Seaworthiness of Tender - 24' Lone Star

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Paul Tychsen

Active member
Gentlemen, hope everyone had great holidays. Canvas and I enjoyed the time in Northern Wisconsin.

I am looking at a larger tender for next season. I plan to hunt Lake Superior and Lake Michigan with it. I have been searching for an aluminum hull in the 24' range for a couple months - they are hard to come by much bigger than 21'. I have a couple of leads on the brand Lone Star. They made a 24' aluminum hull with cabin. I would tear out everything down to the hull and put in a center or side console. I would also build up the sides similar to Steve's boats.

My question is on the seaworthiness of this boat. We get some weather on the great lakes and I'm worried about handling in bigger waves. Does anyone have any experience with the lone star 24?

I have been in search of a 24' starcraft, but no luck.

The attached image shows the boat on the left.

View attachment LoneStar24.jpg


Thanks, I appreciate your time and experience.
Paul
 
Good morning Paul,

So from your post, I assume you are going to be hunting out of the boat in open water and not using it as a tender for layout hunting?? You are basically looking for a wide open work boat?

I'll share my experience. I was in a similar situation, and it is very difficult to take an original boat and "retro" it for your personal needs. It can be done, but it will take time, extra expense, and the "savings" won't be as much as you think. When you are looking at a 24" boat, you are now talking about a serious rig. My suggestion is to go to a builder and make exactly what you want for the conditions you will hunt. I went to Ed Fields at Tuff Boat and we sat down with a concept, and he put together exactly what I wanted for my needs. Ed told me as long as I don't defy the laws of physics, he can build it for me. I've had my 24" sled as a tender for 5 seasons now and I can't say enough good about the boat.

Check out his site at www.tuffboat.com

Best,
Steve
 
The question is, why go with a totally open tender?
It might be smarter to leave the cabin, strictly for comfort-With something that big, i assume you will also want to fish out of it in the spring-early fall?
Why not set it up to have the best of both worlds, or at least, some creature comforts!!
Partner had a 24 starcraft eons ago--when there were still sea trout in the delaware, when fall came, we would set three or four longlines of jugs for scoters, jig out of the boat,and when scoters came, we put rods in holders, flagged a bit, and had a great time--nice part was that other guys fishing stayed clear of us!!
 
Sorry for the delay in response. I intend to mainly hunt 2 one man layouts with the tender, hence the desire for an open layout. I would like to transport 4 guys and a dog. An open layout would provide enough room for everyone.

I will also hunt out of the boat, another reason to get rid of the cabin.

I appreciate the links to manufacturers, but would rather do the work myself on a production hull.

Any thoughts on seaworthiness of the pictured hull? I believe they have quite a shallow draft which worries me.



Thanks,
Paul

View attachment 3n23pd3le5O05Z05R3aci68a526c7a4c2189f.jpg
 
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