# Texas built poling skiff?



## mardigrastopsntails (May 20, 2008)

With all of the great boat builders we have here in Texas, why have none of them attempted to corner this market. Whats the deal? Do they believe there is no market for it? You can't tell me that none of these builders are capable. 

I know that this is a hot trend started by our fellow fisherman across the gulf but with our abundance of shallow water flats and superior knowledge of shallow running boats, one would think that a Texas boat builder could build a superior shallow water technical poling skiff.

I know Newwater boatworks builds a poling skiff but have you seen the price tag on that thing.:headknock 

Would love to hear what yall think about this.


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## Titan22fisher (Jun 19, 2007)

*What to you want to see in your poling skiff?*

I'm not into these boats but would be interested in what you guy's who use them would like to see in one? Size would be my first question and then maybe what kind of water to you want to be able to run in, skin "yes" but what about open water? What kind of fuel capacity, storage, etc..

Thanks


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## TxDave (Jul 9, 2009)

I know Kevin over at Fibertex builds one.

http://www.stiffypushpoles.com/exile.htm


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## Backcast (Jul 22, 2005)

I own a Mitzi 15 tiller that I am selling in classifieds. I have had the boat since 2005. Overall I am pleased with the boat. It is an entry level poling skiff. I have used it poling the south shoreline of E. Matty. If the wife would agree to let me keep 2 boats I would keep it. I have a SS 18.5 classic that I got to take more people fishing. '86 hull '91 Yammy 150.

It is stickly a two man skiff. I also fish via baitcasting and it doubles as a means of getting to wading places.

I think skiffs like the boat Kevin Shaw makes is a high end boat that has a lot to offer but lower price boats will also work also.

Sunday I took the Mitzi to Louies Bait Camp to launch. We were plugging and looked in Jones Lake, Greens Cut, made a run over to Starvation and back to North Dear Island and back thru Jones Lake. 

I am not aware of a Texas builder that makes an entry level poling skiff.

Maverick makes one but you do not hear much about it.

Seems most guys go with the Maverick HPX. Don't see many Hellsbay.

So imagine not much demand in Texas for poling skiffs. Rather niche for Texas.

Joe


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## Neumie (Oct 28, 2004)

The Stiffy Exile, New Water Curlew/Stilt, and Easy 18 Microskiff are the only poling skiffs I know being produced in Texas. In Texas, scooters (Mowdy S-10, Flatlander Chiquita, Shoalwater Cat 14.5, etc) seem to have a stronghold over technical poling skiffs. I for one, like the cheap poling skiffs from Florida (like Ankona and Inshore Power Boats). It seems there would be a market for those type of boats in Texas.


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## Shrimpzilla (May 21, 2004)

Having owned Texas built boats, and now a Maverick, I'd say the Texas boat builders aren't anywhere near the Florida builders in quality or design. The Texas boats are well built, and very strong, but a boat built the way Texas builders build them would weigh way too much to be a practical poling skiff. Solid 1/2" fiberglass hulls and gelcoat splatter decks are durable, but not very light.

Jeff


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## mardigrastopsntails (May 20, 2008)

Shrimpzilla said:


> Having owned Texas built boats, and now a Maverick, I'd say the Texas boat builders aren't anywhere near the Florida builders in quality or design. The Texas boats are well built, and very strong, but a boat built the way Texas builders build them would weigh way too much to be a practical poling skiff. Solid 1/2" fiberglass hulls and gelcoat splatter decks are durable, but not very light.
> 
> Jeff


You realize that my Shallow Sport is probably 4 feet longer than your Maverick and it only out weighs it by like 150lbs. I think you give the florida boat builders a little too much credit. I have seen some great fit and finish boats come out of Texas.


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## fishnstringer (Oct 20, 2006)

*Isn't there a poling skiff*

built near Corpus that is called a Walker, or something close to that? I think I've even seen something on 2cool about it.


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## Stuart (May 21, 2004)

mardigrastopsntails said:


> You realize that my Shallow Sport is probably 4 feet longer than your Maverick and it only out weighs it by like 150lbs. I think you give the florida boat builders a little too much credit. I have seen some great fit and finish boats come out of Texas.


Where are you getting your numbers from.


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## mardigrastopsntails (May 20, 2008)

Maverick website states that the 17ft HPX-t hull weighs 848lbs. 
The hull weight of my Shallow Sport 21v is 1000lbs (from shallow sport website)
That equals a 152lb difference between the two boats (sorry I was off by 2lbs)


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## Stuart (May 21, 2004)

mardigrastopsntails said:


> Maverick website states that the 17ft HPX-t hull weighs 848lbs.
> The hull weight of my Shallow Sport 21v is 1000lbs (from shallow sport website)
> That equals a 152lb difference between the two boats (sorry I was off by 2lbs)


And you really believe that your hull weighs just 1,000 pounds? That's a nice round number and prolly at least 600 pounds off.

Hmmm, that's funny this is from their Maverick's website and it list the dry weight as 425 lbs.

http://www.maverickboats.com/media/PDF/17TL-M-1.pdf


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## Bottom Finder (Dec 4, 2006)

The biggest turn off for me about a poling skiff is sitting down or hunching over to drive the thing. That's why I think Newwater is the best choice for a technical skiff, stand up to operate, runs super skinny, and easy to pole.


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## mardigrastopsntails (May 20, 2008)

This is not what this thread is about. However, just to prove my point so that we can move on. If you read the "official" numbers from Mavericks website you will see how I got 848lbs.

1,115lbs - 267lbs(Yamaha T60 engine weight) = 848 lbs

http://www.maverickboats.com/boat-specs.php?ID=4&t=3359271171

I don't know how you can dispute the weight of the Shallow Sport 21V hull. But for comparison of apples to apples, the Shallow Sport 18 classic weighs appprox 750lbs.


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## Backcast (Jul 22, 2005)

I have an '86 SS clasic hull. If I remember right NADA had it at 1050#.

The newer hulls probably weight less.

Joe


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## WestBay (Sep 1, 2007)

I believe Shallow Sports are vacuum bagged....might be wrong.


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## TXPIRATE (Jan 28, 2009)

Also, remember that a scooter boat is safer in bigger waves. It may not be very much fun but you will get home. A couple of waves over the bow of a scooter = no big deal. A couple of waves over the bow of a poling skiff = big deal.

I think that a poling skiff would be cool to have though. They are a little expensive though for a boat that is not very versatile.


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## Stuart (May 21, 2004)

WestBay said:


> I believe Shallow Sports are vacuum bagged....might be wrong.


Bagged and infused are two totally different things. Most of the big name technical poling skiffs are infused these days with foam cores and most are going to come in under 600 pounds for a bare 17-18 foot hull. Some are in the 300 - 400 pound range. The SS 21 is pushing 1500 pounds I bet. There is one way to find out. Run it over a scale and start subtracting for motor, jack plate, gas, batteries, trailer etc.


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## Backcast (Jul 22, 2005)

NADA weights Shallow Sport

21 Sport 1100#

21 Deep Vee 1000#

21 Bahia 1250#

year 2010 18.5 Classic 750#

year 1987 & older 1050#


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## Stuart (May 21, 2004)

Backcast said:


> NADA weights Shallow Sport
> 
> 21 Sport 1100#
> 
> ...


I'm sure those are numbers submitted by the manufacturer. mardigrastopsntails needs to run his rig across a truck scale and report back.


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## Shrimpzilla (May 21, 2004)

150 pounds??? Okay, so then if I pole my Maverick with a 150# passenger, you ought to be able to keep up poling that 21' Shallowsport all day. There's no way. I can run the Maverick hard aground, get out, and push it. You'd be there until someone towed you off in a Shallowsport. That boat and most Texas boats weigh at least twice what a true poling skiff weighs, regardless of what Internet research might tell you.

Jeff


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## mardigrastopsntails (May 20, 2008)

Shrimpzilla said:


> 150 pounds??? Okay, so then if I pole my Maverick with a 150# passenger, you ought to be able to keep up poling that 21' Shallowsport all day. There's no way. I can run the Maverick hard aground, get out, and push it. You'd be there until someone towed you off in a Shallowsport. That boat and most Texas boats weigh at least twice what a true poling skiff weighs, regardless of what Internet research might tell you.
> 
> Jeff


I never said anything about draft. All I said was hull weight that has been reported.


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## Stuart (May 21, 2004)

mardigrastopsntails said:


> I never said anything about draft. All I said was hull weight that has been reported.


He didn't say anything about draft either. He's obviously done the same thing I have done, run it hard aground. I ran mine up on a reef one morning before daylight. The trim tabs were out of the water, that's how high and dry we were. Me and the 120 pound kid that was with me easily pushed it over about 15 feet to a gut we could float it out of. When I load my boat back on the trailer and I don't like exactly how it is lined up I can pick up one side of it an shove it over. I'm not bashing your SS, it's a nice boat, just not my style any more, but it really does weigh at least twice what the HPX-T or my skiff does.


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## Csafisher (Nov 16, 2010)

Well if the maverick website is wrong, then how much does a 17 HPX really weigh?


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## mardigrastopsntails (May 20, 2008)

Who cares. I could really could care less about the Maverick or any other florida built skiff. I love this style of fishing and one day I hope to own a true poling skiff. I personally believe that there are several boat builders here in Texas who are capable. I guess they just don't see a market for it. I think they are wrong and I believe that an affordable well thought out texas made skiff would be a hit.


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## Stuart (May 21, 2004)

Csafisher said:


> Well if the maverick website is wrong, then how much does a 17 HPX really weigh?


Good question. I would say somewhere between the 425 I found on their website and the 848 that you can try and back into. Skiff makers took a lot of flak for over-exaggerting things in the past and rightly so in most cases. I think Mav is trying to publish real world numbers. If you take the 1182 pounds as tested weight from the performance bulleting with the 70 Yamaha and back out

260 for the motor
30 for the battery?
130 for gas
20 for safety equipment?
40 for jack plate

and all the stuff I'm not thinking about, you end up prolly under 700 pounds


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## Stuart (May 21, 2004)

mardigrastopsntails said:


> Who cares. I could really could care less about the Maverick or any other florida built skiff. I love this style of fishing and one day I hope to own a true poling skiff. I personally believe that there are several boat builders here in Texas who are capable. I guess they just don't see a market for it. I think they are wrong and I believe that an affordable well thought out texas made skiff would be a hit.


So back to the subject at hand. There are very few (maybe a couple) of Texas builders that are infusing their hulls, hatches and decks to achieve the weights that the Florida builders are hitting. Not saying they wouldn't be capable, but they aren't doing it and I don't think the market is that big as some would think anyway.


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## prarie dog (Feb 28, 2011)

This is a very nice Florida designed poling skiff you build yourself. The boat in the blog is built by a guy in Florida but there are two of these boats in Texas that I know of. One is in Houston and fishes out of Port O Conner, the other boat is being built by a guy in Kerrville and is appx. 80% finished. They are very light. Check out the link.http://wetconcepts.com/Seadek1.jpg
http://wetconcepts.com/FS18.htm


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## southbay (Aug 30, 2010)

All of these skiffs are good and most are fairly light weight, pole pretty good and draft is good to average. Check out the Challenger 176. A great alternative.


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## [email protected] (Jun 25, 2005)

southbay said:


> All of these skiffs are good and most are fairly light weight, pole pretty good and draft is good to average. Check out the Challenger 176. A great alternative.


You need to become a sponsor or quit promoting your boats free of charge. Plenty of sponsors on here pay good money to advertise their boats on here and you should be sponsor for the amount of advertising you do of your boats. Go away.


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## [email protected] (Jun 25, 2005)

mardigrastopsntails said:


> With all of the great boat builders we have here in Texas, why have none of them attempted to corner this market. Whats the deal? Do they believe there is no market for it? You can't tell me that none of these builders are capable.
> 
> I know that this is a hot trend started by our fellow fisherman across the gulf but with our abundance of shallow water flats and superior knowledge of shallow running boats, one would think that a Texas boat builder could build a superior shallow water technical poling skiff.
> 
> ...


are new water boats really that much more expensive that shallowsports? I mean you are asking 37 thousand dollars for a 3 year old 21 foot boat. Shallowsports are incredibly expensive compared to most texas built bay boats.


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## 737flynfish (May 1, 2007)

prarie dog said:


> This is a very nice Florida designed poling skiff you build yourself. The boat in the blog is built by a guy in Florida but there are two of these boats in Texas that I know of. One is in Houston and fishes out of Port O Conner, the other boat is being built by a guy in Kerrville and is appx. 80% finished. They are very light. Check out the link.http://wetconcepts.com/Seadek1.jpg
> http://wetconcepts.com/FS18.htm


I like that design and I wanted something I could build ( a project for me and the Kids), but I want a larger rounder bow for casting fly's. Any other ideas?


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## ShallowSport24 (Sep 15, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> are new water boats really that much more expensive that shallowsports? I mean you are asking 37 thousand dollars for a 3 year old 21 foot boat. Shallowsports are incredibly expensive compared to most texas built bay boats.


No


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## prarie dog (Feb 28, 2011)

*Skiff*

737, I built a boat for flyfishing in your area. It is not a technical poling skiff but was built to use a trolling motor. I don't have an elevated stand on the bow yet but it's getting close to being ready for that. I think with a little work you could build a round bow on this hull and have a nice skinny water skiff. It may be too wide for your use. 









Under way, runs 30 with a 50hp.


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