anybody runnin a 3/16 bottom? just how durable is it? can it be considered hook proof?

anybody dented the bottom of their 0.125 floor? if so what did it take to do it?

i have seen a 0.100 bottom look like a sheet of bubble wrap after one season running our hunting area, those cypress knees are hell on a boat!

im trying to decide if the durability of a 3/16 bottom is worth the extra weight, or if there is a way to beef up the floor of an 0.125 hull... ?

This is a questiong we have been debating for years. I know of pleanty of .125" hulls that are in good condition and I know of .125" hulls with so much damage you would think it was .080"

I know in the past bracing was thought to be the problem but i looked at an 1848 with .125 bottom last week that had 6 2x2 longs and 3 2x2 cross braces and the bottom has plenty of hooks in it.

If you think you will keep the boat for a lifetime then get no ligher than a .125 but i would recoment a 3/16 of heaver bottom. Since you are around some rock might even want to call Hoyt or EVT and get some poly put on the bottm if you want it to be a tank.

Weight on the bottom is not as critical IMO because it is evenly displaced across the boat. If you are getting a 18ft boat the weight addition of the 3/18 vs 1/8 will be no more than 60 lbs on a 48 wide and no more than 70 lbs on a 60 wide boat.

FYI...Aluminum is about 1.746 lbs pr sq ft

1/4"

..........I would go 5/16 and add 1/4 teflon to it....

good luck.

poly? teflon? i didnt know you could have that installed on the bottom of a boat. if it will stop hooks then thats what im looking for. and 5/16"....thats like 300 ga. whats the thickest thats available to be put on a 17' boat bottom? whats the point where the weight of the bottom outweighs the durability advantage?

a 1/8 hull will hold up for a while if you know how to drive it. it's good enough for just about everyone. even when it does get hooked up, it'll still run okay.

a 3/16 hull will hook too... if you try hard enough.

What about having the builder run the ribs all the way to the transom and tie them in to the transom?

What about a few more ribs?

I was thinking 3/16 with ribs that run all the way to the transom, keep the floor open the last 6" of the boat by the transom, maybe a few weep holes through the ribs to get the water out. I care less about having a little water in the a$$ of boat than I do about hooking the boat at the transom.

Something else I been wondering about with hooking at the transom is the PD style of transom with the tabs hanging off the back vs. the angle style transom like Gator Tail does. Looks like Gator Tail runs the rib back to where the bottom of the boat angles up?

Yall are puttin too much thought into dis. Just find you a good boat builder and tell him what you want. I would think wit his experiance he would know how to build to meet your needs.

yea, you would think....... but im not willing to dish out that kind of money relying on one mans experience build me what i need. i would rather talk to as many people as possible and draw from the collective to decide for myself. if we were talking about a 500 dollar item then maybe, yea, too much thought, but we are talking about a 16 thousand dollar rig, give or take a few grand. i dont know anything about building boats, thats why i am asking so many questions to so many people trying to learn all i can so i will have a basic idea of what i need/want. i want to get it right the first time.