Flats Tracker 17tx

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scsdiver

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 15, 2012
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Location
Edgewater, FL
good afternoon we are wondering if we can get some opinions and ideas. we have a tracker 17tx with the johnson/tracker 70. we are looking at ways to be able to run on plain in shallower water. we primarily fish in mosquito lagoon and average depth is 12-16". currenlty we need about 20-22" of depth to get on plain and running we need about 16-18" of depth to run. we are contemplating installing some of the boyds float pods a jack plate and possibly swithing the 70 for a 40-50hp. we never run that fast usually we cruise about 20-22mph. we would like to be able to get the boat to run in 12-14" of water that is our target. i feel that our biggest difficulty is getting from idle to plain as the *** end drops way down to get up on plain i hope the float pods will offset this and allow us to get to plain more level. the motor swap would be two fold it would lighten the transom up and allow us to pole in a little shallower water and i hope would also allow us to plain shallower as it is obviosly lighter. any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hydraulic jack plate + flotation pods + power tilt and trim= shallow water running. Ive got a 1648 ncs alumacraft withe the cmc tilt and trim jack plate i can plain off in about 18 inches of water and run in about 8-10 inches
 
I would keep the motor and just have boyds make the pods longer. Im having them build mine to a custom size and they quoted me a price over the phone based on size. Just 3-4" more length on float pods will give you the airspace (floatation) you need to offset the weight of the motor. My 1648 has a merc 60 on it and will have float pods and its a poling skiff.
 
awesome guys thank you for the input. that is exactly what i needed to hear. if we can run that shallow that would be awesome. do you run a hydrofoil as well? or can you for that matter wiht the pods? what is your set back?
 
I have 6 inches of set back. I will be adding pods to mine later on down the road but from whay ive saw i dont think a hydrafoil will work it will probably be a problem turning cause there so big and if you raise your motor up it put the foil right there at the pods. Im not a fan of foils anyways to much drag in the water. I build my boays for speed so i tournament fish amd get to my gigging spots when i commercial fish before everyone else
 

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