V-Hull Vs Flat bottom Speed

[MotorMan101]

I have a 14ft flat bottom with a 4hp Johnson on it and am getting about 7mph with it going up river and 9mph down on a good day using my gps. How fast do your think I could go if I swap to a 12 or 14ft v hull?

 

[Scott Danforth]

With the same 4hp? The same speed.

Until you get enough HP to get the boat in plane, you are at displacement speed

 

[BWR1953]

Back in 1985, I was visiting a buddy stationed at Vandenberg AFB. We rented a 14' aluminum boat with a 4HP outboard to fish on Lake Casitas. Huge bass live there and we were hot in pursuit.

While going full speed with that little boat and motor, we heard some odd voices coming up behind us, but no motor sounds. We turned to look and it was a woman's sculling crew. They flew by us like we were standing still.

Embarrassing.

Sooo... I think you'll need a much bigger motor if you want to make any real difference in speed.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Sculling crews can get almost 15mph

 

[Beagleville]

Flat bottom will always be faster than a V, but this is only on the plane which you can't do with 4 hp. A V takes more power to get up on the plane but rides smoother. Almost all 12-14' open boats are flat bottom even though, for some reason, the owners/sellers refer to them as "deep V."

 

[JimS123]

Flat bottom will always be faster than a V, but this is only on the plane which you can't do with 4 hp. A V takes more power to get up on the plane but rides smoother. Almost all 12-14' open boats are flat bottom even though, for some reason, the owners/sellers refer to them as "deep V."

Actually, unless you're talking about a flat bottom jon boat, most all v-hull utilities are classified as a semi-v (i.e., v bow tapering off to a flat stern).

Except for some late model Starcraft SeaFarers (and maybe others), which IS a true deep-v, though the deadrise is shallow.

 

[Texasmark]

Alumacraft and Lone Star semi Vs were popular in my boating circles back in the '50-60 time line. They had rounded chines whereby flat bottomed, blunt nosed aluminum boats classified as John Boats were flat bottomed the complete length with a rise at the bow and hard chines. While Lone Star was riveted sheets, Alumacraft basically was 2 sheets of alum to make the hull and the rounded chine helped in the forming of those 2 sheets requiring minimum bracing and few rivets.

As others have said, 4 HP isn't going to do doodly-squat regardless of the hull design especially if you load it up with 2 folks and gear.

 

[JimS123]

During the years between when Grandpa sold the cottage and boat, and when I bought a boat of my own, Dad and I used to go to a small lake for our Summer fishing trips. (Silver lake in central NY in the Finger Lakes region)

Tucker's Livery also had a small lakeside campground that they let friends pitch a tent. He rented Crestliner 14' V-hull runabouts, mated with Evinrude 3 1/2 HP 2-strokes. For a few bucks more (which we didn't have) you could upgrade to a 10 horse.

The Lake was small and the best fishing was at the ends. It took a long time to get from one spot to another. Some of my best memories were putting along with Dad.

I learned way back then that going real fast wasn't a necessity. I would give both eye teeth to relive those years.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I would give both eye teeth to relive those years.

I think we all would

 

[Texasmark]

During the years between when Grandpa sold the cottage and boat, and when I bought a boat of my own, Dad and I used to go to a small lake for our Summer fishing trips. (Silver lake in central NY in the Finger Lakes region)

Tucker's Livery also had a small lakeside campground that they let friends pitch a tent. He rented Crestliner 14' V-hull runabouts, mated with Evinrude 3 1/2 HP 2-strokes. For a few bucks more (which we didn't have) you could upgrade to a 10 horse.

The Lake was small and the best fishing was at the ends. It took a long time to get from one spot to another. Some of my best memories were putting along with Dad.

I learned way back then that going real fast wasn't a necessity. I would give both eye teeth to relive those years.

I had a friend with the 3 HP (tank on top of the engine) with the lower unit that was essentially weedless. We went to some fine weedy. Lilly Pad infested backwaters with that engine and caught some trophy bass......but as said, it took a long time to get there.

 

[JimS123]

I had a friend with the 3 HP (tank on top of the engine) with the lower unit that was essentially weedless. We went to some fine weedy. Lilly Pad infested backwaters with that engine and caught some trophy bass......but as said, it took a long time to get there.

We used to camp with our little tinny when the boys were young. it has a 9.5. With 2 fat adults and 2 pre-teen boys is "seemed" to plane but we didn't go real fast.

In the evenings my 8 year old would fish off the dock into the lily pads. He felt real bad when the big guy fishermen would come in and make fun of him because the real big ones were out in the channel. One day he caught the biggest bass he had gotten to that day. The next day the dock was lined with all these "pros", and he didn't have a space to fish.

I let him row out in the tinny to a spot just 50 yards from the dock (he was not old enough to legally run the motor). He caught an even bigger one over there. After that the dock was his again, as all the fancy guys were out hogging his other spot.