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Posts: 91
| I am thinking of picking up a little 15' fiberglass boat that I cannot test on the water first. I have seen a model called a Bass-about boat that looks similiar but can only discribe it as 60" wide with a bottom that looks like an understated Tri-Hull. Has anyone fishesd out of one of these it looks like it would be ok for rivers and duck hunting too! Wondering if its stable enough for standing up all day? |
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Posts: 32885
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | If it's a Tuffy, I came up with the design for the interior of that rig. It's stable, very fishable, and will float in near nothing. Great river and small to medium lake rig. Same hull as today's Tuffy Esox. |
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Posts: 38
| TTurn, I started fishing from a Tuffy Rouge and curentlly fish out of a Maurader Sportsman. My rouge model did not have a casting deck and I fished from the back of the boat. I stood on the corner transom most of the time. Im over 200lbs and both boats are very stable. They launch very well and are just an all around good boat for what you are looking to do. |
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Posts: 91
| Thanks for the info! |
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Posts: 360
Location: Tinley Park. Fish Cen IL. Bass & Vilas Cty.Muskie | I have a 1996 tuffy roustabout/bassaboat with 60 inch beam. The front deck is way too small the seat is in the middle of deck and there is no room to move around. There is no comfortable room for the trolling motor pedal either. I used mine last week for the first time. I actually am thinking of selling it. I felt like I was going to fall out of the boat if I hit a stump with the trolling motor.I fish shallow water bass and put a pedistal up front and the deck is still too small. I am thinking of extending the deck backwards and mounting the seat back about 6 inches. DO NOT buy the boat without testing the front deck>I made this Mistake. There is also terrible storage under the deck. A total waste of space ! You cannot even put a battery or even a small gas tank under the deck. Sorry to all Tuffy owners .It is a perfect size fishing boat but the front deck should be 12 inches longer.This is all it needs to be the bassboat it could be. Please take the boat for a spin first. That is a red flag when you cannot test it. I heard alot of good things about Tuffys but this boat is not a good boat for stand fishing or fishing off the front deck. Sorry !
Edited by basscaster 3/28/2009 1:56 PM
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Posts: 32885
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | So place a base on the furthest rear of the front deck; you can even use a 'half base' to get more room in front of the bike seat. I fished out of a Roustabout for years, and thought it was very comfortable. Gander Mt Guide runs one now, and seems to like it fine! I used a bike seat and Pro Pole up front, and felt I had plenty of room. I don't like the front seat because it takes up too much room and I stand all day anyway. The boat is VERY stable, which is what is required for standing all day, correct?
It's a 14' 10" boat, what can one expect for room in a boat under 15' in length? The 'storage' cubbyhole under the front deck is for life vests,etc, and can't be any deeper for batteries or gasoline tanks because of the low profile design, raising the deck far enough and extending it back enough to get room for batteries or gas tanks isn't possible with a low profile design like this one; look at how the front of the boat sweeps upward under that deck and tell me how the storage could be any deeper. If one extends the front deck, the cockpit becomes too small for most. The boat is a low profile 'base model' that costs under 10K brand new powered by a 15, which is plenty of HP, by the way. I've attached an image of the Esox so folks can see the front deck.
IF the cockpit room for the second seat is OK with you to be cramped a bit, then building a front deck extension would work just fine. It can basically be a 4 sided 'box' with a base in the center, botted through the existing front deck. I've honestly never had anyone do that to my knowledge, but it wouldn't be hard to do at all.
The Bassabout is a completely different interior than yours, and has a rear deck and console. The tank goes under the deck.
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Posts: 956
Location: Home of the 2016 World Series Champion Cubs | TTurn, thats some serious work you've done there. WELL DONE FOR SURE. You should consider a "relaxing" hobby of some sort. There's this thing some of us here participate in, you may have heard of it , it's called muskie fishing. When you get some time off from rebuilding boats you may want to give it a try.
Nice job!
Karl
Edited by KARLOUTDOORS 3/28/2009 4:01 PM
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Posts: 91
| I dont have one yet, that is just a pic from worral, I think I am going to pursue this boat as a go anywhere medium to small water! |
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Posts: 360
Location: Tinley Park. Fish Cen IL. Bass & Vilas Cty.Muskie | I did not want to give my opinion because you designed it and I have a lot of respect for Tuffy boats and your website. I have the rousabout 14'10". It is a great boat for being under 15 ft. I understand about the front deck being in a shallow end of the boat. The bottom line is no storage up there under the deck except maybe a vest or two. I don't like the lips at the entrance of the front deck.It restricts you putting alot of stuff under the deck. I will look at cutting a base in half and maybe moving it over to 1 side about 6 inches and back about 6 inches. I still think the boat was made for a transsum trolling motor. There is not enough room on front deck for a foot pedal and seat and fisherman to fish comfortably. I think anyone who wants to buy one should test it out first. I bought mine after a 6 month search without a test fish. I suggest TTURN make his own opinion after a test fish. I also am a Big Guy so that makes it a bit crowded but I like to move(Shuffle my feet- dance) a bit when I am trolling and casting. Good Luck with your search Tturn. Tuffys make great boats especially if the trolling motor is in the back. |
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Posts: 32885
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | That 'lip' is a structural portion of the boat/deck, that's why it is there. As I said, the room up there under the deck is for a couple vests or the like; that's all it's supposed to be. The Esox is 'made for a bow mount', and now has a small front deck cap for that purpose as you can see in the photo above. Before that addition, Tuffy offered an aluminum plate to mount the motor to. As I said, I fished that hull for years, had my base on the very back of the deck, and found it quite comfortable. I use a Pro Pole and Bike Seat up there...plenty of room. Most folks DO check out the rig first, and there are quite a few sold every year despite Tuffy trying to discontinue the boat for years.
The 'half base' I was referring to is a part you can buy from Tuffy, not a base cut in half. Give them a call, you can order it from Laurie and have it shipped to your door. It will give you several inches more room in front of the pedestal.
It sounds to me like you needed to find an Esox LTD. That boat is 17', has a larger deck, and has storage in the bow. It won't be a problem selling your Roustabout; they are hard to find 'used' and in demand.
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