New 12'9" Hell's Bay Skiff!!!

[TroutTackler]

This thing would be awesome in the backwater! http://www.hellsbayboatworks.com/hellsbay_skate_feat.html

[zacmac2112]

did you look at the $15,000 tag! you could buy a custom gheenoe, a used yamaha g3 jetboat & maybe a raft for that much.

[Scott Swartz]

A friend of mine designed this skiff so I have watched it from wooden prototypes - to CAD designed - to foam blocks made here in town - to the first production boat. He brought it to Pine Island and we fished it a week ago. It is super shallow, poles like a feather and runs mid 20's with two of us in it with a 15 hp. It is not made for big water but we did eat some big boat wakes and it did surprisingly well. Official introduction at the Ft. Lauderdale boat show this fall. It will be popular as a tender on a lot of big boats.

[zacmac2112]

Scott, I guess that I jumped hastly on the price, but in retrospect, you can easily spend $45-$50K on a fullsize Hells bay so this really is pretty reasonable. Espically when you consider the closest competitor being the east cape gladesmen, which is in the price range.

[Eric Cook]

did you look at the $15,000 tag! you could buy a custom gheenoe, a used yamaha g3 jetboat & maybe a raft for that much.

Well, maybe a really custom Gheenoe and have enough pocket change to buy a new fly rod and a chum block ... er, I mean flies.

4958
4959

Scott,
I can see that boat being fantastic for your water, and on our mud flats as well. I'm assuming it didn't feel like you were in a jon boat even though the size is comparable. How well did it fish two people? I didn't see a capacity spec on the website. And wow, 3 1/2" draft is getting skinny!

Eric

[Scott Swartz]

I did not say anything about its price...just the ride. Eric, no way around it, it's a tiny boat and you are conscience about shifting your weight. The up side is super skinny and poling is a dream. I poled into the wind and into the tide where it was rushing over a bar (around the island where you caught your snook when you were here). It would have been some work pushing a bigger boat and it was a breeze in the skate.

[zacmac2112]

good looking rig Eric! is that the bull sluice special? Ive been looking at the NMZ's pretty hard

[kevin m]

I believe I saw it at the Tampa boat show in September. Good looking boat and well made. I'm still blown away buy the price though. It's 1200 a foot :yikes:. Hard for a po boy to get to fish.

[Shadow]

Ahh, the Cheap Skate.

I presently own a Gladesmen and an 18 HB. I've owned a 16HB, a custom Gheenoe, a couple of modified Jon boats, and a few other custom skiffs.

The most important thing I've learned when it comes to shallow water poling skiffs is "longer really is better". The ride is better ( bridging waves is better than falling in-between them ), poling is easier because they track well, longer boats with the same weight as a shorter skiff draft shallower because the weight is spead-out over a larger surface area. And, when running by yourself with a small kicker, unless you have really big trim tabs or some extra weight in the front, you're going to have some rear-end squat.

I like the looks of the new 12' HB but for around the same money I'd buy a Caimen or the new Inshore 16. Or, call Pugar and get a tricked-out Gheenoe for a fraction of the cost.

Sidebar: Hal will eventually be coming out with a microskiff that will run in the mid 20's with a 15hp and will be 18' long and weigh less than 200lbs.. Of course, it won't be cheap, but like everything else he does, it'll be darn nice.