Hey y'all, long time lurker, first time poster. I know I'm a bit far away, but I have a place on Lake Weiss in Alabama. Big lake(33k acres), but very shallow with lots of stump fields/shoals and a ton of small creeks and rivers. Basically, there are a ton of areas on this lake that people can't/don't fish bc they aren't set up for it. I've had alot of luck in these 'flats' on my kayaks with light tackle and my fly rod. I was looking around for a boat for here, and decided on a Texas style flats boat as we have alot of the same conditions here as y'all have there.

I spent weeks searching louisiana and texas fs ads and decided to do a local search on the 23rd. Luckily, someone had just posted a Shoalwater 180 for sale. Did some research, but there wasn't much out there on the 180s. I ended up test driving it yesterday, and ultimately took it home. Performed really well on the test ride. No water of the stern like I had seen a few people talking about, got up on plane very easily and quickly, turned decently well(for a flat bottom), and was extremely stable. I gave $4500 for it, and not complaining about that at all as it has an 88 johnson spl(with tilt trim amazingly), and it has a canopy as well. I'm planning on cleaning it up a bit, adding a true leaning post, building a rear deck, jack plate, and maybe a poling platform.

Does anyone have any experience in these 180s? Would adding rear sponsors be of any value? Does anyone know the weight of this boat? I've seen the NADA site says it's 750 lbs, but that seems low with it being so wide and all fiberglass. Thanks guys!

-Greg

Tunnel skiffs are pretty common. Most are all going to rig out the same.
Every one I setup all got the same four items.
Hydraulic jack plste. Bob’s is my favorite
Flats cup prop. Power tech makes a very good one.
Compression plate. Several good ones. Don’t confuse with hydrofoils.
Step n Trims. Most skiffs can be porpoising beasts the trim tabs calm it down.
About half get negative trim wedges, makes holeshot even quicker.

I would believe the weight to be correct, skiffs are suppose to be light and are very sensitive to weight placement. My skiff weighs 675lbs and is a 17ft fiberglass skiff. I try to keep mine as light as possible. Are you wanting to run shallow on plane? If so following Pats recommendations will be beneficial to that. As for adding pods, trim tabs are superior if hole shot with minimal bow rise is your goal.

Here's a shot of my old skiff. Your goal is instant holeshot, no porpoising, run shallow and somewhat behaving hull. Slapping a motor on the transom of a tunnel skiff won't get it done.

I actually rigged two negative transom wedges, compression plate, step n trims and powertech flats cup prop. That's of course IF that's your goal.