Tunnel hull or V

Hey fellas I am in the market for a CC bay boat and was wondering what type I should get, a tunnel hull or V hull.. I understand that a tunnel hull will get u into the shallows , but I also like to fish bigger lakes for catfish like Texoma and Tawakoni.. Will a tunnel hull be ok cutting bigger waves? then on the oppostite side will a v hull be to deep for 3ft bays? Dont want to get run up on oyster bars and damage the hull or anything .. Any help would be appreciated.. Thanks Mike

We run a 22ft blue wave in about 2 feet of water and it doesn't have a tunnel hull. Make sure you have a jack plate and you should be good. Getting up in much shallower water can be a little difficult, but you can always just idle out until you get to deeper water. Thats my two cents hope it helps.

look at the Trans Cat boats built by Tran down between Victoria & Port La Vaca. One of the best True Tunnel boats you can find in my opinion......................... Rob

If you are going to bay fish once or twice a year, I would suggest getting a V. V's are better on gas and the back. I fished with a guide who had a V pathfinder 24'. crazy nice boat, and he fished in all the water. It did not seem to slow him down.

I have a deep-vee hulled center console ... as long as I have 20 inches of water, I can fish. If you install a trolling motor, you should be just fine.

I currently have a Bluewave Tunnel. You can get pretty skinny, but I do not like the performance that is lost. My next boat will not have a tunnel.

There's a lot more details you'll need to think about...

Where on the coast do you intend on using this rig? If it's Matagorda bay or east, you won't miss not having a tunnel too much. But if it's Port O' Conner and west, you'll really cut down the area you can run in. And even then, if you decide on a tunnel "V" you still can't go where the real shallow boats can go.

Here's real life...
A 20-22 foot non tunnel v will take at least thigh deep water to get up on plane in, at least, maybe more. Put a tunnel on the same hull, it'll go to just over knee deep, or whatever it'll float in on a mud bottom. In comparison a 20' properly setup shallow sport will get up in shin deep water on a hard sand bottom.

Doesn't sound like a huge difference, until you realize that could be a half mile away from each other.

If this is a once a year trek you're planning, get what you'll use the most on the lake and compromise your coast abilities.

Don't forget Haynie makes a Cat Hull also. I don't know the specs on it but that son-of-gun looks like it will run SKINNY and jump on plane QUICK.

Its really quite simple...

If at least 50% of your fishing will be on the lake then don't even consider a tunnel.

As Pat mentions above...a tunnel is a game of inches when getting on plane and does not impact the draft of the vessel.

Most "bay" boats without a tunnel will easily run in 12-18 inches of water and float in about the same. Most will take 24-30 inches to get on plane....none of that is a factor on the lake.

The few times you go to the bay you will have to fish a little deeper.....not all the fish are in shin deep water anyway. There are plenty of fish to catch in the bay without having a boat that will run on mud.

Like others had said really depends on where you intend to fish. You should consider a V with a pocket tunnel as a compromise. Best of neither world, but a little of both. I have a 22' triton bay boat without pocket tunnel. The boat will float in around 1' of water. With a jack plate, I can run in 2' of water, but if I stop there is no way to get back on plane and I end up pushing the boat till I find about 30" of water. The little tunnel would help with that.

Also....don't under power the boat if you plan to fish shallow water.

Nothing hurts your shallow water performance more than being under powered.

That's why it's all about compromise, and I hate to...

I'm addicted to sight fishing reds, so shallow water performance is *ALL* I care about, so I compromise ride, handling, room to be able to run in ankle deep water and get up on a patch of spit.

But, I get to fish where others can only watch. If you can run that shallow, you can see easily where you can and cannot go, so it's not a hard thing to determine safe 6" vs unsafe shoal water 4".

The real trick isn't running or floating, it's getting up and gone, there's the real line to cross.

http://www.hayniebayboats.com/21_cat.htm


FOR THE ULTIMATE IN SHALLOW WATER PERFORMANCE, IT HAS GOT TO BE THE NEW 21 CAT. THE NEW CAT DRAFTS 9" OF WATER AND WILL STAY ON PLANE @ 13MPH. RUNNING THE FLATS IS WHAT THIS BOAT WAS MADE FOR. ADD IN A RAISED CONSOLE AND YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING.

New for 2009.....the Haynie "21 Cat"

--------------------------------------------------------

21 Cat Specs:
LENGTH 21 FT
8FT BEAM
DRAFT IS 9"
FUEL CAP 40 GALS
HULL WEIGHT 1100 LBS
MAX HP 175

haynie is really stepping up their game lately, i've always been a fan of the 23' bigfoot, one heck of a boat.

the other weekend i was on a 244 magnum bluewave and it doesn't have a "true" v hull and that thing slaped around like a DLV skiff, that being said, we would trim the motor up and raise the plate and put into 18" of water and go wade fish, so tunnel was really important.

i wish i had a tunnel boat, but like pat, poling the flats casting at reds is what i love to do.

All I know, if I screw up and blow out my 16' 400 lb skiff, I can wedge my push pole in the tunnel and move it on wet sand to get out. I can't imagine trying to do anything but call the helicopter if you set down in a 22' rig.

Which means, I'll give it a go to get into a spot way faster than a schooner will, much less to lose.

Which brings up the rant part of this sermon...potlickers...argh..nothing will bring me closer to postal than to be back in shin deep with tailing reds, then to have some potlicker see a bent rod, and race in, only to start feeling his prop hit, and blast back out before they shut down. Bye by potlicker, bye bye redfish, bye bye sanity... I promise I'll leave your dumb butt stuck in that bay when I get out. Now if you're a tourist that gets stuck out of ignorance, I'll always show some sympathy and drag you out, but potlickers? Hang em from the live oak....

LOL ! Tell us how you REALLY feel, Pat !

Personally I dont think the trade off in a tunnel is worth it. I think they handle squirrely in rough water.

I've run tunnels , pocket tunnels, flat bottoms, V-hulls, Prop driven boats, and Jet drive outboards. I'm with Pat on the "Potlickers" or as we call them. "F###### Tourist" I've seen idiots drive 17ft tri-hulls out in the flats, only to blow mud for 1/2 mile to get back into the channels. I watched a Bass boat plow the bottom for 1/2 mile. But you really need to set down and determine which of the three styles of fishing you're going to do. Bay fishing+ 10ft water, Flats fishing=-3ft water, Skinny water fishing= 1.5ft and less. My best allaround skinny water boat was a 20ft Weldcraft with 70" bottom, 4" tunnel, and 115 Johnson. I had a 28" tall transom and a 20" shaft motor. Worked great. Take off in water that was so skinnny that I could barely float in, 9-10" . Run in 6". Awsom, Stout, Get you wet. but bring you home boat. Like Pat says, sacrafice ride or depth of water. Take your pic.

One other thing I forgot to mention. It's not real fun to run a true tunnel through a foot and half of confused wind blown chop. Tends to shake your filling lose. I think you guys have convinced me that I need at least two boats...

or just get a shallow sport and be done with it all

It really depends on where you fish, and how you fish.

I mostly spend my time at Pt Mansfield/Arroyo City, and between Pt. O'conner and Seadrift. Sight fishing reds, shallow cuts off flats for flounder, and various cuts and channels for trout, no bait, wade for trout and flounder, pole/drift for redfish. Now I'm running cuts to lakes and sloughs, back in the gunk. Up against the white sand in the LLM, back to the end of the back bays. Nothing makes me nuttier than seeing fish I can't get to.

On the other hand, if my kind of fishing was anchoring up and slinging meat, then you need a complete different platform to do that from.

The super shallow boats are made to do just that, and can't do anything else very well. But...a nice riding kenner can only watch with binoculars a herd of reds in a back bay.

Your choice...choose wisely....