Boat review: Grumman Cayuga

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awesome guy
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Boat review: Grumman Cayuga

Post by awesome guy »

A buddy got one of these for the spring. I had the pleasure of going out with him in it the other night on the river. He has the 14ft model. As a big guy, I was somewhat apprehensive. Especially since it's just 6 inches longer than my kayak And it has just a 25 hp engine on it, so I thought we'd be under powered. And the current where we fish is pretty hard. So I was prepared for an early departure into the drink.

Boy was I wrong. That was one of the fastest boats I've been in. The other friends I fish with have much bigger boats, 17 foot Carolina Skiffs, 21 foot Invader, 27 foot Maycraft, 27 foot ProLine, etc. Big water boats, minus the skiff. And they all have substantial engines, like a racing 175 hp Mercury and 250hp. That little Jon Boat was faster than all but the Invader with the 175. It flat out hauled arse. It wasn't as stable as the other boats, naturally having a much narrower beam. But it was stable enough. Enough that my buddy could stand on the back corner and whiz off the back without us tipping over. With the narrow beam, we couldn't both be on the stern at the same time. So at first, he stayed back there and we just put all the rods on the Drift Master and he would hand me whichever rod was of mine was getting a bit. But that night, they were all biting short. So we switched over to Jeremy Wade mode and held the rods in hand and then stuck them when they tapped the bait. Using that technique, we turned a night of short bites into catching about 40 stripped bass.

That little boat would pop out of the hole and plane in no time. I drove it a bit and it was nationally much easier to control than the longer, 27 foot boats. I was so impressed I think it's going to be my next boat, but in a 16 foot model and a bigger engine. It's perfect for fishing the RVA area of the James as it can handle the shallower and rocky currents near downtown as well as the big waters of the lower James and the bay. It has 20 inch gunwales and so seems it could handle the bay by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, on the right days of course. It would have no problem in the lower James except on the few days with high winds blowing against the tide which can produce >5 foot waves. But missing out on the rare days like that is a small cost for a boat that can go into the rocks. The other boats mentioned have deeper drafts and are fiberglass, making them more susceptible to damage against rocks. Looks can be deceiving, I'm no longer snobby against aluminum jon boats.


http://www.marathonboat.com/cayuga.asp
Unvaccinated,. mask free, and still alive.
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