best boat for somewhat rough water?

E

Eddie Byrd

New member
I am new to the addiction of boat buiding and im currently tryin to wrap up my first ever, a kara, and after reading everything on here i see i may need a different design. ill be hunting shallow water but occasionally it gets a little windy and rough on the water. im planning to hunt out on open water because no one here does it this way and with boat blinds being all over the bank i think i can really burn em by being where they feel safe. i hunted it last year by dragging brush and stumps out and just hunkering beside em, but now i wanna build a boat to hunt em from. Any advice on which direction to go, and im not interested in buying one , just building.
 
Eddie:

We'll need more information about where and what kind of water you are planning to hunt. "A little windy and rough" means one thing on Lake Erie or off the coast of Nova Scotia, another on the Mississippi River, and something totally different in an Nebraska cornfield pot hole.

Your set up in open water will probably work, but it may make you some enemies if you're setting up fairly close to parties on the shore behind you.

Around here some folks will make a "boat blind" by staking material into shallow water, covering with appropriate cover, and parking the boat inside the cover to hunt. I've seen these sized to cover anything from a one man kayak to a 20 foot Lund, and in the right situation they can be very effective.
 
Eddie,

If it gets rough AT ALL the Kara is not the boat you want. Any waves over 4-6 inches and you could be taking on water over the combing. The Kara was designed for and is the best in flooded fields like flooded corn, etc. It is very, very stable but is not for open water. I've done what you want to do in my Kara and it's problematic. If you can stand on the bottom and walk the boat out to where you want to sit, you at least can get out and walk it back if it gets rough.
 
im in west tennessee , so i hunt mostly backwater off small rivers and cypress sloughs.. occasionally hunt flooded fields when the mississippi gets out. the scenario i would most likely need a different design than the kara would be when our rivers get out and soybean and moist soil fields flood.. its mostly shallow with the exception of a ditch or two but there is absolutely no cover. these fields can be small and protected(kara territory) but they also can be several hundred acres and wide open to 15-30 mph winds. i bashed ducks on these fields last year but was very uncomfortable and wet in doing so. i will use my kara in perfect conditions but am wondering what design is best suited for rough water and still be somewhat low profile. and as far as being too close to other hunters.. i agree that would be crappy. By getting in the middle of the water i would be distancing myself from all the other guys who want to crowd each other. i like doing the things other people around here find ridiculous.
 
I guess you'll just have to try it and see how well it works for you. Every boat has it's pluses and minuses and all depends on when and where you use it. For me, where I hunt, I use a pole boat I built way more than the Kara but you could be just the opposite.
 
From your description, it sounds like you want single person, very shallow draft, and a little more freeboard than the Kara gives you.

The duck boat specs pages here are fantastic. I'd check the marsh boats for your intended use: http://duckboats.net.nmsrv.com/specs/marsh.html
 
yeah itll just be me... i think my neighbor and i are gonna build whatever design i decide go with at the same time so he can go with me sometimes.
 
My AA Wigeon needs about 6"s to float, it can handle about 2' waves, though I would prefer not to. It is too heavy to pick up and carry places, but if you can launch it, something like that might work for you.
 
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