diving off aluminum bass boat

[moneysavr]

Keep in mind the problem with ladders is that when you put weight on them, they want to swing away from you. Therefore, you will need a way to keep it from swinging toward the hull.

Climbing the boarding ladder onto my boat is always an adventure. If it weren't so hard and dangerous, it would be an Olympic sport!

Bruce,
Bolt on a push pole to keep that ladder from kicking in! Works sweet on my home made dive ladder!
Dive safe,
Brad
Boy them new Aluminum boats are sweet! I am sure one would work great as a dive boat/fishing boat.

 

[Willar]

The narrow beam of that style "Moderate V" Tracker would be a problem. You would be much better off going with the wider beam of the Tracker "Deep V" series. Also similar wide beam aluminum are made by Lund and Crestliner. The wider boat would give a good transom for mounting a ladder. You would also have a deeper boat that would handle rough water better and would be safer for kids (if that has any bearing for you).

 

[mike_s]

That "wide V" (wider beam) Tracker that is more like the Lund sure does ride a LOT nicer also.... Go up to MInnesota or Wisconson or upper Ontario and that's all you see.

 

[Loneranger]

I dove in the Keys from a Tracker and it can be done. As stated before climbing in with full gear would bring the transom to the waterline. We always used to throw a ski rope line with float of the back and you would inflate your BC take it off and clip it to the line. Hop in the boat and pull your gear in. Same procedure used in diving from inflatables.

 

[dpbishop]

Loneranger took the words out of my mouth. (or fingers) The freeboard on bass boats is so low that you can take of your weight belt (if you wear one) in the water and sling it up on board. Then tie off the BC and with a few strong kicks pull yourself up and into the boat. It ain't graceful, but it works. I use it on my avon and the freeboad is higher that the Tracker. Biggest problem is not falling in while retrieving the Tank & BC.

 

[GreenDiverDown]

I would guess that you plan to dive fresh water lakes... ie the lakes where you bass fish.

In that case something like a Boston Whaler would not be appropriate... it's just not a bassboat. Obviously, bassboats aren't a great choice for a dive boat, but if you're a bass fisherman that's what you gotta use.

I have a 20 foot Champion/225 Johnson. I dive from it just fine. Gear stores in the rod lockers very nicely or, if I have the flippin deck out, I just toss it all on the floor. I do just what some of the other guys have suggested... rig up my gear and toss it over the side. At the end of the dive I remove my rig in the water and clip it off to a rope. I leave my fins on to give me a little extra boost to flip over the gunnel into the boat. It's very easily done. I then will reach down and give a hand to those that need a little help. It's a pretty good size bassboat, but three divers is about my limit.

One of my biggest worries is cracking the fiberglass with a cylinder. I usually do all the gear moving.

If I leave my boat unattended, I toss a bow and stern anchor and I'm very carefull where I choose to dive. It's no fun coming up and seeing your boat blown off to the center of the lake.

Oh... don't get lazy and leave your rig on the back deck when motoring between dive sites.

 

[Nemrod]

I would guess that you plan to dive fresh water lakes... ie the lakes where you bass fish.

In that case something like a bass boat would not be appropriate... it's just not a dive boat. Obviously, dive boats aren't a great choice for bass fishing, but if you're a diver that's what you gotta use.

Priorities first--dive or "bass" fish. The sixteen and seventeen foot Boston Whalers are used for bass fishing as well as striper and all sorts of freshwater fishing. I have seen numerous Montauks rigged for bass fishing and freshwater fishing. I am speaking of the Montauks previous to the new generation which is to large and wide and deep with a bow that is to high as well. The older classic versions have low freeboard and a lower bow--yet--are exceedingly seaworthy. A seventeen Montauk can operate under severe conditions in heavy seas and return safely and if it does take a wave and fill with water the design allows the boat to drive back up on top and empty. If it were to capsize it will not sink so you got something to hold on to. There are a couple of other similar boats by other companies, I just happen to be most familiar with Whaler. N

 

[gracklemann]

Wow. Lot's of good suggestions. The allure of the aluminum bass boat is two-fold. For bass fishing you can take an aluminum boat into really shallow water, as in just 3 feet. Great for fishing up feeder creeks and whatnot. It's also really hard to hurt them on stumps and whatnot. And they are really cheap comparatively.
However, they are not very stable due to the shallow running nature.
I'm starting to look more at fish-n-ski boats now. Not quite as good for bass fishing, and a bit more expensive, but I think they should be able to handle diving much easier, and you can ski from them too.

Stephen, what model champion do you have?

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions.

 

[Nemrod]

Boats are fun and expensive unfortuantely. I like to look at boats and ask myself, if I shot it full of holes, pulled all the plugs and took it out in bad weather would it keep going, if it hit a solid object that tore part of the side off would it still keep going, if I then got a chainsaw out and cut it in half would it still keep going? The brands of boats that can do all of that probably can be counted on one hand. N

 

[GreenDiverDown]

I have the 201. I got it the last year they made that model. It's a classic. It has a little more V than the newer ones... great for running rough water.