Need help looking for a hunting river boat
 

Hey guys,
I’m looking at getting a watercraft specifically as a river boat for hunting rivers here in southern Alberta. I’m aware of my options with jet bots but they are really expensive and I would love to hear if there are other options that people have used before. Smaller zodiac style RIB boats? Jon Boats? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Buddy of mine has a flat bottom boat with a 25 motor that has a jet leg on it. It works well for him

I have a 17.5 foot rib with a sport jet that I’m going to be selling in the spring

Check out Solar inflatable boats.

What sort of budget are we talking and as far as running rivers its hard to not use a jet because of river depth issues in southern Alberta

You should be on the look out for an old two stroke jet. Need to keep it light for small inflatables. Not easy to find.

20k give or take

I couldnt even tell you how many metric tons of meat this thing has hauled down the river.

https://live.staticflickr.com/1844/4...3947eba3_k.jpgP9230052 by , on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9aa5c366_k.jpgDSCF1221 by , on Flickr

Saw this on Kijiji

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-powerboat-mo...jet/1544333959

I run 18 foot Lowe Jon boats with 60/40 Merc jets on them. They move along well and will haul a guide/hunter and 60 inch bull moose with no issue. Can cruise on 3 gallons an hour or so if you don’t push it too hard

15k for that???

I also thought I am missing something, lol.

You sure can’t go wrong with a canoe.

Give Explorer Enterprises in Edmonton a call Monday. Not sure their pricing nowadays, but it used to be pretty reasonable.

https://www.explorerindustries.com/index.php

New boat
 

For 20K you should be able to go new on a 16ft John with at least a 40/30 Yamaha not sure what the 60/40 go for but try to stick to a welded john instead of riveted If you jump up to an 18ft the 60/40 would be better and would handle a buddy and an animal easier. Keep in mind that weight makes a big difference with a jet. If you are only hunting deer the 16ft with the 40/30 will be plenty for two guys and gear I have both and tend to use the 16ft most of the time as I am usually chasing Deer gas is not an issue with a 4stroke. that said if you can find an old Yamaha 3 cylinder 2 stroke you wont find a better engine.....

I have a 16’ Mirrocraft utility boat with a flat bottom with a 25 HP Merc jet. With 2 people and gear I can get it up to around 30km/h. I’ve never hunted out of it but I tried loading 3 guys+ me in it once and I couldn’t get on plane. I might have gotten up to 10 km/h.

Keep that in mind if your destination requires you to be on plane to get there, it might be dicey getting back across skinny water once you are fully loaded with a moose or elk.

This is a great point.

I use an Alumacraft all welded v-bow John boat 15’6” length . I run a 25hp merc on it. I added a bit of height to the transom to get the motor up to the premium height clearing the boats bottom line.
Trimmed up and empty my gps says it runs 27 mph. When up to speed I can run thru 11 inches of water. Slower of course the rear drags a little lower. I figure 14” water needed at low speed.
I hope this helps.

Osky

* mine is a prop motor.

Lots of great info here guys thanks!

Which model Lowes do you run? Also, tillers or console?

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...176d429e3c.jpg

1852MT Aura if I remember correctly. They’re riveted, not welded. For the price and extra weight I didn’t want welded.
We run the big tiller style, they jump out of the water fast and haul a good load with lots of room.
With battery, bilge pump, aluminum mounting plates for the transom, boat and engine they cost me $15K per boat.
That’s no trailer of course, mine go on one way trips to the river and generally never come back.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There is a fine line with jet boats. You have to figure out what exactly you will be doing with it. The small outboard jets are cheap and light. If you plan traveling lots or carrying lots of weight their not the best answer. They burn less fuel but it takes you longer to get there. The small boats are good for day trips. I run a 16' Outlaw with a 175 sport jet. Bullet proof. I have drove the crap out of this boat and it keeps going. 5 to 6 gallons a hour and just under 45 mph. I can pack for 2 guys, for the weekend. There twice the money you want to spend. If you're a speed and adrenalin nut like me, you won't be happy with a small boat.

Your sport jet burns 5-6 gallons an hour with 2 guys and gear for the weekend at 45 mph ?

That’s incredible, I’ve never seen one that would come close to matching those numbers.

Only time a sport jet gets a burn rate like that is when it’s going down the highway

Probably 9 gallons/hour at 35mph
Bump it up to 45 and loaded your going to be 18 ish or higher

That’s been my experience also lol

I run a 380 Solar with a 25/20hp factory Merc 2-stroke jet. Merc rates it at 20hp at the pump but it’s probably closer to 18. I bought it used (2006 motor and 2019 hull) for $5,000. They were both in excellent shape with the hull being like new.

It’s cheap to run and allows me to launch it where the bigger towed boats can’t. This past September we launched, ran up river 80km, shot the below bull and back down on less than 10 gallons of gas. Like has been mentioned previously they can only pack so much weight then they will not plane. With the both of us and gear there was an easy 600 pounds in the boat. With the whole bull it wouldn’t plane and the fastest we could chug down river was 8km/hr. With half the bull left on shore we were doing 28km/hr planning and went back the next day for a second trip.

In total I logged on the odometer on my gps over 1,300 Kms last summer/fall in it with no issues. Pretty cheap entertainment I’d say.

Boats are all about compromises. A guy really needs 3-4 to cover all the bases.

https://i.postimg.cc/TYtNQLBY/D6000-...1831-F7-FB.jpg

Wow, my 200 SJ on a heavy duty boat topped out empty at 40 mph. 5300 rpm burning at least 10 gallons an hour. What a lemon i had!

To the OP- either a jon type boat or maybe a used 16' explorer would get you started.

Ain’t it the truth about boats being compromises, lots of great ideas in this thread and it’s awesome to see everyone’s setups. I think I’ll be looking at a 14-16 foot Jon boat with an outboard jet, nice blend of the things I want to do with it, i appreciate all the responses!

My first jet. 1448 Jon with a 25hp Tohatsu 2-stroke bumped to 30hp. It screamed along pretty good. Only downside was the pump was the first thing to hit when things got skinny.

https://i.postimg.cc/fTQMbSBL/8-F647...D0-CF1-ED8.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/BbT9FNMv/48077-...E5-D108673.jpg

Jet number two. 166 Explorer with a 115/80hp jet. It sipped fuel and could really pack some weight. I wish I never sold it.

https://i.postimg.cc/YSDFFBSd/4939-F...ACCF79-B62.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/fL60H7mX/DAF0-B...48-C290-E3.jpgupload images