shallow water

[bassrr]

how shallow is too shallow to run a boat on pad?

[Largemouthlou]

Depends on bottom structure, typ of boat and motor.. I would say most boats when on pad real good about 16" but don't slow down till a lot deeper water and don't make this a practice, cause ya neve know where that rock or stump is.. Louis

[ProcraftMike]

I start getting nervous when I am in 3'-4' of water. I'm sure the boat will probably run in 2' of water when on plane, but coming off of plane, when the rear end sits, is where you need more water underneath you.

[Neilslure]

I have run across 2.5 and 3 ft before. My biggest fear is hitting something, most of the places I have run that shallow were areas I know have soft bottoms and no stumps or rocks.

The time I hit 2.5 I was on Lake Gaston and cut a point to avoid another boat. Gaston is full of shallow stumps, pucker factor was extreme.

[Ranger482V]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Neilslure &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">pucker factor was extreme.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I bet!

[big_o_tom]

When I hit about 10' I go to an idle.

[Largemouthlou]

Hel 2.5 down here is deeep water!!!! Louis

[big_o_tom]

The way Norris and the other lakes around here rise and fall so much if your running in 2-3' of water your definitely asking for it.

[Bender16v]

I don't like to ru a speed in less than 3 FOW, but I know most of the lakes around here. Also I run it in 1.2 FOW from the launch out to the lake all the time...tilted up.

[JoshKeller]

i run on plane in 6+, when i see 5' on the depth finder, i come off plane, trim my motor up until the trim rods are barely pushing up, and idle through until deeper water.

[marshall256]

3" (inches) if you have one of these....

http://www.shallowsportboats.c...t.pdf

It'll even blast-off in 8" (inches).


Modified by marshall256 at 10:46 PM 8/4/2007


Modified by marshall256 at 10:47 PM 8/4/2007

[champion221elite]

I won't get up and run on any lake I'm unfamiliar with unless is very deep like Lake Charlevoix, Torch Lake and so on. I'll cross shallow water about 3-4 feet on plane but thats about it. Any water less than 3 feet deep and I won't cross it any faster than idle. If the lake is full of stumps or rocks, forget getting up on plane. I'll take my time and use the TM, or idle speed with the engine.

[flathead266]

If I see less than 5ft, I'll idle through...Won't take a chance hitting something with the new toy. Would kill me to have a gouge in the hull from being in a hurry.

[Popeye]

I'll be looking into getting one of those shallow sports when I move back to the Texas gulf coast for floundering/red fishing.

[Mike20xdc]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Largemouthlou &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hel 2.5 down here is deeep water!!!! Louis</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm with Louis on this we don't see water much over 7' and run and fish in less than 5' all the time.

[JR19]

If you going to run shallow water you must know the area in order to be safe. I run a gravel bar that is 35 yards long and 2ft deep. If we have had a big rain I always idle it and check for debris then run it on the way back out. I trim the motor up as far as I can and turn about 3500-4000 rpm. If I increase my rpms or trim angle I loose water pressure and my prop does not have any bite. I will not shut down or take off in nothing less than 4ft.

[SkeeterJeff]

I have ran in as low as 1.6'. We were at lake Kissimmee in Feb. and the water levels were down over 3'. We ran the Pig Trail on the north end of Kissimmee at it was THIN! Never came off of plane, and had no problems the first few times through. Had to come off once because of another boat that couldn't decide which side he wanted to run. Put the skeg in the mud, and had to use the trolling motor the rest of the way through.

Most of Kissimme was 5' when we were there. Muck and sand bottom, so the worst we got was some paint sanded off of the skeg.

[illinicobra]

I have run in water I could see the bottom on the miss. river. Mud bottom, but no mud in the roost. I'm guessin' 8-10", but you have to run across that stuff to get into the back waters up here on pool 13.

[weedhopper]

Josh,

You and big_o_tom would never get on plane on most tidal rivers like the Potomac. You can run through 18" or less on a lot of the eastern rivers. However you have to be real careful in the backwaters of some ot the highland lakes with a lot of stumps.

Best RULE OF THUMB: Know your water.....and your boat....

Good Luck,

G-man

[tnjavelin]

+1 for knowing the lake and knowing your boat.

I run Norris, Douglas, Cherokee, Tellico and Ft. Loudon quite often, and all of these lakes are incredibly different, in terms of terrain, bottom composition, current (which effects trash-wash), sudden depth changes, etc.

For example, on Norris, I know that if I'm in less than 10ft of water in the summer, there could easily be a 9ft tall tree submerged, because the lake is super high, and to see water that shallow in the summer, I MUST be near the bank, because it's well over 100ft (yep, that's right, one-hundred +, some places over 200ft) out toward the middle. So, I don't go nutso in that depth.

However, if it's December and there's only 9ft of water, probably there's NOTHING on the bottom except...well, the lake bottom, because the lake is down about 20ft or more and even in 2ft of water, I'm nowhere near the treeline (save for a sunken boat, car, house, bridge, etc.).

However, in Ft. Loudon, especially around Little River, you could be running in 20ft of water, steer left 10yds and suddenly find less than 3ft of water. There is no "minimum limit" standard indicating that you might be getting shallow soon. You just have to know the area, know how to read the channel markers, and hope like hell there's not a washed up tree on the bottom if you DO run on plane in 3ft.