We have a house in Florida and every time we are there I see a ton of these Gheenoe boats from 13-18 feet. Most are the 15-4 and 15-6 models. There are in ponds, lakes, rivers and inshore. In Texas, I've never seen one in person and maybe 4 or 5 times a year they'll show up on Craigslist. Why are they not more popular in Texas? Something I should know? I thinking about towing one home from Florida next time.

If they don't have a good sales person then nobody knows about it.

One zoomed by me Thursday in Turtle Bayou, going from Estes Flats into Aransas Bay. It had a 25 O/B on it. A neighbor here in Rockport had one for a while. I see them now and then in the Coastal Bend. A much more practical boat than a Solo Skiff, in my opinion. Maybe they're expensive? IslandJim

Island Jim, I'm in Rockport too. The one with a 25 on it must be a big one! The 15'4" we just used with only a 6HP moved two full sized people 21MPH on the GPS. That was plenty fast! Getting into some of the skinny and the ability to use a kayak launch or other place other than a bona fide boat ramp are some of the positives that come to mind.

A Gheenoe would be great for flats fishing along the east coat of Texas. Would also be great in the some of the skinny waters of south east Texas. The rest of Texas is windy and choppy most of the year. Gheenoes are a wet ride and most of Texas gets chop along with cold water December to end of March. Texas also has a lot lakes with very hard stumps. People worry about the secondary floatation of gheenoes in those conditions.

Florida shallow and south Texas shallow are two different measurements. Two feet is pretty shallow in Florida, four inches is pretty shallow here. Full lower unit sticking down in the water will limit your area to wander around in. Granted, it won't take much to push it back into knee deep water, but there's a lot of choices that it's not necessary.

BAR: My neighbor's Gheenoe was a 16 I think, and it had a 25 on it. He and his son used to fish it a lot. He sold it and got a Blue Wave 19. The one I saw might have been his old one. My skiff's only 14 feet long, and 5 feet wide. I can't imagine two people in a Gheenoe being able to move around much. But, like you said, being able to beach launch out of a pickup almost anywhere and the ability to pole around in really skinny water has its advantages. I'm always amazed to see a $50,000 shallow water skiff anchored and the fishermen are wade fishing! Why didn't they just get an aluminum jon boat? IslandJim