flat bottom or mod V

All things being equal if you had to choose between a flat bottom tin or a mod v ,which would you pick and why?

I'm mostly on a river so a flat bottom works well for me.

I fish lakes. I have a mod V because it cuts through a little chop easier.

I have a small flat bottom boat, I love it the rivers, running across a windy lake me back sure takes a beating. Wish I had a mod V at times like that to break the chop.

I have two modified v's. Where I fish ( mostly a combination of small or mid size lakes and a mid size river ) they work well. I rarely fish large lakes, but my larger boat works there as long as the weather doesn't get bad. I don't take my smaller boat out to the larger lakes even with favorable weather forecasts, just to risky. I only made that mistake once.

I took my 1442 mv to a large lake to tune the motor and just to see how it would do in open water not long after I got it. The weather was nice, and the forecast was fine. A light to moderate wind started blowing late in the day and the open water developed a heavy chop with some small waves. My boat and I handled it fine and it was fun, but 5 to 10 more mph winds would have made it scary and dangerous in my small boat and marginal in my larger boat.

I guess what I'm getting at is neither does well in real waves like what you get on a large lake or our largest rivers with high winds. Every year people in a 16' mod or semi v drown in our large lakes and rivers because they over estimate there boat, and under estimated the water body their on.

My mv's are more comfortable in the chop that develops with wind and boat traffic on the mid-size bodies of water I fish than a flat bottom would be. If I only fished small bodies of water I would get a flat bottom, but I don't so mv's suite me best.

Sorry for the long post. The coffee and thoughts of newbies reading this thread got the best of me.

i had a 14 ft mv and now have a 1648 mv. i fish small and big lakes. i dont venture onto the big lakes if they are busy or it is windy. 10mph. in retrospect a 1648 flat bottom would have been a better choice. more front deck room. the little bit of time i run my big,30hp tiller, motor is negligible. i bellieve the time spent on the tm is more important,. it uses so much space iam pondering a hand control bow mount . an eight hour day fishing might put an hour on the engine.

I have a flat bottom and wish it was a mod v. If anything I would recommend a tall transom. I couldn't imagine being out on the water with a short transom but people do it all the time. I go all over the lake with no problems. But with it being a tin it is light and the wind whips it around quickly so I avoid anything over 10-15 MPH wind. Also be prepared for water slap on the bow. Drives me bonkers and I know it has to the fish. I have plans of picking up a Silent Stalker.

When it comes to some makes of tin boats, not much difference in the flatbottom and the mod-v models. My mod-v 1448 was pretty much flat on the bottom from mid-ship to stern.

Had both over the years...definitely go with a Mod-V, smoother ride for sure.

The reason for asking is......wife wants me to get rid of one or two of the tins #-o She just found out I picked up a really nice mid 80's 9.9 Evinrude. .............." But Honey , it was a great deal !! "

Now are we talking about a flat bottom with a V bow, or a slight V bottom?

I've had both and prefer the V bottom 100x over the flat bottom. Flat bottom will run slightly shallower, but we're talking maybe an inch at the most. Most jons that have a V bottom are 2 to 7° vee, with many hovering in the 4° range-which is basically nothing in comparison to a lot of the bigger 'glass boats. But it DOES make a difference when comparing to a flat bottom or a flat bottom V-bow.

I guess I should have stated like this, semi-v = a V bow, ending with a flat bottom at the stern & a flat bottom = flat from bow to stern

Charger25 said:

I guess I should have stated like this, semi-v = a V bow, ending with a flat bottom at the stern & a flat bottom = flat from bow to stern

Click to expand...

There really ain't much difference between the two when it comes to the jon boat style aluminum boats. These boats are light weight and the hull is a planing type hull. They are not heavy enough to cut through wakes/waves/chap. If you're looking for a night and day difference, you're not going to get it. The "semi-v" will give you a slightly better ride. I stress slightly.

If it is flat on the bottom regardless of the bow, the ride will match the water conditions.