Got about 5 scoutn trips in and my boat(1542) tracker is falling apart and the season hasn't even started. A couple of dike jumps, a couple of chunks of concrete ran over, and winching up the river banks is taking a toll. Next year I am gonna have to get a real boat. My thoughts are if I get a solid hull in the 17 foot range I might as well go with the backh2o 35. You guys that are running the bigger rigs, how much water you need to be floating? To make it simple we will say with a very light load. Doesn't matter what width I go. I guess what I am asking is what rig do you guys think. 700 lbs of man. 75lbs of lab. 150lbs of miscellaneous. So almost 1000 lbs. A lot of vegetation. I don't need a tall transom but I could do it and do a longs aft backh2o 35hp

If you are wanting to go with a 35 longtail, I'd consider an 1844-1944 somewhere in there. The 18' with a little taller sides could be the ticket for ya.

48 - 50 if your going 17'

I've figured out, I'll tear the transom off my boat long before I ever put a scratch on my SWOMP!

Frank FOSHIT