BBSBs and the Tennessee River

David Palmer

David Palmer

Active member
Hey folks! I'm new to the site and have really enjoyed looking through all of the posts over the past two months! All of your talk about BBSBs have gotten me thinking about the possibility of buying/building one, so I wanted to pick your brains as to how effective you think one would be on the Tennessee River chain.

I hunt both puddlers and divers on Lake Wheeler and Lake Guntersville in North Alabama, and there are some fun creeks/small rivers that hold birds as well. I don't like hunting by myself a lot, so I'd like to have the space to take a buddy and a dog along.

I've hunted out of 16' jons with mud motors but they're so heavy and slow. I've recently sold a couple of boats (a layout boat and a canoe) and I currently have my mud motor rig up for sale/trade as well. That means that I'll be coming into some cash in the next few weeks and my itch to buy a new rig will be really bothering me.

Ideally, if a BBSB is well suited for North Alabama waters, I'm thinking it would be my only hunting boat. I do have a 20' center console jon with a 90 hp outboard that I use for fishing and some hunting, but it's a hard boat to hide and get into skinny water.

So chew this over for a while and let me know your thoughts on the matter. I sure would appreciate it.

Grace and peace!

David
 
Eric Patterson is in your backyard so he can fill you in on how useful a Delvin style garvey is. One of the Black Brants will work out well as long as you do not want to get into water that is less than 14 inches deep.
 
Ditto that. You have some very knowledgeable folks on this board who are right in your backyard. My first thought was more along the lines of the BB3 too. You can check out Sam Devlin's site which will give you some idea's.

Ryan
 
Eric Patterson is in your backyard so he can fill you in on how useful a Delvin style garvey is. One of the Black Brants will work out well as long as you do not want to get into water that is less than 14 inches deep.
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Ray, I have "poled " my BBIII into what I believe was much less than 14" of water. That was with 1 man and gear, motor up. I stood at the stern and puuussshed
 
Welcome David! Glad you found your way here. If you find the PERFECT boat for everything we do on the Tenn. River, let me know. With the west wind making some nice rollers and the low water level making various boat ramps next to impossible, it is tough to have the ONE perfect boat for the river.

Eric will give the best opinion.

Good luck.
Brian
 
Eric Patterson is in your backyard so he can fill you in on how useful a Delvin style garvey is. One of the Black Brants will work out well as long as you do not want to get into water that is less than 14 inches deep.
Click to expand...

Ray, I have "poled " my BBIII into what I believe was much less than 14" of water. That was with 1 man and gear, motor up. I stood at the stern and puuussshed
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I am refering to the operational depth of a Black Brant 3 (mine being my only hands on reference) being 14 inches which is for operating the motor with a full load of gear. If built to fit the motor then one can tilt the motor and run it in shallow water position, but you are still going to be limited to about 12 inches of water. Depending on several construction, motor, and water factors you might be able to run in 10 inches.

When a mud motor owner mentions "skinny" water they are usually refering to 4 to 6 inches (or less). Design depth on the BB3 is just under 8 inches so it will never fit into mud motor skinny water conditions. And that is why I made my statement.

I have read accounts of mud motor guys getting into "traditional" boats like ours and being shut out of their favorite spots due to how much water the boats draw. Then they start whining like old women about how crappy our boats are.

Presonnaly I have poled my BB3 in 2 inches of water on top of several feet of muck, but after 40 yards my armstrong power was gone and I was no where near to where I wanted to set up so I had to hang out and wait for the armstrong to refuel before poling back out of that spot. For every 3 feet of pole push the boat moved ahead about a half foot due to the muck. Sometimes pulling the pole out of the muck resulted in going a foot backwards since I had a water filled ditch behind me.

A couple of guys in a skiff with a small 23hp short tail mud motor were running through the same stuff at about 20mph. They stopped but could not pull me out. They had no issues getting doing again.
 
Funny you mention skinny water and Mud Motors. I run a 16' aluminum mod v jon with a 23 HP mud motor. It is great in the mud and marsh but is not so good when it comes to bigger water. I'm looking at a BBSB to expand my fleet for solo days on the bigger bays. Then I still need a Bankes Crusader for the open water days. I also really like David Clark's Garvey. It seems like a great two man boat.

If the perfect boat for all occasions is out there I haven't seen it yet. I believe different settings call for different equipment.
 
David,
As most have said, Eric is a great source of information, and so is David Chandler. I've hunted sneaks, layouts, etc. on Guntersville....just finished my 28th season on the river...you are welcome to contact me and pick my puny brain anytime, and I can also give you David and Eric's #'s, also...whether they want me too or not.LOL Both of them tend to hunt more from sneakboxes/Devlin boats than anything, and have built several, each.

I do have a small GlenL sneak box I'm selling right now, too.....not plugging it, but it's available for a loaner or to play with, etc. should you need....it's sitting in Albertville at the moment.
256-506-2311 mobile
 
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David

I have a Devlin Broadbill (1 man) and Black Brant II (2 man) and also built a Devlin Scaup. If you want to see one in person to get a feel if this is the style of boat that will meet your needs you are welcome to come over to my house and take a look. I live in Huntsville. Just let me know.

Eric
 
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david ,
I'm in Guntersville. I use a modified Devlin Cackler with a 23 Mud Buddy Mini on it. runs out at 25 mph with hunt load and dog. This boat loves rough water. I'm finishishing up a Devlin Scaup and will run a 27 Mud buddy Mini on it. With the vegetation on Guntersville, I would not run anything but a surface drive. Shallow water is not a problem.
I built my first Devlin Black Brant in 1996 and would still be in it if my son had not had a "deer in the road" experience with it.

LIke Bill and Eric said, I will be glad to let you see the boats and we can take a ride in the Cackler. Eric is very good at building the Devlin boats and a wealth of knowledge as you can see on this website. My number is 256-572-0436
 
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