apparent, the low effeciency of the jet drive.  I wouldn't get rid of it for anything but I do want to purchase a glass boat with a much bigger "hammer" hanging off the rear for the lakes.

[gatorblazer]

www.gatorjetboats.com

not exactly a cost effective boat when you compare it to a tracker, but it combines a big boat feel with a real shallow draft when running.  plus they have big block chevy's in them