I still can't decide between 18 x 48 or 18 x 54. I hunt in the marsh and timber, fish a little between duck seasons. From what I have read 48 will be faster, but 54 can handle more load. I don't think 54 would be too wide for the timber... lik i said can't decide. Any advice/ personal experience?

I was torn like you are between the two so i just thought about its main purpose and went with the 48 cause i run very narrow ditches, mine carries a good load to but its in shallow water running narow ditches, i hit about 26 with 2 people running deep water. But i like to explore the marsh too and my narrow boat doesn't limit me. I fish perfectly fine out of it!

just my .02 the 54 bottom will carry a heavy load better and faster if you have a long haul with a big load like i do.....................

-jordy

i have the 48 and wish i had gotten the 54 just for a lil more room. my boat performs well and i fish out of it also but the extra room would be nice sometime

Your width at the gunnels will be differant with each brand of hull you buy. Some are narrower than others,you need to try and find someone with a rig like you want to buy and run it in the conditions that you will use it in and then decide. I had a boat blind that came off a 48" hull I had and it fit right on my 54" with no problems.

I like a narrower hull when running in thick hyacinth but other than that I really like my 54.

I put 3 big guy's in my 54" with all dec's and gear & a dog comfortably.48" might be alittle tight if you carry a hunting load like that.

Get as wide of a boat as you can that will still fit through your timber. A wider boat will have more room, carry a bigger load, be more stable and be a better fishing platform.

I like em a little wider. I don't run much timber, so it was a no brainer for me on my second boat. The 54" will draft less water as well.

My 2054 carries a load much better than the 1848 Pd I had prior.

thanks for the input guys, I think I might go with the 54.. Until next time I change my mind i guess

The 48s are fun boats to run and work well if you run really tight timber, but the wider boats are the load handlers. We went to a new 56" version of the Phowler this year because it handles load better then our previous 52" version, keeps deeper sides standard and will still make it through the timber. We have run up to 60" boats in the timber, just had a bit more "rubbn" to do.

The narrow boats are fast with lighter loads, but the wider boats will perform with a full load and in our book thats what counts, loaded down performance.

PW