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First Tunnel Hull #13272460 09/06/19 07:09 PM
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carb Offline OP
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In the market for my first tunnel hull. Tired of the depth limitations of my current boat when I go down to POC. I am considering a blue wave 2200 STL which is very similar to the Pure Bay model except it has a tunnel. Anyone familiar with this rig or the quality of blue wave boats? How skinny will it run safely? I understand there are much skinnier running boats but I still want to comfortably fish the lakes And open bays so I am looking for something in between.


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Re: First Tunnel Hull [Re: carb] #13272656 09/06/19 10:19 PM
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Pat Goff Online Content
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No issue with their build quality, they are good, but certainly not anywhere in the real thin water category. It's all fun and games this time of year, but you're shut out of getting into Contee and 5th lake when the water falls out in the winter, which is when the back lakes catch fire.

The cat hulls run a lot thinner than the tunnel V does, and gives a surprising ride. Haynie, Shoalwater, Tran, Flats cat, and more would be worth looking at if I was in the market for a fiberglass hull.


Pat Goff
Seadrift TX
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Re: First Tunnel Hull [Re: carb] #13273087 09/07/19 01:42 PM
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Went from a tri-hull CC that needed 2.5' to get up to a '97 Shoalwater stealth. V-hull, with tunnel. Cuts chop, and can get pretty skinny, not as skinny as my buddy's catamaran, but I throw a 12' kayak in, and only air boats can follow me deep in the back lakes. Can do the same with a Blue Wave ST, which is what I almost bought.

Re: First Tunnel Hull [Re: carb] #13273144 09/07/19 02:49 PM
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Since you're new to the game, it's not always the obvious stuff that makes your final decision great or lacking.
You need to think about how you fish, and match your boat to that.
Are you wading mostly? You'll HATE the higher sides dragging your carcass in the boat after a long wade
Drifting flats and lakes? Anchored up and throwing bait?
A properly setup tunnel hull that can run in your typical 6"-8" as opposed to something that needs a "little" more, the biggest difference is navigating. Huh? What?

When you're setup right, you can use your vision to go wherever you want, because you KNOW a dark bottom is safe to run, high tide, low tide, you're good to go. You know when you look up and see white bottom, stay away. You can gauge water depth by wave size, wave can only be half the height of the water depth. Four inch wave means eight inches of water, you're good to go. As you gain experience this makes life much more simple.

The great thing about looking at boats today,, there's a LOT of choices. Bad thing? Sheezoids there's a LOT of choices.
And flats boats are just like bass boats, whatever I'm running is the best. You need to figure out what's best for YOU.....


Pat Goff
Seadrift TX
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Re: First Tunnel Hull [Re: Pat Goff] #13273475 09/07/19 08:44 PM
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carb Offline OP
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Really appreciate all the input. I would much prefer the Haynie Bigfoot because I can forgo some of the creature comforts the blue wave provides, just need to convince the co-investor (Mrs’s) of that. I do need something that can handle the open bays or a rough day on the lake since I reside in Fort Worth and the majority of my fishing is done in lakes. However my true passion the the saltwater so I want to be able to do that as well.


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Re: First Tunnel Hull [Re: carb] #13273656 09/07/19 10:53 PM
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I've been around these silly boats a long time. There are some concrete facts that the unknowing will ignore the first time (or some take a few times) out.

Do you have a purpose for your new toy at least 70% of the time? Most people who are on this site would say yes.
If you do, then get the rig that fits that 70% the BEST. Let the thirty percent compromise.
Everything on a boat has a purpose, and every purpose will compromise something else.
Example: What makes a hull ride smooth, also makes it run deep. No such thing as running really thin and being really smooth.
No one has ever complained about putting the rated motor on their hull. Very few who under powered wish they'd made a different decision.
A lot easier to ski behind a fishing boat than fishing out of a ski boat.
Look at that sled and imagine dragging it 50 yards off a sand bar. It's going to happen.
I run a 300 lb aluminum scooter with a jet outboard...do I think YOU should run the same thing? Not many are willing to compromise the creature comforts to be able to run in less than 2" of water, so what I've got has no bearing on what YOU need. That opinion is not shared by many.

Everyone gets stuck. If you don't you're not trying hard enough.
[Linked Image]


Pat Goff
Seadrift TX
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Re: First Tunnel Hull [Re: carb] #13273749 09/08/19 12:19 AM
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I have run many tunnel hulls. Pat and I have visited numerous times on setting one up.

The Bigfoot (ran one for severla years with a 150) is a very versatile boat. Set up right and staying lightweight and very important where the weight is for a shallow boat it will run surprisingly shallow. Setup wrong and heavy powerplant and weight distribution very wrong and you might as well be in a bass boat. Mine was setup for as shallow as you can make a Bigfoot run. It would get up in 11"-12" and run in 6" easily. But it took a lot of engineering and effort and proper weight distribution to do so..... with an old school 2 stroke Yamaha 150 vmax. Anything heavier and it will extend those numbers.

Tunnel hulls do a lot of things well. They will be slower. I think the Haynie Magnum is a great boat (not a tunnel). Draft at rest is similar. Draft on plane is more and takes more to get up.

Tunnel hulls tend to be slower, they waddle while underway (you get used to it), they do not reverse well, and unless they are setup to run shallow they wont run as shallow as you think.

Look at the Tunnel Vee hulls. Haynie Bigfoort, Mowdy, Explorer etc. All make great freshwater boats as well.

Re: First Tunnel Hull [Re: carb] #13273781 09/08/19 12:39 AM
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I run a cougar marine genesis skiff. It handles skinny water very well and is a very efficient skiff. Doesn't handle rough water very well and is a rough ride but it can run very shallow 3 inches, no jack plate needed. Drafts 5 inches and can pop up on plane real fast. Max speed is 35mph with a 50hp. Got mine for under 20k and was able to customize it to my liking. Maintenance and cost to operate is very minimal. It can handle 2 folks well, but I normally fish solo so it is perfect for me. Fits in my garage perfect. I down sized and so glad I did, make fishing enjoyable again and less of a chore. On a small skiff like mine weight is everything. I carry as little of it as possible. At first it was hard for me to cut out what I deemed essential gear, but now that I have it is so much more liberating not to deal with it all. May not be to everyones liking. Butn its me like a glove. Few folks say they are 100% happy with their rig. I say I am 95% and working to 100% as I tweak it to my liking.

Hey Pat check out river road jet boats. Their nozzle system is legit. Really looking hard at having one built bare bones.

Last edited by Alumacraft 14; 09/08/19 03:19 AM.
Re: First Tunnel Hull [Re: carb] #13273787 09/08/19 12:41 AM
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I ran a Kenner 21 tunnel for years. It ran in 6" and would get on up in 10". It was a great all around boat. I also have a friend with a blue wave. It was a good boat. Not a tunnel so would not go very shallow. My biggest complaint about the tunnel hull was that it was not very good when I started fishing more offshore. It did very well in low seas (3 feet or less) but did not have gunnels or a bow high enough for higher seas. It was great in most freshwater situations.

Re: First Tunnel Hull [Re: carb] #13274187 09/08/19 01:39 PM
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Not saying anyone here is guilty of it, but a lot of folks who have shallow rigs never consider the damage they do when they run across shallow grass flats. Those prop scars take a long time to heal. I can look at the places I fished in the sixties down in the Keys, where one rarely saw prop scars. Now they are heavily scarred, and it's worse every year. Many of the flats I fish in Texas share the same problem. Not good..........

Remember, just because your prop isn't physically contacting the bottom doesn't mean that you aren't uprooting the vegetation. When you run shallow, please give that some consideration. We need to take care of our resources.

Re: First Tunnel Hull [Re: carb] #13274231 09/08/19 02:28 PM
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Well Jim,
That is certainly true, and if you don't want to hurt the grass you can run an airboat or a jet.

But...forty years ago you didn't see any grass in the bays. A little bit coming out of Port Isabel, but none at Mansfield, Corpus, Port O'Connor, it was just sand.


Pat Goff
Seadrift TX
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Re: First Tunnel Hull [Re: fishesintrees] #13274370 09/08/19 05:28 PM
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Originally Posted by fishesintrees
Went from a tri-hull CC that needed 2.5' to get up to a '97 Shoalwater stealth. V-hull, with tunnel. Cuts chop, and can get pretty skinny, not as skinny as my buddy's catamaran, but I throw a 12' kayak in, and only air boats can follow me deep in the back lakes. Can do the same with a Blue Wave ST, which is what I almost bought.

Trihull CC?


Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, he will sit in a boat all day and drink beer.
Re: First Tunnel Hull [Re: eyeball] #13300370 10/03/19 11:55 AM
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Tri-hull center console, yes

Re: First Tunnel Hull [Re: Pat Goff] #13300560 10/03/19 03:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Pat Goff
I've been around these silly boats a long time. There are some concrete facts that the unknowing will ignore the first time (or some take a few times) out.

Do you have a purpose for your new toy at least 70% of the time? Most people who are on this site would say yes.
If you do, then get the rig that fits that 70% the BEST. Let the thirty percent compromise.
Everything on a boat has a purpose, and every purpose will compromise something else.
Example: What makes a hull ride smooth, also makes it run deep. No such thing as running really thin and being really smooth.
No one has ever complained about putting the rated motor on their hull. Very few who under powered wish they'd made a different decision.
A lot easier to ski behind a fishing boat than fishing out of a ski boat.
Look at that sled and imagine dragging it 50 yards off a sand bar. It's going to happen.
I run a 300 lb aluminum scooter with a jet outboard...do I think YOU should run the same thing? Not many are willing to compromise the creature comforts to be able to run in less than 2" of water, so what I've got has no bearing on what YOU need. That opinion is not shared by many.

Everyone gets stuck. If you don't you're not trying hard enough.


Very well said, find a boat that does what you want to do the best. They are all compromises, there is not a boat that does it all.


Parttime (John)
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Re: First Tunnel Hull [Re: carb] #13302731 10/06/19 01:51 AM
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I have a 2018 STL. Love it. It’s surprisingly skinny. I get looks from the “skinny boat” guys when they see a BlueWave in the water with them in near-marshes. Just today I had some guys in a Gulf Coast asking about it at the marina. I can run in 7-8” of water, and float 12”. Tons of storage. Lifetime transferable hull warranty. 6 year Suzuki motor warranty. And, it’s super dry.

Good luck in your search.

Last edited by Chuckybrown; 10/06/19 01:51 AM.
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