Hello all, new member here from Central Texas, and I'm in a little over my head with the differences between rounded, straight, and tapered chines for mud boats. Initially I thought about buying a GT boat, but have looked at some of the pictures of the custom made boats out there, and noticed that many of them if not all seem to have square chines. Can yall square me away, and teach me a little bit. Thanks!

Square - runs faster - floats higher - slides like wild in the shallows
Tapered - sort of a compromise between square and round
Round - less lift so it runs a bit slower - drafts a bit more - turns on a dime

Short answer - to a complex question....

But it takes a pretty fancy hi dollar press to press out the round - tapered - or multitapered
hull out of a single sheet of metal....

I can't tell you about a tapered chine but I can tell you about my experience between a square and round chine. My previous boat was a Tracker Grizzly 1754 with a Merc 90hp on it. The boat was fast in a straight line but wouldn't turn worth a crap. It fully depended on engine power to turn and a few times I would back off the throttle in a turn and the boat would just start sliding sideways at the same speed. Pretty scary and I lost control a few times and ended up in the saw grass here in the Everglades.

Now I have a Gator Trax 1750 with round chines and the thing tracks like if it was on rails. I've taken some high speed turns in it and backed off the throttle completely to see if the boat would swing around like my other one and nothing. It completes the turn exactly the same way regardless of throttle and doesn't slide an inch in any direction.

I'm completely happy with my boat and if you were to get a GT I'm sure you will be as well but I think you're doing great by looking at the other manufacturers. Now after having bought a GT I can tell you that they are not a custom boat, they are production boats that you can customize, there's a big difference there.

you wanna see where it really makes a difference. Drive an aluminum airboat with a square chine, and then a glass boat with a rounded chine across a mud flat. My god, the glass boat is 1000% nicer.

i'd say that a square chine slides in deep and shallow water regardless. the rounded turns well in deep and pretty shallow water. put a round chine boat in REALLY shallow or straight mud flat and the chines don't make much of a difference, it will slide, especially a wide boat like i have (learned that the hard way). BUT it all depends on the area you run. I like a rounded chine, that's what i have always had and it works for me. some people have mastered the art of turning a square chine boat (i have not) by letting off the throttle during turns and gunning it at the right moment. it's tricky but some people do it very well. if you have a straight shot run, a square may work. if you an area with twists and turns or stumps, i like a rounded boat with a tapered transom.
to each his own, now i will let the pom poms take over...

Thanks for the help guys