Outlaw 18 boats review

J

John Sojka

Member
Hi does anyone have any experience with this brand of boats?
They are no longer made and I would like any comments on Ride, quality know issues et.
thanks for you thoughts!
John AKA Camoman
 
My buddy had a 14' Outlaw that was one sweet puddle duck boat. They are heavy as hell and I wouldn't want to be on big water in rough conditions in one. They are a tub in tub construction and you can get water between the pieces that is tough to get out. They are definitely a comfortable hunt.
 
It may have been this website, but I saw somewhere the company was out of business due to lawsuit from hunters being killed in this boat ?
 
Here you go.
There were 2 hull designs the first was a flat bottom all the way to the bow. The second had a v in the front. They must have had some issues with the first hulls getting water in the inner hull because mine did and they replaced it with no questions and no cost to me. I did not like the v front hull because it had a tendency to catch waves and push the boat around.

As for the fiberglass blind, it was very warm to hunt out of. I made a canvas curtain that would hang from the hard tops and block wind. With a space heater, I could stay warm in any weather. The hard tops were great when you were setup (no rain on you) but they are always in the way when you are trying to set or pickup decoys. Being so tall also made it hard to pickup decoys if you had to do it from the boat. In a wind the boat was a pain to handle because it was so tall. I think the 18’ version is rated for 5 people but it would be a challenge to hunt that many. The opening at the top of the blind is narrow and it makes it hard to move around. The hatch on the side of the blind was good for putting stuff in the boat but that is about it. The bungee cords on the side of the blind make it easy to brush up. The blind is removable but you are going to need several people to help you.
There were two version of the inside, one had a bench with movable seats and the other was just open.

I had the 14’ version out in 3’+ waves and it handled it fine but it needed to go slow due to the v bow. I did have one incident where there was snow on the roof and it rotated out while I was running and the boat tilted to the side badly. I thought it was going over. It was my fault for not clearing the snow which was making the boat top heavy.

Overall, it is not the best design for running in really rough waters and it is a pain to set and pull decoys out of. But once you are set up to hunt, it is the most comfortable boat I have hunted out of. I had the open floor so I sat in folding canvas chairs. There was more than one time that I put the lids all the way done in really nasty weather, turned on the indoor rated space heater and took a nap. I could have camped for days in comfort like that.

I sold the boat because I did not like the v bow and because it was a pain to work decoys from. The 14’ would only hunt 2 people comfortably.

You will get some feedback about an accident on the Great Lakes in one of these boats where the hunters died. My understanding is that Outlaw was not found at fault. The issue was the gas fill is on the side of the boat (I did not have an internal tank) and water got in the tank and killed the motor. The hunters did not have paddles in the boat and it capsized on some rocks. I don’t know the full story but I think there was enough fault to go around.
 
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John,
As a boat builder myself, I have never considered the Outlaw boats to be safe. Their floatation was in the floor, which, when full of water, wants to rotate upside down. If the boat is in heavy water and takes a bow wave, it will submarine. The Outlaw boat is the boat that killed several hunters in Saginaw Bay, Michigan several years ago. The owner of that company was also "persona non grata" to most of the folks in the manufacturing business due to his "less than ethical" buisness practices.
But then, TMHO. ;)
Lou
 
My bud's boat had the bench with the seats. We hunted 3 out of it a few times but 2 was like hunting out of a cabin. You are right about the lid, it was love/hate on that. His was the flat, no V style.
 
John,
As a boat builder myself, I have never considered the Outlaw boats to be safe. Their floatation was in the floor, which, when full of water, wants to rotate upside down. If the boat is in heavy water and takes a bow wave, it will submarine. The Outlaw boat is the boat that killed several hunters in Saginaw Bay, Michigan several years ago. The owner of that company was also "persona non grata" to most of the folks in the manufacturing business due to his "less than ethical" buisness practices.
But then, TMHO. ;)
Lou
Click to expand...


Lou, I was in a case of live and learn when I bought the 14' Outlaw. You are correct in that the floatation is in the floor which is not a good thing. However, the bow was high enough that I never had an issue with it trying to submarine. I have heard that the owner had issues with other boat builders but I never had a problem dealing with him. In fact when I found water in my inner hull, they replaced it without question or having me take the boat to a third party to be looked at. It may have been a liability issue that was driving it but it felt like good customer service to me.
 
Scott,
There are many, many, many issues with Jim Cripe and Outlaw Decoy Co. & Outlaw Marine. The company is aptly named. You'd be stunned to learn the truth about Jim. Someday, in a phone convo, I'd be happy to fill you in but it makes no sense (based on Jim's history) to put it in writing......again. ;) Let's just say that he is not known for ....originality.
Lou
 
Guys thanks for the great feedback!!!

I have one final question. How did you find the water inbetween the hulls????
If I was to look at one how would I know?????

thanks Again and the Rough water stuff it is a concern, but so far most of my hunting has been in rivers so I have yet to see much more than 2'-3' waves in 30 mph winds!
But you never know I was hoping to go into larger waters!

Again thanks
John AKA Camoman
 
I could actually hear the water move when I lifted the bow of the boat. The second version of the hull did not have a sealed inner hull so water inside it would not be an issue. If you are looking at 3' waves, I would look at some other options also. There are safer boats out there. I would tust Lou on this one.
 
ll I can remember about Jim Cripe was that his "sales technique" was to bad mouth and villify the competition. Turned me right off.
 
Okay Guys you mention verisons??
The Boat I am looking at is 1999 What year did they go out of business???
Your comments have really got the wheels turning!

Again Thanks
John AKA Camoman
 
Whoever reads this pay very close attention to what Lou says because he speaks the truth about the boats and the man behind them. I was on St Clair the day those guys died and I'm sure the weather was very similar on Saginaw. I was in my Lund and I was hitting the bottom of the lake in the troughs...skeg, keel...all of it...BANG....SHUDDEERRRRRR!!!! My buddy Scot was bailing with a 5 gallon bucket while the bilge never stopped. If I'd have been in an Outlaw the USCG woulda had to do a grid search with the chopper to find our bodies.
 
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or the mfg.....that said the boat didn't kill those people..they killed theirselves.....

The boat was a flatbottomed boat...it didn't belong on the lake int he conditions that day...you survived because you were in a DEEP V that could handle the water...they died because they were too ignorant to understand that the conditions that day were more than the boat could handle..

Simply put...BOATS DON'T KILL PEOPLE, PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE.......

The boat might have problems and I won't argue about Cripe but neither of those things killed those people....read the CG report for verification....unless of course you are one of those that believes that Cripe "paid off" the CG.......

Steve
 
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Oh, I would agree with you on all accounts. I'm not saying the boat killed those guys at all. I guess my point is...that boat isn't up to the challenge and I don't like it. As I recall it was marketed as a safe boat...correct me if I'm wrong, as you would say, "I slept since then". I guess if a guy limited himself to light conditions in smaller inland lakes maybe. Definately ignorance involved on Saginaw and St Clair that day...that entire week actually, sadly.

On my part, if anybody cares...I was doing fine but then we decided to head for this lee behind a big patch of phrags known as the "Gas Hole"(I was coming from the South Channel side). When I swung it into the wind I caught the big waves coming through Big Muscamoot off the main lake and they pretty much beat the crap out of us. Once I was in it wasn't going to be easy getting out with out taking a wave to the side of the boat. I didn't want to risk a complete swamp so I just continued on working the throttle appropriately. We got there and the shooting was incredible. If I've ever seen a grand passage of sorts, that was it. Cans, redheads, cans, cans, redheads. Eventually it laid down quite a bit and we made it in with little difficulty. I should've never put us in that situation but the rig held up fine. If it had been rocks we'd have been dead in the water.
 
PS And, I've never heard anything positive about Cripe...never one time did somebody say,"That Outlaw guy is one helluva nice fella". Everything was bad! Bad, bad, bad! I've never met him. I suspect you may've due to your locale and ability to network with the watefowling world. I recall that catalogue they had where they were all dressed up in cowboy garb...his daughter and son and nephew and neice etc etc etc. Real stupid stuff.
 
as I was at the "crowd" that instead of placeing the blame on the operators place it on "CRIPE".....thats pure BULL as far as I see it...

Sure the boat had some water in the hull problems....guess what? I've seen "mfg failures" on Lunds too....."GASSPPPPPPPP"....say it ain't so Joe......

The boat itself was a close replica....some would say a rip off...of the Carolina Skiff.....Carolina Skiffs don't belong on the Great Lakes but they are balls on for places like saltwater estuaries, protected waters, big loads and smart owners....can you bury the nose in a wave....OH YEAH....but then you can do that in a Lund, or any other boat in the WORLD....remember the 3 destroyer escorts that DISAPPEARED when they surfed down some monsetr waves in a storm, submarined and just frigging disappeared.....bet they didn't blame that on the guys that designed them, or built them......

Again I'm no fan of Cripes but I do think its wrong to blame him for something that wasn't his fault just because it seems "wrong" to say the guys that drowned weren't smart enough to know when to stay home.....

Steve
 
You know, I never thought of comparing it to a Carolina Skiff but it did have a similar hull design now that you mention it. But, as I recall the Outlaw was just flat out chintzy. Those Carolina Skiffs are built like a brick shithouse...a few guys run those on the rivers over here. I figure you'd only go into some nasty chop on a lake just once in one and then take your nuts home in a teacup and never do it again.
 
thought the catalog was stupid, thought the name of the business was stupid....that said he never screwed me and I've never known anyone personally that he did.....I know A BUNCH who say he was a crook....then when asked to explain go into the "a friend of mine knew a guy that had a girlfriend that dated a crack whore that had a brother than had a meth lab that said he heard from his parole officer that Cripe screwed him......So COULD BE....but the guys gone....long gone....so whats the point in trashing him when the question is about a long out of production boat?

Now the boat....was it "chintzy"? Got me...never did anything in one but stand in it on a trailer..... Was it built like a Carolina Skiff....I'm sure not...I fished and hutned out of a CS for 15 years.....in a wide range of conditions...some of them rougher than the boat should have been in....NEVER let me down.....NEVER.....not the most comfortable in some of those situations but I'm here.....and I'd bet that in those same situations that if people like the guys that drowned had been there that they might not be......

Steve
 
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