Anybody with much experience on the new hull design? Does it ride any better than the previous hulls? What about the livewell? Does it splash / spray when you hit waves being that its on the bow now? Does the livewell beat up fish? I like the weight forward idea and roomy layout of the boat, seems like it would be nice. Anyone install a jackplate on one yet?
Looking into trading off for one, just looking for general information from first hand users.
Thanks!
My brother has had a 2010 1860SC for a couple of months now. He loves it. I've fished out of it a couple of times and it seems like a nice boat. It rides fairly good considering it's a jon boat. The foward fuel tank and livewell design keeps the nose from bouncing around when you're running in choppy water. You will get a little wet though if you don't hit the waves just right. It's really stable to fish from and there's all kinds of room to move around. He's got the 90HP 4-stroke and it pushes it to about 41 mph, gps with both of us, 1/4 tank of gas, and tackle.
2014 Skeeter TZX190
150 Yamaha Vmax HPDI
Thanks for responding!
I think it will be a good boat, and definately will have plenty of room. I will also be putting on a 4 stroke 90 hp, and thats the mph range I was expecting.
Have you rode in it with the livewell full yet? That has been my biggest worry.. usually most bow livewells arent good designs, and can beat your fish up. They also have a tendency to splash out on occaision. G3 claims they have redesigned the livewell to have an improved overflow and new drain system, so I was kind of wondering about that.
Thanks again though!
Ok, just thought I'd give an update for anyone interested. Got the new boat this summer... runs 39 mph one person full tank of gas (20 gal). I went ahead and lined the metal compartment lids with automotive trim and that really helped any metal-to-metal vibrating / noise. The weight forward fuel tank really smooths out your ride... its by far the smoothest riding and best wave taking hunting style aluminum boat out there IMO. Obviously your more semi-V glossed high performance series like the HP's will ride smoother, but for a beat around multi-purpose jon I feel this is the best comprimise.
The livewell hasnt splashed out on me yet and has kept fish alive in 8 hour tournaments. I did add a timed bubbler to the system for extra insurance. Storage is great and there is plenty of room to do some cartwheels if necessary. I have alot of weight in the boat (3 batteries and a 3 bank charger) and it sits pretty level in the water and seems to handle very nicely. The accessory rigging tube is also a nice update from the previous styles that almost required removing the entire rivoted sides from the boat to get accessories in it.
Highly recommended.
Modified by TommyBass at 7:18 AM 11/24/2010
Thanks for the info, I have been looking at the center console version.
Another update:
Ive fished several more tournaments out of this boat and it does great. The livewell size is very nice and holds a huge limit of fish easily. The only dislike I have so far is how much bow spray I get. I havnt quite figured out how to hit waves just right to stop it, but it seems like if there is any high wind and you angle into the waves it will blow it over the sides as well. For as deep of sides as this boat has you get pretty wet driving it in high seas. Its never felt unsafe though. I still highly recommend the new style though. If its just slightly choppy out it rides far and above better than the older model hulls.
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