MM Brand: GTR35 Stock
Horsepower: 35
Boat Brand: Aucion's
Boat Size: 1948
Boat Layout: open floor, 3/16 bottom, 1/8 sides 19in high.
Speeds | Deep Water: 29.5mph steady
Total Boat Load With Gear Etc: by myself with icechest in front, 10gals of gas and normal running gear
Conditions Tested In: Caddo Lake, very little wind or current if any.
Couldn't be happier with my boat or the service I've recieved from Aucoin's fab. All of my expectations were exceeded. You know how hard it is to get an idea out of your head and actually put into the works, well Rick took my ideas and made them 100% better. The man can't make anything square and plain. Everything he does is made with the mentality that this boat is his signature and will have his family name on the side. It shows in the craftsmanship through out.
I've always stood to drive and never had a grab bar or seat. That has all changed now. The seat and the grab bar was placed in the perfect position and height that I don't ever want to stand again. I have renamed my grab bar my lazy bar. I can see myself falling asleep on it on those long runs.
The boat has a 6ft deck in the front, with a spud pole hole, light hole, dog ladder hole, etc going through the point. It has a narrower front end than his other bateau's making it more pointed kinda giving you the best of both worlds from a skiff and a bateau. I am very happy with the way the boat handles. I have noticeably less tiller torque than I had on my skiff and my skiff had less than other's boats I've driven. I didn't get any water over the transom in reverse either while playing with it in the grass. I didn't get stupid with it in reverse, but with what I did, I would have gotten flooded in my skiff with the square transom bottom. The angled transom made a big difference.
I held a steady 29.5 mph by myself with an icechest against the front deck in deep water. I bumped 29.8mph before it started porposing. The most load I put in it was with SilkPower, his wife, and myself with a icechest. We were following a group so I never got to keep it wide open for long to see what it would do, but it ran 26-27mph steady at almost full throttle.
Here are some pics. I got a few nick nacks to weld in before I paint and hydroturf, then I'll post some more.
