Roger,
Thank you again for the helpful info re: sandlance, tides, & boat ettiquete. Yesterday, I had a great day FF with my soon to be wife... the targeted species? "A Boat" YESS, what a success! May I ask for your feedback?
Rucey, fiance, and I are in agreement that a modest boat for fishing would be beneficial for FF in the salt (within close range of shore - 200 yards or so) with no foul weather, lakes, and some rivers; in that order. We went to two local fishing boat dealers and started asking questions while looking at Smokercraft aluminum boats in the 13~15 foot range. All of them had a deep V hull design. The lodge version was very wide and the Alaskan was "normal" if there is such a thing. All the boats had a flat floor or I would make one (I am a custom woodworker). At 13 foot, max hp rated was 15hp and at 15 foot, max hp rated was 40hp although all the 15 foot boats came with 25hp motors; prop. No jets.
Weight? Most of the time our FF adventures will include Rucey, I and our large dog or cooler at approx 510lbs or minus the dog/cooler at 410lbs. At the maximum weight load we discussed it might include another couple for a total of 700lbs.
Size is dependent upon weight, so the minimums if just me 13', Ruc/me 13', every other passenger configuation we need to step up to 15'.
Design included two types; A) integral metal bench seats spanning the boat and no flat floor where I would need to build it and B) walk-through seat design with a very nice flat floor built-in. All had the deep V hull design.
One dealer had the above, the other dealer steadfastly opposed a deep V design and told us we need to look at Jon boats with a flat bottom... Now of course this is exactly what the dealer with the Smokercraft steadfastly opposed. He also had Jon boats for sale.
The differing opinion centered upon the hull design; deep V or flat. It would appear to me that the deep V design would be the choice for the salt with some rocking action to get used to when standing for FF.
With all that said and no boat experience, we are wondering what other flyfishermen use on the salt when targeting silvers and src? Boat type? Size? Hp?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Craig & Rucey