Hi Chinooked.

I'm a native of Missoula, Montana and live out here in the NW for most of my life. I still make it back to MT fairly often and love it there. ...

I would add that you might want to get the opinions of guys that have the 17' driftboats. I've heard they run shallower because of more displacement, thus are easier to row with 3 guys in them and you have more room. For the same larger bottom area reason, I think they may work better with an outboard motor too. Most use 6 to 10 hp. I would prefer a long shaft 9.9 hp Yamaha OB.