flats boat

[David Collom]

Hi I am new to boat building and am looking for plans for a flats boat. I live on and fish the Indian River.Any ideas? Thank You

[Donn]

David...there are at least a couple of forum members who have built or are building flats boats. One's in FL and one's in TX, IIRC. One member even has 'flatsboat' in his handle.

Try the search feature, up at the top of the page, and search Building & Repair, Designs/Plans, and Misc. Boat Related, and see what you find until someone see's this question.

[DavesFlatsBoat]

For Flats Boats: www.boatplans-online.com (http://www.boatplans-online.com) gets you to see the PH16, PH18, GF18, and XF20 - all very nice designs. http: //www.boatdesigns.com/cgi-bin/store/web_store.cgi?page=flatsflyer.html&&cart_id=1899529_23749#flatsflyer (http://www.boatdesigns.com/cgi-bin/store/web_store.cgi?page=flatsflyer.html&&cart_id=1899529_23749#flatsflyer) - gives you the flats flyer

Now if you are really adventurous - visit www.davesflatcat.com (http://www.davesflatcat.com) - my own design - email me about plans - you'll like the price.

Okay for Shane: http://www.davesflatcat.com/BilltheCat09152003.jpg

[ 03-23-2004, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: DavesFlatsBoat ]

[Wild Dingo]

Show the fella a pic Dave!! :cool:

ahhh I know yer a shy sorta bloke Dave so let me do the honors eh?!

http://www.davesflatcat.com/Launch3.jpg

and the addy is not what you posted either ol son its daves flat cat with an s (http://www.davesflatcat.com/) ;)

[ 03-23-2004, 10:54 AM: Message edited by: Wild Dingo ]

[DavesFlatsBoat]

Thanks to man from Down Under

Dave

[Wild Dingo]

:D :cool:

[whb]

Dave

I probably already asked this but. Do you use a jack on your motor or is it always at the same height.

Howard

[DavesFlatsBoat]

Always at the same height - with a fixed plate (non-adjustable). Wish I could spring for a Bob's Machine Shop plate with a 55HP Jet Pump engine - it would solve Bill's weight sensitivity - too much beef forward and nasty ventilation/cavitation comes into play. But with me and an 11 year old lite weight - it runs very nice with the 35hp - (nice just not really fast)

Dave

[RodB]

I conceptualized a flats boat early on and by recommendation I contacted Tracy OBrien (tracyobrien.com) to design it for me at a very reaonable price. I began by looking at all the flats boats on the Texas coast which incorporated a hydraulic jack plate, plus a tunnel hull, low water pickup, jack plate, a large anticavitation plate, and a 4 bladed prop (very expensive and heavy).

These boats all ran great at full speed but when they slowed down, they had to tilt up the motor because they were heavy and had plenty of draft. When they were ready to go again, they had to get to at least 15-18 inches of water to "do a donut" just to get on a plane again AND when running too shallow, they tore up the enviornment by creating furrows all over the bottom of the bay.

I wanted a shallow water flyfishing boat able to go slow and fast with shallow draft (less than 6 inches).

I decided to go another direction because I had an opportunity to ride in a 16 foot aluminum boat with a special short shallow tunnel at the rear for funneling a good water column up to the jet pump intake. Because the jet pump intake was above the bottom of the hull we ran over logs, and small patches of dry land as easy as pie. I knew this was a great set of capabilies for the shallow coastal waters and with a bit of research I located a real jet pump expert in Houston who has helped me throughout this entire project.

So I will just replace the lower unit of my Yamaha 90 hp outboard with a jet pump lower unit. . The jet pump mfg (Speciality Mfg. Co. -510-562-6049) offers a great mehcanical jackplate ($350) that allows easy change over from the prop to the jet pump and offers enough movement to allow for perfect placement of the motor for jet or prop. This is all accomplished very easily.

By being able to use either the prop or the jet you have maximum versatility with your boat. Changeover from prop to jet takes around 45 minutes. Naturally the bottom of the boat is optimal for jet performance (jet pump mfg offers this info) and works fine with a prop. The jet pump on my 90 hp Yamaha ends up being about 65hp so the speed isn't dazzeling but very acceptable and I can go fast or putt putt along in very shallow water.

I had Tracy Obrien draw up plans for an 18 foot and 16 foot version. The 18 footer has a bottom width of 66 inches, a beam of 84 inches, and a OAL of 19' 8" including sponsons built on the transom for additional flotation where the motor weight is. This design has a six degree "V" for shallow draft while offering some tracking. The 16 footer, which I am not building, has a bottom width of 63 inches. .. I am about 90% completed on the 18 footer and have a photo record of the entire process (mostly at Imagestation)
(www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4289637173) . You can e-mail me if you want any more info on details of these designs. If you have specific ideas Mr. Obrien could design something specifically to your request at very reasonable pricing and I must say that his designs are so simplistically thought out for max strength and minimum materials.

The following pix/diagrams show some detail but I am much further along now. I need to post some recent photos. The second drawing is my own as I designed the console myself. I saw a great bay boat with a leaning post and an angled foot rest that was pure heaven as far as comfort and stability while driving the boat. I decided to copy the setup and built my console from scratch. I also included a removable trolling motor bracket so that the deck is totally clean for flyfishing when not using the trolling motor such as poling in the flats. One of my final additions will be a poling platform.

The final photo is right before I cut out my anchor locker hatch which is centered right up front close to the bow, but behind a stainless flush mounted ACCON pop up cleat.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid71/p74ea9830a599b8d2a048701b11a3b182/fb9c2f77.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid70/p252d0e336f3eb43f494fbf06f4d1cf91/fba287af.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid70/pf697e498a952809c3cee33b6cc3b0dbf/fba287a9.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid104/p9716cd3e08fa58b832719174c9cd8c47/f99c14c4.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid109/pa949cfb9d7e6d396caa05172a43082e7/f93be76b.jpg

I'm about ready to put the decks down, glass all, and begin installing my center console, push pole brackets, etc... I hope you find these of interest.

Hey Daves Flats Boat... Your boat looks great and really functional. Whats the draft at full speed? Whats the draft with motor down sitting still? She looks light and well built.

RB

[ 03-25-2004, 02:18 AM: Message edited by: RodB ]

[DavesFlatsBoat]

Draft - 6.5" plus 5" of engine skeg - sitting
I think I need at least 12" of water to cleanly run without environmental damage. She poles very easy and is very solid feeling - three of us (nary a lite-weight in-site) shrimped off her deck all night in some choppy waters without a problem

Lusting after one of these: http://www.smalloutboards.com/images/j5599/icon.jpg from www.smalloutboards.com (http://www.smalloutboards.com) to really get Bill to sing!