Hi All:
I’ve just started down the path of considering to sell my bass boat & replace it was an airboat. I live in central Florida near some trophy bass fisheries but they are all VERY painful to fish effectively with a modern bass boat like I have. A professional guide who lets me store my boat at his house has an airboat & bass boat but uses his airboat 80% of the time. He has also offered to teach me to drive one since my only experience with air boats is as a passenger. So I have some basic questions that hopefully will help begin to inform my decision Since I really no nothing about airboats except for some recent basic reading.
Fishing parameters/airboat req’ts:
- budget is probably $35K max. Used boat from a known manufacturer, not a kit our home built
- marine version of an auto engine, not an aircraft engine
- 98% of the time I will be fishing alone or with one other normal sized adult, Occassionally my wife will want to take out another couple + the 2 of us for scenic touring.
- To get to my prime location I will need to cross over 2 levies so some basic capability to run dry for a short distance is needed
- Areas I will be fishing include the 3 Forks Marsh, Lake Garcia, Stick Marsh & Kennesville
My guide buddy says all I’d need is a 14’ x 8’ but I have no idea of the horsepower I’ll need? Does this make sense?
How much will this size boat & trailer weigh?
How many hrs on an engine is reasonable that it is still in it’s “prime’? I used to own a 35’ Luhrs fly bridge sport fishing boat with twin 350 hp catapillers & when I bought the boat it only had 500 hrs on the engines so they were barely broken in but I don‘t know anything about these types of engines …
Are there different configurations for the airboat layout that I should be considering? pros & cons of them?
I’m assuming I want a poly & not slick bottom?
Other big considerations that I need to think about?
My next step is to go visit the couple of airboat places here locally, I’m only about 18 miles from Cocoa Beach and it looks like there are 3 different ones in the area.
Looking forward to getting smart enough so I can make an informed decision about whether I want to do this & then start looking for the right boat.
I’ve just started down the path of considering to sell my bass boat & replace it was an airboat. I live in central Florida near some trophy bass fisheries but they are all VERY painful to fish effectively with a modern bass boat like I have. A professional guide who lets me store my boat at his house has an airboat & bass boat but uses his airboat 80% of the time. He has also offered to teach me to drive one since my only experience with air boats is as a passenger. So I have some basic questions that hopefully will help begin to inform my decision Since I really no nothing about airboats except for some recent basic reading.
Fishing parameters/airboat req’ts:
- budget is probably $35K max. Used boat from a known manufacturer, not a kit our home built
- marine version of an auto engine, not an aircraft engine
- 98% of the time I will be fishing alone or with one other normal sized adult, Occassionally my wife will want to take out another couple + the 2 of us for scenic touring.
- To get to my prime location I will need to cross over 2 levies so some basic capability to run dry for a short distance is needed
- Areas I will be fishing include the 3 Forks Marsh, Lake Garcia, Stick Marsh & Kennesville
My guide buddy says all I’d need is a 14’ x 8’ but I have no idea of the horsepower I’ll need? Does this make sense?
How much will this size boat & trailer weigh?
How many hrs on an engine is reasonable that it is still in it’s “prime’? I used to own a 35’ Luhrs fly bridge sport fishing boat with twin 350 hp catapillers & when I bought the boat it only had 500 hrs on the engines so they were barely broken in but I don‘t know anything about these types of engines …
Are there different configurations for the airboat layout that I should be considering? pros & cons of them?
I’m assuming I want a poly & not slick bottom?
Other big considerations that I need to think about?
My next step is to go visit the couple of airboat places here locally, I’m only about 18 miles from Cocoa Beach and it looks like there are 3 different ones in the area.
Looking forward to getting smart enough so I can make an informed decision about whether I want to do this & then start looking for the right boat.