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Compression plates are critical on true tunnel skiffs.
Important to keep water around the prop tips to prevent blowout.
Have to hold the "hump' intact until it's past the prop to maintain thrust.

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The right tunnel (set up right) will run with the skeg above the bottom of the boat. Even at that, 2.5" (hard bottom) is a stretch. This is how my 17T will run all day and maintain water pressure. Just this last weekend, I ran 1/4 mile across a rock hard bottom flat that was 6" deep. That's about the limit over hard bottom (soft bottom is a whole different story) that I will push it to. The shallower it gets, the more lift you get from compressing the water under the boat and I'm sure my boat would skim along in 2" of water. The only problem is, at that depth you don't have enough water to fill the tunnel, the tunnel loses its suction and you lose grip and water pressure.

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I know this is my first post but I've been a regular lurker for years now. I felt the need to create a profile so that I could chime in on the TR7. I was finally in the position to pull the trigger on a nice boat and I went with a 2008 TR7 with a 90 Yami 2 stroke. For anyone who lives in the Titusville area it was the blue one at BT's marine.

Since I have never had a nice boat with all the bells and whistles before like this one. I can't stand here and say that it does "this" better than "that" boat. But I can say that it does every thing I've asked it to do and more.

I bought it from a captain who had 3 of them in the family which one of the boats was actually one of the first few hulls to come out of production. After a while of tweaking the prop set up (5 times) they came up with a custom double cup prop from bauman that really let's this boat do what it was supposed to do from the design concept.

In all I think you would be happy with this boat if you we're to ride in one that had the proper set up. But by all means like every one else has said put eyes on and ride in other boats and the right one will be a clear choice.
 
Cav Plate, Jack-Plate, Heavy Cupped Prop, Water Pressure Gauge, and are all needed for sure and IMHO i'm a fan of the vented prop as it gives more speed and better hole-shot than a non vented tunnel. We've also done some cool stuff with our tunnel design to feed more water and at a higher level than currently offered...
I'll have Video/Pics coming on it as our TX Version were offering has this and I'm building myself a Lostmen and we have a Fury getting it's first tunnel now as well...
If you want a ride I'd be happy to show anybody the plus and minus of a tunnel and what our boats can do as well...
tight lines and good read/thread.
Kevin
 
Discussion starter · #27 ·
The right tunnel (set up right) will run with the skeg above the bottom of the boat. Even at that, 2.5" (hard bottom) is a stretch. This is how my 17T will run all day and maintain water pressure. Just this last weekend, I ran 1/4 mile across a rock hard bottom flat that was 6" deep. That's about the limit over hard bottom (soft bottom is a whole different story) that I will push it to. The shallower it gets, the more lift you get from compressing the water under the boat and I'm sure my boat would skim along in 2" of water. The only problem is, at that depth you don't have enough water to fill the tunnel, the tunnel loses its suction and you lose grip and water pressure.

Image
Well where I run and fish its mainly a soft bottom however If possible to not destroy the skig, lower unit, and motor I would rather not plow through a soft bottom. Any boat can do that but I would rather not tear up the engine or the flats with a prop destroying the bottom. This is the reason Im looking into a tunnel to try to lift as much of the prop/engine out of the water level thats below the boat line to try to not dig the ground so much. I think there are boats out there in the 16-18ft range with a tunnel, jackplate, and cav plate can run in 6-8" which i will be very happy with. I am just looking for someone with real life experience with a boat that will do this type of shallow running.
 
Well where I run and fish its mainly a soft bottom however If possible to not destroy the skig, lower unit, and motor I would rather not plow through a soft bottom. Any boat can do that but I would rather not tear up the engine or the flats with a prop destroying the bottom. This is the reason Im looking into a tunnel to try to lift as much of the prop/engine out of the water level thats below the boat line to try to not dig the ground so much. I  think there are boats out there in the 16-18ft range with a tunnel, jackplate, and cav plate can run in 6-8" which i will be very happy with. I am just looking for someone with real life experience with a boat that will do this type of shallow running.
Any of the currently available tunnel boats (TR7, 17HPX-T, Lostmen, etc.) should be able to do that.
 
Discussion starter · #29 ·
Well where I run and fish its mainly a soft bottom however If possible to not destroy the skig, lower unit, and motor I would rather not plow through a soft bottom. Any boat can do that but I would rather not tear up the engine or the flats with a prop destroying the bottom. This is the reason Im looking into a tunnel to try to lift as much of the prop/engine out of the water level thats below the boat line to try to not dig the ground so much. I  think there are boats out there in the 16-18ft range with a tunnel, jackplate, and cav plate can run in 6-8" which i will be very happy with. I am just looking for someone with real life experience with a boat that will do this type of shallow running.
Any of the currently available tunnel boats (TR7, 17HPX-T, Lostmen, etc.) should be able to do that.
Is a lostmen or other similar boats where the engine just sits forward into the transom considered a tunnel boat just curious. I have looked at boats where the engine sits up in the rear deck. Will those boats run as shallow as a true tunnel?
 
I believe what you are talking about are sponsons and those help with balancing out the motor weigh while at rest and might help with hull shot.

On the Maverick hpx-t subject my friend, maverick redfisher on this forum runs an hpx t. You may want to pm him about some of his experiences. I know for a fact i have run in defiantly less than 7 inches on that boat through Bull Bay in Charlotte Harbor on a negative tide. I would say it drafts about 6 inches with 2 people and gear.

hope this helps
 
Discussion starter · #32 ·
Those are sponsons not a tunnel, and they serve a totally different function. 
Im guessing the sponson makes for a quicker hole shot to get on plane and not make the transom sit so lower in the water to make the boat draft less right?

anything else that it makes a big difference in
 
Those are sponsons not a tunnel, and they serve a totally different function. 
Im guessing the sponson makes for a quicker hole shot to get on plane and not make the transom sit so lower in the water to make the boat draft less right?

anything else that it makes a big difference in


Bingo, better draft and hole-shot. Then add a tunnel and things get good :O)
 
the last two posts got me thinking of a diy project...oh man.

I know it says it on the mantaray site, but would having that plate really allow me to trim my motor higher without cavitation and NOT porpoise without some tabs? My boat doest have some small fixed tabs about 2-3" long by 4-5" wide..
 
the last two posts got me thinking of a diy project...oh man.

I know it says it on the mantaray site, but would having that plate really allow me to trim my motor higher without cavitation and NOT porpoise without some tabs? My boat doest have some small fixed tabs about 2-3" long by 4-5" wide..
Short answer is no, it will make it worse. It actually enhances the bow lift from trimming the motor up. I run with my jackplate fully elevated with trim at about 3 degrees (this is where the cav plate is parallel to the bottom of the boat). It holds good water pressure and I still have good control like this. When the floating grass is bad I'll trim it up to 4.5-5 degrees to help keep it cleared and I need a good bit of tab to hold the bow down.
 
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