[Mike Barrio]

Hi folks

What makes for the best loch style boats? Wooden, fibreglass, what would be the most important design feature in your opinion?

Cheers
Mike

[Mike Livingstone]

This is an interesting one.  The advances in fibreglass boats compared to 20plus years ago almost makes the material a matter of personal preference.  I would have always gone with wood but Dad and myself switched to fibreglass purely for maintenancce time (or lack thereof).  We recently bought a 17´boat from Burke boats in Ireland and this thing is a great drifting boat.  You can also beach this boat easily allowing for the obligatory shore lunch and has a nice store cubby at the bow for kettle, pan, lunch and dry clothes.

So, what is important?  IMHO, the boat needs a reasonable keel with a fairly square keel but not too much.  This allows for a bit of drag on the drift and doesn´t catch the wind too badly.  You do not want too deep a keel either as rowing then becomes a real chore.  The Burke boat has a fairly narrow beam, a little too narrow for my liking but it does allow for a comfortable, easy rowing boat but pitches a little in a big wave.  However, it tracks really straight under motor.

Now that brings us to trolling.  For trolling, the needs are slightly different as you are under motor more and want something that handles a decent wave without causing too much discomfort from slapping around in a wave.  Our previous boat was 14´clinker built with a decent beam this was great from trolling as it was stable but needed a bit more concentration at the motor as the short length did swing a little in a good wave but then again it was easy to row and control under oar.

So, the ideal boat:
A decent length for the number of people fishing (usually 2 or 3)
Deepish keel to help slow drifting but not too deep for unexpected shallows or reducing the ability to steer under oar.
Not too heavy!
A reasonably wide beam for stability but not a barrel.
Room to safely store your gear and rods

I think that about covers it and the boat I have right now is close to perfect for me.

Mike

[Mike Barrio]

Excellent reply Mike, lot's of good pointers in there ...... Thanks

Best wishes
Mike

[Hamish Young]

I think Mike (L) has covered it well

Personally, I think stability is the first thing. I've been in some right nasty boats on waters all across the UK and in many cases wouldn't care to repeat the experience no matter how good the fishing might be

However the ideal loch style boat has to drift 'nicely' downwind without assistance of a drogue to 'set' the drift. If you've got that as a starting point then by and large everything falls nicely into place from there.

Construction is largely immaterial to me if it will drift nicely, but the costs of maintaining clinker boats is a wee bit scary  
The best drifting boat I've owned, and I maintain the best all round boat I've ever owned, was a Bonwitco 'With 475'. I went through a few boats, got my 1st one at 12 years old and bought/sold half a dozen before settling on the Bonwitco, bought it in 1988 and it was just turning 20yrs old then. Loosely based on a Skandinavian design it did everything well. Nice and beamy too. The design has been tweaked but essentially the same design is still in production today.

The next best I've owned was a 14' Norwegian bulit clinker 'Rana' which was just bloody great in all conditions but a wee bit tight in the beam and overall a wee bit small for a big loch in big conditions - common enough on Loch Shiel. Great single handed boat though. Someone made me a silly offer for that boat when they saw it re-fitted and about to be launched for a new season so it went to a good home in North Uist. I wonder if it's still on the go today

Mind you, even if it were, I'd still have the Bonwitco

I guess, to an extent, you have to start with the water and make the boat 'fit'. The ex-Leven boats are belters, I can recall being out on Leven in really rough weather and the boat took it in its stride. That's what you want at the end of the day  

I'm looking into buying something for Loch Ness - perhaps - for the coming year, so all this stuff is very much at the front of my mind at the moment  

H  

PS - thinking about it..... being able to sit comfortably is a real boon  

[Ben Dixon]

Stable is number one for me and from the limited experience I have (I am a river angler) something is deep enough in the keel not to drift too fast.  Hamish makes a very important point about being able to sit comfortably particularly if the boat is not stable enough to stand up in when casting (I know this is frowned upon).  We had a boat a few years back that was so unstable that you ahd to sit right in the middle of the seat which were so low and close together that your legs were twisted either from the knee or the hips.  I really cannot put into words how uncomfortable that was for a day, was a boat on Little Loch Awe a few years back, very nice looking thing but absolutely awful. 

I like the Leven boats and those that were on Venacher a few years back were O.K, no idea what they were.

Cheers

Ben

[Allan Liddle]

THe orcadian modern fibreglass boats of recent times are, frankly excellent.  Sadly the boat builder making these ceased trading i believe, however i'm told they will soon be available again from another source.

Stable and excellent drifting boats with surprisingly shallow keels allowing anglers to access the many skerries that these water are famous for.  Swivel seats make for comfort, level floors for easy storage and ease of casting and cut out motor position ensures even short shafted engines gain enough 'bite'.
One thing for sure there's certainly enough wind in these parts to test these boats to the full.

Several locals have fitted out thier boats with 14 horse motors to access favourite drifts quickly, which is great on a water such as Harray, but imagine how good on a bigger water like Veyatie, Cama, Sionascaig or Shin?

Allan

[Hamish Young]

Several locals have fitted out thier boats with 14 horse motors to access favourite drifts quickly, which is great on a water such as Harray, but imagine how good on a bigger water like Veyatie, Cama, Sionascaig or Shin?

I had a 25hp and a 4hp as a spare on the back of the 'With 475', with three up it was good for 20+knots So 17 and a bit miles of Shiel were easy to cover, most of the locals turned to planing hull boats and I'm really surprised they're not more commonly in use on bigger Scottish lochs, they're an advantage

Mind you with petrol prices the way they are you've got to have deep pockets as the fuel bills will add up quickly
A four stroke wouldn't be quite so bad though still not cheap to run.

If I could afford one (and a vehicle to to tow it with) then Shin & Assynt would be must visit venues with a genuinely quick boat that will still drift and is great to fish from
I'd considered one for Loch Ness, but a nice sensible 9.9 four stroke and a more 'plodding' hull will do me these days besides, she who must be obeyed still hasn't quite got over my buying an Alfa - I shudder to think how she'd react if I got a quick boat too 

H 

[Ben Dixon]

besides, she who must be obeyed still hasn't quite got over my buying an Alfa - I shudder to think how she'd react if I got a quick boat too 

H 

H, boats don't have gearboxes so you should be fine.  Can quite see how buying a broken car may have gone down none too well 

Ben

[Hamish Young]

H, boats don't have gearboxes so you should be fine.  Can quite see how buying a broken car may have gone down none too well 

Ben

You're quite right Ben, it's on the engines that power them that we find gearboxes on or in boats. Fortunately, most of those gearboxes aren't Italian

H 

PS - remind me to take the piss mercilessly the next time you're errrr 'rowing' 

[Jim Doyle]

You own what I would describe as the best drifting boats in the world Mike. The only ones that are comparable are the old clinkers on Loch lomond.  I have been out onvarious lochs in weather I should not have been and these boats are as sound as it gets for loch boats.  jim

[Mike Livingstone]

Jim,

I have to agree with you.  The boat really handles most conditions very well.  NOt been caught in really bad weather yet but it rows really nicely, even in a big wave.

On the subject of engines, I do not usually find a use for anything more than 6HP as I am never in too much of a rush to get to the key drifts, you can miss a lot of good fishing water that way.