SeaArk 2072 MV or MVT ( Prop Tunnel Hull)

Hi Folks, I've been in the market for a jon boat (my first) for some time now and barring any bad luck I hope to finally pull the trigger.

Brief background, I am retired and want to travel the country fishing, hunting, and camping. I really like the 'Deep South' and Florida and plan on spending a lot of time during the year in the Southern US. I've been renting pontoons to fish from, but have decided to get a jon boat for now, being easier to launch and load when I'm by myself.

I'm a bigger fellow and have to have a safe, stable platform to fish from and have settled on a Sea Ark 2072, the plain jane model with just a floor and side console. I'm kind of a 'less is more' type of guy, prefer more open room and less deck.

I like the rivers and smaller waters, but I can't decide if a tunnel hull (the model made for prop outboards) is going to be that much of an advantage in shallow water. I know at planing speeds, the tunnels can run a few inches, but how about at idle and slow speeds?

If I'm in questionable water depth, I'm going to be creeping along, watching and trying to dodge objects.

At the risk of a 'stupid' comment, if a person comes to a shallow spot, why not tilt the outboard out of the water and use a trolling motor.

Thanks for your thoughts

Fred

Unless you are going to be racing your boat go for the prop tunnel with a hyd jack plate.

I live in North Fl on Black Creek, I have a little 15' flat bottom side console alumacraft with a 25hp and It doesn't get shallow enough for me!. I have to use a trolling motor to get where I wanna go because I don't have power tilt and trim. A jet would be perfect but florida sand, silt, and grass eats them up (or so I was told).

The tunnel with the hyd jack plate will more than make up for the little bit more draft of the boat. Add pods and your gonna be really shallow.

Read through this thread there is a lot of good info on this subject
https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=12971&start=50

Welcome to the site.
Sounds like your living the dream,sorry I can't add much.
I do own a tunnel hull;C1652V Crestliner.
When idling the tips of my props are still below my boat so not much help there,maybe your tunnel is alittle deeper then mine so it could protect it.For all I know my tunnel hull could be made for a jet,probably is.At planing speed I figure I can run alittle shallower,just because the outboard is a few inches higher on transom.
I have ruined 4 props in 4 years,lakes up here are shallow with granite,whats a guy to do
One thing I did read was that tunnel hulls are normally 3-5 mphs slower then flat hulls.

Do you normally fish alone? I ask this because you may want to look into a center console for balancing. They are pretty popular here in FL, mainly for the better field of vision they offer when running skinny, and shallow water. Not to mention spotting the infamous oyster beds.

Of course if you getting a 2072 you could probably load everything on one side and it wouldn't affect a boat that big.

I gotta say I am very jealous of you, and im probably not the only one on here. I would love to get either a SeaArk, G3, Xpress, or an Alumacraft with a Jet tunnel or a prop tunnel with pods in about a 1650 to 2072 size range with over a 100hp motor.

Are you going to be getting it as a complete package or buying a hull and building it yourself?

reedjj said:

Do you normally fish alone? I ask this because you may want to look into a center console for balancing.
Are you going to be getting it as a complete package or buying a hull and building it yourself?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. I'm guessing that I'll be by myself about 1/2 the trips, the rest of the time I'll have another adult and a couple of nephews and neices. I prefer a more open/less deck as this allows me to keep my center of gravity lower. I haven't been the wider jons yet, so I don't have a feel for the 'tipsy' factor. Once I get a handle on what I want (or rather don't want) in a jon boat, I'll fab it myself or see my local Vo-tech.

Side or Center Console-I've went back and forth on this and feel that the side console opens up the boat more, making for more efficient use of floor area. And then I've hit a snag. My home state, Kentucky, has several smaller impoundments that offer some good fishing, but limit the boat length to 18.5 feet, so unless I'm willing to pass on these lakes, I will have to get the 1872 mv rather than the 2072 mv.

continued

Back to my orginal question. Part of my 'dumbness' is that my local rivers are controlled by the Army Corps of Enginners, have locks and dams creating pools, thus no shallow water experience.

I'm just not sure what to expect from the typical southern US rivers. As one procedes upstream in the main channels and tributaries to progressivly shallower water, there comes a point where a conventional hull can't operate, but how much futher upstream can one procede with a tunnel/jack plate prop before you reach jet tunnel or canoe only depth? Are you talking miles and miles of water or something much shorter where one could just use a trolling motor?

Hope this is making sense. I've got cut this short.

Thanks again, Fred

1872 is still a big jon boat. plenty of room to do what you want, and a very stable platform.

Do you have specific rivers in mind in the south? I built my little boat to run Black Creek in Middleburg Fl and maybe to get out a little in the St Johns river and some of the smaller lakes in the area. Black Creek goes from close to 3/4 mile and 90ft deep wide at its mouth where it dumps into the St Johns river and gets as small as a trickle and 4 feet wide at its origin in Jennings State forest. Way back in the forest is where I want to get, Far away from everyone else. My little boat will go in water less than knee deep and I still hit my motor an a log and stalled out in the sand. I need to get a trolling motor to get back much further. Once I get over a log or a obstacle I can fire up the motor and go another 1/4 mile or so before I have to negatiate another obstacle. These Fl creeks and swamps can get skinny and then open up to big ponds and pools where there are big fish hiding. I wanna be the guy that can get to them when others cant. Sounds like you have the same idea?

Without going to extremes like getting a mud/boat motor or going with a full blown Jet shallow water sled. The Prop Tunnel with Hyd Jackplate is the best all around choice for just about any conditions. You will still be able to get really shallow when you need to, and you will get the performance out of the prop when you are in bigger water.

Someone on the Jet forum posted once that if you need to get shallower than 3-4 inches you should just get an ATV!

My father in law pointed out to me once that when you fish from shore you always cast out as far as you can, and when your fishing from a boat you always seem to cast towards the shore. When your on an ATV you always wanna drive it through as deep a puddle or water as you can find, and when were on boats we wanna go as shallow as we can. hahaha Its the outdoorsman paradigm!

I would defiantly get a center console on a boat that wide.

My new boat has a tunnel hull and I think it's a great idea.

Thanks guys, PartsMan - Is the reason you reccomended a cc for balance or visability or both?

Reedjj- I fished the St. Johns near Deland, rented pontoons out of High Banks and eased up the Wekiva maybe a couple of miles.

In the panhandle, I've fished the Choctawhatchee (near Hwy 20) and the Dead Lakes near Wewahitchka. I've scouted out the Chipola at road crossings and really want to fish this river!!!

Using the Wekiva and Chiplola as examples, how far upsteam can one take a conventional hulled jon upstream before the water gets too shallow? Back to my orginal thought, why couldn't one continue upstream using a trolling motor?

Change channel-Is it worthwhile considering getting the prop tunnel, but not a jack-plate? I'm assumming that if one forgoes the jack-plate, the the OB's water-pickup does not have to be modified.

Thanks again for help,

Fred

I was talking to a guy last night that gets waay back up in the creek and he said I won't be able to get back there with my boat. I guess there are spots that are very shallow and then deep pools after that. I was planning on doing the same as you and just using a trolling motor but he said I would still not make it. I would have to get out and lift over some spots. He said even with a canoe he has had to portage some spots.

I guess it all depends how deep in the woods you wanna go. After hearing that yesterday around 6:00pm I spent the rest of the night looking at jet outboards, and alweld and seaArk jet tunnels. The only other option for me is a small jon like a 1236 and a 6-9 hp mud Buddy.

If you get the prop tunnel you can always use the power tilt/trim to raise the motor and run shallow.

shootandfish1 said:

Thanks guys, PartsMan - Is the reason you reccomended a cc for balance or visability or both?

Click to expand...

No an 72 wide boat is going to be very stable. I just think a center console is a better use of space on a fishing boat. You can fish and land fish from any side of the boat. Also end up with and isle on both sides of the boat make things less crowded. The middle of a boat that big is wasted space. Might as well put the console there.

PartsMan said:

shootandfish1 said:

Thanks guys, PartsMan - Is the reason you reccomended a cc for balance or visability or both?

Click to expand...

No an 72 wide boat is going to be very stable. I just think a center console is a better use of space on a fishing boat. You can fish and land fish from any side of the boat. Also end up with and isle on both sides of the boat make things less crowded. The middle of a boat that big is wasted space. Might as well put the console there.

Click to expand...

I guess if you think about it you really only fish from the back and front decks anyway. With a side console you have all that extra room in the center, but its kinda wasted because but what do you do when you start fishing???? one goes to the front deck and one goes to the back deck. Who stands around in the middle of the boat???

https://www.g3boats.com/Gator_Tough_1860_CCT


I really like this set up for a Center console Prop tunnel. With the cooler/seat you are not using the rear deck as a driving seat and a fishing seat. Plus if your ole' Lady is like mine she likes to sit beside me when she does go out with me. Not that its all that much but She doesn't like to sit in front of the Center console when she does go.

Plus its just a nice set up. There is no reason you cant set up any boat similar in size like this. IF you got the SeaArk 1872, 1772,0r 1672 you would even have more room on each side than this 1860 G3.

reedjj said:

I guess if you think about it you really only fish from the back and front decks anyway.

Click to expand...

No that's my problem. I have two sons and a buddy that usually goes with us.
It kind of bugs me to see big fishing boats set up for two guys.
A sixteen foot runabout might seat 7 will a 24 foot bass rig seats two maybe three.

I guess you can set it up with a side console driver seat and a passenger seat like a bass boat and then right in front of the side console you could put another seat. With one more right in front of the passenger seat. A lot of the jet boats are set up like that. Fender66 has his set up just like that..here... https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=18187

With a bigger boat like he is looking at ( a 1872 or 2072) you could even have room for 2 pedestal seats on the rear deck and and 2 on the front deck for FOUR fishermen. I have seen crappie boats set up that way.

If you set ur rig up similar to Fender66 boat and then used the idea from the Xpress Crappie boat pictured below you could have the best of both worlds. An 1872 or bigger would surely have room for a set up like this. It would be perfect for two Fathers and 2 sons or neices/nephews, Grandkids whatever. A 4 seater/ 4 pedestal seat fishing boat. you could even set it up where the 4 seats that you drive/ride in pull out and go in the pedestal mounts on the decks. PROBLEM SOLVED!

I know he said he wanted to stay with 18.5 ft and under but a 2072 or a 2472 would be the perfect size for a 4 man fishing boat.