Been stewing on this for a while now (like 2 years!) and it seems like a possibility.

I mean, this could be the ULTIMATE steelhead boat!! Imagine beaing able to plug a slot, then fire up the jet and run back to the top..then side drift it a couple times. Got a 1/2 mile to the next slot...gas on it!

I know you can put a kicker on the back of most db's, but it would be great to be able to drop the boat in and take out at the same launch, with all (most) of the benefits of drift boat (easy plugging) and a sled in one package.

I am thinking a 17'-18' Alum. boat, with a morphed in motor and drive from one of those loud, obnoxious jet-drive water bikes. Steering could be accomplished with a simple hand controlled rudder hanging off the back end.

It would have to be built so the outdrive and intake could be set in recessed spots, and extended into the water for operation, then raised again for the DB function.

Kinda of a "Monster Garage" project...but might spwawn a whole new range of water accessible for DB's.

Mike

(And yeah...I've brought this up before...the idea just ain't going away!)

Oh it's MONSTER all right ... try running your drifter with a fair amount of power and you'll give new meaning to having to clean out your shorts!

Boy, rowing my big a$$ must have been tougher on you than you let on!!.....c/22

Here are two commerically available options that are close to what you're after:

roguemarine.com/Stealth.htm

brownslanding.com/site_page_4624/item_image_73154-1.html?listing_page=listing_sum_index_1.html

Chris

P.S. Goes right back to my ONE boat post...man, the perfect boat is elusive!

Recently I floated the Green with _Barbless_. About a mile and a half from the takeout we hear the noise of a sled. We're thinking "what the hell!"... We come around a corner, and we see a handmade wooden driftboat. Barbless tells me that he's seen this boat before on the river and he seems somewhat discusted... hehe....

When we arrive at the takeout, the wood drift boat is also there. I recognize the guy too... do any of you guys remember the guy Mike Hansen who is an Umlimted Hydroplane driver/builder? To make a long story short, he turned his buddie's 16' Willie upside down and took measurements. He then stretched the measurements out to build a 18' boat. The thing is absolutely beautiful... he said the varnish work on it took forever. The thing about this boat that was fascinating though, was the inboard motor he installed. He took a small jet motor out of a Jet Ski, and by building a small ride plate on the bottom of the boat, he got this thing to work. He said he can get the thing to go about 30 mph. He's also got an electric trolling motor on it, bilge pump, and a ton of other stuff... (the thing has to be REALLY HEAVY)....Its loud, but pretty dang cool if you ask me! I never thought I would see something like that on the river... I guess just leave it up to those Hydro guys to come up with something like that.

I'm with Bob, if you have tried to manage a drifter under power you know it's a handful!!! A flat/daimond shaped bottom isn't really set up for horse power.

-Jon

Seems like every time I go to the Skagit I see a small sled with oars. There was a blue one in particular that looked pretty functional. Seems like a better option than trying to plane up a DB.

Check out Rogue Marines Stealth http://www.roguemarine.com/Stealth.htm

Drift boat speeds over 10mph=Disaster waiting to happen.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

I know a guy with a Rogue Marine.. Its not a good drift boat and its not a good sled, so in short, its pretty much worthless. You will note that you row the thing from the bow with the motor pointed down stream.. Its about as goofy as a football batt.

Skagit Fly guide John Farrar has been runnin' around that river in a drifter / sled hybrid lookin' thing for years. The Rogue Marine Stealth looks a lot like it.

B-run,
THAT is the type of feedback I'm looking for! I looked long and hard at both the Stealth and the Fish-rite wondering if they were the "one". But then all you have to do is take a look around at what is being used on the rivers and you never see one or even hear of someone running one.

4Salt,
Alumafix in BC is making an aluminum version of a Dean River boat like John's designed to run with a 60/40 outboard. Looks well thought out and efficient. It's a little bit of a haul to go pick one up but you could always fish the Skeena system while you're there...


Chris

Huh? that boat of Farrar's is long and skinny with (I believe) an 85 HP punp on it. It is more of a Mckenzie dory, extended. John stays at a hotel just around the corner, and I see his boat almost daily from my office window when he's on the Skagit

I looked at both the links provided for the Stealth and the boat at Brown Sledding. Both are just smaller and narrower sleds with a high rise on the bow. If you look at the pics both are square and flat at the transon, like a true dory design. Trying to pull plugs (with oars) in one of those would be a mankiller, even with the bow pointed upriver. It has a 48" bottom (inside), so I would lose 9" over the 57" interior of the Clacka. I agree with B-Run..not a good DB and not a good sled.

I think I'll just find a nice healthy electric kicker and mount it on the back of the DB.

Strike Zone and Bob both had sound wisdom to share...getting a DB over 10 mph. might be a bit hazardous to ones health...I bet it would handle like a 747 at stall speed!

Still...it's a cool idea to think about. Be so nice to plug a slot, fire up the 200 horse pump and cruise back upriver a mile or so to another hole

...but then, if wishes were fishes we would all have limits!

Mike

Mike,

I used to have a 1972 Eastside wooden boat that was half driftboat and half jet sled. Yeah, the concept works, but as others mention, it isn't a good drift boat and it isn't a good sled. The design was to basically widen the stern, but not quite to the 48" width at the chines amidships, to accommodate the motor. It didn't handle all that bad on the oars, but it was pretty slow and inefficient on gas consumption.

I took the motor off it, and some friends now use it as a drift boat, and it works much better. I put the old engine on my 16' Lund, and it goes half again as fast and uses about half as much gas as before.

The upshot is to get a boat designed to do one thing well. A lot of sleds have seen service on the Skagit, and boondoggin used to be done only with oars. Kicker motors were a rarity on the Skagit until the mid to late 1980s. Heck prop driven outboards were common through the 1970s and early 80s on the Skagit. If you want to eliminate the shuttle on the Skagit, a jet drive and a set of oars will provide a lot of boondogging and even plug pulling if you get a light sled.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

A couple weeks ago we stopped by the tackle shop that you pass on your way out of Blue Creek. Parked in the lot was a truck towing the craziest looking boat I've ever seen. It was twice as big as most drift boats. It was all aluminum. Overall it looked like a DB that was built like a tank; but it had a motor mount that was recessed into the stern by about 3 feet with a small prop motor on it. Anybody that fishes B.C. ever see this before? What the heck was it?
It looked way too heavy to row, yet it had oarlocks on it.
It almost looked like a drift boat that was built for the salt.

Rafterman, If it was fiberglas, it could have been a Lavro with a motor well.

Frogs boat is a banana

It is not the flat bottom of the Db that is the issue it the rocker. The rocker puts the chines at an angle which is what allows the DB to track. Under power they fight each other and create instability. Lots of flat bottom boats go very fast safely. They have straight chines or rounded chines at an angle. Chine walking becaome an issue at high speeds for true flat bottom boats.