how deep is not deep enough

last weekend I was out in my 86 ranger 390 V on truman lake. I put in at the deep water boat ramp, I havent been on that part of the lake before so I was verry causiouse. I watched a couple of boats a pontoon and a aluminum v-hull cross some flats and head under the bridge to what looked like good fishing. So i slowly cruised over that way but when I got about 75 yards from the bridge I could feel the boat start to drag http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/eek.gif http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/sweating.gif http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/praying.gif and the depth finder was reading 2 ft. of water. (I had already raised the motor) I backed out and didnt try to go on through http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/mad.gif . I know I wsa in the same place they crossed. do you think they realy have that much shalower draft, or were they able to pass do to the increased speed at which they were traveling.

Those old ranger draft pretty deep while resting and going slow. The extra speed helps a tremendous amount in the fact that you have more boat out of the water. I had a 89 364v and have crossed water that you could hardly troll through do the the bottom dragging, but up on plane went across no problem. The main thing is rocks or stumps, it is clear water then trim up and hammer down http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif (with in reason or course)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2100greenmonster &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Those old ranger draft pretty deep while resting and going slow. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yup, knowing the lake and running on plane will get you there but you gotta know what's down there. Course, if it's really skinny you should get a jet. Had a jet on a 17' CC jonboat that ran WOT in 3.5"--great river set-up.

you really need to know that lake, they more than likely were in the channel and you weren't. It doesn't take much to be out of the channel, I know I'm still learning the lake. and always have someone with me that knows the lake a lot better than I do.

Thanks for the info, I will wait until I learn more about the area before I get gung ho. I dont want to get stuck.

A narrow cut channel would make since. Another thing to think about is with your boat being an 86, is it possible it has been rained in quite a bit and has waterlogged floatation foam adding a bunch of weight and making it sit lower in the water? Had a buddy who had that problem with a boat he had for years. He took up the flooring, took out and replaced all the waterlogged foam, and was just shocked and how different his boat performed afterwards. Just an idea.

Had a similar situation when Lake Travis was really low last year. At the ramp a guy told me I could make it through this low water area, that it was about 2 ft deep. Didn't try it that morning, but when comig back in I was having major engine trouble so I decided to go that route to save some time. I followed a ski boat exactly through the cut...except he was on plane and I wasn't due to the engine issues. Cost me a prop when I hit the rock bottom that he had cleared right over.