Smoker Craft Alaskan 13 DLX - advice requested

[biodad]

greetings

first off, i could not register unless i said i was a " bot". hope a " bot" is a good thing. i'm just a fisherman, a book keepers son. . .

question - i have a 12 foot lund aluminum tiller, it is fairly rough trolling into 2 and 3 foot rollers. is this Smoker Craft Alaskan 13 DLX going to be more stable in that the front end of the boat will stay down, at least like my lund? what i dont want is a jon boat result where the front end comes up high each wave and i feel unsafe. so is this safer than my 12 foot lund?
i want a deep wide 12 or 13 foot aluminum boat

thanks

 

[wihil]

Finding a deep/wide 12'er is going to be a trick. Honestly if you're trolling into 3' rollers with a 12'er you're going to get wet (I know, I do it all the time because I'm thick headed and have an old 12 boat). :lol: Frequency of the waves and direction will play a huge part of which is the best way to troll, but you will still get wet.

A couple of things can be done to mitigate this a little - if you want the front to stay down, you need to get more weight up front. I moved my battery, gas tank, and a cooler to the front to even out the weight of the motor and myself in the rear. It's helped a lot.

The other end, as you didn't mention if you were primarily forward trolling or back trolling, would be to determine where the water is coming over. If it's coming over the front, you'll need to change your line (eg, quit trolling into the waves, troll across or with). If it's coming over the back, by the motor, look at either picking up some WaveWackers, or making your own from a sheet of plexi or Lexan. They're easy to fab up and can mount to your transom easily enough, and can really cut down the amount of water over the transom if you don't have a splash well (which the Alaskan doesn't).

Another trick, get a grab bar and mount it to a bench, centered. Sounds silly, but if the bow is lifting high from waves and you loose sight of the horizon, standing up will put you in a better position to see where the boat is going and the best way to cut the trough. Having something to hold on to helps immensely to keep from going for a swim. Remember to wear your life preserver and engine kill strap.


The Alaskan is a nice, deep boat for a 12'er compared to many on the market, but it's beam is relatively short, so you will rock a bit and you loose interior depth due to the flooring. For instance, the Alaskan has a 56" beam and a 20" interior depth, while the Princecraft Ungava (another deep 12' boat) has a 60" beam, and a 25" interior depth.


Upgrading to a 14' boat will open up a lot of options in terms of beam width (eg, a Polarkraft Dakota V1470).

My .02 (a guy with an old 12'er that's looking to go to a 15/16'er in the future)

 

[thudpucker]

Somewhere up near Anchorage is my old Star-Craft 16' boat.
I trolled all over the Salt and Fresh water up there and only had to leave the water a couple times because of Storms.
I'm not the courageous mariner, and don't like swimming in that cold water. :LOL2:

If the Alaskan was the boat created after F&G made a HP limit on the Kenai river for Salmon fishing.
Somebody came up with a 35 Hp, that was a 50 Hp in drag.
The Boat had hi prow and sides for fishing in sloppy waters.

Pictures would help a lot.
Fill in your pedigree. We like to know where your doing your fishing.

 

[biodad]

Thanks both of you's for your advice. i now know this boat will be better than my 12 foot lund. the alaskan is actually a 13 foot boat.
i might have shot from the hip too fast about 3 foot rollers but 2 footers at times are common and i watch it out there.

all my friends have told me that the alaskan will be much better for me than the lund in waves and wind. small boats arent meant for huge waves but i usually fish alone

i live a mile from ottertail lake in ottertail, mn., and this is an excellent trolling lake free of snags and only some cabbage in remote places and some sand grass that doesnt grow but a couple feet. great lake.
thanks again