anyone got a hog island/other rowable skiff thing?

just don't have enough ramps/public access around here to get by without a jet. hog island sw16 seems like it'll do everything i need adequately well but i'd love to hear from someone who owns one or has experience with another power drifter/river skiff setup.

this'll be 80/20 between river and reservoir. rivers range from massive tailwater for striper to big creeks for toothy critters. all are rocky, none particularly silty and no gnar. row-ability is pretty high on the list for me. i'm looking for something i can put in, run up a few miles quickly, and drift down with. set on jet drive and lean towards the shallow v of the hog island for running on reservoirs and general handling but if that also means it rows like a brick, i'll definitely reconsider.

One of the Inland NW mags (2Funky maybe???) has a power drifter. From pics I think it’s a Hyde, hopefully he chimes in.


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It was actually a buddies who doesn’t post here much anymore. Hyde power drifter 18’. I’ve been in it a bunch. Also ran in a smaller style one. They are great for accessing water upstream but they row like a brick, sorry. They are heavy. If rowing slow current and you set yourself up they are manageable. Think driving a F350 crew cab long box vs a wrx. If you go in drifting a line with that thinking they will work just fine. You need to look a ways down river and start your set up accordingly. They are a great swiss army knife for very scattered put ins or recycling a section. A bow mount trolling motor with spot lock would be the shit to add. My bud was going that direction but sold it for a bass style lake boat. Since you said tail waters for striper, I would also do a small kicker with a tr-1 auto pilot. That is a sick combo.
Just remember, a true quick drifter it is not. It will do exactly what you want though.


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Originally Posted by 2FUNKY

It was actually a buddies who doesn’t post here much anymore. Hyde power drifter 18’. I’ve been in it a bunch. Also ran in a smaller style one. They are great for accessing water upstream but they row like a brick, sorry. They are heavy. If rowing slow current and you set yourself up they are manageable. Think driving a F350 crew cab long box vs a wrx. If you go in drifting a line with that thinking they will work just fine. You need to look a ways down river and start your set up accordingly. They are a great swiss army knife for very scattered put ins or recycling a section. A bow mount trolling motor with spot lock would be the shit to add. My bud was going that direction but sold it for a bass style lake boat. Since you said tail waters for striper, I would also do a small kicker with a tr-1 auto pilot. That is a sick combo.
Just remember, a true quick drifter it is not. It will do exactly what you want though.

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good info, thanks. you happen to remember what he had off the back and how it handled on plane?

The thing about adding another 450-500 lbs is it adds a lot of work and I'm not just talking about the extra effort to pull the oars. You've also got to row a lot more strokes to keep your momentum down.

Lots of used drift boats get sold because the owner gets tired of being the only capable oarsman. Something to consider before buying a drifter that will be topping 1300-1400 lbs with passengers or 1600lbs for overnights.

Another thing is power drifters have a hull shape that allows it to track under power. Try to imagine what will happen if you snag the V or a hull ridge on a rock while at a ferry angle with all that weight. Probably not the boat for those big creeks you want to access! I'm getting sore just thinking about dragging a 700lb boat over the shallows.

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Originally Posted by neckdeep

The thing about adding another 450-500 lbs is it adds a lot of work and I'm not just talking about the extra effort to pull the oars. You've also got to row a lot more strokes to keep your momentum down.

Lots of used drift boats get sold because the owner gets tired of being the only capable oarsman. Something to consider before buying a drifter that will be topping 1300-1400 lbs with passengers or 1600lbs for overnights.

Another thing is power drifters have a hull shape that allows it to track under power. Try to imagine what will happen if you snag the V or a hull ridge on a rock while at a ferry angle with all that weight. Probably not the boat for those big creeks you want to access! I'm getting sore just thinking about dragging a 700lb boat over the shallows.

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if access existed, even bridges to drop my raft off, i wouldn't be going this route. i guess i see it more as a necessity than anything else and can accept all the extra work that comes with it. going up to 10' oars should give me a little more leverage and using drag chains on the bigger water will help slow momentum a bit.

definitely not ideal in a lot of scenarios but if it is the only way to access the aforementioned big creeks, isn't it the best way?

My buddy had a 60 horse jet with a nine horse kicker. It wasn’t a speed demon but It got on plane and ran the clearwater and snake rivers just fine. No power drifter that I have been in has had any kind of a V bottom. They are all completely flat with rocker at the bow.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by 2FUNKY

My buddy had a 60 horse jet with a nine horse kicker. It wasn’t a speed demon but It got on plane and ran the clearwater and snake rivers just fine. No power drifter that I have been in has had any kind of a V bottom. They are all completely flat with rocker at the bow.


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The hog island boat he's looking at has a V hull back to the front bulkhead and 1 inch ridges running the length of the bottom.

IMHO, you're going to seriously regret having those when the water gets swift and shallow. Slow to pivot and very, very sticky. The consequences of misjudging your draft could be severe, to say the least. You're not going to slide over. I always saw power drifters as a craft designed for big, low-gradient mainstem river systems where it's mostly gravel, sand and cobblestone bottom.

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Originally Posted by neckdeep

The hog island boat he's looking at has a V hull back to the front bulkhead and 1 inch ridges running the length of the bottom.

IMHO, you're going to seriously regret having those when the water gets swift and shallow. Slow to pivot and very, very sticky. The consequences of misjudging your draft could be severe, to say the least. You're not going to slide over. I always saw power drifters as a craft designed for big, low-gradient mainstem river systems where it's mostly gravel, sand and cobblestone bottom.

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yeah, i see what you are saying now with the ridges in particular. that will suck to row in tight and shallow.

but that is just one particular creek and the riffles are spaced out enough i feel like it won't be that big a PITA to drift the good shit and motor down through the skinny. either way, the water where that is a concern is a small proportion of the water i'd fish with this thing.

im hopin to get mine this spring i plan on mostly usin it for stillwater and poopfish patrol
i cant tell ya how it rows jonny says pretty good but weights a big issue
he talked me outta a jet drive due to the head unit being an extra 50 + lbs
cant tell my hogs the easiest drifty i rowed but it aint nothin but a couple extra oar strokes and its made me pretty good on the sticks
durability wise it takes the abuse and it tracks well and is a kickass stable fishing platform
i took a chance and bought the 4th drifty he roto moulded 22 years ago and an assload of river and res miles later shes still doin the Tupperware Mothership float and be happy thing
and J st iJs a lifelong friend
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
id give him a call rather than take to much stock in the guy who wade fishes more than floats advice
hell be straight up with ya hes damn good peeps
tell em your sheldons skin friend

Quote:

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Originally Posted by neckdeep

The hog island boat he's looking at has a V hull back to the front bulkhead and 1 inch ridges running the length of the bottom.

IMHO, you're going to seriously regret having those when the water gets swift and shallow. Slow to pivot and very, very sticky. The consequences of misjudging your draft could be severe, to say the least. You're not going to slide over. I always saw power drifters as a craft designed for big, low-gradient mainstem river systems where it's mostly gravel, sand and cobblestone bottom.

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Cool. Haven’t been in one or looked. Guess I should have.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by skifishbum

im hopin to get mine this spring i plan on mostly usin it for stillwater and poopfish patrol
i cant tell ya how it rows jonny says pretty good but weights a big issue
he talked me outta a jet drive due to the head unit being an extra 50 + lbs
cant tell my hogs the easiest drifty i rowed but it aint nothin but a couple extra oar strokes and its made me pretty good on the sticks
durability wise it takes the abuse and it tracks well and is a kickass stable fishing platform
i took a chance and bought the 4th drifty he roto moulded 22 years ago and an assload of river and res miles later shes still doin the Tupperware Mothership float and be happy thing
and J st iJs a lifelong friend
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
id give him a call rather than take to much stock in the guy who wade fishes more than floats advice
hell be straight up with ya hes damn good peeps
tell em your sheldons skin friend

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thanks dibs. i'll give him a call tomorrow.

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Originally Posted by skifishbum

id give him a call rather than take to much stock in the guy who wade fishes more than floats advice

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I can row anything you got, chief. I've been in boats my entire life. Dorys, drift boats, skiffs, rafts of all sizes, catarafts, jon boats with oars and a few homemade monstrosities that I'd rather forget. Canoes, kayaks, inflatable kayaks... I cut my teeth doing backcountry whitewater in aluminum Grumans. Oared craft are a cakewalk compared to that. I was practically born in the water. That's why I mostly use a watermaster. Not afraid of getting wet.

But, whatevers, yours and mines experience is kinda irrelevant when it comes to the physics of hull design. You don't have to be a genius or whitewater god to understand what 1" ridges is going to do you if you graze a grabby rock at a ferry angle. And I ain't shitting on the design. I'd love to have one if I fished in a main stem or estuarine environment. That thing would totally be the tits for running up above the head of the tide in places with no access.

Stealthcraft makes several models of power drifters, they have a bunch of YouTube videos on them.

If I am not mistaken, the first segment of the Huge Fly Fisherman’s first Musky video was in non-mag BamBam’s jet Stealthcraft.

https://stealthcraftboats.com/stealt...pdsled-center/




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I can tell you my jet rows like a Sherman tank on pontoons, but it definitely has its place in our arsenal. I have rowed a few power drifters and they aren’t substantially better than our sled when it comes to rowing

Attachment 487916


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Harry

Stealthcraft makes several models of power drifters, they have a bunch of YouTube videos on them.

If I am not mistaken, the first segment of the Huge Fly Fisherman’s first Musky video was in non-mag BamBam’s jet Stealthcraft.

https://stealthcraftboats.com/stealt...pdsled-center/

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so i wanted to go this route at first but a few things led me elsewhere. no used options around here and new is pricy. i'd like something i can use downeast too and most of the skiff offerings out there have poling options.

but my dream fantasy boat for a lot of the water around here would be yer drifter with a 60 jet that somehow still rows like yer drifter. that is the dream.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by teleee

I can tell you my jet rows like a Sherman tank on pontoons, but it definitely has its place in our arsenal. I have rowed a few power drifters and they aren’t substantially better than our sled when it comes to rowing

Attachment 487916

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i'm gonna make it a point of rowing anything i look at. make whatever compromises i gotta make and figure out access on some of the smaller water where rowing a jet aint doable. but there is so much water i know a jet will handle fine on that i can't access otherwise so seems inevitable.

also didn't know lowe made a sled. thats looks like a nifty little rig. is that aluminum or fiberglass?