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16’ panga?

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#21 ·
Type in your search on Google "backwater 18 for sale" you will see the top listing should be the one that was listed on here in December 8 2020, a 2019 one year old was selling for 36k but it was really nice !so a new one should be ? Best to just to call them due to all the inflation and such thats going on👍The Backwater is a beautiful boat call em if your really interested 👍 then you will know how far out they are far as build time....
 
#23 ·
Where did you see/read they had the panga marine molds ? I agree they look like panga marine hulls but didnt see anything on site that said they was!just asking, it says they build them in Puerto Rico .... that 18 definitely looks like the Evo ....
 
#26 ·
Yeah the company out of Puerto Rico bought the high sided panga marine 18 and 23 captiva molds maybe a few other models. The price on the 23 is pretty ridiculous for a company that hasn’t even produced a boat yet. I want to say they were starting pricing on the 23 at 60k but I don’t know what options.

I would hate to deal with any warranty work or things that weren’t right on my build with a company who’s manufacturing is in Puerto Rico.
 
#27 ·
^^^^^ you got some good points thats what i believe put panga marine outa business they got to Americanized and ran the price way up ,the whole idea behind a panga is cheap simplicity fuel economy ect....they built the boats to heavy needed bigger motors then changed the hull to except the heavier motors hence 23 Captiva.....

But far as warranty work theres really no fear on my part as a panga is very simple either its right out the box or its not they are very utility built! My 22 DIY Was a Tank ran awesome with the 115 xb yamaha
 

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#30 ·
Abaco Backwater 18 starts at 33k, that's the standard hull no motor no trailer. Also weighs in at 1425 pounds.

Too expensive and way too heavy for me, I was hoping they'd be a lot cheaper and lighter when i put in a request for a price sheet lol.
 
#32 ·
Wow that's great deal. I messaged him for the specs, if the 22' weighs in at 847lbs the 18 should be a good bit less. I checked his website and they still don't have info on the 18 yet.

I wonder why the Abaco 18 weighs so much then? Doesn't make any sense.
 
#34 ·
Maybe because they are foam filled too? That's the only other thing I can think of, but foam doesn't weigh that much.

I contacted the guy selling the Eduardono Pangas he's gonna get back to me with the 18' specs.

This could be the way to go for me, way cheaper and lighter than Abaco. They must be much cheaper to build in Columbia and just import over here. Says they are all composite too, no wood!
 
#38 ·
Silent Drifter said:
^^^^^ you got some good points thats what i believe put panga marine outa business they got to Americanized and ran the price way up ,the whole idea behind a panga is cheap simplicity fuel economy ect....they built the boats to heavy needed bigger motors then changed the hull to except the heavier motors hence 23 Captiva.....

But far as warranty work theres really no fear on my part as a panga is very simple either its right out the box or its not they are very utility built! My 22 DIY Was a Tank ran awesome with the 115 xb yamaha
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I had a Panga Marine 18 Evo. It was their higher-sided 18 vs. the skiff and finished out with a liner. It was a fantastic boat but ultimately not what I need for the Texas coast where I live and do most of my fishing. @texasag07 and @Salt of the Water are friends and I'm pretty sure both had been on it. Anyway, if I lived in Florida where @texasag07 does I wouldn't have sold it. But that's a different story.

Abaco Skiff Co. is a spin-off of Andros Boatworks and focuses on the smaller 18', 20' and 22' models while Andros has the 26' and 32'. All of their hulls were splashed off Panga Marine molds. Their 18' was the PM 18' skiff the Guide 20 was the PM Super Skiff and the Bonefish was the PM Marquesas (22'). I forget the PM names for their 26' and 32' hulls. Panga Marine had a nice market in between the bare-bones, Latin American/Mexican-made pangas that were imported and finished out here in the USA. As I understand it those were almost always Imemsa hulls and finished by Roger Harmon's Panga Boats USA in Cape Coral or Bayou to Bluewater in Bacliff, Texas. There are a few other importers but I forget them. And in the last few years the Eduardono hulls started getting imported and finished out here too. From what I've been told the owners of Andros & Abaco used to work at Panga Marine and split off (not all that amicable of a split either) to do their own thing. And they've really dolled up their pangas. When I bought my PM 18 Evo I got a quote from Andros for their Backwater 18 (this was before Andros spun off Abaco) and it was $20K higher than the $38K, all-in, for the brand new, custom PM skiff. Funny thing is that with the pandemic and inflation the blue book now is $5K higher than it was when I sold it (I got current BB for it).

Anyway, I forget Tom's last name but he owned PM and as I understand it he just wanted to retire so he sold Panga Marine to a guy from New Jersey who ended up being a total scumbag. His various and sundry sleazebag antics were pretty well detailed on the Panga owners group on Facebook. He abandoned the middle market and went upscale while sinking a ton of money into a big, offshore power cat (I think it's being made by the Puerto Rico group now). He ran off the good, long-time employees and alienated his customer base so the company went bankrupt where all the molds and stuff were auctioned off, along with some partially completed boats.

A panga is a great, all-around boat but frankly the high bow flare makes poling them kind of a bitch. Mine tracked well because it was heavy but contrary to advertisements it would not float & pole in 7"- it was probably a 12" boat. Part of the issue is that the hull has a sort of hanging keel just before the delta pad that would hang up so the bow and stern might be floating in 8" the little keel portion was 2-4" deeper and the boat was too heavy to really just muscle over a hump. And with the 90hp the top speed was probably 35-36mph and not the 40+ advertised. I'm calling major bullshit on the Abaco Backwater 18 hitting 50mph+.

I know these sawed-off little dudes in Belize and Mexico pole pangas but one of their 22' pangas weighs way less than an 18' PM or Abaco.

If I were looking for a panga that I could pole and do inshore while still running the beach front I would go for a 22' Imemsa Panga and rig it out like @Salt of the Water did his Mimsa 19 here. Only I'd go with a 60hp tiller.

Mimsa 19

Or do what Brian Little (owner/designer of Sabine Skiffs) did with this 22 Panga. But bear in mind he's got a $3000 casting custom platform and $5000 worth of trolling motor/batteries/on-board charger on this rig:
 
#39 ·
Very interesting! Thanks for that write up.

I'm concerned about weight because I really don't want to have to buy another vehicle just to tow a skiff. Currently towing my Rabco 14' skiff with a car (2015 Scion xB) and it does fine with that (hull is under 400lbs), but a loaded out Panga would probably be too much to be honest with myself. I cannot afford to buy another vehicle and a skiff, nor do I want to sell my car and have a truck or SUV as a daily driver either. I also have an issue of the skiff needing to fit through the gate of my fence.

I've been looking at Hog Island skiffs as well and I think that's the route I will end up taking, half the cost and less than half the weight of a Panga, not as capable but pretty close in terms of versatility.
 
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Connor Mcnichols
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