I am ordering my material when I get back on land tomorrow. I am pretty dead set on an 18x48 21" sides 8" catwalks 3/16" bottom 1/8" sides. I want to use the boat as an all around boat, 15% fishing and 85% hunting and frogging. I hunt and frog in the basin in very stumpy and tight areas but run a fair amount of open water and flats to get to where I hunt and frog. I dont think I could get by with 1/8" bottom but would love to save the weight. I want to be able to squeese through the timber a little when we have high water but I also want to be able to carry a 3 honey bun eater load and perform half way decent. I'm ok with going a little wider I was thinking 52 or 54 but am wondering if that might be too tight in the timber and if it would have too much drag in vegitation or when on bottom with a load. I really want to run a 48" but dont know how it will do loaded. My normal 3 man hunting load for three big guys, dog, and all the gear is looking like #800-#850. In that situation would an 18x48 handle that load fine? I'm coming from an 1742 crawfish skiff that we hunted the same load out of and just put putted all the way with a mud buddy 35 hd shit but now I'm switching to a 35 GTR and a better boat. I'm not really worried about stability nearly as much as performance with a load. So any advice would be appreciated.

I have a 1650 gatortrax with the huntdeck. Its a full 3/16ths hull with a 35 gatortail and it does pretty decent as far as speed and Manuvering. But its a tad big in the trees. I haven't been in a spot yet that i couldn't go but I had to break out the winch a few times. I'd definitely stick with a 3/16 ths bottom just for the piece of mind. I don't even cringe when I hit stumps anymore bc i know its not hurting anything. In the trees thats a blessing, one less thing to worry about.

54" bottom isnt what hurts. Its the width at the top that gets you wedged btwn trees. Keep that narrower and go with the 54". You'll be happier with that extra 6" with the load you intend to haul.

Thanks

pull your beam in and you can go a little wider on the bottom. my last boat was a 54" bottom with a 65" beam. I could fit anywhere a 44" bottom gatortrax could but still have better load carrying. if your doing a tapered chine bringing the flare in like that is going to hurt the handling but your gonna give in some areas to gain on others.

Thanks, I should be able to buy a wider sheet and cut off the extra width for my catwalk so I'm pretty sure that I'm going wider, I'm just hoping the chopper gets here soon so that I can make it there before they close.

You can do a one pc 18x54 with a 96"sheet and dave a little on cost and time. I didnt read all the above posts so if your already doing a one pc nvm
Also a square chine will carry you big load better than a roumd or tapered chine but you will loose in turning ability.

I'm trying to go 3 piece to use 1/8 sides to cut weight